Дело против Навального - Дело против меня.

Navalny is changing the whole course of Russian politics.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16057045

“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
Mahatma Ganndhi
    

Vladimir, Art Centre and some restaurants

The statuette depicting lives of the Russians of 19th century.

The Museum of Local History in Vladimir.

It is as much sad as it is funny.

Vladimir, more sights to see

I've written about some hotels and souvenirs you might bring from Vladimir here and about Vladimir Art Centre here. In this post I 'll write about the Nunnery with mostly preserved frescoes, art gallery, restaurants of Vladimir.

Well, you will certainly enjoy  Uspensky Cathedral: not only Rublev's frescoes but also the rich baroque iconostasis.  However, take a walk around the city: there are many more sights to see.

View Vladimir in a larger map

Vladimir, the Golden Ring of Russia

We went to Vladimir in May but I didn't have time to properly arrange the material so it's a bit late. Here I'm going to write about what guides are like in Russia, our experience of checking in hotels, and nice things you can buy from a souvenir shop.

Vladimir is an administrative centre of the Vladimirsky region about 200 km from Moscow, one of the  cities of the Golden Ring of Russia. Population is about 350 thousand people. The city is older than Moscow(1147),  was founded in 1108.  Since 1157 it was the capital of Russia.

The city is on the Klyaz'ma River and several hills which makes it very picturesque.

It is particularly famous for the Uspensky Cathedral with the restored frescoes by Andrey Rublev and Daniil Cherny (1158) and Dmitrievsky Cathedral (1194). Those are the sights tourists are dragged to by unimaginative tourist agents in Vladimir regardless the fact they could show them more aspects of it.

The picture below is the view of Uspensky Cathedral from the Museum of Local History (ethnographical).

Annual festival "Zerkalo" honouring Andrey Tarkovsky

The festival is called after one of the most remarkable films by Tarkovsky, Zerkalo (the Mirror) 1974.  The film is autobiographical. A famous and irresistible Russian  actress Margarita Terekhova is starring as a protagonist of Andrey's mother.

The beauty of Margarita Terekhova, which the time has spared regardless hard work and much emotional burden of starring in lots of Russian films, is of that rare now kind which enlightens everything around and stands alone, not the kind of "American beauty" that is so standardized that makes people sick. 

The festival takes place at the locations:

A one-day trip to Tver 3

A one-day trip to Tver 1 

A one-day trip to Tver 2 + map

It's high time to tell you about our cafe experience which was truly very pleasant. You know there are towns around Moscow that can boast good cuisine and cosy, stylish restaurants at  prices MUCH lower than those in Moscow. 

However, since the place looked like an ordinary eatery for having snacks,  without any hope for anything special we dropped in Dobrynya Cafe on Sovetskaya street .  

 However, the salad was exceptional. 

A one-day trip to Tver 2

I have started a series of posts about Tver here.

A trip to Tver only takes 1.5-2.5 hours depending on the traffic. Well, for Russians its nothing. In this post I am going to add to the image of Tver as a relaxing and pleasant city.

View Larger Map

The central streets are wide, not cluttered with traffic, clean with impressive architecture enthralling the passers-by.

You can walk both along the Volga or the city centre - anyways you won't be disappointed.

The view from Stepan Razin street across the Volga. 

The Moscow Times June 4th

The following extract is exactly what most people, having access to the Internet or some other sources of information except for official television propaganda, feel like.

The extract is from Vladimir Ryzhkov's article "Guriev is Latest Victim of Putin's Police State".

" ... The new wave of Russian emigration is qualitatively different from that of the 1990s. After the Soviet collapse, Russians emigrated because of the chaos, economic insecurity, widespread poverty and high level of organized crime. Now the most innovative and creative Russians are emigrating because of the complete lawlessness and widespread abuses of the siloviki against law-abiding citizens. Under such conditions, all of the government's ambitious plans for innovation and modernization are meaningless.

When Ivan the Terrible instituted his infamous Oprichnina in Muscovy of the 16th century, nearly one-forth of Russians fled the country in fear, thus leading to the country's defeat in the Livonian War and triggering the period known as the Time of Trouble. Under Putin's police state, we are headed straight for another Time of Trouble in the best-case scenario, if not a total collapse of the Russian State."

The complete text of the article is here. 

Once you're in Moscow the Moscow Times in English is available free in many cafes and restaurants. I normally get it from MacDonald's nearby.

More about repressions of not-alike thinking people here. 

The Hunter's Retreat Video, Valday Hills

I've written about going to the Hunter's Retreat in Valday Hills 1   and Valday Hills 2
Here's the video

The site of the place is here.
Description of hunting activities. 

Serpukhov 2 Hotels, restaurants.

Serpukhov(Serpuhov) is an interesting place to visit for everyone. Here's the post about the churches and attractions of Serpuhov.

However, when it comes to hotels and places to eat, you should probe into the issue beforehand trying to avoid on-the-spot decisions in Serpukhov.

Accommodation.

The option that might look attractive at first sight for frugal tourists is the hotel Iliance (Альянс)  since it's relatively cheap and looks well on-line. It's one of the rare cases when photos give you the impression that  has nothing in common with the reality. A double there is from 1700 = 30 dollars, it's considered to be cheap in Russia.

We always try to go for a cheaper option, however, after we had been shown the rooms