VELIKY NOVGOROD

VELIKY NOVGOROD

2 days / 1 night

DAY 1. Transfer to the Novgorod from Saint-Petersburg. Arrival in Novgorod. Transfer to the hotel. Accommodation.  Lunch City tour. During the city sightseeing tour you will get acquainted with history of the city and visit the main places of interest. Novgorod was founded in 9th century and became a birthplace of Russia. It is a city-museum with splendid monuments of ecclesiastic and defense architecture of 12th - 14th cc. Novgorod’s architecture and painting are unquestionably the best examples of world culture. The Novgorod Kremlin is the 11^th century citadel with unassailable walls and tall towers. Its oldest structure, St.Sofia’s Cathedral, amazes one with its great height (nearly 40 metres), its strength, spacious interior and acoustic qualities. The entire Kremlin grounds with all its structures, which have been restored, are the museum area. You will see Faceted Palace and "The Millenium of Russia" Monument. Dinner.

DAY 2. Breakfast at the hotel. After it you will enjoy a visit to unique open-air Museum of wooden architecture "Vitoslavlitsi" of incomparable beauty, which preserves flavor of the 16th century village with genuine wooden churches and peasant homes from around the region.  Not far from the museum there is the Yuriev Monastery. It is situated on the bank of the Ilmen Lake and provides unique opportunities to glimpse frescoes of antiquity. The Yuriev Monastery – working man's monastery. It was founded by Novgorod prince Jaroslav in the beginning of XI century. It is located 4 km away Novgorod on the bank of the Ilmen Lake. Since 1989 it is a part of Novgorod diocese and has been working more than 10 years. There is Georgievski cathedral on the territory of the monastery - the most unique monument of XII century architecture, a princely tomb. Lunch.   Transfer to St. Petersburg.