The Golden Ring, Part III - Yaroslavl

This is the final part of a mini-series about my Golden Ring trip in Russia. Please upvote/share if you enjoyed or found it useful!

Part 1 can be found here: https://steemit.com/travel/@mtvesuvius/the-golden-ring-part-i-vladimir-and-neighboring-towns
Part 2 can be found here: https://steemit.com/travel/@mtvesuvius/the-golden-ring-part-ii-sergiev-posad

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The next day I decided to start my exploring by just wandering. I had a general idea where things were, and I walked along the river bank for awhile. Yaroslavl, as it turns out, is an amazingly enjoyable place to walk around. I spent a lot of time there just enjoying the tree-lined or river-banked boardwalks which either were shaded or had spectacular views.

One of the main parks in Yaroslavl extends out to the intersection of the Vega and Volga rivers, and has some neat monuments as well.

Yaroslavl Monument at the end of the park, with a view of the river intersection

After visiting the park and the Yaroslavl History Museum (which conveniently had a couple explanations in English and smiling babushkas), I headed inland to visit a few of Yaroslavl’s spectacular churches. I started with the Church of Ilya the Prophet, and was fortunate to be able to duck inside just as it began raining quite heavily. As far as places that offer shelter from the rain are concerned, this was pretty damned nice. In fact, it was pretty nice even for a building that wouldn’t offer shelter from the rain, but I disgress.

Sweet, sweet shelter - Church of Ilya the Prophet, Yaroslavl

Pretty, shiny shelter - Church of Ilya the Prophet, Yaroslavl

Warm, cosy shelter - Church of Ilya the Prophet, Yaroslavl

When the rain subsided, I continued onto the pedestrian avenue leading toward the Assumption Cathedral, newly rebuilt in 2005 after being destroyed earlier. Though it has been rebuilt, the interior is quite lackluster compared to the exterior. I finished my loop back to the river-bank and found an excellent Russian place for dinner right next to the history museum.

Assumption Cathedral and Eternal Flame/Victory Monument, Yaroslavl - The church is pretty on the outside, but cleaner than Hillary Clinton's ... (No! Stop that! Get your mind out of the gutter!) second email account.

My second and final day in Yaroslavl I left my bags at the hotel’s left-luggage and headed to the monastery near my hotel, then walked along the river bank until I had pretty much reached the city limits. I caught a bus back to civilization, and soon enough I was back to wandering around the picturesque town, where I revisited a few places and then headed back to my hotel to collect my bags before catching an evening train back to Moscow. My Golden Triangle was finished.

Here are some miscellaneous photos I thought were nice:

Sunset from the window of my hotel room, Yaroslavl

Random colorful wooden mini-houses along one of Yaroslavl's many tree-lined walkways

Epiphany Church, Yaroslavl

Love locks on trees, again, tree-lined walkways. Part of me thinks putting a lock on something so easily chopped down is less of a commitment than, say, announcing things on Facebook,Yaroslavl

View from the top of the monastery, Yaroslavl

Volga embankment, Yaroslavl

Booking Russian train tickets
*Booking Russian train tickets online is difficult. While Russian Railways has an English version of their site (http://pass.rzd.ru/main-pass/public/en), I constantly had problems using a credit card to pay. Of all the third-party options for booking tickets, I found that tutu.ru had the best prices and least significant markups. Their site is straightforward, and although I initially had trouble using a credit card, a quick email to their support office resolved the issue (and I still am not totally sure what the problem was -- I think it had something to do with account verification). The booking process was smooth and very fast, the tickets were issued very quickly, and overall the site offers an excellent service. I highly recommend them, and I used them for all my train tickets.

Yaroslavl timing & Other stuff
*I loved my time in Yaroslavl, and again would highly recommend visiting. While it may not have nearly as much as say, St. Petersburg, I still think it is a worthwhile place to spend a couple days.
*I spent about 2 days in Yaroslavl and felt that was plenty. While it would be possible to visit in 1, I found the city was one of my favorite places just to walk around and explore, and having the second day made that easy.
*The café next to the history museum in Yaroslavl is excellent
*Take some time just to walk around the city without any particular goal in mind, especially along the river.
*The Yubileynaya Hotel in Yaroslavl had the fastest WiFi I have ever experienced in a hotel, and overall it was a very pleasant stay at a reasonable price. The hotel is located about 10 minutes from the main tourist attractions, but is still easily accessible.