St. Basil the Blessed was ordered to be built in 1552 by Czar Ivan IV in glory of the fight against the Tatars.
Before i ever came to Moscow this was maybe the first imagine I had of the city, Red Square and this church.
Bill Viola Video in Pushkin State Museum was kind of a surprise for me to see in Moscow. I guess and from what I actually saw from Russian audience, people are not very used to this kind of media relating to what art is concerned as I found very much a sense of academism and traditionalism from the XIX and early XX century towards art.
This video wanted to bring back Renaissance way of living to the video in this kind of dramatic and theatrical way.
I put this as off the beaten path cos I guess you saw it saw it, you didnt will never see it again in Moscow or at least in this museum as it was a temporary exhibit…
Website: http://www.museum.ru/gmii/
My stay here was ok. the room was clean and it was a 4 bed dorm room with tv and frigde.
This hotel is on a building that has another hotel inside. So the owners just decided to make more money out of tourists and created this HOSTEL think, doubled the prices and called it backpackers youth hostel… can you believe this? rip backpackers off as they have in the other hotel with the same name “Hotel Sherstone” guys with suits and big mercedes… man, they should rip those ones off not tourists with a backpack!?
ok ok
so the personel is fine clean and cheap in Moscow standars.
Unique Qualities: DORM max 4p 16 euros
DOUBLE room with bath 22 euros
SINGLE room with bath 35 euros
1 euro discount for HI, YHAR, EURO 26 card holders, for over 10 nights guests.
the price in rubbles was 592Rb
reception opens 8am to 24pm, no curfew
visa registration,
internet access on the same building, just go down to the business centre on the 2nd floor. and of course a few number of young prostitues have their own room and make their own money with 2 hotels runing here. just dont establish eye contact and they will not knock on your door. hehe. unless you’re looking for it.
Hostel
Comparison: least expensive
Prices: less than US$20
Address: Gpstinichny proezd 8, building 1, moscow 127106
Directions: 3rd floor
you can take the metro to Vladykino station and from there just walk west pass the huge road and pass 2 big building. the hotels is on the second building in fron of a small market.
The Kremlin and its surrounds were settled back in the XI century. Its amazing walls and inside buildings are enourmous and with its opponence mark your mind for a long time after you actually visited the city.
Right aside the Kremlin walls you have the well known Red Square and the also famous Pokrovsky Cathedral.
Website: http://www.kreml.ru/
Red Square view with a part of the kremlin walls and with the Pokrovsky Cathedral. Red Square or Krasnaya Pl. as it is called now.
Red Square’s history goes back before the Communist Soviet Union as we usually see it, with Lenins mausoleum and Comunist activities and goes back back back to the days of Czarist Russia. In the XV Century people came to this square before called just marketsquare to purchase food and other kind of essencial goods. Trinity Square was the name the square got in the XVI century and served as the main entry way to the Kremlin. It 1650 the square received the name Krasnaya Ploschad.
Lenin Mausoleum on the Red Square. The original wooden mausoleum was replaced in 1929 with the granite and black labradorite stone that we all and thousands of people see today and make photos of.
Lenin died in 1924 and its embalmed body is inside for public eyes…
St. Basil the Blessed was ordered to be built in 1552 by Czar Ivan IV in glory of the fight against the Tatars.
Before i ever came to Moscow this was maybe the first imagine I had of the city, Red Square and this church.
This is an amazing museum that I enjoyed very much to visit. Many of its collections are amazing and you can see great sculptors as great painters from all different times in art history. Great Van Goghs and great Matisses along with Picassos can be seen.
By the time I visited it there was this video from Bill Viola taken place and also this huge exhibit called “RUSSIA vs ITALY”, given a short view of Italy art scene in the Renaissance period. So a few Leonardos could be seen.
At the time my ticket costed 150 rubbles as i am a student.
The Christ the Savior Cathedral was destroyed in December 5th, 1931 by Stalin’s order because a decision was made to build there a “Soviet Palace” for state meetings. The first plan was to build a 415 meters high building with 80 meters Lenin on the top. A swimming pool was build instead. this is how incredible the story of this cathedral actually is. Destroy to build a swiming pool!?
The Cathedral was rebuild during 1995 - 2000.
The inside is just impressive… worth a visit.
The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is located on the Moskva River bank near the Kropotkinskaya Metro station on the Volkhonka Ulitza, and is a fabulous quite recent building that many people deslike of course but that many like.
The Original Christ the Savior Cathedral was built between 1839-1883 in memory of the Russian victory towards Napoleon by Konstantin Ton in XIX century. Made by Russian architect, founder of the called Russian-Byzantine style.
Info taken from Way to Russia website
Arrival / Departure by Bus
Schyolkovsky Bus Terminal, Moscow
Telephones: (+7 095) 468-0400, 468-4370
The main Moscow bus terminal is located just next to Shchyolkovskaya metro station (the last station to the east on the dark blue line). You can get a bus to almost any Russian town and city from there. When you get inside the station, you’ll see signs in English and Russian in front of you. The timetables of the buses and ticket sales offices are on the right, the luggage storage rooms and cafes are on the left. You can leave your luggage for 20-30 rub ($0.7-$1) a day, the luggage storage is closed between 23.00 and 6.30, and they have a break from 14.00 to 15.00.
The Shchyolkovskaya bus station is opened from 6.30 to 23.00.
For bus schedules between Moscow and other cities featured on WayToRussia.Net guide, see Transport / Domestic Bus Schedules.
Directions: go to Shchyolkovskaya metro station (the last station to the east on the dark blue line), take the first carriage from the centrum. As you walk out, there’ll be many stalls and little shops around, and a bit further - a large building with “Avtostantsiya” written on top. That’s the bus station.
Website: http://www.waytorussia.net/Moscow/ArrivalDeparture.html
Info now taken from Lonely Planet website
Moscow has rail links to most parts of Russia, most former Soviet states, numerous countries in Eastern and Western Europe, and China and Mongolia. Moscow has nine main train stations, all with metro stations on the spot.
Website: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/moscow/get.htm
Info now taken from Lonely Planet website, as it is very useful and good info here it is:
If you’re coming in from an overseas flight, Sheremetevo-2 is the airport you’ll fly into; there are also four airports to handle travel to domestic destinations and the ex-Soviet states. There’s a network of comfy-enough buses that run to places within about a 700km (435mi) radius of Moscow. The city also has 9 main rail stations, and you can jump on trains to most parts of Russia and Europe as well as China and Mongolia.
Sheremetevo-2 airport, 30km (20mi) northwest of the city centre, handles flights to and from places outside the former Soviet Union. There are daily flights by numerous airlines to and from nearly all European and many other world capitals, and many provincial cities, too. A flight from London or Paris takes about three hours, from New York about 10 hours. Four Moscow airports are devoted to flights to and from places within Russia and the other ex-Soviet states. Check-in for flights within the ex-USSR is supposed to close 40 minutes before take-off, but be sure to reach the airport well before that.
International flights from most Moscow airports incur a departure tax which is included in the price of airfares. You can get to all five airports and the city centre cheaply by a combination of bus and metro or suburban train, but if you’re going early in the morning or late at night, or have a lot of baggage, you’ll probably need a taxi. The easiest approach is to arrange an airport-city transfer through a travel agent; you’ll pay no more than an average taxi fare.
Moscow has rail links to most parts of Russia, most former Soviet states, numerous countries in Eastern and Western Europe, and China and Mongolia. Moscow has nine main train stations, all with metro stations on the spot.
Buses run to a number of towns and cities within about 700km (435mi) of Moscow. Buses are reasonably comfortable but to most places they’re a bit slower than trains, and less frequent.
Website: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/moscow/get.htm
I drove myself from St. Petersburg to Moscow. I got out of St. Petersburg around 6pm and got arrived in Moscow around 12pm the next day after I stop to sleep a few hours on the way.
The road consitions are bad altouhg it is supposed to be the Intra-states highway conecting Leningradskaya Oblast’ + Novgorodskaya Oblast’ + Tverskaya Oblast’ + Moskovskaya Oblast’.
All the way from St. Petersburg is about 713km with really bad road conditions, bad weather (in my case as I went in winter time), lots of insane truck drivers and small LADA drivers passing like rockets. I was stop by police once and nothing really happen, just the normal police check out asking for the papers and passport.
On the way out of St. Petersburg there are many Radars and police controling the speed, so go slow even if you dont see the speed limit signs. Always inside city limits I went about 50km/h or 40km/h when signs told so. In major roads I have never passed 80 or 90km/h.
On the picture you have one of the first things i remeber seeing when entering Moscow. This huge dirty truck and the war memorial on the left side as I was waiting for the lights to go green. Yes Yes remeber that even with all cars passing some crazy guy can come against you passing his red light!
Enjoy driving in Russia hehehe and good luck. Just open your eyes and you´ll be fine.
I drove total 4680km on my trip…nothing happen and im still more sharp than before hehehe.
Yes this is the way of going around Moscow. Moscow is big and its subway its one of the biggest and the oldest in the world. It runs quite good and youll end up going everywhere you wish around the city centre and its suburbs.
Tickets cost 13 rb and you have a paper electronic ticket to go with.
This is the most insane way of getting around Moscow. If you wish to get a few more white hairs please go ahead. As I arrive in Moscow knowing nothing about where I should go or not, I had to go a bit inside the city to get some information on how to get to my hotel. As i found out I shouldnt have made so far and had to go back a dozen of kms again.
As I got stuck in traffic i had to wait at least 1h30m to go out of it and go back on my way. This wasnt too bad as my experience going out of Moscow direction Vladimir took me almost 3 hours a bit after dark… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!
You can notice the biggest city Novgorod on the north western part of the map.
I took this map out of the website:
http://nw.priroda.ru/novgorod/img/map_big.gif
This Unesco city is a place to visit. Lots of monuments and its relaxed atmosphere is indeed amazing to experience.
Novgorod´s Kremlim
Novgoro´s Kremlin backs back from the middle of the XI century and is one of the most beautiful of kremlis inside Russia and best well preserved. By the middle ages old wooden ramparts would discend from the old fortification facilities. Stone buildings came on the early XIV century
The Vyazhishchi monastery is located north of Novgorod maybe about 20km north west, in the Russian region of Novgorodskaya Oblast’.
It amazing Summer devotion St. Nicholas Cathedral that dates back from 1685 is really beautiful and the side monastery with green decoration is something you should visit in this region.
This monastery is located a few kms north from Novgorod sightly to the left off the road to St. Petersburg. This is a really off the beaten path as it is actually located inside a old and enormous still active factory complex. You have to ask permission to this gate guard to go inside the complex and still drive 6 kms until you get to the village of Vyazhishchi, where this beautiful monastery is located.
Present Novgorodskaya Oblast was formed on July 5, 1944. The area is 55,3 thousand sq. km. (0,32 % of the total area of the Russian Federation). The distance to Moscow is 606 km with a major road that is a hell of a confusion if you are driving. I did this road twice and last time i was almost during a snow storm.
The region includes 2 districts: Leninsky and Oktyabrsky.
Earlier the region was a part of Leningradskaya Oblast. Since XVIII century the region was included into the St.-Petersburg province. In 1727 the Novgorod province (existed till 1927) was separated from the St.-Petersburg province.
Numerous lowlands in the Novgorodskaya Oblast’ region are occupied with lakes. Such lakes as Ilmen, Seliger, Veliye, Valdai. This last one Valdai lake is an amazing place where still remains a beautiful monastery that I had the pleasure to visit.
This monastery is called Valdai and it is situated on Valdaiskoe lake. There seems to be also one island on the lake which i didnt see as I visited the monastery during the night. All I could see from the lake was just fronzen water with a couple of old small boats inside. This Monastery dates back from 1653.
Novgorodskaya Oblast is one of many existing Russian Regions and its located in the northwestern part of the Russian and by this, East Europe.
The region goes all the way from the west to the east in a distance of 385 km, and from the north to the south about 250 km. It borders with other Russian regions as Pskovskaya, Tverskaya, Leningradskaya and Vologodskaya Oblasts. The area of the region is 55,3 thousand sq. km. Due to the convenient geographical position it is connected with Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Through its territory the railway and highway Saint Petersburg - Moscow run. This is the highway II have done twice. Its called highway but nothing of “real highway” really exists, just a bad road running all the way through out the region connecting St. Petersburg and the capital.
Places with interest that I’ve visited in the region are:
Syrkovo
Small village north of Novgorod on the way to Vyazhishchi Monastery. It has a interesting old church a a decent yet simple war monument.
Velikiy Novgorod
This amazing cultural town is listen on the UNESCO sites for World Heritage. Simple worth a visit you’ll find yourself lost on the enourmous number of monuments, convents and museums that here exist.
Vyazhishchi
This is a very hidden place and for this very special as is really off the beaten path. This green decorated monastery close to a lake and garden has the impressive cathedral of St. Nicholas open in summer for season devotion to the saint.
Valday
Valday is where is located the Iversky monastery in the shore of the Valdaiskoe lake, and helds a very interesting monastery worth a quick visit if youre heading Moscow driving.
Moscow seems to have been founded by Yury Dolgoruky, Prince of Suzdal, who is recorded as giving a feasts here around the years of 1147.
In the first half of the XIII century Moscow was sacked and robbed along with the rest of the Vladimir-Suzdal heritage by Tatars warriors led by Batu, Genghis Khan’s grandson.
Prince Ivan III The Great brought some architects from Italy to build the Kremlin and some other nearby buildings somewhere in the XV century.
My trip to Moscow just let me astonished by its beauty and by its chaotic way of life which would be impossible for me to live in such a city of course, but never the less, I enjoy each moment in this special city which now stands on my TOP 10 of most interesting cities I ahve ever been to.
Favourite places in Moscow:
Kremlin in Moscow
The Kremlin and its surrounds were settled back in the XI century. Its amazing walls and inside buildings are enourmous and with its opponence mark your mind for a long time after you actually visited the city.
Right aside the Kremlin walls you have the well known Red Square and the also famous Pokrovsky Cathedral that you can see on the picture.
Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts
This is an amazing museum that I enjoyed very much to visit. Many of its collections are amazing and you can see great sculptors as great painters from all different times in art history. Great Van Goghs and great Matisses along with Picassos can be seen.
By the time I visited it there was this video from Bill Viola taken place and also this huge exhibit called “RUSSIA vs ITALY”, given a short view of Italy art scene in the Renaissance period. So a few Leonardos could be seen.
