What NOT to Do in Moscow

Red Square by a Fisheye

Photo: AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker

Former Moscow expat Jenna Makowski breaks down a Russian capitals avoidable attractionsand what we should do instead.
1. Dont stick to Red Square

Red Square is, literally as well as figuratively, a core of Moscow. The iconic onion domes of St. Basils Cathedral as well as imposing walls of a Kremlin have been in truth worth seeing. But dont outlay all your time there.

Overrun with tourists as well as travel vendors hawking piles of mass-marketed souvenirs, a ambience of Red Square is not deputy of Moscow.

Moscow State University

Photo: Eldar

Do explore Kitai Gorod as well as Moscow State University

The neighborhood of Kitai Gorod rivals Red Square in architectural beauty, though a extreme crowds. A travel along Varvarka Street (heading east from a rear of St. Basils) leads past centuries-old churches in to Kitai Gorod.

Include a travel up a hill along Solyanskiy Proyezd toward Zabelina Street as well as a Ivanovsky Monastery. The tiny monastery-run caf, with creatively baked bread as well as homemade soups, sits during a top.

Located in a southern suburbs is Moscow State University (Uniwersytet metro stop), with a young student population as well as green, tree-filled campus. Its a great place to bicycle or cruise during a warmer months.

Dont miss a wedding-cake-shaped building dominating a core of campus. One of 7 identical buildings constructed by Stalin, a Soviet-era style provides a stark contrariety to a older, pre-Revolution design of Kitai Gorod.

2. Dont revisit a Pushkin Museum

Similar to a Louvre, we could outlay days wandering a halls of a Pushkin Museum as well as o! nly slic k a surface. The large crowds further impede your progress.

Do revisit a Tretyakov Gallery or a well read house

The pick up during a Tretyakov Gallery features Russian artists. Its organized chronologically, so that a travel by a museum guides we by three centuries of Russian art history.

Girl with Peaches

Photo: Tschff

Separate buildings residence a core pick up of 18th- as well as 19th-century art (Tretyakovskaya metro stop) as well as a extended pick up of 20th-century Soviet art (Oktyabrskaya metro stop). Tickets have been 300 roubles (about $10).

The last dual centuries additionally saw a proliferation of Russian literature. Many authors lived in Moscow, in pleasing estates that have been well recorded as museums.

The Leo Tolstoy estate (Park Kultury metro stop), where a writer spent his last years essay a novel Resurrection, contains a pick up of duration seat as well as belongings. The Nikolai Gogol estate (Arbatskaya metro stop) presents interactive exhibits about a authors life, as well as a grate in to that he threw a sequel to Dead Souls.

Admission to both museums is 100 roubles (about $3); any is tiny as well as easily doable in a couple of hours.

3. Dont devise anything else upon Kremlin day

A debate of a Kremlin is an all-day event, with 6 opposite churches as well as museums to revisit as well as expanded drift to walk. Dont try to fit in anything else.

Do be patient

Entrance to a Kremlin will likely involve a long line. Compounded by an inflated price for non-Russians as well as a potentially grumpy sheet representative (who substantially wont speak English), a knowledge can turn overwhelming. Take a deep breath.

Extra patience is needed to get Armory tickets. The Armory, a separate museum in a Kremlin, houses a important Faberge Eggs as well as dual floors of gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, as ! well as other wealth from a former tsarist estates.

Its a inestimable add-on. Entrance is only granted during designated times (10:00, 12:00, 2:30, 4:30), as well as tickets must be purchased separately, 45 minutes before entry. My first dual attempts failed, as mobs clustered around a windows elbowed me out of a sheet race. we was successful upon my third try, learning that a earliest acknowledgment container additionally has a mellowest line.

4. Dont drive

Moscow is a city of perpetual trade jams, misty highway rules, as well as controversial lanes. Its difficult as well as costly to rent a car, as well as theres a ever-present possibility of an arbitrary pullover as well as cheat request.

Komsomolskaya Metro Station

Photo: Empirically Grounded

Do take a metro

Moscows subway complement is one of a biggest in a world. Every corner of a city is accessible from 182 stations, as well as any of these is a work of art, initially intended to be Soviet-inspired Palaces for a People.

The Cathedral-esque arches of Komsomolskaya Station as well as a marble columns of Mayakovskaya Station have been standouts. And with trains running each 40-60 seconds during pour out hour, a knowledge is sure to be an fit one.

5. Dont eat in restaurants with costumed waitstaff

Restaurants such as Taras Bulba Korchma have been costly chains, with waitstaff ready to go in full of color though ambiguous folk costumes. The knowledge doesnt represent internal eating patterns.

Do eat during a stolovaya

Instead, find a stolovaya. These choose-and-point cafeterias have been renouned ruins of Soviet days, as well as a food is creatively prepared. Typical lunch options soup, cutlet or fish, potatoes or buckwheat, as well as juice have been an inexpensive ambience of bland Russian food.

For an afternoon snack or dessert, demeanour for stands serving bl! ini, pap er-thin pancakes stuffed with fish, sour crme, or chocolate.

6. Dont go tone blind

Moscow is overwhelmed by gray cement housing blocs. A couple of days of on foot by a residential areas might leave we wondering if youve turn tone blind.

Tsaritsino Park

Photo: Sima Shtaba

Do revisit one of Moscows full of color parks

There have been numerous parks throughout a city, on condition that miles of on foot paths by evergreen forests as well as green fields.

Two generally considerable parks have been Kolomenskaya (Kolomenskaya metro stop) as well as Tsaritsino (Tsaritsino metro stop). Both former tsarist estates, these parks approximate centuries-old churches as well as palaces. Theyre generally full of color during a prime tulip season.

7. Dont buy a mass-marketed souvenir

Buying a mass-produced nesting doll from a determined travel vendor might be tempting, generally as we ramble executive Moscow. But think outward a doll.

Do buy a singular antique

A creative present thought is an antique from a internal flea market, such as Izmailovskaya Park (Izmailovsky metro stop). Walk to a behind of a market, where internal artists vaunt their work next to vendors offered items straight from grandmas attic.

An interesting store is Baboushka (Barrikadnaya metro stop, 1 Kudrinskaya Pl). Its five-room pick up includes everything from silverware to Yuletide ornaments to design frames, dating from a 1930s by a 1980s. And everything is for sale.

Community Connection

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