Suzdal - Diamond of the Golden Ring

Once the capital, Suzdal could not keep up with Moscow or Vladimir as it "was bypassed not only by the [Trans-Siberian Railway] trains, but by the 20th century altogether" (Lonely Planet). The Golden Ring is a collection of small historic Russian towns in the northeast of Moscow, all displaying uncountable onion-towered churches, kremlins and wooden cottages.

Lunch view: Suzdal's Kremlin

This Sunday morning, we - Zhenya, Lena, Olga and me - drove to Suzdal. It took us about 4 hours to reach there, so we started with a picnic. We could see the blue onion domes of the Kremlin complex while eating bread with cheese, sausage and vegetables. After lunch, we entered the Kremlin with its church and museum.

Picnic in the park

The cathedral was the first non-wooden church in town, first built in the 11th century, in 1222 the current structure of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin was started and re-decorated often over the centuries.

big lantern

We continued our visit by strolling over the countryside to the Museum of Wood Architecture.

Nativity of the Virgin Cathedral and Church of St. Nicholas (wooden)

There were several buildings on display from the whole region including churches, farm houses from poor to rich and also a merchant estate.

Transfiguration Church, 1756

Olga, Chris & Lena

Iconostasis of the Resurrection Church, 1776

Luckily, all the houses in the open-air museum had outside signboards in English giving a basic idea of the usage of the buildings. Otherwise, Suzdal was not too well prepared for individual English-speaking tourists.

House with a mezzanine, 19th century

On the way back, we crossed the souvenir market and bought some things to remember our visit.

Virgin of all Sorrows Church

We crossed the small town and ate dinner near Saviour Monatery of St. Eusthymus that was surrounded by a fortified wall.

monastery wall tower

While eating we had a good view of yet another monastery - the Intercession Convent with its cathedral.
Then we bought some local drinks and passed by the nowadays wooden buildings before heading back to Moscow and the world of traffic jams.

 nowadays wooden house