Historical monuments on the way to Veliky Novgorod

The cozy restaurant of the "Pokrovsky" hotel suited us well for breakfast. For breakfast here you can find a lot of traditional Russian and European dishes. We most remembered the beef tartar and the squid with kimchi cucumber. There is also a very wide range of sushi and rolls.
Good news for tea lovers: the selection of teas here is very decent, there are fruit and herbal teas as well as the classic lobster.

During yesterday's day we had time to explore most of the famous Pskov sights, but we didn't have time for the famous monument erected to commemorate the Battle of Ice, so we make up for it now. The first thing that strikes us about this monument is its incredible size; also, from the mountain on which the monument is located, there are magnificent views of the city and the river.

In the Pskov region there are many interesting historical sites, one of the most interesting among them is the memorial museum-reserve of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, "Vechasha Estate".
Here the famous composer spent a lot of time composing his works, including the opera "Sadko" and "The Tale of Tsar Saltan.
The manor is closed on Mondays.

We decided to have lunch in the town of Luga in a small restaurant Chaplin, which is located in the center on Uritsky Avenue. The atmosphere here is generally simple, but also cozy. There are many different appetizers on the menu, among which we remembered most of all the potato croquettes in parmesan, as well as baked cauliflower.

There are not many places where you can see and visit a Catholic church, and the city of Luga is one of them.
St. Nicholas Church is a classic representative of the Neo-Gothic architectural style, and inside it there is a large church organ. For a long time the building did not function as intended, and only in the 90s did worship services start here again.

When we arrived in Veliky Novgorod in the evening, we didn't expect to have time to visit any of the local attractions, so we just went for a walk along the picturesque Alexander Nevsky embankment, which offers an amazing view of the Novgorod Detinets and St. Sophia Cathedral.

"ZavodBar" is a small in its own way stylish restaurant in the center of Veliky Novgorod. It was here that we decided to spend the evening after our walk. The menu here is very diverse, among the things we had a chance to try, we could mention chicken fillet fried in prunes with bacon, as well as pikeperch fillet with vegetables and bacon.

Today we arrived in Veliky Novgorod. Tomorrow we will have a full introduction to this historical center of ancient Russia, so it is worth a good night's sleep and gain strength for long and interesting walks and excursions.