Suzdal

The church at Suzdal monastery
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Our overnight train arrived at 4:50am in Vladimir, so we were all feeling pretty tired when we got to the hotel. Luckily, we were able to get a few hours sleep before we started sightseeing.

We didn't spend much time in Vladimir itself, but used it as a base to explore the nearby medieval town of Suzdal. The first stop was an outdoor museum, displaying wooden houses and churches from hundreds of years ago. It was interesting to see how the Russians lived in these houses - they used to sleep on top of big stone ovens in the winter to keep warm.

Suzdal monastery walls
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Next, we visited Suzdal Monastery, surrounded by big walls and containing several different buildings. Amongst these was a church dating back a few hundred years, with pretty painted murals inside. Here we also got to hear another a capella performance by a group of male singers. The acoustics inside these churches are perfect for a capella singing as the voices echo all around the building.

We got to see the monastery bells being rung here too. There were about 20 bells of all different sizes, and just one man was controlling them by pulling strings and ropes. The performance went for at least 15 minutes, so it must have been a pretty good workout for this guy!

Suzdal Kremlin church
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Next stop was a visit to Suzdal Kremlin, and then we finished the day with another Russian banya (sauna). This one was not as 'rustic' as the other one we visited - it was part of a resort, with many little log cabins built along a river. Our cabin had a little living room where we had tea before the sauna. Although it was nicer than the other one we visited in Pskov, I didn't enjoy it as much - maybe because the other one seemed more authentic and we didn't know what to expect at that stage so it was more of a novelty. It was great though and definitely woke us up a bit after our early morning start.

Where we had our second Russian banya
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The next day we hopped on a bus for the trip back to Moscow, where the tour would end. We had another day free here before our flight to Hungary, so spent it wandering through the markets nearby the hotel (where I bought a few touristy things like a Russian doll and Christmas decorations), and having a final dinner with our new tour friends.