Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Yolki-Palki Po . . .
CENTRAL ASIAN As soon as you shed your coat,
you'll be greeted by a row of fresh ingredients that you heap into a bowl according to
your mood and hand to the chef at the center of an enormous circular grill. The Mon-
golian barbecue-style concept is adapted with central Asian ingredients and Russian
side dishes, and it has found huge success in Moscow.
18a Tverskaya Ulitsa.
&
095/200-3920.
Main courses $7 (£4). No credit cards. Daily 11am-5am. Metro: Pushkin-
skaya or Tverskaya.
EXPLORING MOSCOW
Moscow is less a beautiful city than a collection of beautiful sights, many of them hid-
den beyond the expansive modern boulevards that Soviet governments bulldozed
through town. The key to delighting in Moscow is to not let it overwhelm you. The
things to see fall roughly into four categories: church-related, art-related, Soviet-
related, and everything else. Try to get a taste of each, regardless of your interests.
SUGGESTED ITINERARIES
Value
If You Have
1
Day
Capturing Moscow in 1 day means hit-
ting the
Kremlin
and
Red Square
early
and branching out from there (see the
“Walking Tour”
below). In the evening,
explore the artsy
Arbat
neighborhood.
If You Have
2
Days
Use your second day to immerse yourself
in Russian art at the
Tretyakov Gallery,
wander the canals of
Zamoskvarechye.
Reserve the evening for
Pushkin Square
and lively
Tverskaya Street.
If You Have
3
Days
On the third day in Moscow, spend the
morning at
Novodevichy Convent and
Cemetery,
a secluded spot that feels miles
from the downtown rush. Then take a car
or the metro to
Gorky Park.
After lunch,
head to the
Pushkin Museum of Fine
Arts,
and spend the evening on a bus tour
that hits sights farther afield.
THE TOP ATTRACTIONS
The Kremlin
This 28-hectare (130-acre) fortress emerged in the 12th century as a
wooden encampment, and survived many an invader to become synonymous with
modern totalitarianism in the 20th century. Physically it's still a citadel, surrounded
by unscalable red-brick walls and tightly guarded gates, though the moat that pro-
tected its north and east sides were filled in nearly 200 years ago. Its oak walls were
replaced with white stone ones in the 1360s, which were replaced again by 2.2km
(1
1
⁄
2
miles) of red-brick ramparts in the 1490s. Much of that brick remains standing.
Cathedral Square (Sobornaya Ploshchad)
forms a monument to Russian
architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries, and its cathedrals deserve a thorough tour
inside and out. The most prominent building on the square is the
Cathedral of the
Assumption
, a white limestone building with scalloped arches topped by almost
chunky golden domes. Started in 1475 by Italian architect Aristotle Fiorovanti, this
church is the most tourist-friendly of the cathedrals on the square, with detailed Eng-
lish labels on icons and architectural details.
The Armory Museum
(
&
095/302-3776)
, despite its name, holds much
more than guns. The Russo-Byzantine building, dating from the 19th century, occu-
pies the spot where royal treasures were housed since the 14th century and offers a
