Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WHERE TO DINE
There's nothing to eat on the grounds of the estate itself except ice cream and cold drinks
from stands in the warmer months. Just outside the grounds, across the main road, is the
charming wooden
Arkhangelskoye Restaurant
(Ilyinskoye Shosse;
&
495/562-0328
).
It's rather touristy since it's the only place to eat here, but the satisfying Russian food and
drinks are served in a more relaxed setting than you'll find in Moscow. The walls are
decorated with panels made to resemble lacquer boxes from the town of Palekh, and the
long windows look out on the surrounding woods. Anything with wild mushrooms is
worth trying, including the mushroom soups or veal with mushrooms. Salads are heavy
on mayonnaise or sour cream in the traditional Russian style. A full meal will run 1,500
to 2,000 rubles. The restaurant is open daily from 11am to 11pm.
201
4
PEREDELKINO
15km (9
1
⁄
3
miles) SE of Moscow
This tranquil “writers' colony” contrasts with the religious ornamentation of the Golden
Ring towns and the romantic pomp of the aristocratic estates in and around Moscow.
Peredelkino appeals to a different state of mind. It is the place to go for a glimpse at more
human-sized architecture in a picturesque wood, and for a lesson in 20th-century Rus-
sian literature and a reminder of what it meant to be a dissident in a totalitarian state.
Before the Revolution, the village was part of the Kolychev family estate, but it was taken
over by the Soviet government in the 1930s to house members of the influential Writers'
Union. Its residents—including Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Boris Pasternak—often fell
victim to shifts in Communist Party policy and ideology. The village still feels artsy
despite its official beginnings and its carefully planned layout (and the bankers who have
since moved into several of the homes). In Soviet times, officially sanctioned writers got
the best
dachas,
but censors were such fickle beasts that the fear of arrest or exile hung
over many who wrote here. Peredelkino has lost some of its intellectual verve but is still
a sacred spot for many Russian and visiting foreign writers.
ESSENTIALS
Some tour packages offer trips here, but they're not all that common.
Patriarshy Dom
Tours
arranges a worthwhile trip (
&
495/795-0927;
www.russiatravel-pdtours.netfirms.
com). Many Moscow hotels can arrange an individual car with driver and/or English-
speaking guide. A guide is highly recommended, since unless you've done extensive
background reading, you'll miss much of the village's history. The cost of an individual
tour will vary depending on how upscale your hotel is. You'll find it worthwhile to shop
around at other hotels to see if they can arrange something cheaper. Expect to spend at
least 1,200 rubles per car for the day plus 250 rubles per hour for a guide. The trip should
take about an hour one-way from central Moscow if you avoid rush hours (8-10am and
5-8pm).
Otherwise, the trip is a fairly easy 30 minutes on the
elektrichka,
or commuter train,
from Kievsky Station in Moscow. After you exit, you either must walk 15 to 20 minutes
along a wooded path by the train tracks until you reach the
dachas
of Peredelkino, or take
bus no. 47 and go three stops to the end of Ulitsa Pavlenko. This street is the best place
to begin.
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