I've just returned from my third trip to Russia but my first time travelling to the less visited towns outside Moscow and St Petersburg. Known as the Golden Ring, this circle of towns, some on the Volga, others just 90 minutes outside the city, are famed for their gold-domed churches which scatter the landscape and give the area its name.
To visit St Petersburg is one of life's treats and should be high on anyone's list of travel destinations - a very European city, with large palaces, marble statues and beautiful fountains, it is a visual treat. However if you want to feel as though you've really visited Russia you need to travel slightly further afield...
...to the Golden Ring, where there is still a feeling that life has changed little since Soviet times. Yes there is choice in the shops and small private businesses have opened bringing a new prosperity to the area, but the tiny, brightly painted wooden houses and the elderly ladies with their head scarves and full length fur coats remain the same. Images I had seen in books and magazines in the mid 80's came to life before my very eyes. N.B. that the full length fur coats were a must as this was November and the snow was already up to my knees (no Nick, it was more than a few inches high).
Moscow is a busy, thriving city, now considered one of the most expensive places in the world - where else would they hold the Millionaire's Show? The Kremlin dominates the skyline and St Basil's although much photographed is stunning when seen from within the red walls of the Kremlin. Away from Red Square and at first glance Moscow seems like any other large, commercial centre but look closely and you'll find art galleries, beautiful churches and some of the best hotels to be found in any city - the Ritz Carlton opens there this spring and is quite stunning.
Sergiev Posad is home to the Russian Orthodox Church and an important place of pilgrimage for this deeply religious country. Driving round to Yaroslavl and Kostroma on the banks of the Volga you see tiny wooden churches or grander stone structures every few miles. I thought that I might become 'churched out' but without fail my spirits lifted whenever I spied one in the distance.
One of the highlights of a visit to the Golden Ring has to be Suzdal. With its beautiful working monastery, the Kremlin and golden domed church I was overwhelmed. As I walked up to the church in Suzdal the snow was at least a foot deep and covered everything with a fresh, white blanket, it was a sight that will stay with me, and if only I was a better photographer it would have made a perfect Christmas card. Inside the church, I was lucky enough to take part in a simple service of only six people - me, my guide, my driver and three monks. The music - it is believed that prayers are better heard when sung - was enchanting and has to be one of the most beautiful sounds I have heard. I just wish that my husband, a King's Canterbury chorister, had been there to enjoy it with me.
Sadly Russia is not all beauty and the beast reared its ugly head in the form of a Soviet style hotel, the Volga Hotel in Kostroma. A tall and gloomy building located in a busy industrial area, it had no character. The lobby was occupied by very austere looking staff that showed me to a tiny, brown single room on the 9th floor - not how I'd expected to spend the night.
However as I was shown around it dawned on me that the place was spotless, the staff were very proud of their hotel and couldn't do enough to make my stay there more pleasant. It's true, I won't be putting my clients there as there is a lovely motel just down the road, however I wouldn't have missed meeting the staff, having dinner in the large, empty dining room, and sleeping on my tiny brown bed for the world. I was, after all, in Russia!
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