Russia was on our hit list to visit and we managed to get there during a June Bank Holiday. Getting our visas was complicated so take care when applying for one. You need a letter of invitation which you can get from your hotel/accommodation. You have to go in person to the embassy which was thankfully beside my school at the time.
Our flight took us from Dublin -> Geneva -> Moscow so we spend one day in Switzerland.
When you arrive in Moscow you are handed an important small piece of paper- keep it in a safe place as you need this when you leave. We checked into the IBIS Hotel which had a great location and very modern comfy rooms.
Here is a list of places we visited and things to do in Moscow!
- Cathedral of Christ the Saviour- Built by Alexander the first, to mark the defeat of Napoleon, it was destroyed in 1931 and rebuilt in 200
- Puskin Museum of Fine Arts- good rainy day activity
- Red Square- this is why you visit Moscow. It opens at 9am and people start queuing early enough. First visit Lenin's Mausoleum which contains Lenin's body embalmed. You can't smile, talk, whisper, have your hands in pockets or take pictures and they have lots of guards who take these rules very seriously.
- Kremlin Wall Graves. There are 238 bodies from the Bolsherik revolution. 12 Soviet Statesmens, except Khrushchev are honoured within the tombs.
- St Basil's Cathedral- it's amazing! So colourful and huge. We took loads of pictures here. It was built by Ivan the terrible to mark the conquest of Kazan. The building originally had the name 'Cathedral of the Intersession of the Virgin on the Moat', but then a 9th chapel was built to cover the grave of Basil the Blessed. It was nearly demolished twice- once by the Napoleon conquest but he couldn't as it started to rain and dampened their gunpowder. Stalin wanted it destroyed for troops to march through the Red Square but architect Baranovsky threatened to cut his own throat if he did. We went inside for 5ooR and very impressive inside.
- GUM shopping mall from the 19th century. It has many high brands and its roof is like St Stephen's Green shopping centre.
- Kazan Cathedral- destroyed by Stalin as well as the Resurrection Gate.
- Kilometre Zero- a brass plaque in the ground that marks the point of distances from Moscow
- Armory Chamber in the Kremlin- the armory was impressive and we saw a diamond throne, Catherine the Greats Wedding Dress, Miniature Carriages and Faberge Eggs, all gifts to the Russian Empire
- Cathedral of the Assumption and Archangel's Cathedral are very cool to look at the designs and architecture.
- Diamond Collection has very precious jewels on display including the World's 4th largest diamond in an imperial scepter- given to Catherine the Great by her lover Count Grigoriy Orlov- 18,962 carats. They also have the World's largest Golden Nugget.
- Boat trip on the main river that flows through Moscow- bring a map with you so you can identify the buildings you pass. There was no guide at all.
- Space Museum- really good fun! There's a huge monument over the museum to mark the achievements of the Russian Space Program. I learned loads here including the first animal in space called Laika and the first female in space called Valentina Tereshkova. You get to see Spudnik too!
- Markets are a great find but way outside the city centre. They have loads of souvenirs so be ready to barter. We bought hats, flags, Russian Dolls, and a music box that plays Tchaikovsky.
- You will see the amazing train stations as you take your trips on the metro- they are stunning. And a side note the whole metro system in Moscow is so efficient and so easy to use. There is one line that goes around in a circle that connects to every line so it makes life easy planning your routes. We bought a 10 trip ticket and worked out well for our 2 days. We could use the one ticket for both of us.
- The people in Moscow have next to no English. We had to use a lot of sign language to communicate but you will get by.
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