Russia: Moscow – Kolomenskoye

Kolomenskoye is a former royal estate in the eastern part of the sprawling Moscow city and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the spectacular whitewashed Ascension Church. The estate is now a massive green park overlooking the curving Moscow River. This is also the oldest part of Moscow with settlement existing here for nearly 2500 years known as Dyakovo Gorodische and a column attests to this. There are many other cathedrals and churches here, including many very unique wooden churches moved to Kolomenskoye from other parts of Russian. And finally, the most spectacular is the wooden tsar’s palace – a fairytale collection of funky and colorful wooden structures. Supposedly, Peter the Great was born in Kolomenskoye.