Russia

Hey My Birdies…

Let’s start with my last day of trip to Golden Ring City tour- Vladimir and Suzdal

On the way to our first destination…

I still can’t get over this trip… Last day of my trip… This trip was planned by my partner. As I told in my previous post that we have researched a lot and with that have opted to visit these places and no doubt it was the correct choice… As usual we had started our day from our hotel by 8:00 sharp in morning to avoid well known Moscow traffic. We have booked this trip from Dubai itself and luckily, we were the only passenger for that trip. In short, it became our private trip… Our Guide Mr. Oleg was awesome person and I will surely share his detail below… May be this blog will fall short of words for his appreciation; he was outstanding and very friendly.

Let’s start our trip to Moscow countryside- Vladimir

We started our journey with Vladimir as it was 2 hours’ drive from our destination. The climate was rosy chilled and very pleasant. Soft and shiny sun-rays were pleasing my skin. I enjoyed the ride to Vladimir as country side is very awesome, so much of greenery such a pleasing beauty for eyes. The best part is you will see lots of berry tree and apple tree on the way with lot of Dacha (A farm-house). The trip became more interesting with our guide as I told he was very friendly plus we had lot of interaction with him topics related with Russia including how they live their life, how they celebrate, what are their festivals etc. Trip become more memorable when you get a good company and also, he was so kind that wherever I used to tell him to stop for photography he used too and even he took ample of pics of ours during entire trip.

We were very accurate as per itinerary set for us. We visited golden gates, Assumption Cathedral, Public park which was near to Assumption Cathedral, St. Demetrius’ Cathedral and, they have taken us to the Museum located besides Golden Gates. Our guide has hired a local guide named Ms. Natalia who explained us everything properly about history and place which was quite interesting. After she left, Assumption Cathedral was again explained by our guide Mr. Oleg very nicely. He really explained us each painting on wall, reason behind it, very interesting.

After our tour we headed for our lunch and I must tell being vegetarian this was best meal I ever had in any foreign country so far. He really respected our choice and prepared food accordingly. I didn’t see that he compromised on our food, trip or answering our any questions.

In museum

Suzdal– Yeah… The most beautiful I came across.

Evening view

After a sumptuous lunch in Vladimir, we headed our trip to Suzdal which was approx.1 hour from Vladimir. There also he hired local guide for us named Ms. Natalia. She was so sweet and kind. The beauty of place stole my heart, I kept on murmuring this song “Yeh Mausum ka Jaddu hai Mithwa”, in such a romantic climate. I really fell in love with this place. Beautiful windows and door decorated outside house, trees both the side of road, cozy climate and beautiful people.  I was more interested in photos as I wanted to capture each beautiful angle of that place through my lenses as at last what stay with us is these pictures as memories. We visited Suzdal Kremlin, which was a fortress and a residence of Russian Prince and Museum of Wooden Architecture, which is a recreated Russian village with farm houses, churches, well and wind mills. If you visit this place don’t forget to try their special drink named “honey mead”, which you can find only there. It tasted awesome. Also, Moscow is famous for Vodka, so you can taste different flavors of it, the most popular “premium” Russian vodka in Moscow.

Honey Mead

After a wonderful visit we left for Moscow as it was 2 hours’ drive. We have just listened about Moscow traffic, but we have witnessed it too. We were badly stuck in traffic for 4 hours and reached hotel by 12:45 in night which was terrific. Now I have to say that I witnessed everything. I really liked this Russian people… they are so kind, warm-hearted and helpful, the only problem is communication but even they will go out of their way to explain you or guide you through their gestures/ body language.

Wooden Architecture

Such a memorable trip of the year; meeting new people, places and having awesome experiences. There are many small small memories which are not covered here but they will always stay in my heart forever.  If you want a memorable trip I would strongly recommend him and with this I sign off from here. Thank you all for joining me in this journey. Hope will be very soon with other travel post. Till then be optimist, be happy, as life is precious and comes with lots of Surprises. Take care…

Our Guide- Mr. Oleg and Ms. Natalia

Listed below is our itinerary and contact details of our guide-

Itinerary-

08:00 – Departure from your hotel or meeting point to Vladimir by car.
12:00 – Sightseeing tour of Vladimir including Golden Gates and Assumption cathedral
13:00 – Lunch in Vladimir (included in the cost). Let us know in advance if you are a vegetarian or require any other diet.
15:00 – Tour of Suzdal Kremlin, which was a fortress and a residence of Russian Prince and Wooden art museum, which is a recreated Russian village with farm houses, churches, well and wind mills.
17:00 – Departure to Moscow.
21:00-23:00 – Arrival to Moscow.

Guide-

Mr. Oleg Alexandrov.
Inbound Tour Operator (Moscow, Russia)
http://www.threewhales.ru/
+7-916-586-0804 (24 hour phone, English)
(you can also find him and his details on tripadvisor)

***THANKYOU***

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Hey My Birdies…

Let’s start with our second day trip to Golden Ring City tour- Sergiev Posad.

We started our day early in morning as there is a traffic issue in Moscow. So our guide was punctual enough and we left hotel by 8.00 Am. Before we start let me give you small info about Golden Ring. The ‘classical’ route starts from Moscow, goes through Vladimir, Suzdal, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Rostov Velikiy, Pereslavl-Zalesskiy, Sergiev Posad. All cities and towns are located relatively close to each other at countryside of Moscow, the ‘Golden Ring’ forms a ring, so from one place you can reach to another and make a circle until you get back to the one you started with. Our Itinerary was planned in this way- Visiting Matryoshka Doll Museum and then Sergiev Posad which is 2-hour drive to the UNESCO- listed monastery and for evening I have personally planned a Moscow boat ride. This was again a fun filled day with awesome experiences. We have also covered certain monuments through our vehicle, here are the glimpse of few..

Let us start with Matryoshka Doll Museum-

Our guide has explained very beautifully about history of these dolls and how children used to play with these dolls and now it has become tradition in Moscow. It is a small wooden doll, in a cylindrical shape, painted to resemble a peasant woman in a traditional sarafan dress holding a rooster. These dolls are made in set of 5, 7, 15, 25 and each doll opens to reveal a smaller doll, which opens in turn to reveal yet another doll, and so on. Each doll is decorated with brightly colored clothing and bears a small smile, pink cheeks, blonde hair, and a headscarf, of course with few glitters on it.

When I heard about making of this doll I wished to make one for me and guess what our guide has planned a workshop for us where we have painted our own dolls. Well from making of this doll from wood to painting it, was an awesome experience. We had purchased certain souvenirs from museum and yes, we have taken this painted doll with us as a gift of remembrance from our guide.  We further traveled to our next place followed with lunch and being a veggie, I had to survive on bread and butter but lucky enough to have that.

Sergiev Posad-

It is one of the oldest cities on the Golden Ring and a spiritual centre of Russia. It is home to the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra (also known as the Trinity Monastery of St Sergius) which is included on the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our guide has hired one local guide and she explained us about Monastery and every picture which was painted on wall. I must say it has a very beautiful and interesting history. One thing which I appreciated was whenever they have to mention “peter” they used to say “Peter the great” which is so good to listen and respectful.

After wandering through entire monastery, we have been given half hour time to roam around nearby area. There was a street close to Monastery with lot of shops in a line where you can shop souvenirs, handmade woollen shrugs, sweater, tops, dolls etc.. The breeze was getting cold with shiny sun on sky so in short it was a very rosy climate. All over the day was good and we left for our hotel which took us another 2 hours to reach.

Moscow Boat Ride-

We reached hotel by 5.00 in evening and as I wanted to do boat ride, I got freshen up within 5-7 minutes. With me few people from our tour joined and we took the help of receptionist, she arranged cab for us and as we wanted to catch Radisson Boat we left immediately but unfortunately till the time we reached their boat was full and didn’t get any ticket to be on board. But as I have surfed a lot about it I didn’t wanted to give up on my plan and hence we all went to another boat depo which was another 20-min walk. Yes, we walked and found a local boat, so after negotiation with lady we purchased a ticket and we all boarded the boat. It was a complete new experience for us as we were seating with locals. It was a 3-hour trip and it started with juices but guess what here also we struggled with food. We did carry some snacks with us on which we survived in chilling cold for 3 hours. Even the chef was very kind he gave us two bowls of freshly prepared salad each. It was a weekend, started with live music and people were having fun with their families, partners, friends. I guess we were the only Asians in that boat. But as I said in my previous post that Russians have welcomed us open heartedly. They made us dance with them on their music feat. I saw a couple dancing completely lost in each other, in their own romantic way, kissing each other, holding each other… it was so romantic that it just lightened me up from inside. I always wanted to have this type of romantic dance with my partner and when I saw couple performing dance it was like I was living my dream with an open eye. The boat ride was awesome…

City looked more beautiful but more than city I was amazed with locals. We were back to our destination and, so we again took help of locals to understand the route for our hotel.

There I met a Lady “Larrisa” as she knew English and she made us understand the route to metro with help of her husband. I don’t know what connected between us, but she hugged me, she praised me for my eyes, features and skin tone. We had a nice chat about boat ride, their lifestyle, Moscow, and so on. She was little drunk, so she was not in a mood to leave me but thanks to her husband… 😉 Some people just leave there footprints on your heart within moments…

 Metro Friend- After the boat ride we took metro and guess what I made a friend there, her name is Jane. The good part was she knew English and she helped us till our stop. We got connected so easily as if we knew each other since long. She shared with me about her goa trip and her profession and yes, still we are connected on social site. Its a blessing to meet such lovely people in different country.

The entire journey went so smooth, enjoyed so much, met so many people, made new friends and finally we reached to our hotel in night 12:30. Such a lovely day it was, still so fresh in my mind. I hope you all have feel my experience. Till then be optimist, be happy, as life is precious and comes with lots of Surprises. Take care…

Stay connected for last day of my Trip…

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Hey My Birdies…

Hope you all are doing great… I am back with another travel post… Moscow (South Russia).

This time I am super-duper excited to share all my experience which I have come across during my trip. It’s very important to be a traveller than a tourist when you visit any new destination and yes, I always like to do that. This is my 3^rd trip to another country. I have taken a 4 day and 3-night package from a travel agent and modified trip as per my requirement. So, my dear angels let’s start with our trip to Moscow.

Day 1- Moscow- Here We Come

After a long 6 hours flight, finally we have reached to destination Moscow around 9 Am in morning at Domodedovo International Airport. We had a stay in Hilton Garden Inn Moscow Krasnoselskaya and were supposed to get room by 2.00 in noon, so we had a Moscow city tour planned straight after our arrival to Moscow. I know it sounds hectic but when a small kid inside you is excited to explore new places then who cares. So, I quickly got ready and headed to our planned city tour…

Well frankly speaking I hate city tour they show you major places in vehicle itself where you can’t take pictures properly and its very hasty. But the positive side is that you are made aware of the city with this quick tour and it’s easy to relate places you have planned to visit latter on. Our guide has given us brief intro about Russia and specially about Moscow and the tradition/ Culture they follow. Well you will be shocking to know that there are 600 churches/ Cathedral in Moscow itself. Also, it has been called as golden ring city which is in a circle and all domes are in golden. And I really liked the way they say and show respect towards “Peter the great” and call themselves as “Moscovite”. Also, the thing you will notice in Moscow is that there are more working women who take care of their families.

Longest building in Moscow

While heading towards Red square we have covered few things itself seating in vehicle like old constructed building, Novodevichy Convent, Monument to Marshal Zhukov, Karl Marx Monument, Solovetskiy Stone, St. Basil’s Cathedral and Gum mall followed with Red Square which is a major attraction. Red square was closed due to certain events taking place as school children were celebrating their new year. Unfortunately, we had to cover Red square from outside only.

We had visited Gum mall which is close by to Red square and there we had an ice-cream which is famous and best seller for 50 Rubels. It’s a Nice break after a tiring walk. We had lots of photo-shoot near with people and places, this is how we collect memories and cherish it. After a 1 hour walk at Red square we headed to our hotel.

Red Square Shops

Red Square

In evening we had to visit Old Arbat street that too by metro as I have surfed a lot about it and most people have reviewed to travel from metro to have a good experience and it is one of the oldest built metro station. Well the only difficulty we found was in language as most of them don’t know English. But I must say this people were so helpful toward us and guiding us through gesture/ body language. Also, I am thankful to Receptionist of our hotel she has guided us the route very well.

Old Arbat Street

The fun of exploring new place is always by walking, so we did the same. We walked from our hotel to metro station to our destination heading towards Old Arbat street. There was guy we meet him at metro station who has helped us and took us till that street as he saw us struggling with the language. I clicked many pictures and videos while walking towards that street. People are terrific… there is open music played on street and people love to dance in their own way… What a cheerful crowd, vibrant and energetic atmosphere…in-short you start feeling that you are part of them… Couples holding hand, boys carrying their ladylove on their shoulder, in their arms and it was so happening… The entire street was busy with guitarist, magic show, dancers, singers, painters, etc. You feel so good to see them enjoying things in their way and in their own style. As we were carving for food specially veg food, we encountered a hotel and they have prepared delicious food for us.

Way to metro Station

My entire day was so memorable made by this people… It’s a stated fact that sometime more than a place, people make a difference and add more moments to your memories. I felt like they have opened their arms to welcome us and were so excited to see Asians in their city… I do remember when we were heading back to our hotel after tiring day, there were few people walking on street and greeting us with smile saying “namaste”. I guess this moments are more memorable than places. I really loved this Moscow whites, so kind, warm hearten and nice people.

I hope you enjoyed my day 1 journey. Till then be optimist, be happy, as life is precious and comes with lots of Surprises. Take care…

Stay connected for day 2…

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