Pereslavl Zalessky and the journey back to Moscow
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An idle one-street town on the outskirts of Moscow, Pereslavl Zalesskiy was the last orthodox religious center I visited…. by then I was stuck with church fatigue.
I had seen so many Russian churches, that I grew tired of them… they all start appearing the same after a while, don’t they? You get the same fatigue after spending a week visiting Bhutan’s Buddhist monasteries or Peru’s colonial churches. 
Purification church of Alexander Nevsky.
Pereslavl Zalesky town and a sign of faded communism.
‘AZS’ fuel station and a convent in background.
More churches… I was so bored that I didn’t bother to go inside any of them.
Small town Russia
Fishing in the still river.
“Здравствуйте!” (Zdravstvuyte झ्द्राव्सत्वुअीच, meaning “hello”). People greeted me, you know how it is in small towns, they wave and smile at you. It seemed that they don’t get many visitors, especially since it was a quaint settlement along the river. I was simply walking along the bank because I found it interesting. I was inviting curious stares too.
Quite quiet.
I want to go home
I waited for what seemed like ages at the bus terminal, waiting for my bus back to Moscow. The scheduled bus at 19:30 was cancelled and the next one was at 21:00. It was cold and dark outside. I was kinda worried to be stranded at that place at such a time – there was nobody to keep me company except a drunk man and a babushka who sat behind the ticket window. She looked grumpy on first look (like most Russians) but as soon as she heard my Russian, she got delighted and asked me to come inside her office. Her office had heating, tea and cookie, wonderful!
Look. If you are learning a foreign language, don’t learn it all the way. You get more points if you are seen to fumble with words yet attempting to talk.
Waiting for the bus… only 2 hours. The floor is clean only because it was cleaned 5 minutes ago.
Ticket and information window.
I reached Moscow at 23:30 – not a good time for an outsider to be on the streets. By the time I changed subways and went to the place I was staying at (other end of the city), it was past 00:30. I will be honest: I was shit scared. Every man looked like a criminal or a skinhead.
While I never had a problem myself, Moscow’s streets are not known for safety at night, especially when it concerns foreigners. There are shady characters, often drunk, and women are seldom seen. My safety index at night is directly proportional to the number of women on streets – I think its one of the most visible indicators of how safe a place is.
Factual information
Peresavl Zalessky is about 2.5 hours from Moscow and buses run few times a day from Shchyolkovsky (श्चयोल्कोव्स्की) terminal. Once you get to the town, you could walk to the interesting places, or take the only Marshrutka that runs down the road from city center to the bus terminal.
Not a highly recommended place unless you want you have a relaxed day walking through a sleepy town and visiting a church or two on the way.
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Difficult to believe that you didn’t go inside those beautiful dome shaped churches!
↵By then I had been to too many….
↵The bus station reminds me of Central America, just colder
I understand church fatigue. I feel the same in Europe sometimes, where I get sick of museums and old buildings after a while.
↵True true, its all good initially, but then too much of anything is bad!
↵Nice series on day visits around Moskva.
Fatigue hits you after a while. I had the same feeling in Italy. After a while a church or museum was just avoidable and sitting in a roadside cafe downing a few cups of coffee and watching life go by is more enjoyable.
Cheers!!!
↵Mavin, yes indeed! I should go back when there is the season for roadside cafes… it was cold when I visited Russia!
↵Interesting to read about your safety index at night.
↵I’m curious to know your comments on that safety index Celine!
↵Thought you’d like this link abt old Russian photographs -
↵http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2009/10/21/color-photography-from-russian-in-the-early-1900s/
That’s cool! Thanks Nandan, nice to see you here after a while!
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↵If I were a solo traveller, of course I’d avoid late nights unless am convinced it is absolutely safe. If I am in the company of friends/family, I’d be willing to take my chances to some extent.
Actually I could write an entire post on this.;)
↵Please do!
↵I have visited Moscow several times starting in 1989. I disagree with your exaggeration of night-time danger. I was often on Moscow streets late at night and often on last metro with a walk to follow. I frequently saw Russian girls returning to University alone. 2 a.m. is normal. While there are opportunists who will spot a foreigner and sometimes show unhealthy interest they do not travel in gangs and wear hoods as they do in some London areas. Mostly Russians are helpful and generous people, though one or two individuals show an unnatural interest in a foreigner. It pays to keep your wits about you and “look native” but my gut feeling is Moscow is safer than some parts of London.
↵Hi Roy, thanks for the input and welcome to my blog!
↵I haven’t been to London so I can’t compare the two. Also, I’ve been in Moscow only for few nights, so its too early to make judgements. In this post, I commented only what I observed that night, and the comments I heard from my friends in Moscow. I am sure in a big city like that, areas are mostly safe with an exception of a bunch of neighborhoods – but to an untrained eye, it all looks the same.