Yaroslavl

My brother told me the legend of Yaroslavl’s foundation:

In the 11th Century, Prince Yaroslavl was investigating the region for trading opportunities when the local people set a bear on him, attempting to drive him away. The Prince fought the bear – a sacred bear, apparently, and female – and won. Soon afterwards, he decided to found a city on that spot.

It’s certainly hard to go far in central Yaroslavl without finding some image of the bear, usually carrying a halberd. And in a park by the river there’s a foundation stone, commemorating the place where the bear was fought and/or Yaroslavl founded the city.

For a visitor, there’s not a huge amount to do in Yaroslavl. (For a group of students like my brother and his friends, the major activities seem to be sitting in cafés and bars, eating and drinking, as well as attending classes.) I stole my brother away from Frekkenbokken and Your Bar and Cocktail Bar, to see the major sights.

First stop: the Kremlin.

It’s a far less grand place than the Moscow Kremlin: the walls are plain, the buildings monumental but not to the same degree; it’s a peaceful, quiet place. We watched newly married couples walk around the green, garden-like area, having photos taken against the lovely backdrop.

(Yes, I am in all of those photos – one of my brother’s friends was quite camera-happy, and my brother and I decided it would be a good idea to have lots of photos to send our gran for Christmas, to displace the shrine for our cousins. ;D)

Then we climbed to the top of the belltower, which involved a wide array of stairs not always designed for tall people in mind. Eventually our unfit selves reached a roof, of sorts: all angled and a little bit alarming, although a sturdy rail kept us on it. The views were beautiful.

Second stop: churches! Yaroslavl is known for containing a lot of these; we visited 3. Firstly we went to one that caught my eye from the belltower, the Church of the Epiphany (I think?).

The bit we saw inside was not as magnificent – but then, nothing can compete with the Church of Elijah the Prophet, which inside looks like this:

It is impossible to tire of such beauty.

Finally, we went to the Assumption Cathedral, which is very shiny. The most shiny part of all was the area where people could buy shiny golden things of their own.

Aand that was Yaroslavl. We went on a day-trip to Kostroma, another Golden Circle town, which turned out to be fairly entertaining; we hung out in cafés; I spent some time working on the Turkmen YA novel; I realised that I really do love sushi rolls. It was very good to hang out with my brother, who I don’t see very often these days. Sometime next year, I will be visiting him again, in St Petersburg!

People kept asking me while I was there, and when I got home, what I thought of Russia. Well, that’s a slightly impossible question. I found what little I saw of the country interesting and enjoyable, and I definitely want to return and see more of it, beyond next year’s short trip to St Petersburg.