Moscow - Trip Report
Jun 19th, 2006, 06:14 PM
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Moscow - Trip Report
We were in Moscow for 6 days and went sightseeing 5 of the days. If you are interested in looking at photos of Moscow, I have some posted on my website: www.pbase.com/msallen/moscow_in_2006
We confined our sightseeing to Moscow and saw the countryside on one of the days. We stayed at the Park Hyatt using Hyatt points for all nights. This hotel is ultra modern and very convenient to Red Square and the Kremlin. It is primarily a hotel booked by business folks and was very expensive for incidentals, even though we didn’t pay for lodging. We booked all of our tours through Patriarshy Dom and I’d highly recommend them. They had the best group tours and offered tours not offered by other companies. We opted for private for private tours with a guide and driver when necessary. We loved being able to go where we wanted and stop when we wanted to stop. Our guide was exceptional. If anyone wants her name I’d be happy to forward it. We had the same guide everyday which we really enjoyed because she got to know our interests and could tailor tours to us.
The first day we were there we went on a city tour. We started first fstopped at St Basil’s Cathedral just to get some good photos before it was “over run” with other tourists. We then drove around the rest of the city, and toured inside Christ the Savior Cathedral. The icons and frescos were incredible! We also saw the former KGB building, GUM’s Department Store on Red Square, the 7 sisters Stalin style buildings, Moscow University and Gorky Park.
The next day we spent the morning touring the Kremlin including the Diamond Fund and the Armory. There were a lot of incredible churches/cathedrals inside the Kremlin and the treasures inside the Diamond Fund and Armory were amazing. It is hard to believe that many of these cathedrals were built in the late 1400s and early 1500s by the Tsars. After lunch we wandered around Red Square and went inside St Basil’s Cathedral and GUMS. We then strolled around Kitay-Gorod, a neighborhood with some buildings with old-style architecture. After that we were exhausted so we called it a day.
We started the next day with a tour of Novedivichy Convent where building started in the early 1500s. There were many famous women and wives who were banished to the convent to take the vows. Once Peter the Great reclaimed his throne, he had had his half-sister, the regent Sophie, banished to Novedivichy for the rest of her life. The cemetery next to the convent has many famous authors, performers, musicians and politicians buried there. The headstones were unlike any I’d seen – very ornate. After that we visited Kolomenskoye, a favorite country estate of the Tsars which was known to exist in the mid-1300s. Wooden buildings were moved from other parts of the country.
The following day we went through the Kremlin Palace, which is only available 1 or 2 days a month for tours. Like all of the other buildings we toured, the inside was incredible. After lunch we toured the Palace of the Romanoff Boyars.
Our one day to the countryside entailed a trip to Sergiev-Posad. The monastery was founded in the mid-1300s. There were more than a handful of cathedrals and churches in this location and it was quite a sight! On our way back to Moscow we stopped at an estate that had housed quite a number of artists and their touches throughout the estate were very evident.
Of course, no trip to Moscow would be complete without seeing the best stops on the Metro. Again, I’d never anything like it.
It was hard to believe that our time in Moscow was over, It seemed to fly by.
Sorry for rambling on...
We confined our sightseeing to Moscow and saw the countryside on one of the days. We stayed at the Park Hyatt using Hyatt points for all nights. This hotel is ultra modern and very convenient to Red Square and the Kremlin. It is primarily a hotel booked by business folks and was very expensive for incidentals, even though we didn’t pay for lodging. We booked all of our tours through Patriarshy Dom and I’d highly recommend them. They had the best group tours and offered tours not offered by other companies. We opted for private for private tours with a guide and driver when necessary. We loved being able to go where we wanted and stop when we wanted to stop. Our guide was exceptional. If anyone wants her name I’d be happy to forward it. We had the same guide everyday which we really enjoyed because she got to know our interests and could tailor tours to us.
The first day we were there we went on a city tour. We started first fstopped at St Basil’s Cathedral just to get some good photos before it was “over run” with other tourists. We then drove around the rest of the city, and toured inside Christ the Savior Cathedral. The icons and frescos were incredible! We also saw the former KGB building, GUM’s Department Store on Red Square, the 7 sisters Stalin style buildings, Moscow University and Gorky Park.
The next day we spent the morning touring the Kremlin including the Diamond Fund and the Armory. There were a lot of incredible churches/cathedrals inside the Kremlin and the treasures inside the Diamond Fund and Armory were amazing. It is hard to believe that many of these cathedrals were built in the late 1400s and early 1500s by the Tsars. After lunch we wandered around Red Square and went inside St Basil’s Cathedral and GUMS. We then strolled around Kitay-Gorod, a neighborhood with some buildings with old-style architecture. After that we were exhausted so we called it a day.
We started the next day with a tour of Novedivichy Convent where building started in the early 1500s. There were many famous women and wives who were banished to the convent to take the vows. Once Peter the Great reclaimed his throne, he had had his half-sister, the regent Sophie, banished to Novedivichy for the rest of her life. The cemetery next to the convent has many famous authors, performers, musicians and politicians buried there. The headstones were unlike any I’d seen – very ornate. After that we visited Kolomenskoye, a favorite country estate of the Tsars which was known to exist in the mid-1300s. Wooden buildings were moved from other parts of the country.
The following day we went through the Kremlin Palace, which is only available 1 or 2 days a month for tours. Like all of the other buildings we toured, the inside was incredible. After lunch we toured the Palace of the Romanoff Boyars.
Our one day to the countryside entailed a trip to Sergiev-Posad. The monastery was founded in the mid-1300s. There were more than a handful of cathedrals and churches in this location and it was quite a sight! On our way back to Moscow we stopped at an estate that had housed quite a number of artists and their touches throughout the estate were very evident.
Of course, no trip to Moscow would be complete without seeing the best stops on the Metro. Again, I’d never anything like it.
It was hard to believe that our time in Moscow was over, It seemed to fly by.
Sorry for rambling on...
Jun 20th, 2006, 10:37 PM
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Nan,
Sounds so wonderful. I'd love to go to Moscow one day and your photos have really got my interest hyped up.
If you hadn't had a tour guide, do you feel it would have been easy to get around on your own?
Sounds so wonderful. I'd love to go to Moscow one day and your photos have really got my interest hyped up.
If you hadn't had a tour guide, do you feel it would have been easy to get around on your own?
Jun 21st, 2006, 03:22 AM
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lyb - I'm really glad we had a private tour guide. I know that there are a lot of folks who use guide books and don't use guides. For us, it would have been very difficult to get around and to see everything that we did.
Jun 21st, 2006, 04:34 AM
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nan, thank you for this lovely report. It brought back lots of memories of our visit to Moscow several years ago.
Lucky you, getting to tour inside the Palace. We were there 5 days as well, and it was closed all our days. Picture books had to suffice. Sure looked like it would be beautiful.
I'm jealous of your photos inside the metros. We used the metro a lot without problem. However, each time we pulled out the camera, there was a guard saying "nyet", pointing with his finger at us. So we came away with only one photo from underground. They are beautiful, though. Like a museum practically.
Lucky you, getting to tour inside the Palace. We were there 5 days as well, and it was closed all our days. Picture books had to suffice. Sure looked like it would be beautiful.
I'm jealous of your photos inside the metros. We used the metro a lot without problem. However, each time we pulled out the camera, there was a guard saying "nyet", pointing with his finger at us. So we came away with only one photo from underground. They are beautiful, though. Like a museum practically.
Jun 21st, 2006, 04:54 PM
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Thanks for the wonderful report. I did a two week arts themed trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg with Elderhostel a couple of years ago and absolutely loved Russia. I wondered after my trip why I had waited so long to travel there.
Well, Elderhostel just announced a Transiberian Express trip and I called them before they were even taking reservations. I am now all set to go from Vladivostok to Moscow in August 2007. It is a trip I have always wanted to make. It is a charter train and will be going into Mongolia and then Lake Baikal. We end with one night in Moscow. They are offering a 3 day extension to St. Petersburg, but I probably would opt to stay in Moscow if I decided to stay longer. Unfortunately, the press of work is such, that I probably will just come right back after my adventure.
I was interested in your visit to the Kremlin Palace and Novedichy Convent, as I did not get to see those. So little time and so much to see. . . .
Well, Elderhostel just announced a Transiberian Express trip and I called them before they were even taking reservations. I am now all set to go from Vladivostok to Moscow in August 2007. It is a trip I have always wanted to make. It is a charter train and will be going into Mongolia and then Lake Baikal. We end with one night in Moscow. They are offering a 3 day extension to St. Petersburg, but I probably would opt to stay in Moscow if I decided to stay longer. Unfortunately, the press of work is such, that I probably will just come right back after my adventure.
I was interested in your visit to the Kremlin Palace and Novedichy Convent, as I did not get to see those. So little time and so much to see. . . .
Jun 25th, 2006, 05:32 PM
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Schnauzer - In terms of the metros, there are about 6-8 that are spectacular. From what I understand, they were built 40s & 50s with one or two even later than that. Other stations were likely any other metro station. If you visit and take the metro, be prepared for the fast escalator. It took me a while to get used to it. It is about 75% faster, both up and down, than what I'm used to.
