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During August 2008 I took a cruise on the River Volga embarking on the MV Lomonosov after a three nights stay in Moscow, which included a visit to nearby Zargorsk, one of the oldest towns in Russia and considered to be the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church.  Moscow is almost 850 years old and currently exists amid rapidly changing political and economic conditions.  Moscow represents a dizzying array of the new, the alienation and quaint, the shabby and sparkling.  The first stop along the river was at Uglich founded by Kieran Prince Igor around 937. However 1448 is the date that Uglich is first mentioned in the chronicles as it's recognised founding.   The next stop was Yaroslavl, dating back to the 11th Century when Prince Yaroslavl the Wise founded it. Of note is the 13th Century Spassky Monastery.  Some 128 kilometres to the north east we stopped at Kostroma, famous for its Ipatievsky Monastery, where the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty accepted the throne.  Nizhny Novgorod, our next stop, was founded by Grand Duke George II of Russia in 1221 at the confluence of two most important rivers of this principality, the Volga and the Oka.  During the communist tome this city was closed to foreigners to safeguard the security of Soviet military research.  The 1000 year old Kazan, our next stop, is also called the "The World Capital of Tatars" at the crossroad of the ancient trade routes, joining Europe and Asia, East and West.  The river turns south and took us to Ulyanovsk, one of the oldest cities in Povolzhye, was founded in 1648 as a fortress and named Simbirsk until 1924, when it was dedicated to its famous son Vladimir Ilic Ulyanov (Lenin).  It is now a large industrial centre and famous for the UAP automobile and an air company 'Volga-Dnepr'. Next stop,  Samara is situated on a high left bank of the Volga, where the river Samara flows into it.  It is a large Transport station, river port and airport.  Also an industrial centre and home of "Rossia" chocolate.  It was earmarked as a second capital of the Soviet Union, if Moscow had been captured, and Stalin hid one of the super secrets of World War II here - his secret bunker!  The penultimate stop on the cruise was at Saratov dating back to 1590.  Now become the largest commercial and industrial centre supplying other regions with textiles, cast-iron, machine production, flour, salt and grain.  We finally docked at Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, the site of the one of the greatest battles of WWII, fought in the Don and Volga Steppes.  It lasted over 6 months and involved more than 2 million men, over 2000 tank, 26,000 guns and mortars, as well as over 2000 planes.  After disembarkation, we flew up to St Petersburg for a three night stay, before returning home.  Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd (1914–1924) and Leningrad (1924–1991). It is often called just Petersburg.  Saint Petersburg is often described as the most Western city of Russia. Among cities of the world with over one million people, Saint Petersburg is the northernmost. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Russia's political and cultural centre for 200 years, the city is sometimes referred to in Russia as the northern capital. A large number of foreign consulates, international corporations, banks and other businesses are located in Saint Petersburg.

This page was last modified on Thursday January 29, 2009