Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
54
Address Advice
Finding addresses in Russia can be challenging, especially for buildings tucked in
a courtyard or down a footpath. Russians usually list the house number after the
street name. The number may include dashes or slashes or have an addendum
like “building 2” or “wing 3.” Big apartment buildings rarely have one central
entrance; instead, apartments are reached by separate entrances called
podyezdy,
making it crucial to know which entrance you need.
Don't be alarmed if you see a slash in your address, such as 5/2. Pay attention
to the number before the slash, which corresponds to the street number. The
number after the slash usually refers to an annex, or wing. So for example, 5/2
Tverskaya Ulitsa will be on the odd-numbered side of the street, somewhere
between No. 3 and No. 7. It may be adjacent to No. 5, or tucked into a courtyard
behind No. 5. (Successive waves of reconstruction may mean that there's no
5/1—but don't let that worry you!)
For example, to find Kutuzovsky Prospekt 21/4, building 3, entrance 1, apart-
ment 16: Locate no. 21/4 between nos. 19 and 23 (ignore the “/4”), walk through
the parking lot, and search for building no. 3. Then find entrance no. 1 and check
the list in the elevator to locate apartment no. 16's floor.
are too few and far between. Opening and
closing times vary from station to station
but are roughly 5:30am to 1am.
Paper tickets with a magnetic strip are
sold in each station, for one trip (22
rubles), two trips (44 rubles), five trips
(105 rubles), or 10 trips (200 rubles). No
senior or student discounts are available
for foreigners. You scan the ticket across
the sensor on the machine's front and walk
after the light changes from red to green.
Trams
are second-best to the metro if
there's a tram route near your hotel or
destination. The stops are on the sidewalk,
even where the tram tracks are in the
middle of the street. Three of the best lines
(A, 3, and 39) run along the picturesque
Boulevard Ring before crossing the Mos-
cow River, offering a stunning view of the
Kremlin and winding toward Moscow
State University and Danilovsky Monas-
tery, among other sights.
Trolley buses,
attached to electrical lines overhead, are a
good option for travel around the Garden
Ring Road or along Novy Arbat Street.
Rush hour is crowded and the timing
between trolley buses is unpredictable.
Buses
are the least convenient and most
overcrowded form of public transport.
Tickets for trams, trolley buses, and
buses
cost 20 rubles if bought from street
ticket booths and 25 rubles if purchased
from the driver. You validate your ticket
while entering the bus at the machine and
walk through a turnstile when you see the
green light. Maps are posted inside the vehi-
cles, and routes are often listed at the stops,
but in Russian only. Bus stops are marked
by signs with the letter A, trolley stops
with the letter T, and tram stops with the
letters TP. Some stops serve all three. Wait-
ing time can be from 5 to 40 minutes,
depending on the hour and the traffic.
The three forms of transportation run
from 6am to midnight.
A new
monorail system
serves northern
Moscow, between metro station Timiry-
azevskaya and Sergei Eisenstein Street. It
serves the All-Russian Exhibition Center
(see p. 152) and the Ostankino Estate. It's
well beyond the center of town but worth a
cruise along the full route (allow 40 min.) if
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