Sunday 24th March 2013

‘A Stroll through Central Moscow’ : Tverskaya : Red Square

 

We have decided to do a ‘1 hour stroll through central Moscow’ this morning. The walk is in our guidebook and points out lots of places of interest along the way so it should be good.

We didn’t even realise that it was Sunday until we reached the metro station and saw that a lot of the kiosks were closed. We were surprised to see that there was still a huge amount of people travelling on the metro despite it being a Sunday.

It was snowing lightly when we left the hotel, and more heavily when we arrived at the starting point for the walk, the Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer, one of Moscow’s main landmarks.

This is a beautiful huge church, a replica of the original cathedral that was blown up under orders from Stalin in 1931. There was a huge screen outside relaying the service that was taking place inside. We entered the church through the main door and passed through a security checkpoint. What a shame that they feel the need to have this security in place. The church is magnificent, beautiful and has a wonderful atmosphere.
It is said that there is room for 10,000 worshippers. Like many Greek churches, there are no seats so everyone stands. There must have been at least 500 people stood listening to the service, of which 150 of them were soldiers standing erect in rows of five.

In the gallery at the rear of the church, many people were picking up little forms, completing them, and then handing them with cash to a lady behind a counter where one could also purchase candles. There appeared to be two types of forms, we stood watching for a while, it just reminded me of people filling betting slips in and placing bets. We can only assume that the forms are for prayers, maybe prayers for the living on one type of form and prayers for the departed another. Or perhaps, prayers of thanks, and prayers for help…

We lit a candle for my Dad and one for Dave’s Mum. At last, I feel like I have been in a Russian Orthodox Church. We have spent nearly an hour in this impressive cathedral so the said ‘one hour stroll’ will take much longer.

We walked along the side of the frozen Moskva River, in the direction of the Kremlin stopping once or twice to take photographs. It was very cold and we couldn’t bear our gloves off for longer than the time it took to take a quick photo or two.

We passed by the Borovitskaya Tower, the entrance to the Kremlin that is used by the President. We walked through the Alexander Gardens where apparently in summer there are a few outdoor cafes. Unfortunately, somehow we missed the fountains with characters from Russian fairy tales behind them. The fountains wouldn’t have been working now but it would have been interesting to see the statues.

We passed the guarded Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – and stood and watched the changing of the guard. The next amazing piece of architecture we came to was the Historical Museum, which like the building which is now the shopping mall ‘GUM’, was built in the Russian Revival style. The imposing statue outside the museum is a Russian war hero sat astride his horse.

We went into the tiny Kazan Cathedral; another replica of the original. Once more, like the cathedral we visited earlier, the original was destroyed under Stalin’s orders.

We continued to the huge statue of Karl Marx in Revolution Square. A demonstration was taking place at the statue and there were a small number of people holding placards. Close by is the famous Bolshoi Theatre.

The end of our ‘guided’ walk was Lubyanka Square with the headquarters of the former KGB. This fascinating ‘one hour stroll’ has taken us the best part of four hours. It has been extremely cold; at one point I resorted to wearing my scarf over my hat in an attempt to keep my ears warmer.

We went by metro to Tverskaya, the area according to our guidebook, was one of the best places for eateries. We fancied something traditional and hoped to find a Russian, Georgian or Armenian place for lunch. I may even get my borscht!

We walked along Tverskaya, a busy thoroughfare searching for somewhere to eat and a money exchange place. The exchange places were difficult to find, we would see a sign with a light flashing Euro/Dollar rate on a wall indicating there was an exchange but then we could never find the entrance to it. After three failed attempts of finding one, we entered a huge furniture shop which was below one of the signs, a man pointed us to what we believed at first was to the stairs. As we started climbing the stairs, he shouted to get our attention and pointed at a 2- metre by 2-metre cubicle with a bell on it. We pressed the bell and after a moment the door opened, this was the exchange. It was so tiny; just enough room for us to stand close together, and a cashier was sat at the other side of the sealed counter.

Well, now we know what we are looking for, it will be easier next time.

We stopped in a square previously called Passion Square after a church that once stood there. With its statue of the poet Alexander Pushkin it is now appropriately named Pushkin Square.

Well, we couldn’t find the type of eatery that we were looking for, but we did find a traditional pie cafe. It was a relief to get into a warm place out of the freezing cold. On the cafe’s long counter were many huge pies, some savoury, and some sweet, with a varied range of fillings. These pies could be eaten on the premises or purchased to take out. They were sold by weight, (as most food is in restaurants in Russia) and slabs were cut off as required. There was also a menu offering just a few other dishes, mainly soups and salads. We both chose a warming chicken with noodle soup that was served with half a boiled egg in it. We chose a meat pie, and a mushroom and potato pie to follow the soup, everything was delicious.

After lunch, we continued walking along the road named Tverskaysa which would lead us back into Red Square. We took some photographs in Red Square that was now a white square due to the covering of snow. Throughout the day snow ploughs and tractors had been constantly clearing the snow from both the roads and the wide pavements, huge mounds of snow were now piled up at intervals.

We walked to the metro station via Ulitsa Varvarka; this street is believed to be the oldest street in Moscow. It is also said that Ulitsa Varvarka is home to more churches than any other street in the city. Once again we marvelled at the beautiful cupolas of the various churches. We visited and admired the church of St. George.

 

The doors of the other churches including the doors of the ‘Cathedral of the Sign’ were firmly closed. Our guidebook informed us that a couple of them were closed for renovation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though it was a Sunday, the longest we waited for a metro was 2 minutes. The metro system is extremely efficient and clean. Nine million people use the Moscow metro on a weekday, this is more people than the London and New York Undergrounds combined.

Leaving the metro station near our hotel, we noticed how much it had snowed, maybe five inches or more. Due to the constant clearing in the centre of the city, we hadn’t realised.
We counted seven snowploughs staggered across the road, each clearing a different area. Earlier in the day, we had seen a temperature gauge indicating minus 7 degrees Celsius, but once again with the wind chill factor, it felt much colder.
It was still snowing when we ventured back out an hour or so later to a small restaurant close by. We didn’t know what type it was, but as it was the nearest we decided to give it a try. It turned out to be an Italian restaurant, we would have preferred Russian, but we enjoyed a lovely meal of lasagne, spinach ravioli with bolognaise sauce and a side order of asparagus for 30 Euros.

While eating our meal we watched numerous trucks pass by. They were all filled with snow, they had been collecting the piles from around the city, and we assumed they were taking them to the outskirts of the city.

 

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