Sensible traveler Destinations Where they went Travel gear Student travelRussia, by bike
By Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent, 09/22/02
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Sensible traveler Destinations Where they went Travel gear Student travel |
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"I got a cultural experience. It was what I was looking for, even with the frustrations," said Loutzenheiser, 35, a transportation planner who lives in Cambridge.
Those frustrations included many hours wasted trying to make decisions about the day, staying far from towns, an initial diet of only starch and cheese, and the language barrier. But what Loutzenheiser gained, he said, was a look at Russian culture he wouldn't have been privy to otherwise.
Also, he was able to travel cheaply. "The whole thing was less than $1,000, including air fare," said Loutzenheiser, who used a promotional fare to Brussels and dividend miles to Moscow. The tour itself cost only $250, as the cyclists carried their own gear, camped, and made their meals.
The 12-day July trip, led by the Russian Cycling Touring Club (www.geocities.com/TheTropics/8640/club.html), was a tour of the Golden Ring, an area northeast of Moscow that includes the historic cities of Uglich, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, and Suzdal.
"I've always been interested in Moscow and Russia in general," Loutzenheiser said. The transportation planner in him was also curious to see the fabled Moscow subways. "They're very elegant and beautiful, like museums."
Though he wanted to meet Russians, he did note that those on the bike trip were not typical citizens. "There are very few cyclists in Russia. Most of the people who do it are of a higher education and speak some English. None of them drank or smoked, which is astonishing."
There were eight cyclists on the trip, Loutzenheiser and a retired couple from Scotland being the foreigners.
Even before the trip started, the club members were extremely helpful, Loutzenheiser said. "To get a visa you need to go through quite a bit of paperwork, including an invitation from a sponsor and proof of accommodation for the entire stay. They did all that."
He was met at the airport and taken to the huge Hotel Vegas, built for the 1980 Summer Olympics. The foreigners were given a tour of Moscow, including stops at the Kremlin and Red Square.
"One thing we learned about the Russian culture very quickly is they know Westerners have money. They like to triple or quadruple the costs for foreigners," Loutzenheiser said.
"It's not a welcoming country. They do very little marketing and have few tourist information centers. People were helpful to our guide, but there wasn't that smile or a `thank you' or `have a nice day' like here. Once you get to know people, though, they're friendly."
The 500-mile tour started right from the hotel, as they pedaled to a train station to leave for the Golden Ring area. "The roads in Moscow, courtesy of Joseph Stalin, were rearranged to fit his tanks, so you have lots of 10-lane roads and huge traffic," Loutzenheiser said. "Pedestrians have no right of way. I felt safer as a cyclist."
Any wooded area in Russia is open to campers, and they stayed along rivers and lakes. "We'd bike through private campgrounds, camp just past them, and use their showers. The culture doesn't put up those private-property barriers. That's one of the things I liked."
They had plenty of daylight, as it didn't get dark until midnight. Nighttime meant "horrendous mosquitoes."
The Russian guides "had a very hard time coming to a consensus," Loutzenheiser said. "They'd argue about things for a long time. I think it's a cultural thing. But they did do most of the work, which was really nice."
The bikers saw a lot of the countryside and visited small towns, many free of tourists. Loutzenheiser admired the Russian Orthodox churches and the architecture of the houses in cities.
After the tour, he spent a couple more days in Moscow and several more in St. Petersburg, which he called "beautiful and cosmopolitan." Much of it, however, was behind scaffolding, he said, as the city undergoes a face lift in preparation for its 300th birthday next year.
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