When we decided to travel through Russia many people said to us: ‘But what are you going to do there? Is there anything to see?’ Apparently people still have that image in their minds of a grey dull Soviet Russia. But I knew this wasn’t case. Exactly the opposite is true: Russia has a brightly colorful landscape. Let the photos in this post surprise you.

The onion-shaped domes

The first thing you’ll notice when you visit Russia, is the onion-shaped domes of the orthodox churches. Why the onion-shape? After some inquiring I discovered this shape mainly has a practical reason: in the winter the snow will just glide off. How easy! These domes rise in endless color combinations. You’ll see gold and silver, but also blue with stars and green with stripes. All sorts of colors put in one big dome. At times I thought to myself I’m just staring at a church with some swirl ice creams on top. There is no official meaning to the colors, with exception to the golden color. Gold is the color of celestial glory and so it’s only used on highly important churches.

Rusland

Rusland

The pastels in ánd under the city

Especially if you visit Saint Petersburg, you will see one pastel building after the other. The Hermitage in a minty green. The Stroganov Palace in a salmon pink. And the Admirality in a pastry-like yellow. These buildings didn’t always have these exact colors. Two centuries ago the Hermitage had a red exterior and the Stroganov Palace had a minty green color. If you want to take the underground, you won’t miss any color. For instance, the Komsomolskaya metro station in Moscow is breathtaking beautiful. You could just stare for hours at the yellow baroque ceiling with the white framed paintings.

Rusland

Rusland

Colorful dachas

To escape from the business of everyday life in the city, the Russians try to spend most of their free time in their colorful wooden dacha’s in the countryside. These are the green, blue or ochreous summer houses with white framing around every window. The front yard is full with flowers and in the backyard the family has their own kitchen garden. Green eggplants and cucumbers against the red color of the berries. True Russian folklore.

Rusland

As you can see, Russia is overtly colorful. The colorful architecture are the highlights in the Russian landscape. A nice alternation in the everyday busy life.

And… surprised?

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"Don't let your dreams be dreams. Go live your dreams. Go travel".

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