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Let’s explore Russia together!

We start our journey in Moscow where my guests stay with Russians in their apartments. Our tight schedule in Moscow will include Kremlin and Armory, the museum that houses the treasures of the tsarist Russia, such as Faberge eggs ( and much more J); Tretyakov gallery with it’s vast collection of the Russian fine art (from ancient icons to modern art) sure will be surprise discovery for the majority of my guests; Arbat street, a Mecca for souvenirs shopping and watching folks from all walk of life; Moscow subway/Metro system nicknamed “Underground Palace”; and colorful and festive circus (optional).

On the way to our next destination, Uglich, we’ll visit an active monastery and center of Russian Orthodox Church in Sergiev Posad.

Uglich is a small provincial town with completely different pace of life (compare with Moscow and St. Petersburg). Though Uglich is one of the oldest Russian towns with rich historical past, our time in this small town will be more relaxed and leisure (but we’ll have our part of sightseeing there too). We’ll listen to the bell concert played by local family. And I’m sure this amateur and naïve but genuine performance will delight you.

We’ll have picnic at the dacha (summer house) and you will have opportunity to try shashlyk (Russian shishka bob) and Russian steam sauna.

Our trip ends in St. Petersburg, Russian city that adopted and transformed Western architecture and culture on the Russian ground. We’ll spend whole day in Hermitage. There is no need to introduce this world famous museum. But not everybody knows about Golden Treasury (limited admission) in Hermitage with its magnificent Scythian artifacts (the visit even to the Treasury only can make your trip to Russia worthwhile). We’ll see stunning mosaics and stonework inside the Church of the Savior on the Blood. Exterior of the church carries a resemblance with the famous St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. We’ll visit suburb of St. Petersburg, Peterhof. It is the kingdom of fountains, the magical play of the water that brings you back to epoch of Peter the Great. It is famous also through brilliant interiors of the Grand Palace. Though my favorite is Yusupov Palace. I like this place because touring the palace you don’t get museum feeling but feeling of the house where people live. Optional activities in St. Petersburg are ballet in the Hermitage Theater, home theater of Catherine the Great, and a fiery folk show.

With some of my groups we took 3 days cruise to Valaam Island with its secluded monastery and Kizhi Island with its Russian wooden architecture museum (famous Russian poet called this museum a “song in wood”). During other trips we took a day trip from Moscow to ancient towns Vladimir and Suzdal (they are part of so called Golden Ring of Russia) and visited more St. Petersburg suburbs.

 

Brief note at the end: these trips are for active folks – we’ll walk a lot (and there will be a lot of stairs).

Another warning: don’t plan to lose weight in Russia J counting on bad food. Russian cuisine is very tasty. Every one of my guests can tell you this.

 

These tours are all-inclusive ones: land transportation, sightseeing and museum tours (museums fee included), accommodation (dbl) and all meals but two dinners. Airfare, visa fees, theater and circus tickets are extra.

Note: I might be a little bit carried away with icons (or so I was teased by my guests J). We’ll see a lot of them in Moscow and Uglich (every Russian church decorated with icons). But for my excuse I’d like to say that icons aren’t just the art. They have a symbolic and philosophical value, and they maybe one of the keys to understanding of mysterious Russian soul.

 

 

TENTATIVE ITINERARY

 

Day 01 Arrive Moscow. Light dinner.

Day 02 Full day sightseeing tour of Moscow. Visit the world’s richest collection of Russian paintings, famous Tretiakov Gallery. BLD

Day 03 Today we use public transportation to get to the points of our interest. Walking tour of Kremlin. Armory Chamber. Arbat street. BLD

Day 04 Day trip to the estates of Moscow suburbs (new!). BLD

Day 05 Leaving Moscow for Uglich by mini-bus. On our way tour Sergiev Pasad – center of the Russian Orthodox Church. Accommodation in small hotel. BLD

Day 06 Picnic at the dacha (summer house). BLD

Day 07 Walking tour of historical part of the town. BLD

Day 08 Visit school, or hospital, or.... After lunch leaving for Yaroslavl where we’ll have a brief sight-seeing program and catch an overnight train to St. Petersburg. BLD

Day 09 Sight-seeing program in St. Petersburg, Church of the Savior on the Blood. BLD

Day 10 Pushkin or Pavlovsk, the suburbs of St. Petersburg. BLD

Day 11 Tour Hermitage. BLD

Day 12 Day cruise to Valaam Island or day trip to Staraya Ladoga, the town that claims to be the first capital of ancient Russian state (new!).BLD

Day 13 The St. Isaac’s Cathedral and Yusupov palace. BL

Day 14  Peterhof – the palace and park ensemble with famous fountains. BL

Day 15 Return flight.

Price: $2075 (land only)

Group size: 6-8 people

 

 

Brief information of places to be visited:

 

Uglich

Founded in 1148, Uglich flourished during the 13th and 14th centuries, and was favored in the 16th by Ivan the Terrible. Not only did Ivan use Uglich as a base for his campaigns against the Golden Horde, but he also selected the city as the location of his seventh wife's honorary exile from Moscow. Upon Ivan's death, his son Dmitry joined his mother here, only to be brutally murdered by Boris Godunov as part of his campaign to seize the crown. On the spot where the murder took place, the city built the magnificent Church of St. Demetrius on the Blood, which greets the eye of all who approach the city. The Cathedral of the Resurrection and St. John's Church are nearby, similar in design and beauty.

Valaam  (on a cruise)

Valaam, an island previously off-limits to foreigners, is situated in the northern region of Lake Ladoga, about half a day's journey by cruise ship from Saint Petersburg. Since the 15th century Valaam has been a religious and intellectual center of Russia, site of a monastery and churches which received tribute and protection from Russian czars. During the late 18th century missionaries from Valaam found their way to the Far East, to the Aleutian Islands, and to Alaska. At the turn of the 20th century Valaam became one of the wealthiest monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, comprising a mini-state with its control of 13 smaller monasteries in territory of over 50 islands. The Valaam monastery was completely self-sufficient, boasting factories and farms that produced an abundance of products. Although the monastery was shut down during the days of the Soviet Union, it is now once again functioning.

Valaam is blessed with a micro-climate, making it warmer than neighboring regions where monks cultivated melons growing up to three kilograms and watermelons up to eight. Valaam is an island of pristine beauty, and is crisscrossed by trails that lead hikers through fields of flowers, forests, and farms once tended to by monks.

Conditions on Board - Although your cruise ship will not be in the class of Western luxury liners, it must be said that the ship's standards are quite reasonable. All cabins include sinks, toilets, closet space, and separate beds for passengers. Although the food provided for passengers is not gourmet, the quality should be deemed acceptable. Most of the passengers aboard the ship will probably be Russians, and limited knowledge of English is known by the ship's crew members. Many Russian passengers, however, will be eager to practice their English learned in school to foreigners on board.

Kizhi (on a cruise)

This island on Lake Onega is a truly fascinating place. Here on a strip of land several kilometers long, among these picturesque surroundings, unique monuments of Russian and Karel wooden architecture from the 14^th –19^th centuries have been collected at an open-air museum. The main treasure of Kizhi is the twenty-two-domed 18^th-century church of Transfiguration built without a single nail and regarded as an architectural and historical monument of world significance. The famous Russian poet, Yevgenij Yevtushenko, called Kizhi a “song in wood”.

 

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PICNIC ON THE BANK OF VOLGA RIVER