by Elena Zaikina.
One hot August morning, I find myself onboard of an Airbus 320, in Barajas airport; beside me, a breathtakingly handsome man who smiles at me and there’s nothing strange in that because we are deeply in love and this is supposed to be our honeymoon trip.
- Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard Aeroflot Airline flight…
Apparently, everything is great. We are going to Moscow, my hometown. The city I’m supposed to know like the palm of my hand. And here I am, armed with five guidebooks in three different languages, trying to memorize the date of birth of Ivan The Terrible…
- Now we request your full attention as the flight attendants demonstrate the safety features of this aircraft…
The Red Square by night, your must-see number One in Moscow
Again, everything’s supposed to be great, but there’s something that is bothering me enormously. I try to keep calm, yet my mind is like a poor rabbit, trying to find a delicious carrot in a frozen field.
- The emergency exits are situated …
Something is terribly wrong. I look around. The cruel truth is that nobody is listening to the poor flight attendants.
- Your life vest is under your seat
If they start singing Jingle Bells, they would have everyone’s attention. But they don’t…
- Oxygen masks are…
Oh, what am I doing? What does Ivan the Terrible have to do with our honeymoon trip?
I’ve got it. Yes, I’ve got it. I don’t want to feel like these flight attendants. I don’t want our first trip to be like these cabin announcements. I close the guidebooks. It will be the best trip of our lives, I think, decidedly. Somewhere between lunch and Poland’s border, I know what to do.
“- I promise this will be the best vacation ever,” – I tell him, looking into his amber eyes
“- I know,” – he smiles at me and gives me a long kiss… We are in Heaven!
- On behalf of the entire crew, we would like to thank you…
We are in Moscow!
The Cathedral of Christ The Saviour
Our tiny suitcases in hand, we run through passport control to the train that would take us directly to the center of Moscow, Belorusskaya station. Then, just one more metro stop and we are at home, where a modest Russian lunch is waiting: pelmeni (giant cousins of ravioli, stuffed with minced meat and addictive like The Big Bang Theory series), borsch (suspicious at first sight due to its similarity to the Count Dracula’s favourite meal, and extremely yummy at first taste beetroot soup, consisting of about 20 ingredients and served with sour cream), Olivier salad (world-renowned Russian Salad, named after Lucien Olivier, the chef of one of Moscow’s most celebrated restaurants, Hermitage, who invented the dish in the 1860s) and pirozhki (baked stuffed buns, soft like clouds and dangerous like Damascus steel – they enter your body and you never notice), accompanied by an enormous mug of tea. While my husband is giving himself up to the gluttony, I prepare the rest of our trip. Here we go, Moscow!
I strongly recommend starting your visit to Moscow from Pushkinskaya square. First, because it’s well known that if you want your love to last forever, you have to have your first date under the Pushkin monument and there, seal it with a kiss. Second, because this is the best way to get to the Red Square. So, it’s 5 o’clock P.M., rush hour in Moscow (to be honest, it’s always rush hour here). His hand on mine, the energy of the city is running through our veins and we are running through Tverskaya Street, the most important street of the city and also the most crowded one. It’s huge and turbulent, like a mountain river, and I hardly have time to explain anything to him as we are abruptly led to the Red Square. We are getting closer. My husband doesn’t know it yet, but there’s something in the air. A lot of Japanese tourists with huge cameras. Tourist guides speaking every existing language. Phantoms of Lenin, Stalin and Nikolai II bustling about, offering photo snap shots. Something solemn in the air. We are at Iberian Gate.
“- You know what,” – I tell him.
“- What?” – he asks me, and I start trembling: everything depends on me.
“- Close your eyes and follow me.” – I feel like a guide to another dimension! We are walking through Iberian Gate, the red walls of the History Museum on our right, a picturesque church on our left. We keep on walking, his eyes closed, his hand on mine. Here we are. One. I get an iPod out of my pocket and put the headphones on his ears. Two. “Open your eyes”. Three. Sound on. Maurice Jarre’s Lara’s Theme from Docotor Zhivago. Magic happens. Welcome to Moscow.
We start waltzing all over the place. No need to say we draw everyone’s attention and gain a dozen of photo shots and some applause. Although it lasted only five minutes, it was unforgettable. Moscow was introduced to my husband.
"The Lucky Dog", Ploshchad Revolutsii Station, Moscow Metro
The Red Square itself is such a unique place that I strongly recommend not overloading the visitor’s fragile mind with more information. All we did that evening was to ramble out and about through the place, eating bubliki (Russian version of bagels) we bought in GUM, sitting on the pavement, looking at the shining Red Stars of the Kremlin. The evening was magical. Two hours later, tired but happy, we went back home where a delicious and nutritious dinner was awaiting: blinchiki (thin pancakes) with smetana (sour cream) and cherry jam.
Although we did nothing special, our first date with Moscow was really great. Further on, we tried to fill the days of our trip with emotions, not with historical details. So, here you have some tips of how we tried to turn our trip to Moscow into something worth remembering. (Warning: These tips are exclusively for hopeless romantics. I am absolutely convinced that travelling is all about feeling the Spirit of the City, catching it, making friends with it. Because by the time you are 94 (both of you, I mean), and you’re sitting by the fire, just after having a delicious but absolutely unhealthy dinner and just before putting your dentures in the glass of water, you may not remember about the date of birth of Ivan the Terrible, but for sure you will remember that romantic kiss on the bank of Moscow river.)
The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
Visit for: its grandiosity, solemn atmosphere, extreme beauty, breathtaking history.
First, have a look at it from across the river. Then, start crossing the bridge, listening to Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony of. Unforgettable!
Must-wear: in Orthodox churches, men have to take off their hats, while women should enter with their heads covered and wearing skirts or dresses (this is not compulsory, but quite advisable).
Must-do: get lost in its great halls, enjoy its fantastic icons, light a candle for a miracle in front of St Nicholas The Miraculous icon.
Must-see: go straight to Rublev’s “Trinity”, then to Vrubel paintings, Kramskoi’s “Christ in the Desert”, Surikov’s “The Boyarynia Morozova” and Repin’s “Ivan The Terrible and his son”. If after that you still can’t feel the Russian Spirit – well, in that case only a glass of vodka will help you!
Must-do: eat in the Gallery’s restaurant – quite reasonable prices and great atmosphere.
Metro
On weekends, get on the circle line train and take photographs of every station – they all are worth it.
Must-do: at Ploshchad’ Revolutsii Station, caress “the lucky dog’s” nose. Warning: I said dog’s nose, not the revolutionist’s one.
If your loved one is a SciFi freak, like in my case, take him/her to The Memorial Museum of Astronautics.
Must-do: kiss onboard the spaceship (I still wonder whether it was a model or a real one, I prefer to think about the real one, extremely romantic)
Bulgakov House
“Follow me, reader! Who told you there is no true, faithful, eternal love in this world? May the liar’s filthy tongue be cut off! Follow me, my reader, and me alone, and I will show you such love!” Do you remember this immortal quote from Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita”? If you don’t, that could only mean that you’re a lucky one: you have a unique opportunity to discover a true masterpiece, a cult novel banned for 27 years. A fascinating, phantasmagoric story that takes place in Moscow of the 1920’s (apart from ancient Yershalaim, of course, but that’s another story).
First, visit Bulgakov’s house that has been a place of pilgrimage for the novel’s fun for decades, before having been turned into a museum. Must-visit not only for the novel’s funs, but for everyone who is in love.
Must-do: see the fantastic exhibition. Have a cup of coffee while having The Real Behemoth cat on your lap. Write a letter to Master.
And then, go right to…
Patriarch’s Ponds
The place where the novel begins. One of the most mysterious places all over the city.
Must-do: take a seat on the bench where Professor Woland (one of the main characters of the novel) was sitting. Take your beloved one’s hand and, looking at the moon reflected in the pond, swear Eternal Love! Listen to live music while tasting Russian cuisine in “Margarita” cafe. And then, take a ride on the mystic Tram 302-BIS
Dining tips
Walking on the streets of Moscow, we fell in love with fast food. Apart from omnipresent McDonalds, there are some Russian franchises really worth mentioning. For example: Kroshka-Kartoshka (Baby-Potato) – in spite of its name offers enormous potatoes (I wonder how many nitrates or whatever they had and how many of them we consumed) right from the oven filled with different sauces (you can choose from about twenty of them)
Clothing tips
Wear your best pair of trekking shoes – distances are quite extensive. and even mere streets are worth walking. Although, as already mentioned, the Moscow metro is praiseworthy too, my advice is to spend half a day in the underground. Go walking the rest of the time.
Apart from all the aforementioned, you can play detective and try to find The Museum of Moscow Metro (well hidden in the labyrinths of the underground), or that great Cemetery of Forgotten Monuments, that shelters yesterday’s heroes figures; visit Izmailovo Flea market (and become a happy owner of one space helmet, one Lenin’s bust and one pennon “To winner of the Socialist Competition”), or spend half a day onboard a Moscow river boat, enjoying the spectacular views and taking hundreds of photos (don’t forget to take with you a supplementary battery for your camera, a memory card and an umbrella); take a long walk along the Old Arbat and not succumb to temptation of buying a handmade matryoshkas (Russian nesting dolls), although they offer you the full cast of “Lost” series for only 100 dollars, or take photos of seven Stalin’s skyscrapers (and even climb one, but only with an appropriate guide). There are so many things to do in Moscow. We have already included all of them in our next travel plans to Moscow.
On our way back to Spain, I asked my husband his opinion about Moscow, and this is what he told me:
“Moscow is grandiose. Solemn. Passionate. Savage and refined. Modern and barbarian. European and Asian. And … full of love.”
I still wonder whether he talked about the city or about me…