Surprisingly, the quickest border crossing so far was the Belarus-Russia border. We had forgotten Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for a customs union, so it was very easy to get through.
The Russian Border...with no booths for passport control.
We got waved down by an official and it went like this:
"Passports, please. All good. Ok, go!"
We were unsure whether we would have problems later so Alex ran to the border guards to ask them whether we needed entry stamps in our passport. Apparently they had no stamps and if we wanted a stamp we could get one in Moscow. Like usual, they were very intrigued by our car and by our trip. We then needed to get insurance as always. The lady was struggling to understand the logbook so in the end Alex sat down and typed out the insurance certificate himself. As we left the hut there were a group of money changers sitting in their cars. One of the border guards asked if we needed help exchanging money. We politely declined and left.
Filling out the insurance paperwork after we crossed the border.
Following in the footsteps of Napoleon, we drove like the clappers towards Moscow along a good quality motorway. However when we turned off towards Vyazma the road rapidly deteriorated. Potholes were everywhere and you had to swerve to avoid them. After a number of hours driving along crappy roads, we arrived at the hotel around 4AM.
The next morning, we met up with Sergei, one of Vova's friends who is a sword maker. He showed us his workshop and swords that he had made, along with some antique coins. Afterwards, he showed us around Tula while our car got a check up in a local garage.
Part of the interior of the fort we explored
A statue of Dimitry Donskoy, a Russian Prince in the 14th century.
The interior of an ancient church in the fort, which was undergoing refurbishment.
We drove a local fort and walked around the grounds, buying some souvenirs in the shops. Afterwards, we went to the Tula arms museum, which was great and has arms from various countries all the way from early flintlocks to modern day. Tula is famous for its weapons manufacturing, and some guns are still manufactured in Tula today. Following our trip to the museum, we went out for traditional Russian food, and enjoyed a long, relaxing dinner. This was important as we had a non stop 18 hour drive to Grozny, Chechnya ahead of us.
An arms museum.
Archways in the fort.
Russian Military hardware outside the Arms Museum.
The main government offices for Tula.
Getting our car ready for the 18 hour drive to Grozny.