North-western Russia

We are driving our motorhome Vanni through Russia, as part of a 6-month road trip around north-eastern Europe. After driving the Golden Ring route in central Russia, we were now heading to north-western Russia. On the way, we stopped at an historic row of red-brick buildings in the town of Klin (Клин).

Marg at the ornate red-brick Trading Rows of Klin, Russia

The ornate red-brick buildings turned out to be Klin’s 19th century trading rows, which are historically, a market or traditional trading place. These days they are still used for shops, cafes, and commerce. 

We’d come to Klin to visit the house of the great musician Tchaikovsky. He composed the Nutcracker Suite while living here. Unfortunately, we did not have the address on GPS and couldn’t find it on our Russian map. Instead, we had lunch at a local cafe, then moved on.

Russian stop sign, Klin, Russia

Driving out of Klin, we passed a road sign we’d seen a few times in Russia. It said “cton” which we thought was short for “caution” in English – but we found out it means “stop” in Russian. We just love the picture of glasses that accompanies the sign. 

It was a little reminder that, as English is our first language, we take for granted that in our travels we will see English written everywhere. That's not the case though, especially in Russia.

The mighty Volga River, Tver, Russia

Our next stop was Tver (population 410,000), founded in 1135 on the shores of the mighty Volga River, the longest river in Europe and an economic lifeline of Russia. We’d seen the river several times as we circled Tver looking for a camping ground, but they are almost non-existent in Russia.

So we went online and the nearest thing to a camp that we could find was a hotel with a very big parking space. We drove around Tver again, looking for it, but after circling Tver for some time seeing the river, monuments, churches, and the city centre, we couldn’t find it.

Starovolzhsky truss bridge, Tver, Russia 

Then, after lots of frustrated driving around in really terrible traffic, we accidentally came across Tver’s historic Starovolzhsky truss bridge, and headed across it.

The traffic was relentless. Wiki tells us that there are more cars per 100 residents in Tver, than in most other regions of Russia. We felt that they were all out in force on the day we were there with the amount of traffic we were stuck in!

Rickety bus in Tver, Russia

We had to dodge rickety buses and lots of rusty Ladas to get over that bridge (everything in Tver seemed in various states of decay). After that, we felt we had seen the sights of Tver several times over, so called it quits without finding the hotel, and drove across the bridge out of Tver city.

After about an hour’s driving, we spotted a fuel station that was off the main road. We have to think laterally about where we park safely for the night in Russia but this looked ok. So we drove around the back and parked alongside a truck where we spent a reasonably quiet night, feeling quite safe.

Vanni alongside the Volkhov River, Novgorod at 11 pm 

The next morning, we headed north to Veliky Novgorod (Вели́кий Но́вгород), or just Novgorod. Arriving in the late afternoon to find that no camping grounds existed, we tucked Vanni into a corner of a lovely riverside park that had a concreted area just off the road. 

Later, we became the main attraction for the locals, who promenade along the river walkway to catch the 11pm sunset. Undeterred, we stayed on and found that we were very well placed for a nice walk along the Volkhov River to all of the main sights of Novgorod.

Footbridge over the Volkhov River with Kremlin (UNESCO) behind, Novgorod, Russia

The next morning, we went out to explore those sights. The Volkhov divides Novgorod into two parts called Sophia and Torgovaya. Walking along the river, we soon found a footbridge that took us over to the Sophia side, and straight into the impressive fortified Novgorod Kremlin.

The Kremlin, also called Detinets, is the most ancient of Russia’s preserved kremlins. It was founded by Prince Yaroslav in 1044, and is in the centre of Novgorod. It contains a large number of beautiful historic buildings which collectively, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

St Sophia Cathedral (1045), Novgorod, Russia

Once inside the Kremlin, we first visited the beautiful St Sophia Cathedral. St Sophia’s is the oldest church in Russia, dating back to 1045. This graceful church, is the centre-point of the Kremlin, and full of beautiful icons and frescoes. We found it very peaceful. 

There is also graffiti in St Sophia’s, but not of our time. It was written by ordinary people up until the 15th century, revealing a rich history of the period. Interestingly, St Sophia’s is still the local church, and holds regular services.

Marg with the huge bells of the Novgorod Kremlin, Russia

We also visited the Kremlin’s huge bells and bell-tower; the Palace of Facets with its collection of old Russian arts; some kremlin towers; and the Millennium of Russia statue erected in 1862 to commemorate the starting point of Russian statehood.

Novgorod is Russia’s oldest city, founded in 859. It’s known for the variety and age of its monuments, both inside and outside the Kremlin, and we were looking forward to exploring further.

Kids in the town square, Novgorod, Russia

So we left the Kremlin and walked the short distance into the city centre. As we got there, we saw some kids doing a kind of dance out in the main square. It was interesting seeing local people doing local stuff. 

Situated on the ancient trade route between Central Asia and northern Europe, Novgorod was Russia's first capital in the 9th century. It became known as the medieval centre of trade, the leading partner of the Hanseatic League of 12th–17th cc, and the cradle of Russian democracy. That’s a rich history. 

Leigh at Yaroslav’s Courtyard arcade (UNESCO), Novgorod, Russia 

Wanting to explore more of this history, we checked out the Torgovaya or Trading side of the river. An historic feature of this side is Yaroslav’s Courtyard which used to be the palace of Yaroslav the Wise, Prince of Novgorod in 988-1015. 

The area around his court served as the marketplace but all that’s left of his palace and market now are remnants of the old market arcades, and some imposing historic churches. 

Marg at St Nicholas Cathedral, (UNESCO), Novgorod, Russia

The churches we visited there include St Nicholas Cathedral (1113); the churches of: St John of Opoki (1127); Dormition in the Marketplace (1135); St. Parasceva in the Marketplace (1207); St George in the Marketplace (1356); Transfiguration of Our Saviour (1374); and St. Myrrh-bearers (1508). The Courtyard and churches are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and quite impressive.

The next day, we drove a zigzag route through town and eventually found two more UNESCO sites that we had been told about.

Marg at Exaltation of the Holy Cross Cathedral, St George Monastery (UNESCO), Novgorod

The first was the St George (Yuriev) Monastery built in 1030 by Prince Yaroslav the Wise. It is considered Russia's oldest monastery and includes the stunningly blue-capped Exaltation of the Holy Cross Cathedral built in 1823, the St George Cathedral built in 1119, and a 52-metre-high belfry.

We wandered around for quite a while enjoying the different churches and their frescoes and architecture, all in different states of repair. 

Leigh in wooden Church of St Nicholas, Vitoslavlitsy (UNESCO), Novgorod, Russia

Then we drove to the second site, which was the Vitoslavlitsy Museum, an open-air architectural-ethnographic museum that depicts life in old Russian villages of the 16th – 20th centuries. It sits in about 30 hectares of land, and contains 34 well-preserved wooden churches, houses, and peasants' huts from Novgorod region. We thought it was really interesting.

Then, as it was still quite early and the traffic was very thick, we decided to move on, instead of trying to get back across the river to our riverside parking spot for the night. 

Ancient churches and art, old wooden houses, and historic architecture in Novgorod, Russia

We’d found Novgorod city filled with solid and ancient churches, historic artworks, old wooden houses, and interesting architecture and really enjoyed it; but we needed to get out of town to find overnight camping.

We eventually found a fuel station with a couple of trucks parked there, got a spot looking out at some nice trees, and settled in for the night. We used our earplugs to block the hum of traffic and slept feeling quite safe. The next morning, we drove toward St Petersburg, but that’s in the next blog.

This blog describes part of our 6-month motorhome trip around northern and eastern Europe, which began in Prague.