Russia's Novgorod

Trading Rows of Klin, Russia

After driving Russia’s Golden Ring in our motorhome Vanni, we were now heading toward the historic city of Veliky Novgorod. But we stopped first at the town of Klin (Клин). Driving in, we noticed a large row of red-brick buildings. They turned out to be Klin’s 19th century trading rows, which are historically, a market or traditional trading place. These days they are used as shops and cafes etc. 

We’d come to Klin to visit Tchaikovsky’s house. He composed the Nutcracker Suite while living here. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find it, so had lunch at a local shop before moving on.

Russian Stop sign in Klin, Russia

Driving out, we passed a road sign saying “cton” which we thought was short for “caution” in English – but it means “stop” in Russian - and we just loved the picture of glasses that accompanied the sign. 

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

Our next stop was Tver (Тверь), where we’d planned to camp for the night. Camping grounds as we know them, are almost non-existent in Russia, so we have to think laterally about where we park safely for the night. 

We’d done some research at home, and identified a hotel with a big parking lot that looked ok online.

Starovolzhsky truss bridge, Tver, Russia

But after lots of frustrating moments circling Tver through massive rush hour traffic looking for it, we accidentally found our way to their famous historic Starovolzhsky truss bridge, which was also the road out of town.

Wiki tells us that there are 288 cars per 1000 residents in Tver, which is above average among other regions of Russia. We felt that they were all out in force on the day we were there!

By then we’d seen City Park, the banks of the Volga River, several churches, many monuments, lots of neo-classic architecture in various states of decay, and of course their bridge; which we were driving on.

Rickety bus in Tver, Russia

After that, we felt we had seen the sights of Tver several times over, so called it quits and drove out. We had to dodge rickety buses and lots of Ladas to get over that bridge! 

Everything here is a little run down, but we did get a sense of its historic past. 

After about an hour’s driving, we spotted a petrol station that was off the main road. We headed around the back and parked alongside a truck where we spent a reasonably quiet night, feeling quite safe.

The next morning, we headed towards Veliky Novgorod (Вели́кий Но́вгород), or just Novgorod. 

Marg and Vanni on the Volkhov River, Novgorod at 11 pm

Arriving in the late afternoon to find that no camping grounds existed, we tucked ourselves into a corner of a lovely riverside park that had a concrete 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. 

The Volkhov divides Novgorod into two parts called Sophia and Torgovaya. The next morning, we walked along the river to explore the Novgorod Kremlin, on the Sophia side.

Volkhov River with Kremlin (UNESCO) behind, Novgorod, Russia

We soon found a footbridge that took us straight into impressive fortified 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. 

Once inside the Kremlin, we visited the Millennium of Russia statue erected in 1862 to commemorate the starting point of Russian statehood; the Palace of Facets with its collection of old Russian arts; some Kremlin towers; the huge bells and the bell-tower, and the beautiful St Sophia Cathedral.

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

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 frescos. 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, it’s still the local church, and holds regular services.

Novgorod is Russia’s oldest city, founded in 859. It’s known for the variety and age of its monuments, both in 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 do local stuff.

Walking about, we found Novgorod city filled with solid and ancient churches, and tree-lined streets. 

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 

Having explored the Sophia side of the river, we then checked out the Torgovaya or Trading side. 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.

The churches we visited included 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 Savior (1374); and St. Myrrh-bearers (1508). The Courtyard and all the churches are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and are quite impressive.

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

The next day, we drove a zigzag route through town and eventually found two sights that we had been told about. 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 a 52-metre high belfry, the St George Cathedral, and the stunningly blue-capped Exaltation of the Holy Cross Cathedral, built in 1823.

Along with the other historic sites in Novgorod, the monastery is a UNESCO Heritage Site.

We wandered around for quite a while enjoying the different churches and their frescoes and architecture, all in different states of repair. Then we drove to our second site, the Vitoslavlitsy Museum.

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

The Vitoslavlitsy is 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 found it really interesting.

It was still quite early at this time and the traffic was very thick. So we decided to move on, instead of trying to get back across the river to our riverside parking spot for the night. 

We made good progress and eventually found a reasonable petrol station with a couple of trucks already parked there. We found ourselves a spot looking out at nice green trees, and settled in for the night. There was a constant hum of traffic passing, but we put in our ear plugs and slept feeling quite safe.

The next morning, we drove north toward St Petersburg.

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