{"id":36510,"date":"2017-10-11T18:00:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T23:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=36510"},"modified":"2017-10-13T12:40:50","modified_gmt":"2017-10-13T17:40:50","slug":"bicycling-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=36510","title":{"rendered":"Bicycling in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bicycling in Russia wasn’t on my bucket list until Mr. Right suggested that it might be a fun trip.\u00a0 We talked about it for a while and then booked it.\u00a0 We recently returned from an amazing three week trip to Russia and the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.\u00a0 I really don’t like to rank and rate our trips because it would be sort of like picking out a favorite child.\u00a0 Every child is the favorite, and every single one of our trips has been my fave.\u00a0 However, I did tell Mr. Right that this one would be a tough trip to top.\u00a0\u00a0 It was that good.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Russia<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When we started planning and training for the seven day bicycling portion of the adventure, everyone either asked us if we were crazy or told us we were crazy.\u00a0 Russia just isn’t on the travel radar for Americans right now, and bicycling in Russia isn’t either.\u00a0 We found it to be very, very safe, and the people were warm and welcoming.\u00a0 In the three weeks that we were away, we\u00a0 saw just a few Americans.\u00a0 Our bicycling friend Dan went along with us.\u00a0 There were 18 people cycling, and we were the only Americans.\u00a0 The others were from Germany, Austria, New Zealand, England, and Belgium.\u00a0 We started out spending a few days in Moscow and seeing the sites like St. Basil’s Cathedral above.\u00a0 There was a lot of construction and photos in Moscow were hard to get without a crane looming in the background.\u00a0 Then we met up with the other cyclists.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Screen<\/p>\n

(source<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The Bicycling Logistics<\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

We booked the cycling portion of our trip through the Russian Cycling Club<\/a>, and they were so kind and efficient.\u00a0 They carried our luggage, provided water and snacks, booked our hotels and meals, and planned the route.\u00a0 All we had to do was ride bicycles.\u00a0 For the seven day tour, we averaged cycling 60 miles each day on bicycles that the company provided. It wasn’t a straight shot like the red line in the map above.\u00a0 We detoured for site seeing and had to add mileage to get to our hotels which were off the beaten path.\u00a0\u00a0 Because of horrible road conditions and the remoteness of some of our lodging, they had to transport us in a van for a few hours most days.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Russia<\/p>\n

By doing that, we were able to spend time touring museums, cities, historic sites, and monasteries. Oh, and as far as the weather goes, it was uncomfortably hot in Moscow, but by the time we arrived in St. Petersburg, we were wearing several layers to stay warm.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Russia<\/p>\n

There’s not a lot going on in the area between Moscow and St. Petersburg.\u00a0 There are not a lot of roads so traffic on main highways was pretty heavy.\u00a0 We were kept bicycling on back roads that went through mostly small towns and villages.\u00a0 The roads were often in horrible condition, and I mean horrible.\u00a0 It made cycling very difficult and uncomfortable since our bodies were being jarred around for big portions of most days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Russia<\/p>\n

Lots of money is being spent on the Russian cities since infrastructure wasn’t a priority under the old regime.\u00a0 Moscow was booming, and so was St. Petersburg, but the small towns in between looked almost desperate.\u00a0 I asked myself many times what on earth do the people do to keep themselves occupied and fulfilled in those villages, especially on the long winter nights.\u00a0 This is a typical farmhouse, but most farmhouses were not<\/span> in good condition like this one. The architecture was similar, but they needed TLC like paint, structural help, new roofs, windows, etc. \u00a0 If there were flowers, they were thriving because the long summer days and cooler temperatures helped.\u00a0 I have to tell you that when I stopped to take photos, someone from the houses came out and scolded me.\u00a0 They did not want photos taken.\u00a0 I think it’s paranoia held over from the days of an oppressive government.<\/p>\n

Country Lodges<\/h1>\n

\"Russia<\/p>\n

Most of our overnight accommodations were wonderful.\u00a0 We could be on a horrible small country road, and then all of a sudden there was a farm that had a lodge, restaurant, recreational activities, sauna, bar, CNN, and more.\u00a0 This little chapel was on the grounds of our first country lodge.<\/p>\n

\"Russia<\/p>\n

\u00a0This lake was our view in another country lodge.\u00a0\u00a0 We stayed in small cities a few nights, but I liked the country accommodations better.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Russia<\/p>\n

We often saw abandoned buildings like this one, and I enjoyed seeing them.\u00a0 I loved how rustic they were and wondered about their history.\u00a0 Money was scarce during the previous regime, and they just couldn’t afford to take care of structures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Russia<\/p>\n

\u00a0We saw some American products like Starbucks, McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, Coca Cola, Subway, and Burger King.\u00a0 We avoid American foods\u00a0 when we travel so we can experience what the locals eat.\u00a0 Our food was good.\u00a0 We had a lot of chicken, soup, salads.<\/p>\n

\"Bicycling<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Old Ladies<\/h1>\n

These two were my bicycling friends, and we rode together a lot.\u00a0 The one on your left is from Austria, and the one of your right is from Germany.\u00a0 We called ourselves “The Old Ladies”, and we had the best time.\u00a0 Even though we are from different countries, there’s always the common bond of doing an adventure in a foreign country.\u00a0 I have never had trouble forming good friendships with other women when traveling.\u00a0 It’s such a wonderful learning experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After the bike trip ended, we spent a few days in St. Petersburg, and then we headed to the Baltic States.\u00a0 I will be sharing posts about those parts of\u00a0 our journey starting with St. Petersburg next week.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Take care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bicycling in Russia wasn’t on my bucket list until Mr. Right suggested that it might be a fun trip.\u00a0 We talked about it for a while and then booked it.\u00a0 We recently returned from an amazing three week trip to Russia and the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.\u00a0 I really don’t like to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36510"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36510"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37005,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36510\/revisions\/37005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}