Out in the provinces – a very different view – Goritsky only has 600 inhabitants and Kirillov not a lot bigger – low socio-economic, small, old wooden houses, no running water inside any but the newest houses, bath-house in the backyard, houses heated by a stove, some painted lovely bright colours. Homes have vege gardens and grow wide variety of food and also lots of foraging in forests for mushrooms & berries. Only a few types of mushrooms out of a large number are edible and apparently the cranberry liquer is deadly in anything but small doses! Very very cold here in winter! None too warm today! Ded Moroz – the Russian Santa Claus lives here in nearby town of Velikiy Ustyug.
Visited a wooden house restoration centre where old houses are restored using traditional methods – taken apart, each piece numbered, replaced if necessary and refitted then taken apart again for relocation and reinstitution. Also visited a childrens’ creative art centre aimed at revival and teaching of traditional arts such as use of birch bark for models and toys, lace making, bead work & other. Tried traditional Russian gingerbread (Pryaniki) today too – more like a sweet bun & not ginger as we know it. Did not try famous Vologda butter – 83% fat with a nutty taste I’m told.
Last stop was a very old monastery – fortified walls around 10 hectares! In 17th century was strongest fortress in Northern Russia. Once had 500 monks, now only 6! Monks carried out labouring tasks to boost the workforce. Beautiful grounds and buildings but what a job to restore with very low incomes.
This area of Northern Russia is very wooded with large numbers of animals – bears, squirrels, wolves, grouse, ducks etc so popular for hunting and a number of small houses are kept as second homes for this purpose. Very picturesque and vast.
Entertained in evening by 2 very talented young musicians playing balalaika and accordion – both have won national competitions – moonlight on the boat as musicians and photographers to help pay for further studies! Have purchased CD so Russian music at home to accompany Russian dinners.
Comments
Comment by david and julie on 2011-08-31 00:40:03 -0700
You seem to be very at home in Russia, even if no running water. We look forward to a Russian dinner and being entertained with Balalaika music + Mark doing some Cossack dancing perhaps??
