On a Slow Boat to MoscowDebajyoti Chatterji
The glossy brochure caught my eyes as I rummaged through the pile of junk mail. A cruise on the “Waterways of the Czars”, the cover page screamed in bold letters. I showed it to Sikha. It didn’t take us long to decide. We had wanted to go to Russia for some time. And our previous experience with a river cruise (on the Nile in Egypt) had been very positive.
Before making the reservations, we called our friends in Florida. Without hesitation, they agreed to join us. We booked two cabins, across from each other, on a late-July/early-August cruise that would take us from St. Petersburg to Moscow on a Russian riverboat. At the time of booking we were reminded that we had to get Russian visas on our own. That proved to be a rather formal and prolonged affair but not really problematic.
Our flight to St Petersburg was uneventful. The stopover at Stockholm gave us a chance to stretch our legs, have some coffee, meet several other passengers also headed for the same cruise, and admire the functionality and cleanliness of the airport.
As promised, we were received at the airport by the cruise representative and transported to the boat at the pier on the Neva River. There was a sister boat of the same cruise line, docked next to our vessel. We quickly learned that the two boats followed the same itinerary, and the two captains engaged in friendly one-upmanship throughout the voyage.
Setting foot for the first time on a huge ocean liner carrying two or three thousand passengers can be disorienting even to a seasoned traveler. In contrast, it takes only a short while to figure out the layout of a riverboat. After finding our cabins, we located where all the common and important areas were: the reception desk, the library, the lounging decks, and of course, the dining rooms and the bars. The whole process took less than half an hour, and we developed a pleasant “at home” feeling quite quickly.
Most of the riverboats in Russia are relatively old: built 15-20 years ago but refurbished in the last 3-5 years. All are designed to fit the narrow locks on the rivers, so they have similar dimensions (about 400 feet in length) and similar capacities (about 200 passengers and 100 crew members). Our boat was compact, clean and comfortable – not huge and showy like modern ocean liners that resemble floating 5-star mega-hotels. The cabins in Russian riverboats, however, tend to be small in size. The standard cabins in our boat (about 100 sq ft) had two single beds – with one convertible into a sofa during the day -- and a small table and a pint-size refrigerator. There was a closet with double doors, and several shelves on the wall over the sofa-bed provided additional storage space. A tiny dressing area completed the living space. The bathroom was a miracle of multipurpose efficiency. A sink, a toilet, a small towel shelf, a small toiletry shelf, a hand-held shower, and a shower curtain adorned this space, roughly 3 ft by 4 ft in size. At the time of taking a shower, the passenger had to pull the shower curtain around the toilet and the towel shelf – and like it or not, spray water everywhere: on the sink, the walls and the separating curtain! At first, we all thought this was a major inconvenience but after a couple of days, we got used to it. The arrangement worked well, even if it was severely cramped. The so-called deluxe cabins (about 200 sq ft) had a full-size bed and a sitting area but the bathroom layout was no different. All cabins had air-conditioning and 220 V electrical outlets. No TV or phone or alarm clock in any room, standard or deluxe.
Our itinerary included a three-night stay on board the ship in St Petersburg, a five-night long voyage through some of the grandest lakes, rivers and canals in Russia, and a two-night stay in Moscow. The boat made sightseeing stops at Kizhi, Goritzy, Yaroslavl and Uglich – four towns known for their historical monuments and/or natural beauty. Shore excursions, with a few exceptions, were included in the cost of the cruise. This was a significant difference from cruises on ocean liners where extra (and usually steep) charges are the norm for virtually all shore excursions. And those charges could add up to a pretty penny on a ten-day long cruise!
Our stay in St Petersburg was busy, tiring but memorable. We spent the first evening in a leisurely manner and went to bed soon after dinner to recover from our jet lag. The next two days covered a lot of territory, literally and figuratively. We visited the winter palace of Catherine the Great and the Czars’ village, the Fortress of Peter and Paul, and drove through the city’s main thoroughfares, stopping at a number of interesting sites. A tour of the Hermitage Museum, one of the world’s best endowed, was a rather hurried affair; the place was awesome but too crowded and noisy for enjoyment. We spent half a day at the spectacular Peterhof Palace, the summer residence of the czars. Peter the Great built it to emulate the Versailles in both size and opulence. The palace sits on the Gulf of Finland with exquisite gardens and fountains.
We didn’t know how tired we were until we went to see the ballet, Swan Lake, on the second evening at the St Petersburg conservatory. The performance was first rate but everyone seemed to be fading away at one point or another. The combination of lingering jet lag and tiring walks through historic sites did a number on most of us.
When we got out of the Conservatory at about 10:45 pm, there was still light outside – even though the sky was overcast. A quick check of the ship’s daily flyer showed that the sun rose that day at 4:36 am and set at 11:23 pm. Someone pointed out that had we been in St Petersburg a few weeks earlier, we would have witnessed “white nights” when sunlight could be enjoyed almost through the entire night!
St Petersburg sits on the edge of the Arctic Circle – and is the largest city in that part of the globe. But geography is not its only claim to fame. Rich in history and impressive architecture, the city boasts wide streets laid out according to a well-designed plan, numerous broad canals and bridges crisscrossing the city, beautiful waterfront promenades and palaces, and abundant green space in the form of parks and gardens. Peter the Great founded the city in 1703 to defend Russia against the Swedes with the ambition of creating a grand European city in the styles of Paris and Vienna. In time, the city grew not just in power but also in prestige. It was the capital of Russia for more than two hundred years (Moscow regained its status as Russia’s capital in 1917 after the Bolshevik Revolution). Over the next three centuries, St Petersburg (or Petrograd in Russian) nurtured Russian authors, artists and musicians like Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tchaikovsky, Gogol, Turgenev and many others. The city was renamed Leningrad in 1924 – and took a unique place in world history as it defeated Hitler’s infamous siege in 1944, signaling the beginning of the end of the Second World War. In 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the citizens re-baptized the city as St Petersburg by popular vote.
Not everything we saw in the St Petersburg area was pleasing to the eye, though. While the older buildings in and around the city center looked majestic and well-maintained, there were dozens and dozens of Soviet-era monstrosities of apartment houses in the outlying areas. Poorly constructed in the first place, these massive concrete blocks looked ugly and bleak, and many showed abundant signs of neglect and decay. In the countryside near the Czar’s village, most of the small wooden houses were in a run-down condition. Our guide explained that many had been dachas or second homes of party honchos during the Soviet rule, and now the owners did not have enough money to repair or renovate their properties.
On Day 4, our boat pulled out of the dock and made its way slowly north on the Neva River which runs from Lake Ladoga, Europe’s largest freshwater lake (6800 sq miles in area), for a distance of 46 miles and empties into the Finnish Bay of the Baltic Sea. Neva is often called the “main street” of St Petersburg. Embracing 42 islands, the river feeds numerous canals, brings drinking water to the city, and carries commercial cargo to the Baltic Sea. We spent the next five nights on “the waterways of the czars”: an impressive system of interconnected rivers, lakes, canals and locks. From the Neva River we first cruised the southern side of Lake Ladoga and the entire length of the Svir River (104 miles) -- and then entered Lake Onega, another very large lake. Then came the Sheksna River and the Volga, in that order. Finally, we cruised the Moscow Canal to reach our final destination: Moscow. The total length of the cruise was 1200 miles. In contrast, the distance between St Petersburg and Moscow by road is about 700 miles.
For much of the cruise, we admired the immensity of the lakes and the rivers. In many places we could barely see the shoreline. Only occasionally would the waterway narrow to a width of say, 250 ft. The boat was impressively stable throughout the 1200 mile voyage. Not a single passenger, to our knowledge, complained of motion sickness. Until we entered the Moscow Canal on Day 8, miles and miles of forests adorned the banks of the waterways. Nearer to Moscow, factories and apartment houses and billboards began to rear their ugly heads. Mostly the banks were enchanting, occasionally they were plain and featureless. Small villages and towns appeared at regular intervals. Even more regularly we saw graceful (and often colorful) onion-shaped domes, characteristic of Russian Orthodox churches, peeking through tall cedars and lindens or from behind jumbles of two story dwellings made of wood sidings and metal roofs. Here and there we saw people fishing near the banks or walking their dogs. Almost always we could see one or two cruise ships behind or ahead of us. Surprisingly we saw very few private pleasure crafts on the waterway. Even near Moscow, marinas were rare.
My favorite memory of the cruise is that of a moonlit night on Lake Ladoga when the vast body of water was a shimmering mirror with a dark tree line barely visible along one bank. I could not see the other bank at all. The boat purred along, leaving in its wake gentle waves that created million mirrors of their own. The sky was full of stars, and the world was at peace with itself.
We also came across some sad consequences of “modernizing and expanding” the waterway during the Stalin era. In the 1930s, Stalin decided to modify the old canal system and generate hydroelectric power by damming and flooding vast sections of land. Many towns and villages were erased from the face of the earth in this process. Today two tall churches, slowly crumbling into pieces, stand partially submerged in the artificial lakes thus created, silent witnesses to a tragic period in Russian history.
A typical day during the voyage consisted of a half-day shore excursion, either in the morning or afternoon, with the rest of the time free for relaxing, reading, playing cards or games, or sunning on the deck. Meals on board were quite good, beautifully presented -- and gracefully served by eager-to-please, gentle-mannered Russian waitresses. The dining room gave a 270 degree view of the outside. It was a good place to make friends, and we soon got to know several co-passengers. And it was fun to celebrate my 63rd birthday there! In a grand surprise, the restaurant manager and the crew of ten waitresses, dressed in pretty Russian outfits, surprised me with a cake with candles and Russian birthday songs. I learned later from Sikha that when she had gone to the reception desk to enquire about a possible surprise celebration, she was told that it had been already planned by the manager! Apparently the cruise management had checked all the passengers’ passports (which were deposited with the bursar upon boarding) to identify potential birthday boys and birthday girls. A very fine touch by the management indeed.
Our first stop was at an artisan’s village, Mandrogy, established only a few years ago by a Russian entrepreneur to encourage and showcase Russian handicraft to the tourists. Being the shopper she is, Sikha went ashore with our friends while I stayed back to read my paperback. The place, I learned later, had quality merchandise but was pricey – and was a fairly pleasant place. The next stop was at Kizhi, an island in the northern part of Lake Onega, primarily to see the two tall, entirely wooden, churches, built during Peter the Great’s time, standing next to each other, with a total of 31 classic onion-shaped domes. The domes were covered with aspen shingles that looked silvery to flaming red, depending on the time of the day. This was a remarkable testimony to the devotion and hard work of early 18th century Russian peasants who built these magnificent structures in a lonely corner of frigid Northern Russia with little money and primitive tools.
Goritzy was our next stop. The small town is famous for the monastery founded by Saint Cyril (who brought Cyrillic alphabet to Russia from Byzantium) in 1397. Over the following centuries, the monastery expanded manifold, became a bastion and gained strong political influence. It fell into decline by the end of the 18th century, and today stands as a museum. Only two monks live there now but during the communist rule, the number was a round zero. Lenin believed that religion was “the opium of the people”, and the Soviets shut down virtually all churches, synagogues and mosques in the country. Not surprisingly, very few churches we visited during our 10-day trip were active places of worship even today. The post-Soviet Russian government has handed over many of the churches to appropriate church authorities but they don’t have enough money or support to conduct services on a daily basis. Some hold weekly service while others do only “special services” on high holy days. We learned from our guide that even today, less than 10 percent of Russian weddings take place in churches, the vast majority being civil marriages held in administrative offices.
The shore excursion in Yaroslavl was a pleasant departure from the routine of visiting churches and more churches. A large city with over 600,000 inhabitants, it is a pretty city with waterfront promenades, beautiful parks, garden and fountains, -- and of course large and impressive churches. The Volga River reaches a width of over 2600 ft in Yaroslavl. The city is one of the oldest in Russia, being founded by Prince Yaroslavl a thousand years ago. -- The day was sunny and mildly breezy when we took a walking tour of the waterfront and the gardens, snapping pictures, watching young couples with children in tow, and two newly married kissing passionately in a gazebo overlooking the Volga.
Our final stop before Moscow was Uglich, a small industrial city right on the river bank, featuring an ancient Kremlin (meaning a fortress complex). Our walking tour took us through two churches in the Kremlin: Cathedral of Our Savior’s Transfiguration and Church of St Dimitrius on the Blood, the latter in honor of Prince Dimitry, young son of Ivan the Terrible, who was allegedly murdered by Boris Godunov, an infamous character in Russian history. A vivid fresco on an inside wall of the church depicts the scene of Dimitry’s murder by assailants.
Until our visit to Russia, I had never been inside a Russian Orthodox church. We certainly got a good exposure to such churches during our trip. Russian churches are indeed very different from, say, Roman Catholic churches – in outside appearance, inside floor plan as well as interior decoration. The often-colorful onion-shaped domes, usually many in number, are characteristic of the external appearance. Inside the layout is usually square in shape, not in the form of a cross as in a Catholic cathedral. The most eye-catching difference inside lies in the decoration. All walls and ceilings of Russian Orthodox churches are totally covered with frescoed images of saints and scenes from the Bible. Icons (meaning exact images) of saints are extremely important to Russians in their homes and in their daily lives. Every church – and many roadside souvenir stands – sold hundreds of icons in every conceivable size.
Speaking of souvenir stands, we encountered them at every stop. They were there at all piers, near churches and palaces, and near theatres, museums and parks – basically anywhere tourist traffic was expected. The vendors were mildly pushy but never aggressive. They generally sold Russian handicrafts: wooden nesting dolls, icons, jewelry boxes made from aspen bark, amber jewelry, etc. Some stands carried textile products – scarves, tablecloths, t-shirts and the like – while others sold fur hats and coats. Only a few times did we see vodka and beer stores. Unlike bazaars in Asia and Middle East, price negotiations were low key and discounts quite modest. The shoppers among us enjoyed the shopping times allotted during all the shore excursions. While Sikha bought traditional Russian handicraft, I bought an album of Soviet era postage stamps, red t-shirts with CCCP logo and other reminders of those harsh days.
Before going to Russia, I had a vague image in my mind of average Russians: generally poor -- large men, often with beards and not well-dressed, and large women, plainly clothed and stern in demeanor. Years of Hollywood caricature might have been responsible for this imagery. In Russia, I (and many others on our cruise) certainly received a gentle re-education. People were not visibly affluent but not visibly poor either. Men and women alike were mostly trim; we saw rather limited number of overweight people, whether in big cities or in small remote towns. Young men and women far outnumbered senior citizens. We did see a few old ladies, selling small bouquets of flowers, near the piers – basically seeking alms in exchange for token items. Clearly there was poverty in Russia but it seemed to be hitting the old and the very old much harder than the young. That Russia is not affluent like its western European neighbors or the US was obvious, at least to me, from two simple observations. Lawns and flowerbeds– even near major tourist destinations –were un-mowed and full of weeds (the one exception being the exquisite Kremlin gardens and grounds in Moscow). And few private motorboats were visible on even the most scenic and urban parts of the waterway.
During the cruise we had the opportunity to attend lectures on Russian cuisine, Russian handicraft and Russian history and modern life. Valera, the guide who addressed the last subject at length spoke excellent English, had lots of interesting facts, and was frank and bitter – bitter about the Soviet era and the era of Gorbachev and Yeltsin. While Russian history from the 11th century to the beginning of the 20th century was informative, the parts that captured my attention most were the three remarkable periods in the last 100 years: the Soviet era (beginning with the October 1917 Bolshevik revolution and lasting about 70 years), the Gorbachev-Yeltsin transition years (approximately 1985-2000), and the current Russian Democratic period (Putin, post-2000). Valera disliked the Soviet period intensely but simply loathed the Gorbachev-Yeltsin years. The country was in a total chaos, especially under Gorbachev, and Valera gave stark examples of the chaos following the rapid introduction of the “market economy”. “We simply did not know what market economy meant. We had read about it in books but no one, including Gorbachev, who was a lifelong communist, had any experience with it”, Valera explained. Yeltsin and his associates were thugs and crooks, he asserted -- and told us the story of the mysterious “vouchers” that were given to every Russian by Yeltsin whose purpose and value could not be fathomed by anyone. People thought they were useless papers and sold them to whoever would buy them for whatever price. But then, lo and behold, suddenly the government announced, after the vouchers had been scooped up by people-in-the-know, that these vouchers constituted shares of newly privatized Russian oil and natural gas companies, the jewels in the crown of state resources! Overnight Russia created a handful of billionaire oil czars, at the expense of hundreds of millions of common people.
The one action by Yeltsin that was unhesitatingly commended by Valera (and by the other guides during their presentations on subjects of their choice) was the “privatization” of state-owned homes and apartments. During the Soviet era, people did not own their residences, the state did. The citizen paid a rent to the state for the use of the property. Yeltsin made the residing citizen the outright owner of the apartment or house where he or she lived. So overnight every Russian citizen became owner of private property, an act that removed the terrifying burden of “free market housing” off the shoulders of millions of Russians. New private high-rise apartments in cities like Moscow are sleek and fancy but they are exorbitantly pricey. Yet people can afford to live in Moscow or St Petersburg because they don’t have to buy an apartment; they can live where they lived before, no matter how cramped or shabby their quarters might be.
According to a recent survey of Russian public opinion, shared with us by Valera, Putin is a highly liked “strong, thoughtful and disciplined” leader, with over 70 percent popularity. The most hated Russian leader, according to the same poll, was Boris Yeltsin, closely followed by Stalin and Gorbachev.
I cannot vouch for the reliability of the survey nor can I be sure that Valera’s sentiments are shared by the majority of Russians. But similarly negative feelings about the Soviet era and the Gorbachev/Yeltsin years were often expressed – may be with less flair and facts -- by other guides during everyday sightseeing commentaries.
Listening to the talks on the Russian history, I could not help but conclude that, since its very inception in the 11th century, the country had been ruled by absolute power – power in the hands of emperors, czars, communist party honchos, and then by “elected” presidents – but not by true representation and will of the people. Things may be changing now under Putin slowly and with some encouraging signs.
Back to the cruise and our final destination, Moscow, a huge, bustling metropolis of almost 13 million people. Like St Petersburg, the city is full of grand buildings, parks, museums, galleries, wide boulevards, and most notably churches, hundreds of them, large and small, to be seen everywhere. Traffic was murderous most of the time, and there were billboards galore. Free market has definitely grown strong roots in Moscow. The architecture is rather mixed: majestic imperial buildings next to bland blocks of concrete apartments, and fine parks adjoining garish-looking shopping areas. A tourist could spend days visiting the many fine historical sites in the city, enjoy a variety of cultural programs, and admire the treasures in grand museums and galleries. We had only two days in Moscow and were doomed to a severely selective tour of the most famous sites: the huge Red Square with the beautiful Church of St Basil, the wonderfully ornate GUM Department store, and the stark Lenin Mausoleum. The walled Kremlin complex of palaces (now turned into government buildings and museums) with churches and gardens was certainly worthy of its international reputation as a massive historic landmark. The Armory in the Kremlin complex has an enormous collection of czarist treasures – from imperial jewels to czarinas’ dresses, from royal coaches to battle arms, from Faberge eggs to antique tapestries. We also made a quick stop in front of the Moscow University, a splendid example of the Stalinist gothic architecture. Some passengers took the optional tour of the Tretiakov Gallery, the largest and most prestigious gallery in Moscow, but Sikha and I were too tired to visit another crowded building on our penultimate day in Russia.
We did go to see a performance of the Moscow circus, and we were really glad that we did. The circus is housed in a permanent building, and performances are held year round. Unlike the Swan Lake performance in St Petersburg that was attended mostly by foreign tourists like us, the Moscow Circus crowd was mainly Russian. The one-ring circus with a live band in a very showy arena was a class act, beautifully staged and orchestrated from the beginning to the end. The Bolshoi Ballet, the other famous cultural symbol of the city, was closed for renovation, so we could only view it from outside.
The last evening on board the ship was a nice time for all to reminisce about the trip, exchange addresses and phone numbers, raise farewell toasts, give hugs and kisses, -- and hand out gratuities in envelopes to the crew. We had gotten to know and like the waitresses; they spoke broken English but gave excellent service. Not surprisingly, Sikha became a little teary-eyed while saying goodbye to them.
Our Florida friends had a 7 am flight out of Moscow the next day, so had to go to bed early. They (and a number other passengers with similar departure times) were scheduled to disembark at 4 am. But they were not going to be sent off without breakfasts! The dining room served breakfasts to these early leavers at 2 am! Our flight was at a more civilized time, 1:30 pm, so we could partake in the normal breakfast session at 7 am.
The cruise on the “waterways of the czars” was a memorable experience. But did we see the real Russia? Yes and no. Russia is a mind-bogglingly immense country; it is by far the largest country in the world (6.6 million sq miles, 75 per cent bigger than the US) with 143 million people and eleven time zones (that’s right, eleven). Its stretches across some 5000 miles and is home to many ethnic peoples and cultures. Quite naturally, our trip covered a small part of this vast country, and we had only limited but tantalizing glimpses of the real Russia. But there were no curtains separating us from the country or the people; no one was blocking our view at any place or at any time. The one shortcoming of a cruise like ours, however, was the unintentional insularity characteristic of group tours with packed itineraries. No real opportunity to mingle with the people, visit their homes, eat with them and hear their hopes and concerns first-hand. In fact we never even ate in a Russian restaurant – all our meals were served on the boat. May be we will take the Trans-Siberian Railroad someday from Moscow to Vladivostok! That surely would give us an up-close-and-personal view of this great country and its people.
