Murom and the Hotel Lada

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Hotel Lada

The taxi driver said the fare to Hotel Lada would be 80 rubles so we instantly snapped him up. We weren't sure if hotel Lada would be open for guests at 5:30 in the morning but a yard lady outside the hotel told us to push a buzzer by the door and soon enough we were allowed in.

There seems to be a lack of hotels in Murom. We had earlier tried to make a booking via the Hostel Bookers web site but we were told there were no vacancies at the Lada Hotel. Despite being told there were no available rooms we were given one straight away. It has two single beds and is costing us 3500 rb per night. We expected to pay for two nights seeing as were checking in so early in the morning but the receptionist has only charged us for one which was sweet. We were given a breakfast voucher each too. There didn't seem to be a lift and there were very obvious signs of renovation so we lugged our baggage up to the third floor, climbing over building materials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The room is fairly small with no space to really store our big rucksacks so they are currently on the floor with gear spilled out everywhere. We soon realized the room was very noisy. Our room faces the main road so if anyone else ventures to stay here then we suggest they ask for a room at the back of the hotel.

Things to see in Murom

We each had a quick shower and attempted to sleep for a couple of hours. Our minds were everywhere and the noise outside didn't help. It was a wasted effort. We decided to get out of bed and head down the street to look around, but more particularly to buy more bottled water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Murom there are lots of kiosks selling everything from bottled water to heated "fast food", cigarettes and alcohol so water was easy to find. We found a lady at a food stand and she had hot foods in some urn shaped containers. We chose two items each that involved little sausages in pastry and bread. They were only so-so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water tower below is near the market. After that we wandered around with our maps in our hands trying to find the monasteries and churches we had hoped to see.

The maps didn't seem too accurate – or, more likely, our brains were addled from lack of sleep. We were almost wandering around in circles at one stage.

We've taken so many photographs of religious buildings but we will need to identify many of them when we get back home. some look very similar which will make our identification harder.

 

 

At one stage two teenage boys attached themselves to us and were determined we should head in a certain direction to see a certain monastery.

We knew it wasn't the way they were indicating so we had to be quite persistent with them in the end.

I think they were intrigued that we were from Australia and we were soon being serenaded by one of them strumming at his guitar as we walked along by Ilya Muromets statue which overlooks the Oka River.

Added later:

The boys were right and we were wrong. It shows you what lack of sleep can do to the brain.

 

The Annunciation Monastery

At one point we found a certain interesting-looking monastery but luckily we quickly took notice of the people and vehicles gathered around the entrance.We had stumbled upon a funeral and the coffin was heading right towards us. We stood back to show a bit of respect. There was a bus waiting at the front of the church and the back of the bus had a lift-up section in the back of it. We wondered why, until we saw the coffin being slid in through the hatch. Was it a purpose-built bus to take both coffins and mourners?

 

 

Next page - More sightseeing in Murom

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