It’s two years this week since I fulfilled a lifelong dream and visited Moscow. A handy excuse then, to post this article that I wrote a few months back about the city!
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Say what you want about the Russians, but one thing you could never accuse them of is being unwelcoming. To get there, all you have to do is pay £150 for a visa and get a personal invitation from your pre-booked hotel. On arrival, you simply surrender your passport to the police for a day or so while they register your presence in the city (in our case, Moscow). Then, while you’re exploring, just do your best to avoid the many petrifying soldiers and policemen who want to stop and search you.
Wait, did I say they WEREN’T unwelcoming? Forgive me. What I clearly meant was: Russia could probably take a few lessons on hospitality from North Korea. Is it still worth a visit though? Absolutely. It’s crazy, it’s a little scary, but it’s never less than an experience.
That experience begins as you leave the airport. For us, that was Domodedovo Airport on a freezing, snowy day in mid-February…and when I say freezing, I don’t mean the relative tropics of a midweek evening match at St James Park. I mean real cold, seeping through your three layers of thermals and burning your skin within ten seconds of stepping outside. Domodedovo is 25 miles outside Moscow, down a long road full of some of the most insane, maniacal drivers in the world. It’s terrifying, especially when you’re not entirely convinced that you aren’t being abducted by the secret police. But then, finally, through the snow, you catch a glimpse of Red Square, the colourful spires of St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Kremlin Walls, the sparkly lights of GUM (a Communist department store just over twenty years ago, now packed with designer shops)…and you know it will all be worth it.
I know what you all really want to hear about, of course. Did we get to see Lenin’s dead body? Duh; of course we did. The Mausoleum is only open on limited days and at limited hours, so a trip there needs to be planned in advance. On arrival, you give up your camera and phone before being ushered in by some stern-looking guards. You get to walk around the body at top speed (stop and you may get shot), and that’s it. The whole thing lasts a couple of minutes, but it’s still intense. Lenin looks pretty good for someone who has been dead for 87 years, if a bit more like a waxwork dummy than a human at this point.
As you will have guessed by now, if you have any interest at all in Soviet Union history then Moscow makes for a fascinating trip. Even ignoring Lenin, we got to visit the Art Muzeon Park (full of old, torn-down Soviet statues), see the graves of Stalin, Khrushchev and Yeltsin, and wander around Victory Park, featuring the incredible monument to victory in World War 2. And if you couldn’t care less about the Soviets? Well, the shopping is amazing, the buildings are beautiful and even the Metro system is an attraction in itself. Just avoid the soldiers and you’ll be fine. After a few days you barely even notice the rather large guns.
