A bear has adorned Yaroslavl's coat of arms for centuries: legend has it that Prince Yaroslav the Wise killed the beast with an axe before founding here, in 1010, the first Russian city on the Volga. River cruise boats now dock just below the historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a few minutes' walk is enough to enter what many consider the capital of the Golden Ring.

The promenade above the river

From the dock, a staircase climbs to the upper promenade, a lime tree-lined walkway overlooking the water along the full length of the old centre. A white colonnaded rotunda serves as a lookout and backdrop for wedding photos; below, boats glide by, cyclists speed along the lower bank, and bell towers emerge from the foliage one after another, as if introducing themselves. This stately terrace, laid out in the 19th century, immediately sets the tone of a merchant city that was long one of the richest in Russia thanks to river trade.

The Strelka

The promenade leads naturally to the Strelka, the green point where the Kotorosl joins the Volga. This is where it all began, and a well-kept park surrounds the monument erected for the millennium of the city's founding. The Cathedral of the Dormition, rebuilt identically after the destruction of the 20th century, raises its golden domes above the flower beds, and residents come to sit facing the confluence to watch the convoys pass. The panorama takes in both rivers and sums up the geography that made the place's fortune.

The fortress monastery

Heading up the Kotorosl, white walls herald the Monastery of the Transfiguration, founded in the Middle Ages and turned into a museum-reserve. You wander between the ancient cathedral, residential buildings and gardens, before climbing the bell tower for the finest view of the city: a sea of green, gold and silver domes stretching to the horizon. It was within these walls that the manuscript of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, a jewel of medieval Russian literature, was found, and the icon galleries pleasantly extend the visit.

The merchants' churches

The heart of the call, however, beats on the central square, around the Church of Elijah the Prophet. Funded in the 17th century by wealthy fur traders, it preserves an interior entirely covered in frescoes in brilliant greens and ochres, biblical stories into which scenes of harvest and daily life slip. This opulent style, characteristic of the Yaroslavl school, can be found elsewhere in the city, notably at the Church of St. John the Baptist and its fifteen domes, the very one that appears on the 1,000-ruble banknote; detail lovers reach it by taxi on the other side of the Kotorosl. Around the square, the streets radiate according to the classical plan commissioned by Catherine II, dotted with pastel façades and café terraces.

Port of call at a glance

Half a day is enough to complete this route without hurrying, ice cream in hand like the locals, lingering in a craft shop or in front of a church carillon. River itineraries between Moscow and the North stop at Yaroslavl depending on the cruise lines' programs, and the call ranks among the most complete on the Volga: a millennium of history concentrated between two rivers. As the ship departs, the domes line up one last time above the bank, and the bear on the coat of arms almost seems to wave at the wake.