Великий Новгород - Novgorod the Great. Located halfway between St Petersburg and Moscow, and recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Novgorod is one of the oldest cities in Russia, and one of the most important in the country's history. At the beginning of May, I was invited by some friends to visit it for three days. The timing was significant - we arrived the day after Orthodox Easter Sunday. Given that Novgorod and the surrounding areas have some of the most beautiful, historic churches and monasteries in all of Russia, we couldn't have picked a better time to enjoy this breathtaking, holy city and its countryside.
I'm often told by Russians that St Petersburg is not "real Russia". What this means, exactly, no one seems to be able to tell me.
Some mention the architecture. The Petrine Baroque style, which Peter the Great insisted his city be built in, emulated the Dutch and Scandinavian styles of the time. Later, Catherine the Great invited the Italian architects Rastrelli and Rossi to decorate her city in extravagant layers of blue and gold. Her supreme power as the "enlightened tyrant" of Russia was communicated to all city-dwellers through the grand palaces, while her culture and refinement represented by an abundance of crisp curlicues.
Others simply cite a "feeling", that St Petersburg is the closest of all large Russian cities to Europe, has a history of more flexible borders with the neighboring countries, and consequently it lacks the Russian-ness of many other cities.
Having all this in the back of my mind, I was delighted when some friends invited me to stay with them at their classic Soviet-era style flat in the heart of Novgorod. Here, finally, was the chance I had been waiting for to explore to so-called "real Russia".
The beauty of the monasteries, and stateliness of the churches; the hallowed interiors encrusted in mosaics, the ringing of the choir's chanting during Orthodox Easter service; all this coupled together made an impression on me I'll not soon forget. I felt myself to be an outsider, but not an intruder. An American Jew standing in the midst of a Russian Orthodox congregation, I somehow felt completely a part of the community as we stood there in silence, listening to the prayers.
It's important to note that in Russian Orthodox services, the congregation does not sit or kneel. There are no pews. There are no cushioned kneelers. The people stand proudly, reverently before G-d, facing the golden icons of the saints and apostles, and listen.
As I walked through the holy places we visited during my stay, the same feeling persisted. I was a curious bystander, peering into a different world. A guest, I was allowed to wander freely in this strange land - though I couldn't help but feel that I was being watched by the very buildings themselves, crouched like great white beasts on the green slopes of late spring.
There is a fierce dignity to the cathedrals. Some of them are in disrepair from many harsh winters and lack of funds to keep them up. But, to me, their crumbling exterior only add to their stern beauty, their stoicism. The cracked paint makes me think of the weathered face of an old mariner, marked by countless winds, blistered by years beyond reckoning of defiantly staring into the sun.
For all the quiet glory of the churches, the countryside was equally as majestic in its own right - but wild, untamed, sprawling.
I saw a fairy tale landscape: a lake that stretched forever off into the horizon, collections of ancient log cottages grouped along the banks of a river delta; dark forests blanketing the lands, broken up only by patches of marsh and wetland.
The more I see of this country, the more I am entranced and astounded by it. After visiting Novgorod, rather than being able to better explain to myself what "real Russia" is, I am more mystified and intrigued than ever as to what makes this massive country so distinctively neither Europe, nor Asia, but truly the only one of its kind.
There is a Russian proverb that goes, "St Petersburg is our head, and Moscow our heart." What then, I wonder, is Novgorod the Great?
