Sergiyev Posad

Attack of the ticklish pigeons outside the Trinity Lavra (Monastery) of St. Sergius

Attack of the ticklish pigeons outside the Trinity Lavra (Monastery) of St. Sergius

Dates Visited: August 8, 2012

Sergiyev Posad is 46 miles northeast of Moscow and can be reached conveniently by train for a day trip. Conveniently… …only if you board the correct train! Our English-speaking hotel concierge gave us the wrong directions so when we reached the station where we weren’t supposed to be, it was a game of charades for the helpful ticket clerk as she tried explaining which was the correct station (Yaroslavsky) to go to and which was the correct train to catch. For me, the Yaroslavsky train station has the distinction of having the worst public restrooms I have ever seen in my entire life. Typically, I avoid using public restrooms for the most part, but since Rohan had to go, I didn’t have a choice. I don’t want to go into gory details of how bad those restrooms were (you can thank me for that as I still cannot get those disgusting and vile images out of my head), but if 1 was clean and 10 was dirty-as-shit, these restrooms would score a 1000 from the judges!

Well, back to happy thoughts! The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is considered to be one of the most beautiful monasteries in Russia. It was founded in 1345 by St. Sergius of Radonezh, a highly revered monk and the patron saint of Russia. We had a wonderful English-speaking old lady who served as our guide. She was very grandmotherly and explained the history and significance of this fortress-cum-monastery with patience and love. Of course, I just went nuts taking pictures of the gorgeous churches and cathedrals inside the monastery… …from the peach-colored Church of the Theotokos of Smolensk to the blue-colored Bell Tower to the white-colored Assumption Cathedral.

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