The debut article on my blog is about my travel to Russia, which I was forced to cancle due to the whole Corona situation. Such a bad luck I had! Exactly the day I got our passports with the visa from the Russian Consulate in Guthenburg, on my way back to Malmö, being on the train I heard the lady sitting next to me talking on the phone and saying: ”Denmark closes the borders from 12 o’clock tomorow till the 13 of April!” I couldn’t believe my ears!… So here goes to trash my whole planned in the last details travel to Russia!… I almost got tears into my eyes!… and thinking: ”No! This just can be true! After all I had to go through to get the visa!?!.. Now I have to cancell everything?!”…

For those of you who don’t know… yeah, to travel to Russia one must apply and get the visa. If you want to visit just S:t Petersburg you can apply for an electronical visa, which is much easier to apply and get. But if you want to visit Moscow and some other cities, you will need to apply for ”the old style visa”. The applying process is not an easy one, as I got to discover during the process of obtaining my own. First of all you need to have the plaine tickets, the accomodation and the hotel invitation ready when you will start to fill the online visa application. Due to the fact that I am a Swedish citizen, too I decided to apply for our visas to The Russian Consulate in Guthenburg. So when I started to fill the applications forms I choosed to go with all the requeired documents, as said, to The Russian Consulate in Guthenburg.

I prepared all the following required documents:

• the filled application forms for me and my daughter, separatly, although she is a minor. On these applications I had to attach one ID-photo for each of us.
• the hotel invitations. It’s not enough to present the payment for the hotel reservations, you will need to get an actual invitation from the hotels, and this it will cost you ca. 30 euros.
• the medical insurance. I decided to buy our medical insurance from World Nomands and I payed ca. 60 euros for me and my daughter, for our 2 weeks staying in Russia.

After I filled and submited our visa applications I had to book time separatly for me and my daughter to go and hand over our files for visas to The Russian Consulate in Guthenburg.

In order to get to Gutenburg from Malmö I had to buy train tickets for me and my daughter and take day off from work and school. Not to talk about the arguments I had with my teenage daughter, who wanted, of course, to visit Russia, but couldn’t understand why she had to follow with me to Guthenburg in order to get the visa. So much work explaining and convincing her, only God knows how I managed that!… So I did all that and we, finally, went to Guthenburg to get the visas.

But at the Consulate, they didn’t want to accept our medical insurance! Why?!… Because according to the person I met at the frontdesk the medical insurance was bought from an American company and they don’t accept this! He showed me how an accepted medical insurance should look like and that one was an medical insurance from a Russian company. Then after looking one more time through my papers he asked me if I didn’t have a Russian passport?! Not totally surprised of his questions, cause I’m often being asked if I come from Russia, since I moved to Scandinavia, I told him that I am a Swedish citizen, but I come originaly from Romania, so I am a Romanian citizen, too! Then he asked me why I don’t use my own home insurance to travel to Rusia?!… Yeah, good question I taught! So I answered him that I never heard from anyone I knew or I read that this was allowed!  And he advised me to contact by phone the company I have for my home insurance and ask them to e-mail me the medical insurance. I did as said, but, bad luck one more time! The insurance company didn’t want to send by e-mail the paper… so in the end we came for nothing to Guthenburg at The Russian Consulate!…

The second time I went, I got from the Consulate to come back alone with our applications, so without my daughter. Thank God, at least for that! Cause I couldn’t make it one more time with all the arguments and explanations!!!

So I hand over our applications at the frontdesk, it is accepted, I pay like 40 euros for one visa, in total 80 euros for both visas, and the person working there tells me that I may come back to pick up our passports next week! Oh, no way, this can be true! I need to buy other train tickets, take another day off from work!? What was in my head when I decided to visit Russia??!!!… Is it really worth all this circus?!… I tried to explain them that I really need to get the passports with the visas in the same day, but no way they accepted. With Russians is either their way or no way!…

So, dear world, I went to Guthenburg for the third time and exactly when I got the visa, the world starts to fall apart due to Corona! And instead of being happy and start thinking about packing and planning further, with a lot of both sadness and angriness, I started to cancel flights and hotels, and trains… and trying to make the best I can to get my money back. In the end I lost like half of the money I payed, even to the fact, that the Swedish crowns fell dawn so low, that even the Russian rubles are stronger these days! Incredible! 🙁

According to the planning, we should have visited first Moscow and a little town near Moscow, and furthermore Sankt Petersburg and a little town close to Sankt Petersburg.

First stop: Moscow, the capital city and most populous city of Russia

In Moscow one can find many tourist attractions, such as: The Red Square and The Kremlin etc. Our plan was to visit some of its 400 museums, attend a ballet or opera performance at the Bolshoi Theater, the Novodevichy convent, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the skyscrapers of Stalin, the financial district of Moscow City, the Arbat street, the Gorki park, and Kolomenskoye.

Preparation

To visit Moscow, it is very convenient to plan before adequately, since it is a city of colossal dimensions, and in which there is so much to see and do. Further, I will try to present you, our 6 days itinerary I had prepared to visit the city’s main attractions. 

DAY 1: THE RED SQUARE AND SURROUNDINGS

The whole route to Red Square and the surrounding area can be done by foot, and due to the fact that our hotel (Eden Hotel, Moskow) was like within 15 minutes walk from The Kremlin and Red Square, it shouldn’t have been necessary to take the Metro.

The first visit I planned to do was to The Kremlin, Armoury and the Diamond Fund, a building that houses the main Russian museum.

After we exited the Armoury, I planned to take a walk through the gardens of Alexander, in whose main entrance there’s the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a monument dedicated to the Soviet soldiers fallen in World War II, at the center of which burns the eternal flame, guarded by The Honor Guard of the Presidential Regiment. The guard shift is done every hour and as tourists, of course we would have liked to see it.

Leaving Alexander’s Gardens and crossing the Red Square, we supposed to go to visit St. Basil’s Cathedral. the symbol of the city, despite not being the main cathedral of Moscow, since this place is attributed to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

After visiting The St. Basil’s Cathedral, I wanted also to visit shortley the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, which is situated in the northeastern corner of Red Square in Moscow.

After visiting the cathedrals, it was a good time to visit the GUM Shopping Galleries, the most well-known shoppingcenter in Russia and the most visited by tourists in Moscow. And you can imagine that after such a tour with my teenage daughter, this would have been the most expected time of the day for her. So I would have prayed to God to survive the tour of this shoppingcenter and have some money left in my wallet after it!!! 😀

After lunch, the visit could have continued in the Kremlin, specifically in The Cathedrals Square. At this point, we might have wanted to return to your hotel, rest a bit and continue the visits in the afternoon. Or, if I would have managed to convince my daughter, continue with our visit in the direction of The Bolshoi Theater. From St. Basil’s Cathedral, we would have walked from Red Square, to the Revolution Square, passing Teatralnaya Square, to the Bolshoi Theater to admire the beauty of this famous building.

From here, we could have headed to Tverskaya street, Moscow’s best known street, full of ads, luxurious shops and restaurants. On the building number 14 of this street there is Eliseevsky gastronomic shop, opened in 1901, which has some luxurious interiors and it is a good place to buy gifts like vodka, caviar or other typical Russian products.

We could have ended our tour by dining in a Russian restaurant: choosing between eating something economic like on the Mu-Mu resturant chain, or going to Cafe Pushkin , probably the most famous restaurant in Moscow (reservations can be done on their website).

DAY 2: TRETYAKOV GALLERY, ARBAT STREET AND GORKY PARK

On this second day, we would have started using the Moscow Metro and visit the main stations of the network. We wished also to hop on a cruise on the Moskva River to see the city from a totally different perspective.

Tretyakov State Gallery is the world’s most important exhibition museum for Russian works. As art lover this would have been a must visit for my soul, and a nightmare for my daughter. 😀 But don’t worry she would have been rewarded on the Arbat street later on the day! 🙂

 

Another museum I thought it was worth visiting was The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Russia’s second most important museum dedicated to European art, only surpassed by the St. Petersburg’s Hermitage.

From Tretyakov Gallery we should have walked to The Cathedral Temple of the Christ Saviour (the Redeemer) of the Patriarch of Moscow. Located in the center of the city, it is the highest Orthodox Church in the world, and as a Christian Orthodox, but not so religious, I would have liked to have the chance to visit it.

We would have loved to walk along The Arbat Street, which is a very commercial and tourist pedestrian street about 1 kilometer long and situated in the historical center of Moscow and surrounded by historical buildings. In the 18th century it was considered by the Russian nobility as the most prestigious place to live. In The Arbat Street there are plenty of restaurants to eat, many of them offering gourmet cooking from the former Soviet republics (Georgian, Azerbaijani, Uzbek food, etc.), which we would definitely have been curious to try it.

In the afternoon after lunch and after strolling down Arbat Street, it would have been a good time to try the Moscow Metro and see some of the most beautiful stations. The Moscow Metro is the best system to get around the city and it’s also a tourist attraction for the beauty of many of its stations.

I intented to take the Metro at Arbatskaya station (at the beginning of Arbat Street, east) to visit this spectacular Metro station first. From Arbatskaya station, I planned to take line 3 (the darker blue one) to the center of the city and stop at the station of the Revolution Square (Ploshchad Revolyutsii), one of the most famous of the Moscow Metro (in one of the bronze sculptures there’s a dog that accompanies a border guard, it is said that if you rub the dog’s nose it brings you good luck).

I supposed to go back to take line 3 again and stop at the next station, then go see Kurskaya station (and its World War II Hall of Fame). From Kurskaya station (which is already on line 5 of the metro), I wanted to make a circular tour around Moscow in the reverse direction of the clock, stopping at the stations of:

• Komsomolskaya, with its impressive mosaic murals of glorious Russian victories.
• Prospekt Mira
• Novoslobodskaya
• Kyevskaya
• And finish the trip in Park Cultury, to go outside and go to Gorky Park in Moscow (next stop of the tour).

Here I marked in red these stations:

After leaving the Park Cultury Metro station, we should have headed to Gorky Park, located along the Moskva River, near the city center, where there are extensive gardens, forests, lakes, playgrounds, an artificial sand beach, restaurants, as well as regular events, such as exhibitions and concerts. It is a good place to relax, stroll or have a drink.

Gorky Park is also a good place from which we could have taken a boat cruise on the Moskva River and see the city from another totally different perspective.

DAY 3: NOVODEVICHY AND MOSCOW SKYSCRAPERS

To make the excursions would have needed to take the Metro, walk a lot and also take a trolleybus.

The Novodesichy Convent is one of the most beautiful religious complexes in Russia and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2004. Beside the convent there is also the most famous cemetery in Moscow, where many famous people of the Russian history are buried there, such as film director Sergei Eisenstein, the cellist Rostropovich, the composer Shostakovich, or former Russian president Boris Yeltsin (see photo below), to name a few.

On the outside of this convent there is a small lake, which is the famous Swan Lake, immortalized by Tchaikovsky. From here we could have seen the financial district of Moscow City with its tall skyscrapers.

Sparrow Hills (Vorobiovy Gory) is one of the highest points in Moscow and we would definitely have been among the many tourists who come here to take photos with spectacular panoramic view of the city in the clear days.

Further, we would have went to The Moscow International Business Center, better known as Moscow City, represents the future of the city. It is a project devised by the Government of Moscow in 1992 to create an area of ​​business activity, living spaces and entertainment. We planned to take a walk around this part of the city and even go to take another shopping/walking tour at the AFI giant mall.

DAY 4: LENIN, THE COLD WAR AND THE MATRYOSHKAS

Today we would have needed to take the Metro and also a bus or a tram.

We should have started the day by visiting Lenin’s Mausoleum, where the mummified remains of Lenin are preserved since his death in 1924.

Bunker 42 was built during The Cold War as a place capable to withstand a nuclear attack and control the missiles. Located in the Moscow neighborhood of Taganskaya, it is located about 65 meters underground (18 floors) and built under a building so it had to go unnoticed and with access to two metro stations, in case people had to flee. The place was auctioned and currently in private hands, it has become the Cold War Museum. In the museum one can find interactive games, a restaurant, conference rooms, etc.

After lunch, it would have been the time to take the metro and go to The Museum of Cosmonautics, dedicated to Soviet space exploration.The museum is located at the base of the Monument to the Conquerors of Space, a 107 meters high obelisk, inaugurated on October 4, 1964, coinciding with the seventh anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, and which represents a long column of smoke that a space rocket leaves.

If we still would have had some energy left, we should have went to Izmaylovo Market, located to the northeast of the city, and built as a medieval Russian citadel. This is the ideal place to buy the most varied souvenirs: famous matryoshkas, crafts, leather, paintings, souvenirs of the former USSR (Soviet medals, Cossack sabers, Soviet caps, etc.). Prices are lower than what one can find in other more touristical areas of downtown Moscow and which I really wanted to buy and add it to my collection of souvenirs.

But if we would have wanted to relax instead of going to buy souvenirs, the best option would have been to go to a Russian banya. The banya is the traditional Russian spa and it constitutes one of the most important activities in Russia, not only because it is a site of relaxation, health and well-being, but also because it is a place to socialize with friends or family. The Sandunay Baths in Moscow are the most famous in Russia.

DAY 5: SOMETHING TO SEE AND DO IN THE SURROUNDINGS OF MOSCOW

Today we had chosed to make an excursions take a day trip to The Golden Ring of Russia to Sergiyev Posad, located about 70 kilometers northeast of Moscow and known for hosting the Monastery of the Trinity and St. Sergius (World Heritage Site by UNESCO).

But what is the Golden Ring of Russia?

The Golden Ring of Russia is an itinerary that runs along a series of cities of tourist interest, located on the northeast of Moscow, in which there are a set of medieval towns with monasteries, churches, cathedrals and kremlins, that collect around a thousand years of Russian Orthodox history.

Important poets, writers and musicians lived in one of these cities, located in the five oblast or regions of the Federal District of Central Russia: Ivanovo, Kostroma, Vladimir, Yaroslavl and the Moscow region.

Some of these cities are located near Moscow and are a good place to make a 1 day getaway to more rural Russia. Other cities are further away and its visit requires more time (spend the night or a weekend).

By visiting the cities of the Golden Ring one will discover the most rural and remote part of Russia, away from the great city that is Moscow, as well as spectacular kremlins, churches and monasteries, some of them declared as World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Sergiyev Posad

I planned to take the train in Yaroslavky Station, located in Komsomólskaya Square (where is the Metro station with the same name). The fastest way to get to Sergiyev Posad is by train, since we could have avoided any traffic jams that might occur on the way out of Moscow.

Sergiyev Posad, a city of about 110,000 inhabitants, is located at the north of Moscow, and it’s the most popular destination in The Golden Ring for a day trip, due to its proximity to Moscow and the number of trains and buses that connect directly with the city.

Its Monastery of the Trinity and San Sergio is a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and it is one of the most sacred places of Russia since the Orthodox monks still inhabit it. Some call it the “Russian Vatican.” The monastery is located 1 kilometer from the train station and can be reached by walking, around 20 minutes. During the train ride from Moscow to Sergiyev Posad, we could have seen the Russian dachas, which are the weekend houses of the Muscovites.

DAY 6: KOLOMENSKOYE AND A NIGHT AT THE OPERA

Today we would have needed to take the Metro again.

Kolomenskoye is a park located on a high bank of the Moscow River, south of Moscow, and was the former suburban residence of the great Dukes and Tsars of Russia. It is a beautiful park, with splendid views over the Moskva river and where you can visit various churches (such as that of the Ascension), as well as various museums and the summer palace of Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich.

A night at the opera: the Bolshoi Theater

I think the best way for us to say goodbye to Moscow it would have been by attending a ballet or opera performance at The Bolshoi Theater. Oh, how I was really seeing forward to this evening! I got instead to watch via YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/bolshoi) The Nutcracker ballet and Boris Godunov opera, which I loved and now I’ m even more looking forward to get there and get the chance to attend a live show. 🙂

 DAY 7: Today we should have walked around The Red Square for the last time and just do whatever we would have wanted to do.

In the afternoon we should have taken the train from Moscow to S:t Petersburg. According to the plan we should have arrived in the evening and I had already booked for our stay at the Ibis S:t Petersburg Center hotel.

Second stop: St. Petersburg, the Russian capital of the north

St. Petersburg is known as the second Russian capital, the capital of the north and it is located along the shore of the Neva Bay of the Finland’s Gulf. In this spectacular city one can find many palaces, museums, cathedrals and monuments to visit.

I have planned a tour of St. Petersburg for 4 days, with visits to the city’s main tourist attractions. I have also included visits that we just couldn’t have missed in the city’s outskirts: Peterhof Gardens and Catherine’s Palace in Pushkin.

DAY 1: THE HERMITAGE, THE CATHEDRALS AND THE CITY CANALS

On this first day of our city visit, I planned we would walk through all the attractions by foot, though at the end of the day I planned taking a boat trip on the city canals to relax.

If in Moscow, the most centric place in the city is the Red Square, in St. Petersburg is the Palace Square. It is worth taking a walk around to get acquainted with the city centre.

The Palace Square has been the scenario of many events of global importance such as Bloody Sunday (1905) or the October Revolution (1917). The most famous building on the square is the Winter Palace of the Russian Tsars (1754-62), in white and blue Baroque style.

In the center of the square one can find the Alexander Column, named after Emperor Alexander I, who ruled Russia between 1801 and 1825, and was erected after the Russian victory in the war against Napoleon’s invasion.

Visit to the Hermitage

The first must-do visit in St. Petersburg is the Hermitage, one of the most famous museums in the world, containing one of the largest art galleries and antiquities collections. In addition, the interiors and rooms of this museum are certainly beautiful.

Since the museum is gigantic and we would have needed several days to see everything, the idea was to set priorities of what we wanted to see and spend there at least 3 hours.

The Church of the Savior on Blood

The Church of the Savior on Blood is located within a 15 minutes walk from the Hermitage. It is one of the most significant churches in St. Petersburg, due to its pictorial composition and multicolored decoration that make it one of the main highlights in the architecture of the city center. It is located near the Nevsky Avenue, on the bank of one of St. Petersburg canals, the Griboyedov Canal.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan

Within another 10-minute walk from the Church of the Savior, we could have reached the Cathedral of Kazan, seat of the Orthodox bishop of St. Petersburg. It is consecrated to the Virgin of Kazan, which is the most revered icon of Russia.

Boat cruise through St. Petersburg canals and the Fabergé museum

At a few minutes walk from Yeliseev Stores, on 53 Fontanka Street, near the Lomonosov Bridge, we should have found a dock from where the boats of Saint-Petersburg Boats company depart and we would have boarded for a tour.

The cruise ends at the same starting point, near the Fabergé museum, which we intented to visit, as well. Fabergé museum is a small, elegant museum that exhibits the favorite jewels of the czars, among which the famous Easter eggs are the most notable.

DAY 2: PETER AND PAUL FORTRESS, CRUISER AURORA, THE RUSSIAN MUSEUM AND THE BRIDGES

I planned to walk to the Fortress from Nevsky Avenue, which is well worth to cross through the Palace Bridge and through Birzhevoy Bridge and from which we could have the opportunity to contemplate the Neva river.

The Peter and Paul Fort is the second most visited attraction by tourists, aside from the Hermitage. It sits on a swamp-filled island on the banks of the Neva River. It is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, founded on May 27, 1703. It marks the beginning of the foundation of the city. Within the fortress one can find the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, as well as the State Museum of History of St. Petersburg and the Museum of Space Exploration.

A 5-minute walk from the Peter and Paul Fortress, we would have found the St. Petersburg Mosque, which I wanted to stopp by. From here our tour could have continued to the Cruiser Aurora.

The Cruiser Aurora, located at around a 15 minutes walk from the Fortress, is another of the symbols of St. Petersburg, since it is from this cruise that began the Russian Revolution in 1917 and that ended the Tsarism. As many tourists or couples do, we would have came to take a photo next to the boat, too.

We should have continued our visit to the Russian State Museum. The collection of the Russian State Museum contains more than 400,000 exhibits covering the entire history of Russian art, from the 10th century to the present day: Russian icons, paintings, graphic arts and sculpture, numismatics, etc.

St. Isaac’s Cathedral is the most sumptuous and grandiose of the city’s churches. We should have went upstairs to the top of the dome, from where we could have contemplated the spectacular view of St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg’s Drawbridges Cruise Tour

Night cruises to see how the city’s drawbridges rise have become one of the city’s main tourist attractions. So, at the sunset, I intented to take a cruise to see how the bridges of St. Petersburg lift to let the ships pass. Some of these bridges are true works of art: the Palace Bridge, Troitsky, Liteyny, Bolsheokhtinsky, Alexander Nevsky, Sampsonievsky and Blagoveschensky.

DAY 3: PETERHOF’S GARDENS, WATER FOUNTAINS AND PALACES

Today we would have used the public transportation (Metro and bus) to reach Peterhof and the Hydrofoil (fast boat) to return from Peterhof to St. Petersburg centre.

Peterhof is located at around 30 kilometers from St. Petersburg and can be reached by land and sea. I planned going to Peterhof complex by land, either by Metro and bus or by taxi, and begin the visit on Upper Park, which is located at the park entrance and consists of five fountains.

The Lower Park

After the visit the Upper Park, it would have been the time to enter the gardens and fountains of Lower Park. Throughout the visit to the gardens, we could also have found different museums and churches spread throughout the complex, such as the Farmers’ Palace, Marly Palace, Cottage Palace, Church Wing, The Museum of Collections, The Museum of Playing Cards, etc.

The Grand Palace

The center of the Peterhof complex is called the Grand Palace (Baroque style). The afternoons are recommended as the best time to visit the Grand Palace of Peterhof, as there are usually fewer crowds.

We planned to return to Saint Petersburg centre by Hydrofoil which we could have taken from the pier of the complex and leaved us in the pier located opposite the Hermitage.

The afternoons are a good time to go shopping in St. Petersburg, so we planned to go to the Gallery Shopping Mall, next to the Moskovsky train station.

DAY 4: CATHERINE’S PALACE AND THE MARIINSKY THEATER

Due to the fact that the public transportation involves transfers and can take quite some time, we planned to take a taxi to Catherine’s Palace.

Another must do visit for us would have been to Catherine’s Palace, a spectacular palace that was the summer residence of the Czars. It is located in the city of Pushkin (formerly knows as Tsarskoye Selo), at around 25 kilometers southeast of St. Petersburg.

In the afternoon, I planned to take a walk and relax in the gardens of the palace. I would also have wanted to visit the exhibitions that take place in other pavilions of the complex.

Opera at the Mariinsky Theater

As a good way to say goodbye to St. Petersburg and Russia I intented attend a ballet or opera performance on the historical stage of the Mariinsky Theater.

Another good alternative for those traveling during the summer is to attend the most popular Russian folklore show in St. Petersburg “Feel Yourself Russian” at the Nikolaevsky Palace.

Yes, this travel would have been a marathon, as most of my travels, with a lot of arguments and ”scenes” and crisis with my teenage daugther, but at the end she would have thanked me (she always does it!) for taking her with me on one more travel. Unfortunately, this time it was not meant to be! Maybe, next time my daughter will be a little more mature and able to really appreciate the chance she gets, to travel with her mother and discover and explore another exciting corner of this amazing world!

Many times when I am in at work, where I spend like at least 8 hours everyday, I can’t stop thinking how much of this wonderful world I could discover and explore everyday in those 8 hours.

Travel is really my life’s passion and I hope by sharing my plans and my experiences to inspire and to encourage you to start travel and furfill your dreams.

 I hope this article will help you plan your visit to Russia. If it has been useful, you can help me or your friends by sharing it on your social networks.

Thank you! 🙂