Work in progress. Contributions of **organized and ready to add** materials on anything between St. Petersburg and Moscow are greatly welcomed. I'm swamped with drafts, notes, and unprocessed photos of my own and will appreciate only fully edited documents. WRITE ME

 

News & announcements - see my GUESTBOOK
Small towns and villages between
Moscow & St. Petersburg,
the Golden Ring,
the Russian North,
and a few other places all unified under
the "rural & small town Russia"
concept

Based mostly on the site owner's trips.

Staritsa

==>>
  The page of the City of Staritsa (Tver region),
around which
this site grew

== >>
The City of Staritsa, RUSSIAN VERSION

Alternative spellings:
Starica, Staritza, Stariza, Staricza....

Between Moscow & St. Petersburg

For accommodation in Moscow see my www.cheap-moscow.com
For accommodation in St. Petersburg see www.cheap-moscow.com/saint_petersburg.htm

 

Types of rural accommodation how to recognize them, their joys and problems, and how to overcome the customary NO in response to "Do you have rooms available?". [MORE]

 

Yet unsorted photos are piled in this GALLERY

 

 

Recommended sites about small-town and rural Russia

Satellite maps that have most of the region between Moscow & St. Petersburg

Central & Eastern  Europe & The Baltic:
www.euromost.info

Russian north-west
www.towns.ru

A comprehensive compilation of Russian cities & towns:
www.city.ru

 

Bicyle trip from St. Petersburg to Moscow along the main highway (yuk) in August 2007 

Istra & New Jerusalem
 Recommended for a day trip from Moscow. Easy to visit on your way from Staritsa. Lots of inexpensive accommodation starting under $10, especially in the winter. 		 

 

 

The hidden agenda is to entice you to my "dacha" near Staritsa for a horse-riding holiday,

to hire me for an individual car trip, or in any other way make you contribute to my work in promoting small-town and rural Russia as a legitimate travel destination. . E-mail me or leave a note in my Guest Book

 

Collective Farm Art  series of photos. Most are from the 70s, the "stagnation" period under Brezhnev. By some reason I find this period's artifacts comforting.

See also my
Photo Gallery/Scrap Book

 

Materials that apply to the entire region between Moscow & St. Petersburg are HERE

 

"Winter is the Soul of Russia"
Let us fool you into
 travelling Russia in the winter
under the slogan of "authenticity". Suppose I can use the same trick
to sell you the services of perhaps the grouchiest travel industry professional ever.

 


Looking for the real thing?
Try

Russian Misery Tourism (c)
 

 

 
Klin
 The road connecting Moscow & St. Petersburg goes through Klin. Also an itinerary that takes you to Staritsa through Sergiev Posad and Dmitrov can easily be made to include Klin. Klin's main attraction is the Tchaikovsky estate.

Note Turbaza Sputnik, a Soviet-era establishment that still has a lot of the period's character and features, as a possible place stay between Klin and Tver.
[Details]
Tver
 Right on the main highway. Planning to stay in Tver? The economic boom has reached this region, and hotel prices skyrocketed. I've thus compiled a list of private apartments that, as of March '05, you could still get for $15-20/night. I visit Tver there regularly and can easily get there from my Staritsa dacha, and you are most welcomed to share with me your Tver-related questions, concerns, or projects.

 NB Mednoye ("Coppersmiths"), 30km from Tver towards St. Petersburg. Italian food. Specialization: cheses. Run by an Italian couple who lives on the premises.  8-920-150-0056.
Volokolamsk
 A convenient place for your last overnight stop when travelling from Saint-Petersburg to Moscow. Swamps around Volokolamsk saw some intense fighting in December of 1941, and the area has an extensive network of museums and monuments dedicated to these events. I'll be adding materials or links related to the Great Patriotic War to the Volokolamsk page soon.

Yaropolets, Volokolamsk district
 One of first Soviet hydroelectric stations was build there under Lenin's direct patronage. Before the Revolution Yaropolets was a major center of arts and culture. For about $30-50 per night you can stay in a well-preserved old estate that now serves as a sanatorium.
Staritsa (Starica)
 A great place for a major stopover during your travels between Moscow and St. Petersburg. My dacha is near Staritsa on the Volga river. Horse riding, rafting, and caves are among the attractions. My present ploy is to entice you there under the slogan of "Winter is the Soul of Russia".
Stepurino
 Nothing touristy in this area, or "zone" as it is designated on maps. Connoisseurs of neglect and decay are invited to the page of Stepurino that is now acquiring sort of a fame thanks to the writing folk I took via the old road from Staritsa to Moscow that passes through through Stepurino, Lotoshino, Volokolamsk, and Istra.  The last one is now becoming famous thanks to New Jerusalem.
Lotoshino
 The last Moscow region town on your way North.  Roads, gas, and cold beer in the summer end here.
Rzhev (German: Rshew)
 Rzhev has a reputation of an organized crime capital of the Tver region. The old Russian tradition of mass street fights is reported to be well and alive in this city. Of thing positive please note an ultra-light airplane factory. $10 th. will get you a flying machine that will take you and 300lbs of your possessions away from it all. Their senior engineer promises to teach even the most difficult student to operate their airplane in 35 hours.
Zubtsov
A good place to stop if 280km to my dacha turned out too long and hard for you. WW2 memorial and water works are among this city's attractions.
Torzhok  (Torjok)
 A pleasant touristy place almost on the Moscow to St. Petersburg highway. An old but still navigable road connects Torzhok and Staritsa. A page on the Town of Torzhok is coming up.
Vyshny Volochek
Officially famous as a hub of waterways connecting Moscow & St. Petersburg.

Note a small felt boot ("valenki") factory in Vyshny Volochek

Note an antique store in the village of Kholokholenka, 20km to Vyshny Volochek if heading north-west to St. Petersburg, 280km from Moscow

Valday
 A huge nature reserve and a system of lakes.  A Mecca of Russian nature tourism.
Ostashkov
 Visit is if you enjoy boat rides. Pleasant, active, inexpensive. Interesting from the WW2 point of view. In my mind Ostashkov will always be remembered for a man on a bicycle with a horse in tow that I failed to photograph for the reason of being struck by the surreal quality of the scene. 
Staraya Russa
 
Novgorod-the-Great & the area
 This city, originally a Viking outpost in the east, is now the center of one of the most economically and socially successful regions of Russia.

Hotel Lubava, Novgorod region, 50km from Novgorod on the St. Petersburg to Moscow highway, after Kholokholnya, ....th km of the highway. Recommended not only to budget travellers (a night + parking + a shot of vodka with a slice of lemon cost me an equivalent of $10) but also to those capable of appreciating the old Soviet charm. [More]

Added August 28, 2007   For authentic, practical, and inexpensive souvenirs I recommend an earth ware factory in Pomeranye, 609th kilometer of M10 if travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, on the right-hand side of the road. Probably about 90th kilometer if travelling from St. Petersburg to Moscow. A fairly large box full of things selected for their appeal rather than prices cost me an equivalent of $50US. 

[MAKE A PAGE ON THE THE SAINT-PETERSBURG TO MOSCOW HIGHWAY, ADD HOTEL LUBAVA, CLAY FACTORY, ANTIQUE SHOP NEAR V. VOLOCHEK,....]
Gatchina
 Almost a suburb of St. Petersburg.  A city build by design yet old enough for its artificial nature to wear out its sharp corners. Recommended to architecture and especially landscape architecture connoisseurs.
Tosno

... Porcelain factory in Pomeranye,  ....th km of the Moscow to St. Petersburg highway

The Golden Ring and detours from it

General Info on the Golden Ring

Sergiev Posad  
Easy to get to from Moscow. The first "Golden Ring" city on your way from Moscow going clockwise. Not too lake to turn to Dmitrov, then go through Klin, and then by the Monastery of Joseph-of-Volokolamks through Stepurino to Staritsa, where I wanted to entice you to start with, especially in the off-season under the slogan of "Winter is the Soul of Russia". One practical value of my Sergiev Posad page is a compehensive list of hostels. Also lots of photos taken in February 2005 to glorify the "Winter is the Soul of Russia" concept.

Khotkovo
A small town with a large population of artists and intellectuals who escaped Moscow in the late 80s or early 90s.

 
Abramtsevo
 
Pereslavl-Zalessky
 
Kashin
 
Kalyazin
Dmitrov
Yaroslavl
Uglich
Myshkin
Vologda...
Vladimir
Suzdal
Murom
  Ivanovo  

Beyond St. Petersburg going North

  Staraya Ladoga
 Now we are beyond St. Petersburg and moving around the Ladoga Lake on our way to Archangelsk.. Staraya Ladoga may be considered Russia's first capital, the role later played by Novgorod-the-Great, then Kiev, and then, when things got real bad, by mean and crass Moscow and a monstrosity of a city St. Petersburg. 		 
Onezhskoye Lake
 
Petrozavodsk

Other directions

 

Marisha,
Your Friend for Hire in Moldova

Marisha's forum
Moscow to Chisinau  by car
This deja vu trip to Marisha, who provides services similar to mine in Moldova, has been postponed and may or may not yet happen. 		 
Ryazan
A recommended Russian Misery Tourism and Russian Women destination.
The Kaluga Region

 

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