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 BBT ONLINE’S TRAVELLING TIPS
- A MOSCOW MINI-GUIDE FOR BUSINESS & PLEASURE
By Bruce Taylor
WHY MOSCOW?
Why indeed, I ask myself, especially in January? Well my wife had this romantic notion of a second Christmas – the orthodox one is on 7 January. But instead of being white and minus 10ºC, this year it was cold, grey and around 1-2ºC with mud and slush all over. And in the end I had no need for the thermal underwear I had bought especially!
This was our second ‘pure tourism’ visit in two years which must be some kind of record. The Russians don’t exactly encourage you to go - their visa procedures are bureaucratic (the Chinese by comparison are far better organised) and not exactly cheap; the hotels in Moscow are some of the most expensive on earth and the Muscovites at first sight are not the most welcoming people on the planet.
I would certainly never recommend anyone to hold an event in Moscow, unless it’s an international conference or exhibition (in which the Russians themselves have a big stake) or a small upmarket incentive. It would be too much like hard work.
And yet, despite all the many hurdles, we had fun on our most expensive ever city break. It’s hard to picture Moscow as exotic at any time of the year, but exotic and different it certainly was.
PS: As I sit writing this mini-guide at the beginning of February, temperatures in Moscow have plummeted to a more seasonal -17ºC and there’s snow everywhere, plus sunshine and blue skies. That’s just sod’s law.
GETTING THERE (& BACK)
Specialist travel agencies can deal with accommodation & the peculiarities of the costly visa system to get into Russia for which you also need a support visa from the place you are staying. It’s rather Kafkaesque, but good business for everyone involved except the poor traveller. Our visas (prepared within 14 days) cost 71.20€ per person for a long weekend.
To avoid the hassle of the Russian consulate which is another nightmare, we used RTA EAST-WEST which styles itself as the Russian Travel Agency in Brussels
(+32 2 502 44 40)
Brussels Airlines, like most major carriers, have direct flights and it takes just under 3 hours. Moscow is 2 hours ahead of us here Western Europe.
From Domodedovo airport to our hotel in the centre took 2h20. Cleverly we got a bus (only 40 roubles) to the nearest Metro at Domodedovskaya, and when we arrived in the centre next to the Bolshoi, we walked for 15 minutes.
On the way back, however, it’s advisable to take the Airport Express (120 roubles) from Paveletskaya, and check in if you can at the station’s airport terminal. Find out from your airline in advance as this saves a lot of queuing at Domodedovo. Don’t use taxis, they can take hours and cost a fortune.
Extra tip: When you arrive, don’t change more money than you need – just enough to get into the centre of town (see: Getting Around).
And on the way back make sure you’ve bought all your souvenirs, vodka, caviar etc before you get to the airport. The Duty Free is a rip-off, but I imagine they will soon introduce EU-style monopoly/security restrictions so you will be obliged to buy your vodka there.
STAYING THE NIGHT
On one website, the 3* Hotel Budapest is described as “pleasantly affordable”. At 200€ a night for a double, I would beg to disagree. It’s pretty expensive – that is, until you look around for alternatives.
Moscow’s Mayor Luzhkov has allowed all the reasonably priced hotels in the centre, like the Moskova, to be demolished and rebuilt as 5* palaces, which are totally unaffordable for the leisure visitor and also many business people. And Moscow has a long way to go before becoming a five star destination with a 5* infrastructure, despite all these new international hotels with their 6* prices.
Back to the Budapest – the corridors are kilometres long like the Metro; rooms are dark brown & spacious; and the reception staff needs a people-skills course like so many in Eastern Europe where a smile just doesn’t come naturally. They were more interested in talking to each other than looking after their clients.
But at least the place is clean and comfortable.
However, you are forced to have breakfast in your room, with the same plastic ingredients at the same time every morning, unless you go to reception to change the order - a hangover no doubt from the good old Soviet days. We could never manage to eat so much plastic in one go and left the cotton wool bread and cooked pork untouched, but my wife did squirrel away the particularly unappetising daily ‘7 days croissants with apricot jam filling’ in case of famine, and in the end brought them home, only to find they were delicious when lightly grilled with butter.
 And they lasted some 20 days!
www.hotel-budapest.ru
An alternative is to stay with a Russian family which is what I would choose if I was going for longer than a weekend. The Host Families Association (recommended by Lonely Planet) offers Bed & Breakfast and apartment rentals in over 60 cities throughout Russia, including Moscow.
www.hofa.ru
Extra tip: You still need to take your own wash basin plug, unless you’re in a 5* hotel.
GETTING AROUND
Buy a good map before you go. It’s worth the investment as many of the places you will want to see are outside the central area. Ours, which is now in shreds after two visits, is published by Northern Cartographic Inc. in the US, but available in specialist bookshops in Europe. It’s only in the Latin alphabet, but once you’ve done some Cyrillic homework you find your way around without too much trouble.
Distances are enormous both above and below ground. Everything takes longer than you expect, despite the brilliant Metro with its trains every two minutes and its high-speed travel. In the unlikely event you have to wait, there’s plenty to see in these underground art galleries which are worth a visit in their own right. Make sure you have a bi-lingual Metro map with the Cyrillic & Latin station names; otherwise you’ll spend all your time decoding rather than admiring the art…A 10 ride ticket costs 140 roubles (more than double the 2005 price, but still excellent value at around 4€)
Careful with taxis! Negotiate with the official ones before you get in.
You can also flag down private cars in the street and agree a price. It’s  normally the older and more battered ones which give these paid lifts, not the sleek black Toyotas & SUVs/4x4s of the nouveau riche.
Change: If you thought a hole-in-the-wall was a cash machine (ATM), then think again. Moscow, like Beijing, has real holes in the wall which serve as exchange bureaux, and changing money in them is a lot faster and better value than in a bank or at the airport. The current rate (Feb 07) is 34.40 to the Euro.
Extra tip: Make sure you carry plenty of 10 rouble notes for toilets and tips which have become almost mandatory in modern Moscow.
TALKING TO PEOPLE
The language is fiendish. In fact it’s like learning two different ones. First you have to turn the Cyrillic into the Latin alphabet and then translate the result into your own language. It’s like code-breaking or constant Sudoku-solving, but when you do decipher something and finally know where you are or where you are going to, you get a great sense of satisfaction. And you certainly sleep soundly at night with shattered brain cells and a few reviving vodkas.
Pazhalsta (please/excuse me), spasiba and nazdrovya are all vital words, but you’ll need a few more. A phrase book and small dictionary are essential. We took the Oxford Russian Mini-dictionary (Cyrillic-English & vice versa), plus a Lonely Planet phrase book which is a fun read in its own right with its sections on sex, drinking up etc. and translations for ‘I’m pissed/I’m going to throw up/where’s the toilet?’ – as if anyone would have time to look all this up in such circumstances!
But seriously, a phrase book used with self-confidence and a smile is a great ice-breaker, especially with the seemingly glacial Russians. You soon find they are friendly and helpful, even if you are just making the smallest effort with their language and this is of course the same the world over. You can even melt the heart of the well-built lady escalator controllers in the Metro, something which could easily save you a 2km walk to the right exit.
A good place to start talking to the locals is in queues. And there are certainly plenty of them (both queues & locals!), so get out your phrase book and make a fool of yourself.
One of the really sad sights of Moscow are the ‘babushkas’, little old ladies begging for change on every street corner, while the Muscovite nouveau riche parade themselves in their luxury cars, tasteless themed restaurants and fancy clubs. It’s a good idea to carry some coins on you, for the former, naturally.
Extra tip: Be careful about asking for directions in the street. If you stand around looking lost at a map, people will come up and try to help you, and practice some very basic English, but due to language difficulties they can easily send you in the wrong direction.
SEEING THE SITES
 Always check Red Square is not closed for special events & celebrations. I speak from bitter experience. Security can get very tight.
When open, it’s great just to stroll and rub shoulders with the Moscow crowds. When partially closed off on days when Lenin’s tomb opens, then you get a real feel for this huge & impressive expanse. Don’t miss the Kazan Cathedral; St.Basil’s with its wonderful iconostases & frescoes; Lenin’s Mausoleum where you are so close you can almost reach out and touch him (unlike Mao in Beijing) and the Kremlin Wall where since the Revolution important Russians have been buried.- A visit to the isolated & powerful world of The Kremlin can easily take the whole day with its 3 glorious cathedrals, churches, palaces (entrance: 300 roubles), The Armoury & Diamond Fund Exhibition are extra….You buy a ticket to visit these various museums before you go into the Kremlin. Otherwise if you just want to walk around and get a feel for the place, you simply queue up for the inevitable security check.
- The original church of Christ the Saviour was destroyed by Stalin and replaced with the world’s biggest swimming pool. The new cathedral on the same spot was completed in just 2 years in time for Moscow’s 850th Birthday in 1997.
- Novodevitchy Convent in the south east (Metro: Sportivnaya) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a stunning example of Russian baroque architecture in a religious complex comprising a cathedral, three churches, a bell tower etc.
The adjacent cemetery of Russia’s ‘good and great’ from the 20th century is fascinating. Khrushchev, who did not make it to the Kremlin wall, is there but he’s in good company with Raisa Gorbachova, Checkov, Gogol, Tupolev (of airplane fame), Popov (the clown) and others from top echelons of the artistic, political, military and administrative worlds.
There are so many other things to see & do, which we still haven’t done in two visits – Gorky’s House (with its strange opening hours), the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum, Gorky Park, the White House, the University area, all the different State Museums & Galleries….
Extra tips: Always check opening hours in advance. If you can’t, get the hotel to do it for you. It can save a lot of pain.
There are many freelance guides offering their services, especially outside the Kremlin. If you really want one, negotiate a price but first test their language skills & the way they speak. There can be few things worse than spending 4 hours with a Moscow guide droning on in heavy English, giving you all the facts & figures about 8 centuries of Russian history and artefacts….
EATING OUT
Whatever people say, you can eat well and at a reasonable price, provided you do your homework and don’t always demand 3 course meals with wine.
 Club Petrovich, 24 Myasnitskaya Ulitsa, is hidden away in a courtyard and we never did find it, although friends have since recommended it for a night out. It has also been well reviewed in Brussels Airlines new in-flight magazine.- Café Pushkin, Tverskoy Boulevard for its delicious beef stroganoff with cream, accompanied by beer with vodka as a chaser (lunch 50€ for 2).
- Noah’s Ark (Noev Kovcheg), Maly Ivanovsky per 9, in a quiet area of Kitai Gorod, the old Chinese quarter, has an original design, nice atmosphere, menu with pages of Armenian specialities & a wide variety of Armenian cognacs (dinner:60€ for 2).
- Genatsvale, Ostozhenka 12/1, is very much open, despite rumours that all Georgian places have closed. Yes, there is a trade embargo and you can’t get Georgian wines or beer, but they use Russian ingredients for the food and still brighten up the Moscow restaurant scene. Recommend the khachi puri - rich cheese bread served hot (36€ for 2).
- Taras Bulba, Ul Petrovka 30/7, is cosy & fun and offers a wide range of tasty Ukrainian specialities at good value prices (35€ for 2).
We did have one delicious 3 course dinner with wine, but that was at the home of a kind Spanish friend.
Extra tips: Also we chanced on a trendy café with live music opposite the former KGB/ now FSB building at Lubyanka Bolshaya 5 – great for its home  brewed beers (pivo), vodka and blinis with red caviar (26€ for 2). Its name is in Cyrillic only, a language I don’t have on my laptop. So see if you can find it without a name.
In a recent restaurant article from Moscow, the International Herald Tribune recommends a new chain of budget restaurants called Grabli where you can apparently eat for as little as 6€ which certainly seems like a bargain. There is the Tretyakov Grabli on Ulitsa Pyatnitskaya, near the Tretyakov Gallery. The first of the three to open was the Prospekt Mira Grabli, designed like a secret garden.
And talking of eating on a budget, there’s also the Yolki-Palki chain of eat-as-much-as-you-can buffets and the Moo-Moo group of family restaurants set up by the man behind the Café Pushkin.
SHOPPING WITHOUT DROPPING
3 definite Musts, otherwise most boutiques are the same as everywhere else in the world and probably a lot more expensive.
- GUM runs down one side of Red Square opposite the Kremlin. It is not exactly a department store in the Western sense. It consists of 3 parallel arcades on two levels, full of shops, boutiques, cafés & restaurants. Our daughter who did an exchange visit to Moscow in the 1980’s still remembers all these shops with empty shelves and next to nothing to sell. Now they overflow with merchandise & prosperity. Well worth some judicious window shopping.
- The weekend Vernisazh art & crafts market at Izmaelovo (M: Partizanskaya) is also fun. Lots of local colour, matrioskas and other hand-painted crafts to buy, in addition to ceramics, jewellery, chess sets, paintings…..
- The food market (off Dorogomilovskaya Bolshaya. M: Kiyevskaya) is an impressive sight with its small shops and market hall offering a colourful variety of vegetables, spices, fish, meats etc. But photographers beware: photos are not allowed. At the first smell of a camera or a flash, a burly security guard will tap you threateningly
 on the shoulder and growl ‘No photo’ (you assume!) in Russian. If you ask him why, he will look blank and mumble something equally incomprehensible about the ‘President of the Syndicate.’
You can buy red caviar (from salmon) here, cheaper than in the airport Duty Free, for 6.5€ per 200g. You’ll also find Beluga, but that’s in a different league, at 465-870€ a kilo depending on the quality.
In Paris the latest price at the Maison du Caviar was 4,000€!
FINDING OUT MORE
There’s not a great lot of reliable information about Moscow and many of the websites I have researched, I would certainly not trust. You never know who  and what interests lie behind them, and whether you really have reserved yourself a hotel room!
www.tripadvisor.co.uk was recently voted the important source of traveller-to-traveller information in the UK and here you find some tips & advice for Moscow, as well as useful hotel reviews.
There are only a few decent guide books and they are often seriously out of date as prices increase exponentially in Moscow. There are no rules here. New Russian capitalism means charging the absolute maximum the market can bear and more…especially to the foreign visitor.
We used the Lonely Planet Moscow (published in 2003/written in 2002), but there have been a lot of changes.
Another source of information on restaurants, opening times, events etc. is Moscow’s English language media:
- The daily Moscow Times has an extensive travel section
www.themoscowtimes.com
- The eXile, which brands itself as Moscow’s alternative newspaper has a critical section on nightlife & eating out.
www.exile.ru
And you’ll find city magazines of varying quality once you are there.
If you want to ‘read’ something Russian you can always buy the local edition of Hello Magazine and see all the nouveau riche making fools of themselves.
Yes, Moscow is now the city with the most millionaires in the world.
AND ADDING A FINAL TOUCH OF HUMOUR………
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| And in the windscreen a ‘For Sale’ sign! |
The cleanest car in Moscow…. |
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| A hungry Muscovite bird |
What’s in a name! |
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| You can look, but you cannot touch. |
Neither the Spanish nor the British Embassy! |
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| On a sadder note, this young girl and others in the circle throw kopecs & roubles up in the air behind them presumably for good luck, and ‘babushkas’ scramble to pick them up. |
Toilets (10 roubles) are good business in central Moscow. |
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