Day 8 Tuesday

This route takes us through 7 locks. They are large enough for several ships and efficient. We visited a small town of Kuzino, which would not be of any interest if they didn’t have one of the largest monasteries in Russia. It was built in 14th through 17th centuries, and at its peak it had 11 churches and over 200 monks. It was also used as a fortification that resisted Polish and Lithuanian invasion after they took Moscow. During communist times, they were lucky because the monastery was not turned into storage or prison, but into a museum. That’s how it survived – deteriorated but not devastated. We painstakingly viewed hundreds of icons but they all looked the same to me (Al’s opinion only). The best part of this visit was the local tour guide, Marina, who was wildly enthusiastic and exceedingly proud about every detail of this venue. Then we went to a local school. It was quite impressive that this small village has a nice large facility. Kids were prepped to give tours to tour groups and showcase their school and their English skills. I (Bo) was wondering how much Viking is paying the school for accommodating at least 4 bus loads of people every day… Marina told us that about 350 thousand people visit the monastery each year, most of them during the navigation season. This region is also vacation area for Muscovites who have lots of dachas in the area. The lake, Beloye Ozero, on whose bank the monastery is located is one of the largest in Northern Russia and full of fish. This area is also known for its butter, which supposedly is very high in fat and has a nutty taste, and its lace.

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