August 1 and 2 2018 : Day 1 Moscow, Day 2 Moscow and Train to Kazan

Day 1 Moscow

I land at Moscow’s Zhukovsky airport at 6.30pm and head straight for the Panorama hotel, in central Moscow, in the company of my taxi driver Denis.

He is half Russian half Crimean, and not a big fan of Ukrainians…

I listen intently as he explains that Russia, in his view, is still a land of opportunity, as, having joined the capitalist club quite late in the day, there is still plenty of potential for growth and new business ideas, particularly in a city like Moscow.

The sanctions imposed on Russia since the start of the conflict in the Ukraine have pushed Russians to replace no longer available imported produce, eg. French cheeses, with local versions of these goods, actually boosting growth and creativity in selected food and agricultural sectors.

Denis is a lawyer by training, but finds it easier to make ends meet by driving a taxi. He has 2 children, and his wife, a police woman, is about to retire at the ripe old age of 39 after 20 years of service!

He admits that, even though he values the potential the country offers, he thinks back nostalgically (influenced by his parents’ stories of the past) to the days when in the USSR everything was prepared for you… You were given a house, a job, etc. I guess the memories of very little to choose from on shop shelves and spending hours in queues for daily necessities are fading fast…

I meet my friend Silvia at the hotel and, after discussing a rough plan for the following day, we head for Presnya for dinner, a pretty area with plenty of restaurants to choose from. The Russian restaurant we pick does not disappointJ

Day 2 Moscow and Train to Kazan

On Day 2 we are met at the hotel by our guide, Lisa, a very intelligent and friendly Siberian lady (a Buryat from Eastern Siberia) in her sixties, originally from Irkutsk in Siberia. She takes us on a 4 hour walk of Moscow, a fantastic experience where she shares information that goes beyond what any guidebook could have provided…

Lisa tells us that she arrived in Moscow as a university student. She grew up as a dedicated supporter of the Soviet system, becoming a ‘Patriot’ at the age of 9 and joining the youth arm of the Communist party as a Konsomol member at the age of 16. She shows us the badges she was given at each stage of her ‘young communist’ career and her Communist party member booklet.

After working for many years in a wholesale trade company, she lost her job in the late 90s and re-trained as an English teacher.

With Lisa we start our tour in Teatralny Square where we admire the world-famous Bolshoy Theatre and the Art Deco Metropol hotel (I stayed at 13 years ago!) and opposite it the statue of Marx contemplating the action on the Square.

Lisa shows us the Duma (the Parliament), one of the buildings constructed before the 2nd World War, at the time when Stalin decided to raise to the ground vast areas of old Moscow and build grand, opulent buildings more reflective of Soviet ambitions.

Duma

Bolshoy Theatre

Metropol Hotel

Marx keeping an eye on the action

We enter Kitay Gorod, an older area of Moscow filled with churches and monasteries dating back to between the 16^thand 19^thcenturies. I have to admit that, even though I enjoy the visits, I remain an committed aficionada of the ancient orthodox churches (11^th-14^thcenturies) of Ohrid in Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania.

We have been quite unlucky with the timing of our trip as we find the Kremlin, the Church of St. Basil, the Novodevichy Convent and the Church of the Trinity in Nikitniki closed. All of these are breathtaking.

We enjoy a walk down Nikolskaya Street, a pedestrian street with plenty of action, including a monastery and the site of the first university in Moscow. Amongst the humdrum of Russian hipsters, tourists and Moscovites at work, there are also numerous young and old aviation cadets and officers out waving flags for the aviation corps, as celebrations in honour of the force will be held later in the day. We now know why they’ve closed off the Red Square and the Kremlin… Just as well this is my fourth time in Moscow! The Red Square, the GUM department store, the red building of the State Museum of Russia , the Cathedral of St.Basil and the shining domes of the Kremlin are just as beautiful as they were when I last visited in 2005. A must for any visitor to Moscow.

Celebrating Aviation Day

Nikolskaya Street

Spassky Monastery Cathedral iconostasis

State Museum of Russia

Gum Shopping Centre

St. Basil's Church

Celebrating Aviation Day on the Red Square

View of the Red Square

We stroll over to the Alexander Gardens, along the western wall of the Kremlin, built by Alexander I in the 1820s following Russia’s victory against Napoleon. Shortly after the entrance to the Gardens we reach the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its eternal flame.

On the way to the Statue of Vladimir we walk past the neo-classical Manege, an old riding school later turned into exhibition space.

The imposing 17m high statue of Vladimir I, leader of the Rus in the 11^thcentury, was unveiled by Putin in 2016, in honour of his namesake who is credited with bringing together the nascent Russian state and establishing the Orthodox Church in Russia.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Aviation Cadets

Statue of Vladimir I

We cross the bridge to the southern banks of the Moskva into Zamoskvorechie and walk along the river to the Cathedral of Christ Our Saviour. The original Cathedral took over 30 years to build in the mid-19^thcentury and was raised to the ground by Stalin in the 1930s to build the ‘Palace of Soviets’ skyscraper topped by a 100m statue of Lenin. Soon after construction started the foundations started sliding towards the Moskva river and construction had to stop. The 2nd World War put paid to further plans for a while… The site was eventually turned into a giant swimming pool, until Mayor Lushkov decided to reconstruct the Cathedral in the 90s, at a very high cost, but the result (exterior and interior) is, admittedly, quite impressive, as I find myself quite taken by the icons, paintings and bright colours of the walls and iconostasis inside this two level church. Well worth a visit!

We continue ambling along the river observing the architectural wonders of apartment blocks built for the ‘apparatchik’ in the Soviet era, mixed in with abandoned aristocratic mansions, hidden chapels and trendy new bars.

In the distance I recognise the outline of several of the Seven Sisters, Moscovite versions of skyscrapers built in the 1940s to rival New York. Grandiose, gothic and stunning. I fell in love with them on my first visit to Moscow in 1997. Today they host a number of Ministries and hotels such as the Hilton and the Radisson.

Cathedral of Christ Our Saviour

View over the River Moskva towards the Kremlin

One of the Seven Sisters in the distance

With Lisa, our guide

Before heading to the train station we return briefly to Kitay Gorod passing by the red and white 17^thcentury baroque Nikitniki church and its green domes, and the new Zaryadye Park and concert hall, which was opened in 2017 on the site of what had been the Soviet Rossiya hotel, the largest hotel in Europe.