What greets tourists in Sergiev Posad, Pereslavl-Zalessky and Rostov the Great

I don't know what's going on with the advent, but Rostov is definitely having a second birth. The city is changing so quickly that the utility workers can't keep up with each other. Some have drawn a pedestrian crossing, others haven't laid the sidewalk yet, so the zebra crossing will lead gullible tourists straight to the lawn. Something completely new – they've installed intricate cast-iron lanterns right above a narrow path in impassable burdocks. Or is this a ghost street?

But these funny little things do not spoil the impression of the town. We settled in one of those numerous houses-teremoks that are rented on the shore of Lake Nero. The views of Rostov from here are amazing, especially if you rent a boat for a thousand rubles.

The main wonder of these places is the Rostov Kremlin. 11 round and square towers connected by corridors and passages, white-stone chambers, several churches with elegant silver and green domes, flowers and greenery of the Metropolitan Garden… The "customer" of the Kremlin, Metropolitan Jonah, in his more or less calm 17th century, built it as a prototype of the Heavenly Jerusalem. And it seems he guessed right.

How much do they let you into heaven these days? A combined ticket costs 1,100 rubles per person, if there are at least three in the family, that's already 3,300. A couple of tips: tourists can get the same close-up views of the white-stone patterns from the Assumption Cathedral and its famous bell tower. And one more thing: don't rush to buy vinyl records with "Rostov Bells" at five thousand apiece in local antique stores; they're half as cheap on marketplaces.

The main shock from Rostov is the Assumption Cathedral itself. A five-domed white-stone giant. It is half a thousand years old. And it will definitely stand until the Last Judgment, which is vividly recalled by the fresco painted at the end of the 17th century on the southern porch. From the same "Romanov" century – numerous small stains on all the walls of the cathedral. Chickenpox of time? It turned out to be traces of gesso (forged, with wide heads, they are also called plaster) nails, with which the frescoes were attached.

Where to grab a bite to eat in Rostov? Two minutes from the cathedral is the Russian cuisine cafe "Alyosha Popovich". You'll go crazy over their pancakes with meat or vareniki with pike perch. You can try pike cutlets from Lake Nero and solyanka "Rostovskaya" with veal kidneys. The average bill for a family is from three thousand. But we only live once.

We got to Pereslavl-Zalessky in an hour by taxi. There is no railway here. Urban myth: local merchants bribed someone in the capital to save the city from the "steam" disaster. They were saving their wallets, of course – since ancient times, people here have been feeding off the Belomorsky tract, connecting Moscow with the Volga and the North.

The dominant features of Pereslavl since ancient times are five monasteries. And everything is so beautiful that you can draw it: the domes sparkle, the walls are whitewashed, behind them are gardens and ponds. The white-stone Transfiguration Cathedral on the local Red Square still remembers pre-Mongol Rus' – and is also brand new. Incidentally, Alexander Nevsky was baptized in it, and his bust opposite is somewhat reminiscent of the hero from Eisenstein's film. It is clear why. Some scenes of the film were shot right here. The film was taken from a local factory. So the on-screen Nevsky also comes from Pereslavl. Such is the loop of history.

Tourists also meander, but not of their own free will, you can't find sidewalks even with fire – the paths are potholed, the trails cut through the roots. Perhaps this is how they preserve the city in its original state – for new Eisensteins. Is it easy to go through such obstacle courses with a baby in a stroller? This is a rhetorical question.

On the Trubezh River we hire a boatman and – to the temple on the water. And behind the Church of the Forty Martyrs – to Lake Pleshcheyevo. In the 14th century – if you believe the legends – it was the fog over the lake that saved Dmitry Donskoy's wife, Princess Evdokia, from Tokhtamysh. And today the lake saves everyone, be you princes or modest tourists, from the stuffiness and heat. You float in the fog as if under a sail. Here's some advice: row towards the sunset, and the selfies will be simply out of this world.

We didn't find any places to have a tasty snack in Pereslavl, but in the end we suddenly discovered a stylish (!) cafe in the Danilov Monastery. It's about 20 minutes' walk from the museum-reserve.

And again we rush in a taxi – the journey takes no more than an hour, and before us is the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius and the settlement that has grown up around it. It was here that Sergius of Radonezh glued together the seams of Rus', torn apart by civil strife and the Tatar-Mongol invasions, it was here that Andrei Rublev painted his "Trinity". The invaders broke their teeth on the mighty monastery walls… As the "Russian Leonardo" Pavel Florensky said in 1918, "the pulse of our history is more perceptible here than anywhere else." Right on target.

Of the three cities we visited, Sergiev Posad is perhaps the most suitable for tourists with children. There is room to turn around with a stroller, there are special parking lots for them near the museums, and in the Lavra itself, parents with babies are greeted as if they were their own family. Maybe it's all about the proximity to the capital? An hour and a bit by train. If only there were more ramps here, but so that they wouldn't look out of place here, among the ancient shrines.

It is better to go to the Lavra with strollers after 15:00, when the flow of tourists from the monastery squares and courtyards has ebbed. What to do before then? You can go with children to the Toy Museum. It has been here for over a century, and no one has ever gotten bored there.

You can wander through the streets and alleys of the town without any navigator: if you suddenly get lost, you will probably be led out by signs with the names of Russian geniuses – Florensky, Rozanov, Prishvin… Their addresses are a special curve in the cardiogram of our country.

In the evening, leaving the baby with her mother-in-law at the hotel, we turned onto the "food" street of the city – Karl Marx. Brick houses of the former knitwear factory, cozy garlands, light jazz and one of the best views of the Lavra – all this together, and nothing argues with each other. And the pulse of history evens out immediately. And the soul is warm: we will survive without ramps, but how good, how fresh were the pies. With a variety of fillings!