Showing posts with label Arkhangelsk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arkhangelsk. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Graffiti in Russia



Actually I haven’t seen much graffiti in Russia, far less in the Ukraine and none in Moldovia. But I’ll show you the hidden treasures from Arkhangelsk.


Near the little church, where wedding pictures are shot


On the kai of the beach front


At the stairs to the beach




Related links for this travel:

From Church to Swimming Hall and back again  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/03/from-church-to-swimming-hall-and-back.html

Odessa's Opera  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/03/odessas-opera.html

Travel and Toilets  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/03/travel-and-toilets.html

Red Square (Красная Площадь)  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/03/red-square.html

Cafe Pushkin and Coffee Mania  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/cafe-pushkin-and-coffee-mania.html

The Monastery of Sergiev Posad  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/the-monastery-of-sergiev-posad.html

Black Sea and Arkadia Beach  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/black-sea-and-arkadia-beach.html

The Wooden Church of Izhma  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/the-wooden-church-of-izhma.html

On Renting a Car in Arkhangelsk  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/on-renting-car-in-arkhangelsk.html

Outskirts of Kiev  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/outskirts-of-kiev.html

Statues of old Old Comrades or Leaders  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/statues-of-old-old-comrades-or-leaders.html

New Logic or No Interest in Business  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/new-logic-or-no-interest-in-business.html

The Burnt Muffin  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/the-burnt-muffin.html

Love locks from the Black to the White Sea  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/love-locks-from-black-to-white-sea.html

Antoniyevo-Siysky Monastery (Антониево-Сийский монастырь)  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/antoniyevo-siysky-monastery.html

On changing Moldovan Lei in Odessa  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/on-changing-moldovan-lei-in-odessa.html

The Very Basic Guide to Russian  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html

Crime and Punishment (St. Petersburg)  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/crime-and-punishment.html

Hram Ilias – the hidden silence near the Red Place in Moscow  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/hram-ilias-hidden-silence-near-red.html

Kishinev – the prologue of this year’s travels (2012)  http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/kishinev-prologue-of-this-years-travels.html



Monday, February 18, 2013

The Wooden Church of Izhma



We went to sea the White Sea at Lapominka (Лапоминка) and afterwards we took the car to Izhma (Ижма) to give a closer view to the wooden church there.

Izhma is a village and one wonders how the church could have survived. After 1918 there weren't any churches being built in the Soviet Union, but the villagers maintained their church. Churches had be used as swimming halls and monasteries were made into youth activity centers, but these are other stories to be told in due time. Maybe the church was used a kolkhose meeting center, who knows?

You will see how badly the church is in the inside. But the church still is a landmark and beautiful in its decay from the ourside. You can also see some buildinfgs, which might have belonged to the church; a place for the pope (priest!), a school and other run down buildings.

We had seen another wooden church before at Rechka (Речка) or Padgorje (Подгорье), but only across the river Dvina (Сев. Двира).

As it is uncertain if the Russian Orthodox Church will send a pope to these remote areas, these churches won't last long. So better hurry to see these hidden treasures for yourself.

Wooden Church of Izhma

A look into the inside


The wooden church at Rechka  or Padgorje Bild 3055

Related links for this travel:

On Renting a Car in Arkhangelsk http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/on-renting-car-in-arkhangelsk.html  

Outskirts of Kiev http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/outskirts-of-kiev.html  
Statues of old Old Comrades or Leaders http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/statues-of-old-old-comrades-or-leaders.html

New Logic or No Interest in Business http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/new-logic-or-no-interest-in-business.html  

The Burnt Muffin
http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/the-burnt-muffin.html

Love locks from the Black to the White Sea http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/love-locks-from-black-to-white-sea.html

Antoniyevo-Siysky Monastery (Антониево-Сийский монастырь) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/antoniyevo-siysky-monastery.html  

On changing Moldovan Lei in Odessa
http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/on-changing-moldovan-lei-in-odessa.html

The Very Basic Guide to Russian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html  

Crime and Punishment (St. Petersburg) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/crime-and-punishment.html  

Hram Ilias – the hidden silence near the Red Place in Moscow http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/hram-ilias-hidden-silence-near-red.html  
Kishinev – the prologue of this year’s travels http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/kishinev-prologue-of-this-years-travels.html  



Sunday, February 17, 2013

On Renting a Car in Arkhangelsk



Arkhangelsk (Архангельск) lies up far North (a little above 64° N) and has about 360.000 inhabitants and only little tourism, most of which is happening during summer. So it isn't a big surprise that there aren't any internatiional car rental services. As we wanted to go to Siysky Monastery (Сийский Монастырь), about 160 km South of Arkhangelsk, we needed a car as there isn't any public transport to the lonesome monastery, hidden in between lonesome forests and lakes. Usually there aren't tourists going there but pilgrims. But that's another story, which has already been told.


After own inquieries failed, we went to the tourist ofice, who could help with at least some information. We had to go to Moskovsky Prospect, to the car market and there to a company with the name of Autosale (car sale), but written in Cyrillic it looks like Автосэйл. OK, we've made this, but they didn't have the right car it seemed. Anyway, we waited for the pregnant secretary Larissa, who then had the idea, where we could rent a car. Alexej had to lead us through a maze of backyards until we reached the upmarket Laura car sale (Лаура). After lots of puddles with the size of lakes the lady managing rental affairs looked more like she was going to appear on a catwalk rather than work there. Our destination and the fact that we were staying at Arkhangelsk best hotel earned us the distiction to be able to rent a test car of Laura. Filling out papers took some time, too, but I was quite surprised that my name was now Lothar Manfredovic Kirsch (Лотар Манфредович Кирш).


Renting a car in Arkhangelsk is possible. It may take some time. You need a smattering of Russian and may start at: http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html. It was worth every effort and the experience how things work (patience) was incredible.


Related links for this travel:

Outskirts of Kiev http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/outskirts-of-kiev.html  
Statues of old Old Comrades or Leaders http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/statues-of-old-old-comrades-or-leaders.html

New Logic or No Interest in Business http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/new-logic-or-no-interest-in-business.html  

The Burnt Muffin
http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/the-burnt-muffin.html

Love locks from the Black to the White Sea http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/love-locks-from-black-to-white-sea.html  

Antoniyevo-Siysky Monastery (Антониево-Сийский монастырь) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/antoniyevo-siysky-monastery.html  

On changing Moldovan Lei in Odessa
http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/on-changing-moldovan-lei-in-odessa.html

The Very Basic Guide to Russian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html  

Crime and Punishment (St. Petersburg) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/crime-and-punishment.html  

Hram Ilias – the hidden silence near the Red Place in Moscow http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/hram-ilias-hidden-silence-near-red.html  
Kishinev – the prologue of this year’s travels (2012) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/kishinev-prologue-of-this-years-travels.html  



Sunday, November 4, 2012

The Burnt Muffin


The weather wasn’t all favourable in Arkhangelsk. One day has been quite lousy in fact. The afternoon was nearly ending and my friend’s wife wanted to eat a muffin in an uptown coffee shop. Top prices, top view, top coffee - and this muffin.

During childhood I’ve read a book which played in old times and the cook ran into mischief as soot and a dead bat landed in the fricassee. The host misunderstood the cook and had the black disaster presented to his guests as a foreign, excellent dish - and everyone was enjoying the meal, chattering about how wonderful this meal has been.

Chattering were also the three young women, who run the coffee shop. They were eager to serve and also understood our haltering Russian. The coffee was superb and the view was excellent. We were enjoying ourselves. And a little later the muffin was served. I had a burnt smell in the nose. But my friend’s wife merrily ate parts of the muffin. Then at the core the muffin was burnt! But she said, she enjoyed it up to now. My friend finished some more of it, which astonished me. Usually he would have complained, but he enjoyed the afternoon in the coffee shop and the three young women so much, that he didn’t want to disturb the good vibes by complaining about a little burnt muffin.



Related links for this travel:

Love locks from the Black to the White Sea http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/love-locks-from-black-to-white-sea.html

Antoniyevo-Siysky Monastery (Антониево-Сийский монастырь) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/antoniyevo-siysky-monastery.html  

On changing Moldovan Lei in Odessa
http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/on-changing-moldovan-lei-in-odessa.html

The Very Basic Guide to Russian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html  

Crime and Punishment (St. Petersburg) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/crime-and-punishment.html  

Hram Ilias – the hidden silence near the Red Place in Moscow http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/hram-ilias-hidden-silence-near-red.html  

Kishinev – the prologue of this year’s travels http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/kishinev-prologue-of-this-years-travels.html  

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Antoniyevo-Siysky Monastery (Антониево-Сийский монастырь)


It isn’t easy to get to Antoniyevo-Siysky Monastery (Антониево-Сийский монастырь); only pilgrims usually venture to go there. Why would one go there and what are the difficulties?

The monastery is quite old; it has been founded in 1520. About a century later the father of Michael, first Romanov tsar (цар Михаил Романов), Fyodor Nikitich Romanov (Феодор Никитич Романов) had been exiled in this monastery. So this is an historic spot.

The monastery lies quite close to the M8 and has an easy access, if you have a car. The monastery is about 150 km South of Arkhangelsk and you don’t have public transport. It isn’t easy to rent a car in Arkhangelsk and I’ll tell later, how we succeeded to rent a car. You can have a look at Google maps – here’s the link: https://maps.google.de/maps?q=63.55%C2%B0+N+41.55%C2%B0+E&hl=de&ie=UTF8&ll=63.553522,41.556129&spn=0.00538,0.01487&sll=64.533996,40.577273&sspn=0.010389,0.02974&t=h&z=16.

A winding road next to lakes took us to the gate of the monastery. We’ve seen a couple of perplexed monks as nobody expected tourists coming to the monastery with the holy trinity cathedral. The cathedral has been built on a peninsula of Mikhailovskoye Lake. I’ve read about 13 monks living there and 60 workers. The numbers might not be right, but give an impression. There’s lots of work still to be done to counteract, what time and times have been doing to the buildings. The cloister has been reopened in 1992; before it served different purposes. The last (current?) abbot’s (Архимандриты) name is Varlaam (Варлаам Дульский).

At unter http://siya.aonb.ru/index.php?num=512 you can find an old drawing and compare it with the pictures, I show here.

Coming near to the monastery 



Entering the yard of the monastery



In the yard of the monastery 

Grave of  Antoniyevo-Siysky (Антоний Сийский)

The only modern room one can see, shop for ikona
         
Ikona of Antoniyevo-Siysky/ Прп. Антоний Сийский, современная икона:



You may compare my picture with this link: http://www.sedmitza.ru/data/860/481/1234/10898.jpg
Antoniyevo-Siysky Monastery (Антониево-Сийский монастырь) during Winter http://www.360cities.net/de/image/siya-1-8000#-233.80,26.31,88.1  



Related links for this travel:
On changing Moldovan Lei in Odessa
http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/on-changing-moldovan-lei-in-odessa.html  
The Very Basic Guide to Russian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html  
Crime and Punishment (St. Petersburg) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/crime-and-punishment.html  
Hram Ilias – the hidden silence near the Red Place in Moscow http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/hram-ilias-hidden-silence-near-red.html  
Kishinev – the prologue of this year’s travels http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/kishinev-prologue-of-this-years-travels.html