Russia Travel Guide: Things To Do, Places To See in Russia.

Things to See in Moscow

The most famous square in Moscow is the Red Square. Many major streets radiate from the square, thus it is considered as the central square in the city. It was intended to be the main marketplace in Moscow and had been used for public proclamations and ceremonies. It was even used at a coronation site for some of the Tsars of Russia. In Russian, the name of the square is Krásnaja Plóščaď. Krasnaya is the Russian word for red or for beautiful and the name became known as such because the original bricks around the square were red in color.

The square separates the Kremlin from the Kitai-gorod, the merchant quarter in Moscow and the Kremlin wall surrounds part of the square. Initially the square was called Veliky Torg or Great Market. Later it was called Troitskaya after the Trinity Church near the square that was burned down in 1571. With the bricks around the square getting the burnt color after the fire, the square became known as Pozhar. At around 1661 the square was called Krasnaya or red. Eventually buildings were erected near the square and changed its landscape. The Cathedral of Saint Basil was constructed in 1551 during the rule of Ivan the Terrible.

The cathedral is an object of curiosity. It is a Russian Orthodox Church and constructed in the architectural style that is not typical of the prevalent architecture in Russia. It was shaped like a flame that rises from a bonfire. Its exterior colors are predominantly in red and white, with touches of blue, green and gold. It is a complex design with the central church being the largest, with four large churches and four smaller churches. The largest church has foundations laid on the ground but the smaller churches are on raised platforms. The church is constructed using a mix of materials, and used bricks and colored ceramics to add depth, color and design to its exterior. The tops of the churches are covered with onion domes in different colors.

The Kazan Cathedral was built at the northeast corner of the Red Square in 1612 by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. Also located at the Red Square is the Lenin Mausoleum that houses the embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin, which can be viewed by the public. It is maintained that the body on display is real and requires daily work to inject preservatives and moisturize it. The body is kept in a sarcophagus with a constant temperature of 16 °C or 61 °F. Humidity is kept at about 80% to 90%. If you plan to visit the mausoleum, keep in mind that bags are not allowed inside and picture/video taking is strictly prohibited.

A Gum department store is located at the eastern section of the Red Square while the State Historical Museum is on its northern side. The Chapel and Iberian Gate, one of the old gates of the Kremlin, are in the northwest section. You can also find a bronze statue of local heroes Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin. A circular platform called the Lobnoye Mesto is used for public ceremonies.

Very close to the Red Square is the Moscow Kremlin, a fortified complex surrounded by walls. It is rated by Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest 14th to 15th century medieval fortress in the world. The Kremlin wall is 2,235 meters long and about 3.5 meters to 6.5 meters thick in different places. Inside its walls are the Kremlin towers, fours cathedrals and four palaces. The Kremlin Palace is the official residence of the Russian Federation’s president. The very imposing building has 700 rooms, is 125 meters long, 47 meters high and sprawled over an area that measures 25,000 square meters.

The Terem Palace used to be the official residence of the Russian Tsars. This palace has focal points of interest with gold as their theme, including the Golden Tsarita’s Chamber, the Golden Porch, the Golden Staircase and the Boyar Platform. The Upper Savior Cathedral or the Church of the Nativity has 11 golden onion domes. The Amusement Palace erected in 1652 on the western side of the Kremlin Wall is a theater for the exclusive use of royalty. All the Russian Tsars were crowned at the Cathedral of Dorminition. The Cathedral of the Annunciation used to have three domes but the number was later increased to nine in 1589. All the Muscovite monarchs were interred at the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, which was constructed in 1508.

The Church of the Deposition of the Virgin’s Robe, built in 1484 is a magnificent building painted in white and crowned with dark roof and topped with a single tower with a golden dome. The other religious building inside the Moscow Kremlin is the Church of the Twelve Apostles that was built in 1653.

Supposedly built on the geographic center of Moscow, which is inside the Moscow Kremlin, is the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, purposely built to be used by the Annunciation, Assumption and Archangel Michael Cathedrals that do not have their own bell towers. The total height of the bell tower is 81 meters, and it towers over all the other buildings inside the Kremlin.

Things to Do in Moscow

Even if you do not want to shop, it will be a fantastic experience to visit two of the largest shopping centers in Moscow, Gum and Tsum. Gum is in the Red Square while Tsum is located at Petrovka. What attract tourists to these shopping malls are the capacious halls and their stunning architecture and decorations. Nevertheless you will see several international brands like Joop!, Hermès and Burberry here. There’s Café Tsum located at the fourth floor where you can order some much-needed refreshment after your window shopping.

When you want some peace and quiet, head out to Patriarshy Prudiy, which means Patriarch’s Pond. It is near the Tverskaya Ulitsa and Mayakovsky Square. The square pond is surrounded by simple and rigid apartments representative of the architecture during the Stalin era. The best time to go to this place is in the morning, particularly during spring or fall. You can sit down on a bench and read a book or take a stroll around the pond and view the sculpture garden.

If you are in the mood to splurge a bit and get a very good view of Moscow at night, the O2 Lounge (Oxygen Lounge) at the 12th floor of the Ritz-Carlton is the place to go. The hotel is located at the busiest street in Moscow, Tverskaya Ulitsa. While the food is on the pricey side, the view is breathtaking and you can see the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Kremlin ata distance.

Get some of the best views of Moscow when you visit the famous Gorky Park. It’s a great place to indulge in people watching and see how the Russians spend their weekend. You can watch them play, have a picnic, singing and drinking and simply enjoying their free time. You can walk along the Moscow River while eating some ice cream and enjoying some city sights. There is a giant Ferris Wheel, a rollercoaster and sports amenities for yoga, aerobics, and instructor-led salsa dancing. There is a 15,000 square meter ice rink with separate zones for hockey, general skating, dancing and hockey.

If you are after some wild adventure and you are brave and daring, arrange for a ride aboard a MiG-29 and fly over Moscow. You will surely have a blast aboard a Russian military aircraft.

If you have children in tow, head over to the Obraztsov Puppet Theater, the largest puppet theater in Russia. The repertoire includes adaptations from classical plays as well as colorful folktales from Russia. Children will relish the idea of getting a closer look at the museum collection of more than 3,000 puppets, owned by the theater’s founder, Sergey Vladimirovich Obraztsov. He is credited for establishing puppetry as an art form in his country and for influencing the establishment of puppet or rod theaters round the world.

For the culture vulture, the best place to be and also a top draw in Moscow is the Bolshoi Theater. It’s an iconic landmark in Moscow and in Russia, and home to the Bolshoi Opera and Bolshoi Ballet. It was built in 1824 and reconstructed in 1883. Check out the schedule so you can catch one of the staple productions such as Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, The Nutcracker or The Sleeping Beauty. You may also be able to catch the performance of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Spartacus by Khachaturian or Giselle by Adams.

If you are hankering to see some samples of European art, the best place to check is the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts at Volkhonka Street, which is near the Christ the Savior Cathedral. Here you will find a collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings including masterpieces from Matisse, Dufrenoy, Gauguin and Picasso. It also has the only painting sold during the lifetime of Vincent Van Gogh, a painting he made in 1888 entitled Le Vigne Rouge or The Red Vineyard.

But if it’s Russian art you are after, then go to the Tretyakov Gallery. This is the national treasury of the fine arts of Russia and you can spend some time taking a closer look at some of the 150,000 works of art belonging to the gallery’s collection. You will find here the Theotokos of Vladimir or the Vladimir Madonna, an icon showing the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus who is snuggling up her cheek. There’s also the Composition VII of Wassily Kandinsky, Trinity of Andrei Rublev and Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square.

Outside the gallery is the world’s tallest statue of Peter the Great, the 86-meter tall sculpture done by Zurab Tseretelli. There are also works by Russian artists such as Yevgeny Vuchetich, Alexei Savsarov, Ilya Repin, Vasily Surikov and Valentin Serov. Paintings by Mikhail Vrubel, Nikolai Ge, Victor Vasnetov and Nicholas Roerich are also part of the gallery’s collection.

When it’s time to hunt for souvenirs to bring back home, you can have a field day at the Izmailovo Flea Market. It’s actually Moscow’s one-stop souvenir market. Take your time before you buy as you will surely encounter artisans who sell their creations personally and you can spend time chatting with them as you look at their wares. You will find fur hats, lacquer boxes, matryoshka dolls, Russian folk art and jewelry in this flea market.

While there are a number of American fast-food chains in Moscow, do try to sample some local cuisines that are representative of the communities in Moscow. You can enjoy the popular Azerbaijani dishes, the spicy Georgian food, Armenian kebabs and fish dishes, as well as Japanese sushi. Of course you should not leave Moscow without trying the red beet thick soup called borscht, ikra (caviar) on buttered bread, the crepe-like blini, Russian black bread and pirozhki, those small pastries filled with meat, cheese, cabbage and potatoes.

It is called the City of the Tsars, as St. Petersburg, which was created by Peter the Great around 1703 was the seat of the Russian Tsars and the former capital of the country. It was envisioned as the window to European culture. It is also called the Venice of the North with its winding canals that lead to the Neva River. It may not be a place that you would want to be during winter unless you are used to extreme winter temperatures as the numerous rivers and canals in the city become frozen. But come summer time, St. Petersburg is a wonderful place to explore, where the city remains bathed in weak sunlight even during the evenings.

Prepare to be awed by the imposing buildings around St. Petersburg that were built in a mixture of classical, neo-classical and baroque architectural styles and be tantalized by the music, opera and ballet culture of this enticing, magical and historical city.

Things to See in St. Petersburg

You may find that you do not have enough time to see all the attractions that await you in St. Petersburg, from its palaces, monuments, churches museums and galleries. To start your tour of this wondrous city, set aside lots of time to explore the State Hermitage Museum, which was founded in 1764. According to experts it will take you 11 years if you are to examine each of the items that are on display inside this very huge museum complex. It is such a big place so advanced planning is needed and a guided tour is advised. You also need buy tickets in advance if you are planning to take pictures inside this worldfamous and very important museum. It has one of the world’s finest collections of art masterpieces and artifacts, numbering at a staggering three million.

You will be browsing gallery upon gallery that contains exhibits such as pre-historic art, Russian art, Oriental art, weapons and armaments, imperial treasures, numismatics, archeological artifacts, royal ceramics and art from Western Europe. The Treasure Gallery contains the Gold Rooms where the exhibits are items made of gold, some of which were created around the 7th century BC. In the Diamond Rooms you will be able to see the development and history of the craft of making diamond jewelry since the third millennium before the birth of Christ. At the Russian Culture Gallery you will be able to trace the ancient history of Russia through its over 300,000 items illustrating the way of life during the time of Peter the Great to the reigns of Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine the Great.

In the Department of Oriental Art you will surely gape at the extensive collection of more than 180,000 paintings, sculptures, jewelry pieces and even cult objects from the Orient, such as Central Asia, China, Thailand, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, Ancient Egypt, the Middle East, India as well as items from the Byzantium and Sassanic Iran periods. Collections of Islamic Art from the Near East are also on display here.

Not to be outdone is the Hermitage’s collection inside the Pre-Historic Gallery. Inside you will see more than two million items collected around the Russian territory, some of which date back to the Paleolithic Age.

There are 120 rooms at the Hermitage that are dedicated to showcase the finest collection of paintings, sculpture, applied art, miniatures, drawings and prints of Western Europe. You will be able to trace how art in Western Europe developed as you view art pieces from this part of the world, including those from Germany, France, Flanders, Spain, Italy, Holland and England. Outside of the Louvre in France, this is where you will find some of the finest masterpieces of Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian and Raphael. You will also find works from Rubens, Rembrandt, Monet, Pissarro, Cezanne, Renoir, Manet, Rodin, Gauguin, Matisse and Van Gogh.

One of the main buildings to explore in the State Hermitage Museum is the Winter Palace, the residence of the Tsars of Russia. It was built sometime between 1754 and 1762 by Peter the Great along the banks of the Neva River. Done in Baroque architecture, the green and white building has three floors, 1,057 halls with lavish decorations, 1,786 doors and 1,945 windows.

Another building that should be included in your tour of the Hermitage is Prince Alexander Menshikov’s palace. He was the first governor-general of the city. The building is a mix of Russian artists and craftsmen and several European architects. Inside the palace are several decorative paintings, Dutch tiles that are painted with cobalt, Russian stove tiles, tapestries made of wool, leathers that have been stamped and painted and antique as well as contemporary sculptures from Italy.

Do not feel exhausted, as there are more places to see in St. Petersburg. You should not miss going to the Peter and Paul Fortress, the first structure that was erected in the city. It is located in the island of Zayachii Ostrov, at the delta of the Neva River. The fortress was built by Peter the Great in 1703 to protect the city from foreign invaders. It became a prison at around 1721 and one of its first inmates was Alexei, the rebellious son of Peter the Great. Some popular figures like Gorkiy, Trotskt, Alexander Lenin and Dostoyevsky also spent some time inside the prison walls here. This is also where you will find the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the first stone Russian Orthodox Church in St. Petersburg that was built around 1712. The church has a height of 404 feet and it is the highest structure in the city. Atop its spire is a weathervane in the form of a golden angel with a cross in its hand. The fortress also includes one of the two medal and coin mints in Russia and the City Museum.

Originally the residence of Peter I’s wife, Catherine I in 1717, the Catherine Palace became a huge and very impressive blue and white building that became the summer residence of their daughter, Empress Elizabeth. It is located in Tsarskoe Selo near St. Petersburg. The residence was reconstructed in 1743, employing 4 architects prior to Bartholomeo Rastrelli, who completely redesigned the building to rival those that are found in Versailles. Eventually the building, when completed in 1756 had a circumference that measured one kilometer, with a glorious façade decorated by sculptor Johann Franz Dunker of Germany. Its exterior was also decorated with 100 kilos of gold.

The interior of the palace rivals its exterior in elaborate decoration. The State Staircase features ornately-carved balusters and reclining cupids made of marble. The Great Hall covers the whole width of the palace and measures about 1,000 square meters and the whole ceiling is painted with the Triumph of Russiafresco. Some of the major rooms are decorated in different themes.

The most impressive room in the Catherine Palace is the Amber Room, which is decorated entirely in tiles and panels made of amber. Four hundred and fifty kilos of amber were used to decorate the room, aside from the mosaics made from gemstones mined from the Caucasus and Ural mountains. After its completion in 1770, a special caretaker was assigned to repair and maintain the fragile decorations. During the conflict in 1941, the Amber Room was dismantled and the items were eventually lost.

At the cost of $12 million in 1982, and 20 years of recreation, the Amber Room can once again be seen, with President Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder headlining its opening in 2003.

One of the favorite destinations of travelers to St. Petersburg is the grand and majestic Peterhof Palace, a World Heritage Site. You can spend one whole day exploring the palace and the grounds where there are many interesting things to see. This palace was also built by Peter the Great. Aside from the palace, the best features of the palace complex are its fountains, most of which are found in the parks in the palace grounds located on a 16-meter high cliff near the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Much of the attractions that are seen today were added by Empress Elizabeth. What make the numerous fountains interesting are their curious sculptures. An impressive structure is the Grand Cascade in front of the palace. Water cascades over several steps. At the center of the cascade is a two-story artificial grotto. The grotto contains a short history of the fountains as well as an exhibit table with a bowl of artificial fruits. When visitors reach for the fruits they get soaked by jets of water. Below and on the sides of the grotto of the Grand Cascade are its fountains from which water flows into a semi-circular pool that is the end point of the Sea Channel or Canal.

In the pool is the impressive Samson Fountain that was placed there in the 1730s. It shows Samson in the act of tearing open the lion’s jaws. From the lion’s mouth comes a jet of water that shoots up to a height of 20 meters. The statue, a creation of Mikhail Koslovsky was stolen during the Second World War and was replaced by a replica in 1947.

The water distribution system of the fountains in Peterhof is technologically advanced, considering that these were constructed in the early part of the 18th century. The fountains operate without pumps as they are supplied from natural springs from which water is collected in reservoirs and makes use of the difference in elevation to create pressure.

At the Lower Gardens are fountains that are meant to surprise visitors. One is a rotating disk whose water jets resemble the rays of the sun. One looks like an umbrella with a bench around. Water will rain on visitors taking a seat on the bench. There are two fountains that look like tall trees that will soak approaching visitors.

Things to Do in St. Petersburg

Do not let the label of being a historic city fool you when you come to explore St. Petersburg. True, it is a World Heritage Site, due to the city’s collection of buildings and monuments from the city’s past glory days. The St. Petersburg of today is vibrant and pulsating; with the modern European culture intermingling with that of the ethnic Russian traditions.

For something truly rustic, take a trip to Kizhi Island on Lake Onega. It is an open-air museum where you can walk around intricate wooden buildings that were made without nails, with the wood fitting so close together like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Some of these structures were erected in the 14th century. The most impressive structure is the Church of the Transfiguration, which was constructed in the 17th century. The church has 12 onion domes.

A very interesting church that is worth a visit, not only for its exterior but also for its interior is the Khram Spasa na Krovi, which translates to Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. It was erected in memory of Tsar Alexander II, and was constructed in 1883 on the site where he was assassinated. The church looks more like a palace than a place of worship with its colorful exterior and its onion domes and is a fine example of Russian architecture in the medieval ages. You will marvel at the colorful mosaics decorating its exterior and interior walls. The mosaics inside the church are intricately designed to depict Biblical figures and scenes.

When you walk around the Senate Square, you will not miss one of the famous symbols of St. Petersburg, called the Bronze Horseman. It is a statue of Peter the Great astride a rearing horse. It is place on top of what is called the Thunder Stone, claimed to be the largest stone that was moved by man. The granite stone pedestal weighs around 1,250 tons. It was found in 1768 at Lakhta, around the Gulf of Finland. It took nine months and 400 to move the monolith.

St. Petersburg is like Venice with its numerous canals. What can a more relaxing way to see more of what the city offers that to take a boat tour? Boat tours in St. Petersburg are available day and night, on the Neva River, along its winding canals or on the Fontanka. It’s one hour of relaxed sightseeing.

Circus lovers will have a grand time at the St. Petersburg Circus in Fontanka. Catch an early evening show and enjoy the spectacular event featuring lions, ostriches, tigers and porcupines, aside from the lively and limber acrobats performing without safety nets and zany clowns. For catching up some high-culture show, take in an opera or even a ballet at the Mariisnky Theater at Teatralnaya Square.

St. Petersburg has a number of quality restaurants that serve a diverse menu. But why settle for food that you are used to when you can get very filling Russian cuisine like shahslik or lamb skewers, a gourmet-styled grilled cheese sandwich called khachapuri or have a taste of eggplants with walnuts. Do not be surprised to see Russian eating pancakes for lunch. Their pancakes, called blini are not the same as the pancakes you are used to eating for breakfast. A blini is a thin pancake and a favorite among Russians. These pancakes are stuffed with savory fillings, such as salmon, cheese and mushroom. There’s also a chocolate blini that you can eat for dessert.

If you have children with you, they will gladly spend some time at the Museum of Ethnography, which is next door to the Russian Museum. They can learn the doll making, weaving, pottery and traditional Russian crafts.

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