Trip report: Russia
Visited in August 2017
The largest country in the world by area had a bit to wait until I finally set foot it in. Not that I wasn’t interested, but Russia is pricey, you need a visa and it’s not just around the corner like other European countries. Booking the flights and hotel plus organizing the visa cost me more than 800 Dollars before I have even arrived. Was it worth it? I will come back to that later.
A trip to Moscow: top or flop?
A few month before this trip, my friend Chris and I had the choice between Moscow and St. Petersburg for our first visit to Russia. Flights to St. Petersburg were incredibly expensive in summer though. That’s why we postponed St. Petersburg and headed to the capital instead.
I heard many stories about the capital of Russia and most of them weren’t flattering. From what I had heard, Moscow was said to be an expensive city with unfriendly (and sometimes even violent) locals. Plus people often criticize that there isn’t much to see in Moscow expect for Red Square. These stories turned about to be very wrong in the end.
It takes almost an hour to get from Domodedovo Airport (one of three international airports in Moscow!) to get to the city center. That’s not fun when you arrive at 2 AM. Fortunately, Uber is very cheap and we paid 16 Dollars for the long ride. I guess, it was 4 AM when we went to bed in our hotel near Red Square.
Obviously, we didn’t have the chance to see anything that night so that we started to explore the capital of Russia the next day. It didn’t take me long to realize that Moscow is a beautiful city. The houses are old and colorful. The pastel color of the houses (and the weather) make the city somehow melancholic. I was fascinated right from the beginning. Speaking of weather, Moscow was chilly even in August. You can imagine how the winters will be in Russia. It is also a huge city. It’s Europe’s largest city by population, given the fact that Istanbul is divided by both Europe and Asia.
Getting around in Moscow is possible in a quick and efficient way though thanks to the metro. And you should definitely do it. The metro stations are beautiful and it would be possible to do sightseeing the whole day only by visiting the numerous metro stations. The metro stations were Stalin’s prestigious project. He called them “palaces for the people” and that is how they look. Besides, traffic jam can be ugly at rush hour and sometimes you move even faster by walking than in a car.
Sightseeing in Russia’s capital
Chris and I were in Moscow for a long weekend from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon. This wasn’t enough to see all of the city though. The rain made sightseeing also a bit difficult. After having a bowl of Bortsch for lunch, we headed to Red Square, Moscow’s major attraction. The name of the square doesn’t have anything to do with the color or communism by the way. It means beautiful square, as the Russians have a word, which means beautiful and (!) red.
Red Square is one of the biggest squares in the world and the highlight is St. Basil’s Cathedral. There is also Alexander Garden and Kremlin next to Red Square, so calculating enough time is necessary to see all of it.
We headed towards the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, but stopped at a gigantic statue of a man holding a cross. It’s the statue of Vladimir the Great, which was unveiled in 2016 and led to controversy. Prince Vladimir, ruler of Kiev 1,000 years ago, is claimed as a founding father by both Russians and Ukrainians. Therefore, critics see the statue as a provocation, as Russia and Ukraine certainly had better relationships than right now… Anyway, the statue is impressive!
So is the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. I’m not a fan of religion, but I have to admit that religious buildings are often amazing. We entered the cathedral and I have never seen such a wonderful building from the inside before. It’s even more impressive than St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City in my option. Unfortunately, visitors are not allowed to take pictures.
There are many sky bars in Moscow and we chose the City Space Bar of Swissôtel as the final stop before dinner. It’s a great bar that offers a 360° panorama of Moscow. Mercedes Bar is another fantastic sky bar by the way. We went there on the second day. Both bars are pretty upscale, but it’s worth having a drink there.
Nightlife in Russia: as good as it gets
Alright, let’s go to the best part, Moscow’s nightlife, which has the reputation to be one of the best in the world. We started the night in a bar called Old School Pub. A friend of mine lives in Moscow and recommended a lot of places (he provided the best overview of a city you can imagine. Thank you, Lex). Old School Pub is a place where people speak English, as many guests are expats. We went straight to the bar in order to go all in and order a bottle of Vodka, but just after we ordered, we realized that this place was not that good for bottle service. No table was available so that the only option would have been standing on the dancefloor with our bottle.
We changed location after a while and went to a bar called Rose Bar. It was a great place, good music, good drinks, well-dressed men and beautiful ladies. After a few drinks, it was time for a typical Russian love story. Wanna hear it?
There she was, just across the bar. Short dark hair and eyes stained with the color of hot chocolate on an icy winter night that wraps around you like a blanket. I can’t find words to describe her cute face and she looked at me and smiled. She was perfectly dressed, not too chic but neither cheap, just down-to-earth with style. She looked at me again. I got nervous. She was by far the most beautiful girl I have seen in Moscow so far. She smiled again.
‘What is happening right now? Am I dreaming’ I asked myself. I was overstrained. She looked at me again and then went over right next to me. She playfully looked over to me again and to the bartender afterwards. Now it was my turn. What should I say? How will this play out? Would she be the mother of my children eventually? I pushed my shoulders back and mustered all my courage…
“Hey, do you speak English?”
“Njet.”
End of story.
Chris and I left the bar and were looking for a bar called Crazy Daisy (got this recommended too). “Crazy Daisy!? Oh my god, this is the worst place in the city!” We heard that three times from different people after we asked for direction. Apparently, it’s a shabby place where fights occur, so we went to another bar.
We had a few good discussions with locals and I have to admit that it changed my view on Russia or rather Russians a lot. The only Russians I met before were drunk hordes of tourists, loud and rude, sometimes violent. Even the women. Of course, I knew that not all the Russians were like that, but I have not met one single guy that was out of line during this trip. Sometimes, people just lose all their manners abroad…
One of the strangest tourist attractions of all time
The day after, we had Olivier salad for lunch before we headed to the most disturbing tourist attraction I have ever been to by then. Bunker 42 is the museum of the cold war, a former military complex that serves as a museum now.
When we arrived, we found out that the museum is only accessible by a tour. “The Russian tour starts in 15 minutes, the English tour in three hours” said the cashier. Bunker 42 isn’t really in the centre and since we already came, we chose to participate in the Russian tour. Things started to get funny. We were a group of ten, Chris and I the only non-Russians and a man in a military uniform greeted the group in a harsh tone. No idea what he was saying, but I felt like preparing for a battle with invading US troops.
We entered the once-secret military complex and had to walk down the stairs of 18 floors. Our tour guide, I call him Colonel Vodka, took the elevator of course. The tour started with a movie about the Cold War and you see the Russian perspective about it, a perspective you usually don’t see in Western history books or media. We went to several rooms and I would love to tell you exactly what we saw, but as mentioned earlier the tour was in Russian. A lady was kind enough to translate us a few things, but of course we did not get everything.
The most disturbing part was when Colonel Vodka asked for two volunteers. Two women took a seat in front of a dozen computer screens then and Colonel Vodka explained that we would simulate dropping the atomic bomb on the United States of America. With his strict voice, he commanded the ladies to type in a numeric code and after that a countdown appeared on the biggest screen.
Just when the countdown reached zero, we watched how an atomic bomb was dropped on the United States of America. You could see the impact on the screen, people panicking, the destruction of Florida… I was wondering what they would show in the English speaking tour. Probably not the same. As soon as this bizarre show was over, Colonel Vodka looked at us foreigners, saying “oh my god, they killed Kenny.” He winked. “It’s only fiction guys.”
The tour came to an end and Colonel Vodka said: “All the ladies can use the elevator, the men have to use the stairs again unless you provide a medical certificate.” I said that I didn’t have a medical certificate but about 10 Vodkas the night before, so I wouldn’t be able to walk up. Colonel Vodka wasn’t impressed: “You can bring excuses like that back home in Germany, but we’re in Russia and 10 Vodkas are not even worth mentioning!”
You can go to TripAdvisor and read terrible reviews about this museum (most of the reviews are good though). People especially mention that staff were very unfriendly to foreigners and I can understand that. I took it with humor, as most of the tour was just bizarre. Definite recommendation!
We were a bit tired the second evening, but hey, it’s Russia. That means you just drink a few more Vodkas and everything is fine again. We started the night in a bar called Strelka. It’s a nice bar with beautiful view, as it is next to the Moskwa river and you can see the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour from the balcony. The cathedral looks even more impressive at night. After a few drinks, we went to a nightclub called Icon, a great place with good music, great crowd and excellent drinks, but also a bit upscale. We did not manage to repeat the same wild night like the one before. So it was more or less the end of a great short trip to an amazing city and I will definitely be back someday.
Russia – is it worth it?
Russia is the largest country in the world by area, rich of history and full of places worth visiting. Therefore, my first trip to Moscow is certainly not the last one to the country. I want to see more of it; St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Kaliningrad, Lake Baikal… there is so much to see but so little time. Someday I want to do the trans-Siberian railway trip from Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia.
Russia’s reputation hasn’t been the best in the Western world recently, but don’t let media believe you that the country is too dangerous for traveling. The people I met were very nice and proud of their country. The visa situation is also a hassle, but once you got the permit, you have a fascinating country to explore. Don’t miss it.
Find the trip reports of the other countries I’ve visited here!
