Istra is a Moscow Oblast town of about thirty-three thousand on the river of the same name, an hour or so west of the capital depending on how badly the Volokolamsk highway has behaved that day. Its great claim is the New Jerusalem Monastery, which stands on a bluff above the water and looks like a stage set for an entire other country. Patriarch Nikon founded it in the 1650s with the idea of recreating the holy places of Palestine in the Russian countryside, and the huge rotunda of its Resurrection Cathedral was modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The river was even renamed the Jordan, and nearby hills got names to match.
The monastery's later story is a reminder of how close the front came. In the Battle of Moscow in late 1941, German forces reached this area, and in December, as they fell back, they mined and blew up the cathedral. What you see today is the product of decades of restoration, and the soaring tented roofs and glazed tile decoration still look different in different light. Even if you do not go inside, ride past and look back at it from the road along the water.
The reservoir behind the town was created in the 1930s as part of the water system feeding the capital, and the roads around it wander through birch and pine woods, dacha villages and open fields. Surfaces are mixed. Main roads are wide and decent, and the lanes toward the shoreline can be patched, potholed and sandy in the shoulders, so keep your speed honest. Weekend traffic from Moscow is heavy, with long convoys heading to country houses, so a Sunday afternoon return is a very different thing to a Tuesday morning start. Look out for speed cameras, which are common on the main roads, and for dogs that wander the village streets.
Practically, Istra is large enough for fuel stations on the main roads and plenty of cafes serving soup, pelmeni and tea. Snegiri, about ten kilometres off, is smaller but sits on the same approaches, and for anything unusual you will probably need to head for Moscow itself. Give yourself an early start, take the side roads when you can, and leave time for the monastery walls at golden hour.