Part 21: A 24-hour Stopover In Moscow
Hotel: Pushkin 60 EUR/night incl. Breakfast
Due to ticketing rules I could only manage to book a 24-hour-long stopover in Moscow. I have visited Moscow once before some years back when I returned by train from a trip to Voronezh, staying one-and-a-half day on that occasion before catching my flight back home. Way too short for a city as great as Moscow – I liked it and since always vouched I would visit again to see more than the glimpse I got back then.
My hotel this time was the Pushkin Hotel – classical in style, simple, decently priced for Moscow. Certainly comfortable enough for a one night stay and I had no complaints whatsoever about it.
My room at the Pushkin Hotel and view from the window
The hotel's location, just off Tverskaya Street (and the metro station of the same name) was excellent and it's a pleasant 15-20 minute stroll along the boulevard to Red Square. As there were only 1-2 hours left of daylight by the time I set off from my hotel, I decided to ditch any plans for discovering new parts of Moscow, opting for just a casual stroll along the main sights as they never fail to impress. Better to leave seeing some new stuff for another visit, which I'm sure I will do at one point in the (near) future.
The first bit of my walk through Moscow took me along Tverskaya Street towards the Bolshoi Theatre and the Red Square.
Walking down Tverskaya Street
The Bolshoi Theatre
When I reached the entrance to Red Square I was in for a big surprise – it was more packed with people than I even remember such places like Venice are. Besides thousands of (mostly Asian) tourists there were even more Moscovites out to enjoy what looked like a sort of Christmas Market on the square, which I found rather strange for mid-February. Even though I hate massive crowds, the atmosphere was actually quite nice with many people taking their kids for a funfair ride, admiring the beautiful lights or going for a snack.
The big Moscow sights (Red Square, Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral) never fail to impress. It just feels great to walk on a place that has so much history. Sure, the place might be Medieval in origins, but for me it is mostly the Cold War atmosphere which it somehow still oozes as for so long it symbolised Soviet power.
Saying hi to Lenin, who against his wishes to be buried next to his mother, is still laying in embalmed state in his mausoleum
The Kremlin walls and towers
St. Basil's Cathedral.
Christmas market in front of the GUM at Red Square. The GUM was once the iconic Soviet shopping mall for the masses, but it has since been revamped and now contains mostly luxury brands to fit the new image of Moscow as a playground for the rich.
The GUM from inside. It has a 'historic toilet' – which for some reasons was wildly popular with long queues of Chinese tourists..
I exited the GUM towards a side-street instead of returning to Red Square and was in for another surprise. Nikolskaya Street was lovely decorated with thousands of lights and made for a great stroll.
On recommendation of a friend of me, I headed to nearby Tsentral'nyy Detskiy Magazin – a huge shopping centre which has a rooftop terrace with sweeping views over the city. It was indeed absolutely worth it.
Tsentral'nyy Detskiy Magazin and the view from the rooftop
As it was now fully dark, I headed back to Red Square for some more photography at night. Unfortunately, during my last visit I did not manage to take very good snaps due to having a not-so-good camera and I felt like compensating it a bit by making as many good shots as possible.
As I still had some energy left, I decided to walk to Arbat Street, Moscow's most famous pedestrian street with plenty of (tourist) shops, restaurants and pub. It was a nice stroll but I was surprised again how crowded it was – nearly all restaurants, including the fast food ones, were completely packed.
Arbat Street
Getting quite hungry, I decided to hop in a metro back to my hotel and just order some room service back in my room. Did I mention already how beautiful the Moscow metro is?
In my room, I ordered a schnitzel and a pint of beer – which were delivered to my room some 20 minutes later. It was quite decent – although I absolutely hate it why the Russians have to put dill on every single dish.
In short: It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and evening in Moscow – which will always remain one of those historical cities which in my opinion you just must have visited once.
Next up: Flying back to Paris with Aeroflot, and on to Bucharest with TAROM – both in business class