Novgorod — The Most Ancient Russian City

Novgorod is the most ancient and beautiful city (amost like its neighbor - St.Petersburg) in Russia. Cyrrillic version will look like this: Новгород Великий. Please do not be confused, because there are two Novgorods in Russia: Novgorod Velikiy (also called Novgorod Veliky, Novgorod the Great) and Novgorod Nizhny (also called Novgorod Nizhniy). I am talking about the first Novgorod. It is located in the North-Western part of Russia and is only 180 kms (about 100 miles) away from Saint Petersburg. This great city was established in 859. It almost became a Russian capital centuries ago. This city was a first one with a democratic goverment in Russia. It influenced a lot on a Russian history. There are lot of sightseeings in Novgorod. You will see hundrends of gorgeous churches, monuments of Russian architecture. The most popular one is Novogord Kremlin. Even though this city has so many tourist attractions, not a lot of tourists visit this city. They just don't know about the existance of Novgorod. St. Petersburg takes amost 90 percent of tourists comming to that part of Russia. Accomodation, transportation, Russian translation service, museums, tour guide fees are very cheap there compared to Moscow and St.Pete. So if you are thinking about visiting Russia, don't miss this wonderful Russian city. I promise, you will enjoy it to the fullest. Take a look at this beautiful church which is called St. Sofia Cathedral.