Wooden Palace of the Tsar Alexey Mikhaylovich in Kolomenskoe, Moscow, provides a rare inside into medieval Russia. You will most certaily recognise this very special floral paintings very similar to what we saw inside St Basil's Cathedral a few weeks ago.

Tsar Alexis I had all the previous wooden structures in Kolomenskoye demolished and replaced them with a new great wooden palace, famed for its fanciful, fairytale roofs. Foreigners referred to this huge maze of intricate corridors and 250 rooms, as 'an Eighth Wonder of the World'. Although basically only a summer palace, it was the favorite residence of Tsar Alexis I outside Moscow. (Now it's almost the city centre).

The Church of the Ascension was built in 1532 on the imperial estate of Kolomenskoye, near Moscow, to celebrate the birth of the prince who was to become Tsar Ivan IV ('the Terrible'). One of the earliest examples of a traditional wooden tent-roofed church on a stone and brick substructure, it had a great influence on the development of Russian ecclesiastical architecture. One of only few Russia's UNESCO World Heritage Site, a place of outstanding universal value regardless your beliefs - or disbeliefs.

Greta place to exercise and spend time outdoors in Moscow.