nelbo009 Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Heading to Moscow for 4 days en route to Georgia at the end of the month. Any tips for places to go, sights to see, etc.? Also, that weekend, Dynamo are at home to FK UFA, Spartak are at home to Anzhi, and Lokomotiv are at home to FK Krasnodar. Any suggestions for which one I should go to? Leaning towards Spartak at the moment, but the opinion of the board's resident ground-hoppers is also welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderer Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Dynamo are not playing in the Dynamo stadium at the minute, but sharing a stadium with a team outside of Moscow.Spartak v Anzhi has trouble written all over it and probably best to avoid.... fans hate each other for a whole host of reasons, but mostly ethnic and religious animosity. On paper Lokomotiv v Krasnodar looks a good tie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Endell Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 (edited) Dynamo are not playing in the Dynamo stadium at the minute, but sharing a stadium with a team outside of Moscow. Spartak v Anzhi has trouble written all over it and probably best to avoid.... fans hate each other for a whole host of reasons, but mostly ethnic and religious animosity. On paper Lokomotiv v Krasnodar looks a good tie. That sounds familiar... Edited August 6, 2015 by Charlie Endell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderer Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 That sounds familiar... True, but this is Russia we are talking about where you get lower division games that are basically Old Firm games on steroids I read there was racism trouble at a recent CSKA Moscow v Anzhi game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfieMoon Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Heading to Moscow for 4 days en route to Georgia at the end of the month. Any tips for places to go, sights to see, etc.? Also, that weekend, Dynamo are at home to FK UFA, Spartak are at home to Anzhi, and Lokomotiv are at home to FK Krasnodar. Any suggestions for which one I should go to? Leaning towards Spartak at the moment, but the opinion of the board's resident ground-hoppers is also welcome! The underground stations are amazing and well worth seeing. Google for a top 10 to hop around or pick up the Top 10 touristy book from DK. Red Square St. Basil's Cathedral Kremlin, Armoury and Diamond hall Lenin's mausoleum All the above are worth your time but worth checking dates and times for mausoleum as from memory it was only specific days/times. Once you get through the queue and to the actual place of his resting (within the Kremlin walls) then it'll take you about 30 secs to do a walk-past his body and out the other side of the room. No time to stop, no photos, no noise and no hands in your pockets (as I was made aware by one of the military guards), Can also be fair-sized queues for the rest of the Kremlin attractions listed above when purchasing at the main ticket office so not sure if it's possible to buy in advance. We wanted to do the Bolshoi Theatre tour (as theatre company was on tour so no shows) - but the tour didn't seem to be on when we hoped. It reads like there's only 1 English tour on a specific day, specific time and limited to 15 people so can be a scrum to get in. Anyway... we made it to ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg which made up for missing out on The Bolshoi. Went out to Moscow University - it is HUGE! One of the Stalin's Seven Sisters which are massive buildings dotted around various points of the city. Other ones (of the 7) are now massive hotels or government buildings. They didn't let us into the uni buildings for a walk around anyway. Take a walk through Gorky Park. For cool pubs/clubs - we went to a very cool roof terrace called Chips (close to Bolshoi), then there was a very high-end club called Soho Rooms (which you'd require a table reservation). There was also a number of bars/clubs down by a stretch of the river but I can't remember the name of any. I just found the following guide which makes me want to go back!! http://www.travelingmyself.com/2013/03/28/top-10-night-clubs-in-moscow/ Cafe Pushkin was a nice spot for lunch and a very old setting - one of the top recommended places. I've also since wondered if it would have been decent to visit Star City for some cool cosmonaut stuff but didn't investigate at the time nor since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigieBrown Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Moscow is great fun, especially when the weather is better and you have all the outside beer bars in the park!!! I agree with all the Red Square, Kremlin, St Basils suggestions. Why not also try Gorky Park and another nearby (the freedom monument in a big park - this may be one to celebrate Moscow being one of the Hero Cities)? All perfect if the weather is good. For nightlife, The Real McCoy is truly excellent venue. Burds galore, food area towards the back. Food quite OK. Opens until maybe 5am. Dancing and singing. Mostly genuine burds although a few gas cookers will be knocking around. Another great place to party is "Doug and Martys Boar House", similar MO to The Real McCoy. However, significantly higher proportion of gas cookers as the name would suggest. Both have excellent range of drinks and food, are nowhere near each other and would require a taxi ride. I remember one other place which was OK which had all the serving lassies wearing incredibly short mini kilts but I dont remember the name. For watching TV footie games, the casino on Neuvo Arbat - possibly called metronitza (spelling??) would be the place to go. I saw 7 or 8 different games on at one stage in there. Food OK too. It is also a casino so your cameras, mobile phones and guns should be placed in a locker before you enter the building. You get to keep the key. Finally, wearing the kilt in Moscow is a great experience. Highly recommended... so much amusement!!! Hope that helps Craigie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hertsscot Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 Related question, how difficult is it to see Russia,if you can't read or speak the language? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderer Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 Related question, how difficult is it to see Russia,if you can't read or speak the language? I went in 2003 before I had a basic knowledge of the lingo and cyrillic (went to Russian classes in 2004 when me and the Mrs got serious.... Cyrillic is surprisingly easy once you get to know it) armed with only a city guide book and a basic translation book. When you are in the dead center of the city, its very tourist friendly around all the tourist sites and bars/cafe/restaurants.... metro can be a little daunting, but nothing taking 10 minutes in a pub with a beer while looking over the guide book could not help out with. Back then, venturing away from the center was a bit tricky.... I visited all the football stadiums.... Dynamo Stadium had a museum (well a portacabin doubling as the club shop and museum) where there was nothing in English, and woman looking after it did not speak a word of English..... same at the Lezhniki Stadium, most of it was shut up, and anyone kicking around did not speak English (Torpedo Moscow were using it at the time and was able to sneak in for 10 minutes to watch before was chased away). As said, this was 2003, so sure things have got better since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hertsscot Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Wanderer, cheers - I'd heard one or two comments in the past about how Russia was difficult to do because of the language but I'd like to give it a go sometime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy North Croy Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 The WW2 museum is a MUST....incredible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekfaejapan Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Related question, how difficult is it to see Russia,if you can't read or speak the language? I spend a day in Moscow last week and had no trouble in finding folk who could speak English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flora MaDonald Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 I spend a day in Moscow last week and had no trouble in finding folk who could speak English. That's an affa treck fae Tokyo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotts56 Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 I spent time in Moscow and on the Transsiberian Express a couple of years ago, and could figure out enough of the written language to get by with the help of a guide book. Spoke to a lot of people in Moscow who spoke English, younger people are way more likely to speak English in my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flora MaDonald Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 I spent time in Moscow and on the Transsiberian Express a couple of years ago, and could figure out enough of the written language to get by with the help of a guide book. Spoke to a lot of people in Moscow who spoke English, younger people are way more likely to speak English in my experience. Enjoy it? That's on my 'to do' list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfieMoon Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Wanderer, cheers - I'd heard one or two comments in the past about how Russia was difficult to do because of the language but I'd like to give it a go sometime The way I managed on the Metro was to try and pick up a few key letters of the Cyrillic alphabet and you can usually work out the station from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euan2020 Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 I know russians who are Moscovites who get lost onm the metro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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