May I recommend Mikhail Prishvin's House Museum at Dunino for a day out from
Moscow? How to get there:
Take fast Metro line 3 to Molodezhnoe. Leave the station forwards and turn
right. Outside there is a small shopping centre, go behind this to places
where marshrutki wait. Take marshrutka 121 to pansionat Lesnye Dali (50
rubles). This goes all along Rublevskoe Shosse (estates of new kottedzhi
surrounded by walls). Go to the terminus, where Rublevskoe Shosse ends. You
have about 1 km walk. Take the road to the left; there is a small sign
saying Dom-Muzei Prishvina. Don't turn off until the road takes a sharp
bend to the left with a black and white crash barrier. Here, turn to the
right down a little hill (sign: Dunino). Prishvin's house is almost
immediately on the left, where the asphalt stops and is replaced by a
typical village road.
If possible arrange to meet the guide Yana Grishina (8-903-711-05-61,
[log in to unmask]), she seems to work mainly at weekends. She is
transcribing and publishing Prishvin's diaries with a colleague and you will
find she appreciates informed visitors and is very passionate about her
subject. They have a depot of Prishvin's books there for sale or
presentation. Yana speaks some English but prefers Russian. Prishvin's 1936
Moskvich car is still there. There is no bureaucracy, you just put your
payment in an honesty box. The loo is an earth closet.
The house and village are unspoilt and not crowded with visitors. They stand
on the edge of woods going down to the Moscow River not far (8 km) from
Zvenigorod (no direct access from Zvenigorod, it needs a longish detour by
car). In WW2 the front line here followed the river and there are traces of
this. If you go a few yards into the village and turn left by the (new)
chapel down to the river bank you can walk through the woods to a sacred
spring and bathing place, a cross and a huge birch tree which survived war
damage.
Total time single journey central Moscow to Dunino - 2-2.5 hours. It might
be an idea to take food, there don't seem to be cafes anywhere. You could
picnic on the benches in Prishvin's fruit garden. Yana may offer hospitality
but it may not always be convenient.
Give my best wishes to Yana if you go.
Andrew Jameson (Visited Dunino Saturday 10 May 2008).
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