Day 1 Arrive Moscow
Upon arrival in Moscow you will be met and transferred to your hotel. Remainder of the day is at leisure to begin your exploration of the Russian capital. Overnight Moscow
Day 2 Moscow
After breakfast you will be picked up at your hotel and taken on a private tour of the city. You will see New Arbat and Tverskaya streets, Lomonosov University, both the old and new districts of Kitay-Gorod, Red Square with St. Basil and the Lenin Mausoleum. You will also enjoy a tour of the Kremlin territory to include Cathedral Square with the Assumption Cathedral, where royal weddings and coronation ceremonies used to take place, the Annunciation and Archangel Mikhail Cathedrals, the Palace of Facets, the Tsar Bell and the Tower Cannon. You will have an inside visit of one of the cathedrals. Overnight Moscow
Day 3 Moscow-Sergiev Posad-Yaroslavl
After breakfast you will be picked up from your hotel and begin your drive to Sergiev Posad (formerly Zagorsk) Situated some 60km from the edge of Moscow on the Yaroslavl Road you will visit the Trinity Monastary of St. Sergius, one of the most important Christian Orthodox and historical landmarks in Russia. Lunch is included enroute to Yaroslavl. Dinner and overnight at the Yubileynaya Hotel in Yaroslavl.
Day 4 Yaroslavl-Kostroma-Suzdal
After breakfast you will be taken on a city tour of Yaroslavl. Visit the Spaso-Preobrazhensky (Transfiguration of our Savior) Monastery with its cathedral. The monastery was an important fortification in which Ivan IV took refuge from the Tatar Khan Devlet Ghirai in 1571. It is also famous for the disovery of the manuscript "Lay of Igor's Host" in 1795, which became a sensation in European literary circles. Lunch included in Yaroslavl. Continue to Kostroma. Upon arrival you will enjoy a city tour. Visit the splendid Ipatievsky Monastery and the gold-domed Trinity Cathedral. The monastery played a key role in Russian history when Mikhail Romanov left here to become the crowned Tsar, who started the Romanov dynasty. Late arrival in Suzdal. Dinner and overnight at the Pokrovsky Convent Hotel in Suzdal.
Day 5 Suzdal-Vladimir-Moscow-Overnight Train
After breakfast you will be taken on a tour of Suzdal. Visit the Suzdal Kremlin with its art museum, the Savior Monastery of St. Euthymius, and the open air Museum of Wooden Architecture and Peasant Life. Lunch is included in Suzdal. Continue to Vladimir to see the Golden Gate, the Assumption Cathedral (with its frescoes by Andrei Rublev), the Art Gallery where Russian paintings of the 18th-19th centuries are exhibited, the Dmitrievsky Cathedral and the Museum of Crystals. Dinner will be served in Suzdal. Continue to Moscow where you board your overnight train to St. Petersburg. Train departes around 11pm.
Day 6 St. Petersburg
Arrive around 8am. You will be met at the rail station and taken on a city tour of the most beautiful of Russian cities. See the Nevsky Prospect, Basil's Island, the banks of the Neva River with their numerous palaces, the Rostral columns, Smolny Monastery, Decembrists Square, the Summer Palace, Winter Palace Square with its Alexander Column, St. Isaac's Square and St. Issac's Cathedral. Continue to the Peter and Paul Fortress, the first construction of St. Petersburg. Located opposite the Hermitage Museum and across the Neva River, it was put up by Peter the Great in 1703 to protect the country from Swedish invaders. The Fortress is the burial place of many Russian Tsars from Peter the Great to the last of the Romanov's. After your check in at the hotel you will be taken on a tour of the Hermitage Museum. One of the greatest art collections in the world (containing over 3 million exhibits), set in a magnificent palace of the baroque style built in 1764 by Catherine the Great. This ancient residence of Tsars looks over the Neva River and Palace Square with its enormous Alexander Column erected in 1834 to commemorate the Russian victory over Napoleon. Overnight in St. Petersburg
Day 7 St. Petersburg-End of Tour
After breakfast you will be transferred to the airport or you may wish to extend your days in St. Petersburg or continue to the Baltic States or to Helsinki.
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