Sorry Hollywood but Anastasia was dead.
She died along with her parents, Tsar Nicolas II, Tsarina Alexandria and her four other siblings Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Alexi. The Romanov spent their final days in Yekaterinburg before meeting their gruesome end in the hands of the Bolsheviks who feared the White Army would rescue the former royal family and used it as the pretext to fight against the Red Army. The entire family was shot and stabbed by bayonets. Their bodies were carried away and dumped them in the mine shaft outside Yekaterinburg.
The children of the Tsar
The Russian Orthodox Church canonized the Romanovs as passion bearers in 1981 and built Ganina Yama monasteries and the Church on the Blood at the location of the house where they died. There are seven monasteries, one for each member of the family. The simple brown wooden logs were highly in contrast with the bright green roofs and shiny golden domes. In a monastery, I saw icons of the family members, together with those of Jesus and Orthodox saints. I wonder if many Russians believe in the family sainthood as I saw many women in my tour group bowed down and kissed the icons.
Up until now I always thought the Tsar as a monster and didn’t give much thought about his family’s butchering. The only Russian history and culture I knew during my childhood and youth were about poor peasants, soldiers and the constant struggle of Russians’ lower-class. I took to heart the main reason for communism was to alleviate the suffering of millions of Russian peasants from brutal rules of Russia’s noblemen. Then there was this new version of Nicolas being nicknamed Santa Claus, doing a lot of things for the people. Also, I saw many personal family photos of the girls and the boy, and for the first time, I felt awful for them.
If you don’t have time, it’s better to call or email the tourist information office and ask for a regular bus going to the monasteries. I was told that buses weren’t regular and might change the schedule during the summer. Their website: its.ekburg.ru
I found an online bus timetable on a blog dated July 2011, but it wasn’t valid anymore. The ticket office at the North Bus station told me to return to the train station and take the excursion. The tour company that sold the excursion was located right outside the station, next to the restaurant area to the left if you exit, right if you enter the train station.
The tour started every 2 hours at 10:00, but if there are more than five people, it will start an hour earlier. The cost was 500 ruble including a roundtrip minibus to the monasteries and back plus a Russian guide who explained only in Russian. The trip took 45 minutes to get there.
Note to backpackers: This is a formal place, and they enforce a strict dress code. Females are required to cover their head and wear pants or long dress. Shorts are not allowed.
Here is some interesting information about the Ural, Yekaterinburg from a local blogger askural.com.
a neighborhood in Yekaterinburg
Interested in knowing more about travel in Russia and Siberia? Visit this link to read my other travel articles about traveling in Russia.
I'm a motivation explorer, personality type hacker, behavioral investigator and storyteller. I help startup founders, entrepreneurs, and corporate managers to understand themselves, the people they manage and how to get the best of their people. Specialty is in psychological personality types and brain-based methods. When I don't do the above, I hop around planet Earth with TravelJo.com to learn the Art and Science of people from everywhere and to give you all the free travel and tips and advice in many cool destinations.
My name is Cindy, also rhymes with travel junkie. A friend said I was probably a gipsy in my previous life. One of my many secret missions in life is to convert you to run off every once in awhile.
