Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
56
The World Underground
The
perekhod,
or underground walkway, is one of those things that leaves you
thinking: “Only in Russia. . . .” Soviet city planners built the walkways to allow
passage across the extrawide boulevards they so favored, without disrupting
aboveground traffic. Post-communism, the
perekhods
turned into thriving
commercial centers lined with kiosks, shops, buskers, pharmacies, and cafes.
They also provide shelter on blustery days or during rainstorms, and are often
used as wintertime meeting places (“Meet me under Pushkin Square at 8pm”).
They're invariably crowded but are often useful: for getting rubles at a currency
exchange booth, for buying a cool drink or quick snack, or for finding an emer-
gency umbrella (or shampoo, or batteries, or aspirin, or a DVD, or a bunch of
wildflowers, or a fur hat . . . ). As a pedestrian, you're bound to encounter plenty
of them in Moscow and St. Petersburg. When trying to cross major avenues,
you may have to walk some distance to find the next
perekhod,
but making the
extra journey is much wiser than trying to jaywalk across an eight-lane road
clogged with fearless Russian drivers. The busiest
perekhods
are at central inter-
sections or along major thoroughfares such as Moscow's Tverskaya Street and
St. Petersburg's Nevsky Prospekt. Many also serve as auxiliary entrances to
metro stations, though the thicket of kiosks sometimes makes it hard to find
the metro doors. There's nothing sinister about this underground world during
the day, but after the shops shut down at night, some
perekhods
attract drug
dealers and drunken brawls. Avoid them after dark if you're alone.
3
you are in the neighborhood, for a view of
a corner of Moscow few visitors reach.
Prices are the same as on the metro.
Route taxis,
or
marshrutky,
are minivans
that take up to 10 people along several
routes that bigger buses don't serve. Fares
vary but are generally not more than a
couple of dollars. The destinations are
marked on the front of the van in Russian
only. To get off, yell “Stop!” to the driver.
The minivans are more convenient than
buses, trams, or trolleys, but the drivers are
often reckless and there are no seat belts.
GETTING AROUND
RUSSIA
By Train
The most pleasant, romantic, and historic
way to travel around Russia is by train.
The Moscow-St. Petersburg route is the
most frequented and best maintained.
Travelers choose between a leisurely
8-hour night trip in a comfortable sleep-
ing compartment (about 1,125 rubles per
person in a four-bed cabin; 2,125 rubles
per person in a two-bed cabin), and a
5-hour day trip (same price). A snack and
beverages are included in the price, though
you sometimes have to pay the conductor
for the bed linens (about 50 rubles).
Trains from Moscow to St. Petersburg
leave from Moscow's Leningradsky Station
and arrive at St. Petersburg's Moskovsky
Station. Both are in the center of town and
easily accessible. Arranging train tickets
before you arrive, for example through
your travel agent at home, is the safest way
to go, but is often more expensive. Most
hotels can arrange train tickets to major
cities. It's cheaper to buy from the train
stations themselves, though the lines are
chaotic and interminable.
