Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 11 minutes ago
Though it might sound strange to you, this Russian town a few hundred kilometres away from Moscow was indeed the capital of the Russian Empire in the 16th century!
As usual, if you appreciate this content PLEASE consider subscribing and dropping me one of these 👍
Aleksandrov, one of the Russian towns making up the so-called "Golden Ring", is the standard Russian town in the Western part of the country. You have your usual square named after Vladimir Lenin in the very centre, with a nice welcoming town market and minibusses roaming around.
Although you might not think so, as now only 60,000 people inhabit #Aleksandrov and some parts of it are a bit run down, it did serve as the capital of Russia! There are a couple of mistakes in the video, for which I apologise. Firstly, Aleksandrov was the capital of the Russian Tsardom founded by Ivan the Terrible, and not the Russian Empire, which wouldn't be a thing until Peter the Great in 1721. Secondly, it remained a capital for only three months under Ivan the Terrible, until he agreed to return his court and the relics of Moscow which he had taken with him.
Although you can easily reach Aleksandrov via train from Moscow, and it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, the town is actually part of the Vladimir Oblast administrative region, and not the Moscow Oblast. I paid for the faster train and paid around 900 rubles for my return ticket. In comparison, when I jumped on the standard train to go see the largest aviation museum in Europe on the outskirts of Moscow, I paid 144! Check out the video here if you missed it 👉 youtube.com/watch?v=QckgoWAA4Co
The station is not far from the centre of town and Lenin Square, but I jumped on a bus anyway. The bus fare was only 21 rubles: around €0.30.
The main street is called Ulitsa Lenina (Lenin street), and there are shopping malls, restaurants and cafés. There's even a KFC! Who knows if the founder of KFC could have imagined, 90 years ago, that he would have a restaurant right here in the middle of Russia. No McDonald's or Burger King in sight though.
Real estate prices might have actually been higher when Aleksandrov was the capital of Russia. The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment of 40 square metres is around 10,000 rubles, a little over €100.
And the fact that Aleksandrov was the capital of the Russian Tsardom is not even the main reason why you do see tourists in town from time to time, although admittedly not many. A bit far off the centre you can find the Kremlin of Aleksandrov, surrounded by white walls, in accordance with Russian medieval fashion (originally, the walls of the Moscow Kremlin were painted white too). Inside the Kremlin walls there is a museum, which was unfortunately closed due to renovations. There Ivan the Terrible used to live, and right in the basement are the room where he used to have his enemies decapitated, at the time where this provincial town was the capital of Russia. You can actually visit said rooms, when the museum is not under renovation. The entrance is free.
There are souvenir shops outside and inside, where you can buy religious icons, magnets and other cool things. I wasn't able to find my statue, however! Pity. That means I need to go back.
Follow @_travelegend_ on Instagram for more stories from every country in the world! instagram.com/_travelegend_
00:00-02:16 Jumping on the train
02:16-08:12 Life in Aleksandrov
08:12-14:27 Potholes, potholes everywhere
14:27-20:45 Sunset in Aleksandrov
#travellegend #russia #TheRussianSeries
FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
📷 INSTA: instagram.com/_travelegend_
🟦 FB: facebook.com/LEGENDTRAV
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WHO AM I?
I started making videos for Youtube when I was a university student. I was always trying to find cheap getaways to do some traveling in spite of the adversities put in place by being a broke university student living on their own! Traveling became more and more a fundamental passion of mine, and now that I'm gradually moving on to make a job out of it I couldn't be happier, and I can only continue making this kind of videos both for mine and your enjoyment!
I also run an ONLINE SHOP with TRAVEL MERCHANDISE, feel free to check it out here 👉 bit.ly/2x1Zzjf
Though it might sound strange to you, this Russian town a few hundred kilometres away from Moscow was indeed the capital of the Russian Empire in the 16th century!
As usual, if you appreciate this content PLEASE consider subscribing and dropping me one of these 👍
Aleksandrov, one of the Russian towns making up the so-called "Golden Ring", is the standard Russian town in the Western part of the country. You have your usual square named after Vladimir Lenin in the very centre, with a nice welcoming town market and minibusses roaming around.
Although you might not think so, as now only 60,000 people inhabit #Aleksandrov and some parts of it are a bit run down, it did serve as the capital of Russia! There are a couple of mistakes in the video, for which I apologise. Firstly, Aleksandrov was the capital of the Russian Tsardom founded by Ivan the Terrible, and not the Russian Empire, which wouldn't be a thing until Peter the Great in 1721. Secondly, it remained a capital for only three months under Ivan the Terrible, until he agreed to return his court and the relics of Moscow which he had taken with him.
Although you can easily reach Aleksandrov via train from Moscow, and it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, the town is actually part of the Vladimir Oblast administrative region, and not the Moscow Oblast. I paid for the faster train and paid around 900 rubles for my return ticket. In comparison, when I jumped on the standard train to go see the largest aviation museum in Europe on the outskirts of Moscow, I paid 144! Check out the video here if you missed it 👉 youtube.com/watch?v=QckgoWAA4Co
The station is not far from the centre of town and Lenin Square, but I jumped on a bus anyway. The bus fare was only 21 rubles: around €0.30.
The main street is called Ulitsa Lenina (Lenin street), and there are shopping malls, restaurants and cafés. There's even a KFC! Who knows if the founder of KFC could have imagined, 90 years ago, that he would have a restaurant right here in the middle of Russia. No McDonald's or Burger King in sight though.
Real estate prices might have actually been higher when Aleksandrov was the capital of Russia. The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment of 40 square metres is around 10,000 rubles, a little over €100.
And the fact that Aleksandrov was the capital of the Russian Tsardom is not even the main reason why you do see tourists in town from time to time, although admittedly not many. A bit far off the centre you can find the Kremlin of Aleksandrov, surrounded by white walls, in accordance with Russian medieval fashion (originally, the walls of the Moscow Kremlin were painted white too). Inside the Kremlin walls there is a museum, which was unfortunately closed due to renovations. There Ivan the Terrible used to live, and right in the basement are the room where he used to have his enemies decapitated, at the time where this provincial town was the capital of Russia. You can actually visit said rooms, when the museum is not under renovation. The entrance is free.
There are souvenir shops outside and inside, where you can buy religious icons, magnets and other cool things. I wasn't able to find my statue, however! Pity. That means I need to go back.
Follow @_travelegend_ on Instagram for more stories from every country in the world! instagram.com/_travelegend_
00:00-02:16 Jumping on the train
02:16-08:12 Life in Aleksandrov
08:12-14:27 Potholes, potholes everywhere
14:27-20:45 Sunset in Aleksandrov
#travellegend #russia #TheRussianSeries
FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
📷 INSTA: instagram.com/_travelegend_
🟦 FB: facebook.com/LEGENDTRAV
🎵 Tik Tok: tiktok.com/@travel.legend
WHO AM I?
I started making videos for Youtube when I was a university student. I was always trying to find cheap getaways to do some traveling in spite of the adversities put in place by being a broke university student living on their own! Traveling became more and more a fundamental passion of mine, and now that I'm gradually moving on to make a job out of it I couldn't be happier, and I can only continue making this kind of videos both for mine and your enjoyment!
I also run an ONLINE SHOP with TRAVEL MERCHANDISE, feel free to check it out here 👉 bit.ly/2x1Zzjf
