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Suzdal is beautiful but unreal

Once upon a time, Suzdal was the center of Russia. It was the capital when Moscow was a tiny backwater town, and for a while Suzdal had all the wealth and power….and then it didn’t. Suzdal was left out during much of the growth and prosperity of the last several hundred years, failing even to get its own railway line. To reach Suzdal, we had to take a bus from Vladimir. For a while, Suzdal became a sort of craftsman center. Then it reinvented itself as at center for tourism.

And oh my: it is so heavily touristic that I can’t imagine anyone actually living there. Except that the many beautiful churches and buildings are clearly ancient, Suzdal feels a bit like a manufactured village. Nothing is real; everything is manufactured. That is clearly not the case, but it was the sense I got. A note on the tourist map mentions that the local population is around 12,000, and of that number roughly 50% work in a trade related to tourism. Both Steve and I thought that percentage seemed low.

This lovely church was one of the first views we encountered in Suzdal, walking down from our hotel towards the center of town. It's also one of the few we didn't visit, as it's not highlighted in the guidebooks.

This lovely church was one of the first views we encountered in Suzdal, walking down from our hotel towards the center of town. It’s also one of the few we didn’t visit, as it’s not highlighted in the guidebooks.

In any case, we reached Suzdal on Sunday afternoon, and spent several hours visiting various churches, monasteries, and old buildings. The whole time, we were surrounded by green grass, falling leaves, calling birds, and loads of other tourists, most asian. Along nearly every street, locals had set up stalls selling the typical tourist crafts: tacky souvenirs of the stereotypical “Russian” variety. (There may have been some gems hidden amongst the junk, but mostly we saw quickly made, poorly crafted items. The exception would be one stall where there were some excellent wooden toys.)

I enjoy Suzdal more when I think of it as one big open air museum.

Edited to add: Steve talks about Suzdal in Vladimir and Suzdal.