M o s c o w 

Initially you could think that the city is grey and a little bit miserable, and the only pretty thing you can see in the city center is the onion domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral, the emblem of the country. But Moscow has changed our opinion totally. Moscow is a really beautiful city and better than we had first thought.

Big, Bigger, Moscow! Unfortunately, there are not many places which you can reach by walking because of its size, but Moscow has a great metro system and the metro stations look very artistic.

We think that you should spend at least 5 days in Moscow to see the highlights of the city. Also in Moscow, we started our trip by using the Hop-on-hop-off bus to get a good overview of the city. But we were a little bit annoyed because the bus stopped often and for extended times. The next day we decided to take the metro. What a great idea!

We believed that it would be much more complicated to use the metro, because we thought that everything would be in Cyrillic. But we were wrong, it was super easy, all city names were also in English and there is lots of beautiful art to look at while you wait. We were very impressed by this.

  St. Basil’s Basilica and the Red Square 

During our sightseeing tour we admired the beautiful basilica, it is really wonderful! Very colorful and kitschy, but very nice. Unfortunately, we picked a really bad date for our sightseeing tour. On that weekend there was a big festival taking place and because of that the Red Square was closed. There were a lot of cranes and they were building huge stands and seating for the festival. As a result we couldn’t take any pictures from the Red Square.

GUM- The most beautiful shopping center 

We have never seen such a nice shopping center. The luxury department store was built in the 19th century and has quite an impressive architectural style. Wow, it’s really awesome!!! The shopping center has, of course, every famous luxury brand and makes anybody who loves shopping more than happy. Even when you can’t afford to shop there it is worth a visit anyway. The whole department store has a lot of grandiose bridges, beautiful galleries, a fountain and impressive walkways, it is an absolute MUST SEE

The visit to the Kremlin

The Kremlin is like a small walled city within the city of Moscow. Where all the power and influence of the country is located.

It seems like its empty, but there are huge groups of mostly Asian tourists inside it.

Inside the walls are a small cathedral, museums, a Kremlin complex and an administration building. We decided to take a quick tour by ourselves, around the cathedral and the parks inside and then we left.

Kathedrale Kreml

The small green park inside the Kremlin is really beautiful and has a lot of great plants. It is really worth it to walk around for a while, but only if you find a time when it is not so busy.

Parkanlage in der Kreml

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to visit the Lenin Mausoleum. 

Here you can see the body of Lenin in a glass coffin. Who knows how long more the body will be there for!?! (It takes a lot of effort to maintain) According to some rumors they want to move Lenin’s body to another place.

Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday from 10 am -1 p. m. The entrance is free but you have to be patient because of the waiting times.

Conclusion Moscow

Honestly, before we traveled to Moscow our image of Moscow was completely different. It’s hard to say, but frankly we maybe had a couple of prejudices before we traveled to Russia. But our hotel was great, the location was close to the city center and the food was really delicious. At the moment the Rubel is not so strong, that means the prices in Russia are quite low compared to most European countries. The people are really friendly and helpful, even though it is sometimes a little bit difficult to communicate in English, but it worked out anyway.

By the way, do you know our new report about St. Petersburg? Have you ever been to Russia or you are planning to travel there? Please leave a comment or follow us on our social media platforms.

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