Whirlwind Day Trip To Vladimir, Russia

I woke up around four in the morning in order to shower and get ready for the trip to Vladimir.  I was headed there for Saturday afternoon work meetings, but due to fear of too many dachers heading out of the city early in the morning, I decided to leave at 5:00 AM to ensure I didn’t get caught in the dacha traffic.  

 

The dacha is the traditional weekend summer Russian retreat.  The dacha (not a made up word) is basically a cottage and Russians head off to dacha on nice weekends to enjoy nature, do a little gardening and so on.  “Dachers” (…this is a made up term of my creation) are those who go to Dacha.  Since my visit to Vladimir fell on a beautiful warm autumn day we had legitimate concerns that there might be a mass exodus from Moscow to the country.

 

It turned out leaving at 5:00 AM gave me plenty of time to get to Vladimir.  I arrived around 9:30 in the morning and had a few hours before and after my work obligations to walk around the city, explore churches and enjoy a good meal.  

 

Vladimir is part of what is now known as the “Golden Ring.”  The Golden Ring is a series of smaller cities and towns of historic importance from the medieval days of Russian history.  The cities are filled with churches and other historic buildings and a ton of general history.  Vladimir was at one point the main seat of power for Russian rulers.  Depending on whom you ask the city was either founded or rose to prominence under Vladimir Monomakh, hence the name Vladimir, in the 12^th Century.

 Vlady was the father of Yury Dolgoruky, who founded Moscow but ruled his principality from here in Vladimir.  

 

The decline of Vladimir began on February 8, 1238 when the Mongols and their Tartar buddies, led by Batu Khan, sacked and burned the city killing many of the inhabitants including Vladimir’s grand prince and all his family. (Hard to believe the Mongols were out sacking cities in the middle of Russia’s winter…they were clearly some tough dudes…way too cold for me!).

 

Vladimir never really recovered from the Mongol attack.  While it remained a seat of power for many more years gradually the principalities of Moscow took precedence, though the highest title a Russian ruler could achieve remained Grand Prince of Vladimir until the 14^th century when the capital was officially moved to Moscow.

 

Today Vladimir is a mid-sized Russian city of about 300,000 inhabitants.  It sits on the Klyazma river and is most famous for it’s churches (most importantly Assumption Cathedral and the Cathedral of St. Dmitry) and the Golden Gate.  Both the Cathedral of St. Dmitry and Assumption Cathedral sit atop a bluff overlooking the city.  At one point these bluffs were part of the defensive wall that would have protected the city from invaders.  

 

The small Cathedral of St. Dmitry was built at the end of the 12^th century.  This Cathedral is famous for it’s carvings, adorning the exterior of the building, which depict the biblical story of King David.  The carvings are unique and quite interesting.  It is quite uncommon in Russia to find churches with extensive exterior carvings such as this.

 

 

The larger Assumption Cathedral sits within a walled complex that would have been used as a final point of defense during an attack on the city.  This church was also built in the 12^th century and has a lovely exterior as well as a dark and mysterious feeling interior with many old and fading frescos.  This church was built to house the Orthodox Metropolitan when cultural and religious center of Rus was moved from Kiev to Vladimir in the late 12^th century.

 

From the central spot where the Cathedrals sit you can follow the main street (Bolshaya Moskovskaya…Big Moscow Street…or the Big Street that Leads to Moscow) westward until you come across the famous Golden Gate.

  The Gate is a massive white fortress with a golden dome.  The Gate was once the central entry point into the city and connected to the defensive walls (some of which remain in the form of a large hill, next to the gate). 

 

When standing on the remnants of the walls or within the Golden Gate itself you are standing where Vladimir’s defenders actually stood their ground fighting desperately against, the ultimately victorious, Mongol hordes in 1238.  Within the Golden Gate there is a military museum.  The museum is not particularly impressive except for the great diorama of the defense of Vladimir in 1238.  It’s an interactive diorama with sounds and lights and it has both English and Russia narration.  I highly recommend it, as witnessing the diorama display really gives you a feel for the events that transpired on the ground you walk…plus it’s only two dollars.

 

 

After seeing some of the historic sites I decided I wanted to get a bit better feel for what life in the city is like now.  I wandered the streets looking at the very old and interesting wooden houses, something you don’t see too much in Moscow or many other cities where the old wooden homes were obliterated in the Second World War and replaced with your standard Soviet style high rise.  

 

After strolling aimlessly for a bit I entered the open market and meandered about for an hour or so before going home.  The market was great.  It was funny to see people’s shock and my presence.  One lady asked me if I was Moldovan…which was odd…she could see I wasn’t Russian but figured I must be from a former Soviet country…so I guess I look Moldovan.  Another lady asked my Russian traveling companion straight out…“what is he doing here, shouldn’t he be shopping at Dolce Cabana” as I bought some socks from here.

 My friend replied…”you know American’s their just kinda odd like that.”  It was a fun experience checking out the shops, buying fresh produce and finally seeing where the Russian girls buy their amazingly sexy winter boots.  Believe it or not but stiletto heeled thigh high boots are practical winter apparel in Russia (but boots are for another blog on another day!).

 

Having finished the touring for the day I headed home with my companions.  It was a rather uneventful trip other than our car was pulled over twice.  Once for speeding and once at a random check point.  Both stops were without major incident though I found it slightly humorous when the cop at the 2^nd stop looked at our driver and said…”you look like someone who might be a drug addict, so we’re going to search your car,” which the proceeded to do.

  Thankfully our driver turned out not to be a drug addict and all was well.  I arrived back in Moscow at 6:00 PM, 13 hours after my early morning departure.