<EE10D1> Golden Ring of Russia 10Days
View: St. Petersburg, Catherine Palace, Moscow, Sergiev Posad, Suzdal, Spaso, Vladimir
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Day 01 USA – St. Petersburg
Our Russian holiday begins with an overnight flight to St. Petersburg, the second largest city of Russia.
Day 02 Arrival at St. Petersburg
Upon arrival, we begin our sightseeing tour. Founded by Emperor Peter the Great in the 18th century as Russia’s “Eye on the Baltic”, St. Petersburg was the capital for more than 200 years. Today this city is often called the “Northern Venice” because of the great number of rivers and canals.
The wonderful “white nights” from June to July attract multitudes of tourists each year. Our tour shows us the magnificent St. Isaac’s Cathedral. Tonight you may like to participate in the optional Neva River Cruise.
Day 03 St. Petersburg – Peterhof – St. Petersburg
We drive to Peterhof, a palace situated on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, this was the most beautiful of all the summer palaces of the Russian Tsars. The most impressive features are perhaps the Grand Palace and Cascades, magnificent fountains with hosts of mythical golden figures.
Later, a hydrofoil ride takes us back to St. Petersburg. A visit to the State Hermitage Museum, one of the four largest art and cultural museums in the world, also known as the Winter Palace, has been arranged.
Tonight, since Russian opera, ballet, and circus are famous throughout the whole world, if available, you may like to see a fantastic performance of the Russian Ballet.
Day 04 St. Petersburg – Pushkin – St. Petersburg
This morning we travel outside St. Petersburg to the lovely city of Pushkin, formerly called Tsarskoye Selo or the Tsar’s Village. The Catherine Palace in Pushkin ranks as one of the masterpieces of world art; this beautiful Baroque style building was built by Peter the Great and given to his wife Catherine, and was used as the summer residence of the Imperial family during the time of the Russian Tsars. The palace contains a series of magnificent rooms, including the celebrated Amber Room.
In 1937, under Stalin, Tsarskoye Selo was renamed Pushkin, after the most celebrated poet in the Russian language, who lived there early in the 19th century. Before leaving, taking a picture in front of the statue of Russia’s greatest poet, Pushkin, is a “definite must”.
Day 05 St. Petersburg – Moscow
We board a flight for Moscow, the capital of modern Russia. We start our sightseeing tour immediately upon arrival, including visits to Red Square,the Armory Chamber, the Kremlin, Cathedrals of the Assumption, Annunciation, Archangel, Deposition, and the Twelve Apostles. Known as a massive, red-walled city within a city, containing many monuments of history and a residence of the Tsars and subsequent rulers, the Kremlin is absolutely the symbol of Russia per se, to which might be added the world famous Red Square, originally market place, later, used for the May Day Parade of soldiers and military hardware during the Soviet era (1917-1991).
The Armory Chamber is the oldest museum in Russia, contains not only ancient weapons and armor, but also glorious royal jewels. Later, we enjoy a view of Moscow State University.
Day 06 Moscow
We continue our city tour of Moscow with a morning visit to the Exhibition of Economic Achievements, which was the best known tourist attraction before the breakup of the USSR, but is now the showcase of private entrepreneurship.
After lunch, the tour takes us to the St. Basil’s Cathedral, which, with it colorful onion domes, is surely the most remarkable example of 16th century Russian Orthodox ecclesiastical architecture.
Before the end of the tour, we will visit the pride of every Muscovite, the amazing, spick and span, Moscow Metro. Tonight, if you desire, an optional tour of the world famous Russian Circus performance will be offered.
Day 07 Moscow – Sergiev Posad – Suzdal
We drive North-East to Sergiev Posad, the most popular town in the Russian “Golden Ring”, the name given to a circular tourist itinerary, comprising of group of ancient and historic Russian towns North-East of Moscow, which, taken together, form a circle on the map.
The Golden Ring includes unique monuments of ancient Russian architecture from the 12th to the 17th centuries, comprising Moscow itself, Sergieve Posad, Suzdal, Vladimir, and Bogolyubovo, each of which towns is in itself an important part of Russian history and culture. Upon arrival at Sergiev Posad, we visit Holy Trinity St. Sergius Monastery (formerly known as the “Zagorsk Monastery”.) This monastery is the largest and most famous monastery in Russia.
Our tour includes admission to St. Sergius Cathedral, the grounds and the Chapel at the Well. We then continue to Suzdal, the most beautiful and best preserved town in the Golden Ring.
Day 08 Suzdal
Suzdal is truly a gem of the Golden Ring, where medieval fortresses and churches are complemented by elaborately carved and painted cottages. It has retained its original layout as well as a huge number of medieval monuments, many of which are on the UNESCO list.
We have enough time to tour this amazing city, with visits to the Suzdal Kremlin, the Pokrovsky Monastery, and the fascinating open-air Museum of Wooden Architecture, which boasts exceptionally well-preserved examples of churches, peasant houses, windmills, and barns. The Suzdal Kremlin contains several streets of houses, some churches, and a beautiful monastery with blue and gold domes. We will also see the Spaso-Efimievsky Monastery, and History and Art Museum.
Day 09 Suzdal – Vladimir – Moscow
After breakfast, we are free at leiure until we bid farewell to the historic city of Golden Ring, Suzdal, and travel to another ancient city, Vladimir. Upon arrival at Vladimir, we start our tour with views of the Monastery and the Cathedral of St. Demetrius, or Dmitrovsky Cathedral.
The Dmitrovsky Cathedral is a church building of straightforward design, but with walls covered with splendid carvings of saints and the figures of kings, animals, birds, plants and scenes of mythological or religious topics.
We then visit to the Assumption Cathedral, followed by the Golden Gate, which is the only remaining 12th century structure of that kind in Russia. The white-stone massive building survived 800 years of history and still looks impressive.
Lunch is served in a local restaurant. Later in the afternoon, we depart for Moscow, and enjoy a farewell dinner at our hotel.
Day 10 Moscow – USA
We board the homebound international flight, bidding a fond farewell to Russia!
***** Peony *****
