Finally, after a year and seven months of TAP, I had a layover in Moscow – and what a layover, two and a half days in the Russian capital! The first afternoon I decided to go to Izmailovo Market, a place on the outskirts of the city where many colleagues often go, a space that looks like a fairytale palace. Also known as Izmailovo Kremlin is a place where Russians like to celebrate their wedding, where there is a big souvenir market three times a week where you can buy matrioshkas and those famous Russian caps and also a flea market, several museums and an orthodox church made of wood. It was very cold and I did not feel safe at all times, so don’t go alone!
The next day we left the hotel in direction to the downtown. During winter the best thing to do in these cold countries is to look for plans indoors: museums, churches, or, if we are in Moscow, the metro itself! The Moscow metro is one of the most beautiful in the world! Filled with communist symbolism, each station looks like a palace, the “People’s Palace,” prepared to withstand an air strike or even eventually a nuclear bomb. Most stations of major architectural interest are on line #5, the brown circular line: Komsomolskaya, Prospekt Mira, Novoslobodskaya, Belorruskaya, Kievskaya. Then in Paveletskaya we change to green line #2 to see this station, and also Novokuznetskaya and Mayakovskaya. Still in the metro and one of the most interesting stations for the behavior of Muscovites and not so much for the architecture is the station Ploshchad Revolyutsii, on the blue line #3. Here the Russians whenever they pass one of the dogs statues of the station, touch their noses for good luck!
At Ploshchad Revolyutsii station we are in the center of Moscow. And in the center of Moscow there is one of the most famous squares in the world, the Red Square! Here you will find the State Historical Museum, the Lenin Mausoleum, with the Kremlin wall behind it, all red, the GUM shopping center and of course the beautiful St. Basil’s Cathedral. We decided to visit the last one (admission costs 700 rubles, approximately 10€). Each tower, topped with its bulb, houses a chapel inside. In the center a quartet of male voices, Doros Music, sang beautifully every 15min. I only felt sorry for the low lighting inside, terrible for the pictures… On the third day it snowed, so we returned to the square to see it with snow.
If you liked this post and want to read more about my trips to Russia, you can visit the following posts:
