TelinFyodor

   Vologda is the main city in Vologda oblast, situated 400 kilometers from Moscow. I have been there for several times, and despite its poor condition I like it very much. Vologda is one of those places where many features of Russian culture have been preserved. It's good that in 2000s--a time of big prices for oil and a rise of the Russian economy--Vologda had no great influx of money. Therefore, beautiful historic buildings of Vologda were not demolished and replaced by ugly shopping malls and apartment blocks. So, Vologda is a place where the spirit of old Russia remains, however ruined its condition may be in some parts of the city.        This time I arrived there by train. When I travel by the train I like the night trains. You can spend the night sleeping and arrive at your destination in the morning, around sunrise. I wrote "sunrise" just formally, since actually Russia cannot boast of many sunny days during wintertime. Usually the sky has a ...

Yesterday, after visiting Yegoryevsk, we were returning home by way of the road to Likino-Dulyovo.  The rest of the day was open, and I decided to take a look at a monastery that was located near our route. . The entrance to the monastery is situated several meters from the road, and has a small parking area in front of it. This is the entrance to the monastery.  The town of Kurovskye is not a popular tourist spot, like the entire eastern part of the Moscow region, so Transfiguration Monastery of Guslitsy doesn't attract many visitors.  In fact, I think that--other than the woman in the photo above--I may have been the only out-of-towner there at the time. Transfiguration Monastery was founded through an initiative of Emperor Alexander II in 1858.  The main purposes of the new monastery were missionary work and the education of children.  The area where the monastery is situated was called Guslitsy in that time, and it was inhabited almost entire...