Yaroslavl

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Our ship arrived in Yaroslavl around 8 am and we boarded the buses for our shore excursion around 8:30.  Yaroslavl is a city of over 600,000 and was founded by Prince Yaroslavl the Wise in 1010.  The coat of arms of the city is a bear, as according to legend, the city site was where the Prince killed a bear.  We started our tour in a museum where we saw a few paintings, but the highlight was the beautiful lacquered boxes that are made of paper mache.  Some of the boxes take 2 years to make.  The least expensive one we saw was $57 (tiny) and the most expensive one was over $3,000.  The boxes were exquisite and quite a few people seemed to be buying them.  Next we stopped at the local market, where we tasted Russian cheeses, ham, tomatoes and pork fat.  The market was very large and impressive.  We visited the Church of Elijah the Prophet and also Assumption Cathedral.  There were beautiful icons and frescos in both.  We learned today that the color of the domes is significant: gold symbolizes God, green Life and blue the Virgin Mary.  There is a war memorial near Assumption Cathedral that has guards and an eternal flame.  A short walk along the river took us to Millennium Park, which was built to commemorate Yaroslavl’s 1,000 year anniversary.  After lunch on the ship (with an artist and a judge from Palm Springs CA), we set sail and passed the Convent of Tolga, and the picturesque town of Tutayev.  We went through the Rybinsk lock and saw the statue of “Mother Volga.” Here the ship enters the Rybinsk Reservoir, which is 94 miles long and 40 miles wide, with sixty rivers feeding into it.  It was part of Stalin’s “Great Volga Plan” of 1932.  About 700 villages were deliberately flooded and the public was not informed in advance.  Instead of relocating, some residents chained themselves to their homes and drowned.  We attended a lecture this afternoon about Russian history from 1917-1985.  It was quite interesting to hear the history of the “Soviet times” from a Russian perspective.  One of the ship’s tour guides, Yekaterina gave the presentation.  She told of her mother’s memories of the assassination of JFK and said that many Russians cried and grieved, as Kennedy was their favorite U.S.  president.  Jay had pink reindeer for dinner and Barbara had something called salmon-trout.  We dined with a friendly couple from Gainesville FL.

Photos

The temperature was in the low 60s again today and perfect for sightseeing in this interesting town.

© JAY DEITCH 2020