A Visit to “Russia’s Oldest City”

MY WIFE, Linda, and I arrived in Moscow in July 1998 on a work assignment. We had never been in Russia before, and we were eager to learn about the country, its language, and its people.

Soon after we arrived, I noted the intriguing engraving on the back of the green five-ruble paper note. It showed what looked like a 14th- or 15th-century brick fortress overlooking a river, with an island and a lake in the background. Engraved in the corner was the name of the place: Novgorod.

I asked Muscovites about it. All of them knew about Novgorod, but only one I asked had actually been there. I was told that it was less than 350 miles [less than 550 km] from Moscow, an overnight train ride in the same direction as St. Petersburg. My wife and I decided to go.

Our Trip to Novgorod

Since I had bought tickets to St. Petersburg before, I knew where to purchase them. The number of our train car and compartment were printed on our tickets. We arrived at the train station a little after nine one evening last September and settled into our private compartment in car number 5.

With a groan and then a resistive jerk, the car lurched forward. This was to be repeated all night long, as we were on a local train. We would stop, and after a few minutes, another train would roar by. A few more minutes would pass as we sat on the siding in the quiet of the night. Then the brakes would be released, and our car would protest, groan, moan and, in the end, follow the rest of the train. I would then fall asleep again.

The matron of the wagon knocked on our door just before we arrived in Novgorod. The train station was busy, even at seven in the morning. At a newsstand, we found a map of the city and also asked the salesclerk how much a taxi ride to our hotel should cost. For 20 rubles (about 70 cents) the taxi driver took us in his Russian Lada to our hotel, across the Volkhov River—the river in the engraving.

The driver told us that he wasn’t Russian but that his wife was. That’s why he lives in Russia. The receptionist at the hotel welcomed us and even let us check in, although it was only 7:30 a.m. She gave us ideas as to where to go. We took a walk by the river and then had breakfast.

 We saw a park with neatly cut grass and trees that were trimmed. The promenade along the river was resplendent with decorative beds of flowers. Although there were tourists—the occasional Korean-made bus came through with a tour group—Novgorod isn’t a tourist town. Most of the people we saw were Russians.

We were told by a number of local residents that Novgorod is Russia’s oldest city. It is said to be over 1,100 years old. Testifying to its religious heritage are dozens of old churches throughout the city. On a map, Linda counted 25 in just the area of the hotel.

We found a tower inside the kremlin—not the Kremlin in Moscow; “kremlin” is the Russian word for “city fortress.” The tower was accessible clear to the top. For 5 rubles (less than 20 cents), we were allowed to climb the spiral stairs to the top. I compared the view with the picture on the five-ruble note. The trees had grown, and a cover had been put over the walkway of the kremlin wall. Yet, there was the Volkhov River—the same river and the same island and lake in the background. Only the crane dredging the river wasn’t in the engraving.

We noticed a remarkable thing on our  second day in Novgorod. While the city is considered small by Russians—despite its population of 250,000—its people remembered us and details about us! The waitress at the hotel remembered us from the previous day. She remembered we liked coffee, and she kept bringing it out to us. She also remembered that we didn’t want juice and so didn’t ask if we wanted it the second day. When I asked for the check, Olga—I remember her name—smiled and said, looking straight at me, “It’s room 356, isn’t it?”

On Sunday thousands of people swarmed the kremlin, the footbridge across the Volkhov River, the streets, and the promenade. Linda went to get popcorn from a street vendor near the footbridge, who—you guessed it!—remembered her from the day before.

When we went back to climb the tower to see the view again, the girl collecting the entrance fee smiled at us and said: “You were here yesterday, weren’t you? Well, you already paid yesterday, so you don’t have to pay again.”

We met David, a friend we had known years before in New York. He had married a Russian girl, Alyona, and they were now living in Novgorod, serving as ministers with a congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. We met in front of the Detinets Restaurant, which is built right into the wall at the top of the kremlin. There we were served the best Russian food we had ever eaten. A three-course meal (salad, soup, main course, coffee, and dessert) seemed relatively inexpensive to us.

Novgorod was a city with friendly people who remembered us, excellent food, and just enough history and variety to make it interesting. We’ll be back.—Contributed.

[Pictures on page 22, 23]

The Russian five-ruble note, and a photograph of the same view of Novgorod

[Picture on page 23]

The kremlin, from the Volkhov River

[Picture on page 24]

Crossing a footbridge over the Volkhov River

[Picture on page 24]

Religion was prominent in Novgorod for centuries