Wednesday Walk: Birthday walk.

Hi everybody!

I got sick. Covid put me to bed and now I can only dream of walking.
Therefore, today I want to talk about my walk, which took place on July 8, 2021.

A little backstory.
A few years ago, I realized that what I love most on my birthday is to be in the company of my closest family members, to take them on a trip, big or small, and to experience new places.

And also, I like iconography, and I have long dreamed of seeing the frescoes of Dionysius.

That is why on my birthday I wanted to go to the village of Ferapontovo, where in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin there is the only, documented, frescoes of Dionysius. The wall painting area is 600 m².

The frescoes of Dionysius are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin turned into a museum.

In order to get to Ferapontovo, you must first come to Vologda. I wrote about walking around this city last week

The next day after arriving in Vologda, my husband and I went to see the frescoes. From Vologda to the village of Ferapontovo is only 120 km along a picturesque forest road:

An hour and a half later, we were already standing on the shore of Lake Borodaevsky and waiting for the opening of the museum:

The first visitors (it’s hard to see them in the photo, but how did it happen) were kicked out of the museum:

And we were warmly welcomed!

First we went to see the gate church of the Epiphany. It is unusual - small in area, a passageway, more like a corridor and two revered shrines are stored in it - the icon of the Mother of God the Quick to Hearer, written on Athos at the beginning of the last century and the phelonion of St. John of Kronstadt, in which he served in the Ferapontov Monastery.

(the miraculous icon is on the left, and the showcase with the phelonion is on the far right)

And then we went to the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, in which the frescoes of Dionysius were preserved without restoration. As I already wrote, these frescoes are one of a kind and therefore unique. They date back to 1502.

Before being admitted to the frescoes, we were sent to watch a 10-minute documentary on the subject:

But I didn’t need it - it was my old dream to visit Ferapontovo, so I arrived as prepared as possible!

Photography is prohibited in the church, but we didn't have a camera - we forgot it at home. In honor of my birthday, the museum curator allowed me to take some photos with my phone.

After inspecting the frescoes, we walked a little around the territory of the monastery. This is a very beautiful and peaceful place!

After a walk in Ferapontovo, we went to the neighboring town of Kirillov.

Kirillov is a small town on the shores of a picturesque lake, the main attraction of which is the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery.
It was founded at the end of the 14th century. At one time it was a huge, influential monastery, and now a wonderful museum, but part of the territory still belongs to the monks. I will not talk in detail about what we saw there - this is a topic for a separate post, I will just show a few photos.
Gate church with holy gates:

Well preserved frescoes. This time the end of the 16th century:

Temple complex and bell tower:

View of Lake Siverskoye from the bell tower:

Coming to the shore of the lake, once again I regretted the forgotten camera:

After visiting the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, we had lunch at the museum cafe and continued our walk.

Ahead of us was the most difficult part of the route.

And again a little background...

If you believe the ancient chronicle, the history of my country begins with the calling of the Varangians: "... And the eldest, Rurik, sat down in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, on Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those The Varangians were nicknamed the Russian Land" ("The Tale of Bygone Years").

So, I was in chronicle Novgorod, I was in Izborsk, but I was not on the White Lake, and when I looked at the map, I understood that it would not be easy for me to persuade my husband to take such an adventurous event as a trip to Belozersk. There are two ways to get to modern Belozersk from Vologda. The first is shorter, but with a gravel road and a ferry across the river, the second is on a comfortable road, but very long!

But in life there is always a place for a miracle - when my husband read about Vologda sights, he himself said that he really wants to see White Lake. Moreover, you remember, it was my birthday, and the wishes of the birthday man must be fulfilled!

In general, after Kirillov, we went to Belozersk - an ancient city that eventually lost its economic significance.
We decided that we would go to Belozersk by a short road, on gravel. The disadvantage of the gravel road is that it is very dusty, but in general, we drove quickly, without incident and managed to get to the ferry:

For a very long time I did not cross the rivers by ferry, and for me it became almost an attraction.

You can write a separate post about a walk in Belozersk - I saw so many interesting things there!

In this post, I will only say that the city pleasantly surprised me. I thought that I would see a depressive town - after all, it is very far from the regional center and it is not easy to get to it, but it turned out that this is a cute, lively, pretty town with a rich history! In general, for the short time that we were in Belozersk, he managed to charm me.

Endless White Lake:

We spent several hours in Belozersk and then returned to the base in Vologda. We went to Volgogda by a long route and did not regret it - a very comfortable and beautiful road. Nature in the Vologda region is generally amazing. I took these photos from the car window and, unfortunately, the photos of forests and fields did not work out for me. So take my word for it. And the two photos below show the city of Sheksna, through which we passed:

We returned to Vologda at eight o'clock in the evening. I was oversaturated with impressions, tired and really wanted to relax, but on July 8 I had a birthday and my husband said that we simply had to go to a restaurant to celebrate the holiday.

Next to our house was the family restaurant "Old Cauldron", decorated in the style of the Harry Potter story. We had a great time there!