Moscow has many attractions, but most are not tourist-friendly unless you speak Russian.
There are sights worth seeing in Moscow, both from a historical and architectural point of view. Red Square is very much at the centre of things, with the Kremlin on one side, the GUM department store on the other, St Basil’s church at the bottom and the national museum at the top.
There are almost always queues for the tours of the Kremlin (various versions of the tour are available, ranging in price from around €10 to €15. It is open 10am-5pm Fri-Wed. Admission adult/student Rbl 300/150. You are charged R50 to take pictures. No bags are allowed in. They are to be left at the left-luggage office, which is beneath Kutafya Tower (9am-6.30pm) R60 per bag. Metro: Ploschad Revolutsii. There's also The Kremlin Wall - 19metres high - beyond this is lays the graves with busts of some of the Soviet leaders including Brezhnev and Stalin. Expect to wait between 20 - 40 minutes to visit Lenin's tomb. Admission to St Basil's costs 100 roubles for an adult, 50 for a student.
Red Square
A note of caution about Red Square in particular: this area has an iconic, almost sacred status to the Russian people, and the various state forces deployed there enforce strict rules about respecting the place. Taking photographs of the buildings is OK, but recently a British sports journalist was arrested and taken into custody for putting out his cigarette under his foot here. Even more dramatic, Welsh fans following their team four years ago were shot at by Russian soldiers when they attempted to unfurl their flag for photographs in Red Square. It’s a place well worth a visit, but not for mucking about in.
Be on your guard too while out and about for various scams designed to con and rob tourists. These range from the usual pickpocketing and swindles to the more sinister but increasingly common attempts to drug, rob and beat up visitors. Delightful, friendly and charming though we all are, there’s still a reasonable chance that the good-looking young woman who’s paying you lots of attention is part of a plan to spike your drinks rather than love-struck. Try to avoid wandering round alone – although large groups are also not recommended, as you’ll often not be admitted to bars in big numbers, and can attract unwanted attention. Generally, don’t get too drunk, and keep your wits about you. Znamenka Street, certainly at night, is not an attractive place to wander about. On the same street is the Ministry of Defence which is heavily guarded. The constant presence of military security is likely not to lead to a lot of fun for any supporters, especially groups, who find themselves in this area.
Moscow has two circuses, the Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoi Bulvar (metro: Tsvetnoi Bulvar) and the new circus near the university. Tickets can be purchased for as little as 200RUB. Be careful of touts selling tickets outside - they are usually selling at double the price.
If you have children with you it may be worth a visit to Deskiy Mir (Children’s World) a store full of toys, DVDs, souvenirs and books. Metro: Lubyanka
Famous for?
Russia is famous for many things - Vodka, The Kremlin, more vodka, communism, yet more vodka, the Cold War, did we mention vodka?! Most of the attractions you're likely to want to go and see whilst you're there centre around these.
For the cultured amongst us, there is the Bolshoy Theatre, Metro: Teatralnaya Ploshchad 1. The historic main stage is closed for renovations until 2008, but the smaller stage next door is still functioning.
However, there's plenty of places worth a look if you have the time, and money to spend in the city, including:
GUM shopping centre, designer mall for the rich and famous. Adjacent to Red Square. Metro: Ploschad Revolutsii
Pushkin Museum - Metro: Kropotkinskaya
Gorky Park - Metro: Park Kulturi
Lenin’s Mausoleum, Mavzoley VI Lenina, Open 10am-1pm Tue-Thur, Sat & Sun. Admission free. Nearest metro: Okhotny Ryad
St. Basil’s Cathedral, Sobor Vasilia Blazhennogo. Metro: Okhotny Ryad. Admission R100. Open 11am-5pm Wed-Mon
Old Arbat Street - street full of tacky, cheap to expensive souvenir vendors, tourist cafes, restaurants that have seen better days, street artists etc. Metro: Smolenskaya or Arbatskaya (Light blue line)
Tretyakov Gallery - Metro: Tretyakovskaya
Victory Park - massive memorial to WWII was built for the 50-year anniversary of V - E Day in 1995, and also a WWII museum.
Most tourists will find eating out in Moscow quite expensive, but there are cheaper alternatives.
Drinking
Moscow’s a big city and the Russians like a drink, so there are plenty of options. On the other hand, when we asked the Moscow police, their advice to England fans was to stay in your hotel. We didn’t think that was particularly realistic advice, so we’ve had a look at some options and come up with a couple of suggestions.
Firstly, we reckoned that most people who are staying over in Moscow, as opposed to day-trippers, are likely to want to do a bit of sight-seeing, and will therefore head for the city centre and Red Square in particular. Just off Red Square are the Alexander Gardens (Aleksandrovski Sad), which are bordered on one side by a number of terrace bars, (and a McDonalds, and a pizza place) offering a natural gathering point for thirsty tourists. Beer here was 139 roubles (about £2.70) for half a litre of German lager, 84 roubles (about £1.65) for the same amount of local Russian beer. In smarter bars around the city however, be prepared for prices of four or five pounds a pint.
The main gathering point for British football fans in the past however has been a pedestrianised street some five or ten minutes walk from Red Square, by the name of Old Arbat. It’s a tourist-orientated area with lots of souvenir stands, but also a number of bars, cafés and restaurants, including a McDonalds and a Hard Rock Café. A Big Mac costs 52 roubles (£1), by the way.
Not far from the top end of Old Arbat is the Golden Ring hotel, which is where the FSF Fans’ Embassy will be based.
Kruzhka is a chain of beer-restaurants which serve cheap food and mugs of beer. They are dotted all over Moscow. The menu is relatively simple consisting mainly of kebabs and shaorma with chips. Sport events are often shown on big screens.
There are a number of western franchise restaurants like TGI Fridays and Hard Rock Café. The Hard Rock is on Old Arbat Street and is quite reasonably priced. They are also open from 6am for traditional western breakfast i.e. fresh orange juice, hash browns and scrambled eggs.
McDonalds are usually based in the shopping malls.
Gogol, on Stoleshnikov per 11, is sure to appeal to some - if only for the fact that it's open 24 hours! The nearest metro is Chekhovskaya.
There are plenty of street stands selling hot dogs, chebureki (Caucasian meat pasties), and blini around metro stations and many of the central streets.
Fast food outlets do not accept credit cards, and menus are usually in Russian.
There are several chains of outdoor stand-up food vendors usually located around metro stations. Two to look for are Kroshka-Kartoshka - green kiosks selling stuffed, baked potatoes as well as toasted sandwiches and Teremok - brown coloured kiosks that sell Blinchiki - Russian pancakes with a wide variety of fillings.
For details on all things Russian from ex-pats, have a look at the ex-pat website here.
