Day 5 - Tuesday: Yaroslavl

The next town was Yaroslavl, the capital of the district with about 600,000 people that was founded in the early 11^th century. It was the capital of Russia for four months in 1612, as the Russians gathered their forces to send Polish invaders packing (I think). The monastery there was large and seemingly rich until Catherine the Great stopped their money and it closed down.

Monasteries and kremlins tend to have multiple churches

Monks' quarters and beehives in the shape of houses

We visited a puppet theatre with some very cute dolls, including several versions of the witch Baba Yega's house, which goes around on (often chicken) feet.

Witch's house, skating

The highlight of the tour was the Church of Elijah the Prophet, which has the original seventeenth and eighteenth century frescos in very good condition as the church is a summer one and is closed during the winter. While I guess I was expecting the walls of icons, I hadn’t expected the frescos that cover the walls and ceilings of churches. As the guide explained, for illiterate people, the frescos were their guide to the bible stories.

We wandered the local market, buying some Red October brand chocolate and trying kvass, a mildly fermented soft drink that I think of now as the Russian equivalent of vegemite: an acquired taste.