Day Trips from Moscow - Moscow - page 317

rich and powerful - tapestries, jewel-encrusted vestments, solid-gold chalices and more. Re-
cently closed for reconstruction, it was unclear when the museum would reopen.
Refectory Church of St Sergei
The huge block with the 'wallpaper' paint job is the Refectory Church of St Sergei (
GOOGLE MAP ) , so called because it was once a dining hall for pilgrims. Now it's the
Cathedral of the Assumption's winter counterpart, holding morning services in cold weather.
It is closed outside of service times, except for guided tours. The green building next door is
the metropolitan's residence .
Getting There & Away
The fastest transport option to Sergiev Posad from Moscow is the express commuter train
that departs from Moscow's Yaroslavsky vokzal (R160, one hour, six daily). A couple of
long-distance trains call at Sergiev Posad daily on the way to Yaroslavl (R1200, three
hours). There are no direct trains to Rostov-Veliky.
Bus 388 to Sergiev Posad (R145; hourly from 7am to 10pm) departs from Moscow's
VDNKh metro station. Transit buses for Kostroma (R700), Yaroslavl (R500) or Rybinsk
pass through Sergiev Posad almost hourly; each of these will take you to Pereslavl-Zalessky
(R150) and Rostov-Veliky (R320) if you can get a ticket.
From the train and bus stations, walk 500m down ul Voznesenskaya until you reach an
observation point with a splendid view of the Lavra. From there, it's another 300m along pr
Krasnoy Armii.
To get here by car, it's a straightforward 80km trip from Moscow along the M8 (Yaroslavl
road), but traffic at the exit from Moscow is horrendous. Definitely avoid heading out on af-
ternoons and Saturday mornings.