Russia’s Golden Ring, a network of picturesque medieval towns north of Moscow, is once again beginning to sparkle, said Celestine Bohlen in The New York Times. A gradual post-Soviet revival that’s spreading through these towns—“each with its own set of glittering onion-domed churches and medieval fortresses”—means that tourists rounding the circuit can now count on decent hotels, solid restaurants, and religious sites in at least reasonable repair. When a friend and I took on the adventure in a rental car, potholes and poor signage were our greatest challenges.
We concentrated on a handful of the smaller Golden Ring towns, “all of which have kept something of their pre-Soviet character.” The region is known for a “bewildering number of churches, convents, and monasteries,” remnants of a centuries-long missionary movement that was a crucial force in the unification of Russia. In Pereslavl-Zalessky, our first stop, the main road passes half a dozen monasteries, and a tree-lined river is rimmed with restored 19th-century town houses that appear plucked from a classic Russian novel. After visiting a couple of convents and churches, we hit the road for Rostov, a quiet town that “has it all when it comes to the sights and sounds of ancient Russia.” The Cathedral of the Dormition, one of the country’s oldest churches, features a bell tower whose 15 bells weigh from 50 to 70,000 pounds and are “famed for their deep sonorous peals.”
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