it was here that the Romanov dynasty first ascended to the Tsarist throne. The story is the stuff of legend, from the darkest days of the ‘Time of Troubles’ in the early 1600s. Russia, without a clear leader, faced invasion from the combined forces of Poland and Lithuania, and the Volga was a vital artery for both sides. Young Mikhail Romanov, the future Tsar, was holed up at Kostroma’s Ipatievsky Monastery while enemy forces closed in, only for Ivan Susanin to intervene. Legend has it that the local logger led the Polish troops into the dense woodland, claiming he would take them to prince’s hiding place. By the time the soldiers realized they’d been duped, and angrily butchered their guide, it was too late for them to find their way out of the leafy labyrinth, and Mikhail was safe.