Russia. For some, this is an empty sound, for others - a huge, vast country called Homeland, and for me it's even more than the place where I was born and grew up. In my opinion, nowhere in the world is there a country with such a rich culture, history full of bloody wars, people who are always ready to help, understand and share your grief, support at a difficult moment and give useful advice.
I understood all this by visiting ancient Russian cities located on the banks of the Volga and the Oka. For me, everything was new and surprising. A small double-decked heat-tracing machine "Alexander Shemagin", loudly buzzing and cutting the water with a sharp nose, went on his next trip on a sunny summer day. When the sharp spire of the building of the Northern river port disappears from sight and the huge river cranes seem toy, on both sides of the Moscow canal, encased in concrete, a forest appears. There is silence all around, broken only by a gentle splash of waves on concrete
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banks and strained intermittent engine operation. At first this sound sounds rude and ugly, but you get used to it, and soon it seems that the engine is singing a song whose words are known only to him alone. The night is coming.
Gradually, life on the boat subsides. And in the morning, going on deck, I was amazed by the changes that occurred overnight. The banks disappeared, and, everywhere you looked, there was water everywhere, unusually clean, slightly shaken by the morning fresh breeze. The Volga is a great Russian river. My first acquaintance with her happened in Uglich, It's a small town that can be bypassed in two or three hours and it gives great pleasure to see the unusually beautiful old Russian buildings. Unfortunately, I can not convey the beauty of Uglich on paper, for, as they say, it is better to see once than hear a hundred times.
A horn sounds. The steamship slowly departs from the pier, giving the opportunity to take a farewell glance at Uglich, and the journey continues. We visit Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod. Especially I would like to say about the last city. Nizhny Novgorod
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is located in the interfluve of the Oka and Volga, at the intersection of trade routes, therefore both in the past and now it plays a very important role in the life of the country. The main attraction of the city is the Kremlin. It is located on a high hill and occupies a very advantageous strategic position.
Unusual in its beauty, the view opens from the walls of the Kremlin: through a thin haze we see small, slightly more matchbox, ships carrying cargo and people, a river port and of course the Chkalov ladder descending almost to the water itself. But they sailed on. We bid farewell to the calm Volga and sail along the Oka, the course of which is noticeably faster. Murom, Kasimov, Ryazan, like Uglich, meet us with the gleam of gilt domes.
I am amazed by the beauty and grandeur of the buildings, each of which is beautiful in its own way, and amazes with its unusualness and uniqueness against the background of Russian nature. For me, a city dweller accustomed to identical twinning houses, all this makes a huge impression that would not be so strong, I do not travel across the water. For, it seems to me, only from the side of the ship you can see all the beauty of Russian nature and ancient cities, which appear before you as in the palm of your hand, in the light of the rays of the rising sun, sparkling and shining with golden domes of churches, temples and cathedrals, like a handful of precious stones.
There is very little to Moscow until it starts to rain, summer warm rain. Imagine such a picture: the sun shines dazzlingly, it rains, desperately struggling with the current of the river, the ship sails, on one side of the green wall stands a forest, and on the other - a small village with shining windows in the sun. Moscow. South river port. Nine days flew by like one. I'm standing on the pier and saying goodbye to "Alexander Shemagin." How many pleasant minutes I spent on your decks, how many beautiful and unforgettable I've seen from them! Although my journey has ended, it will forever remain with me, in my heart!
