Red Square, St Basil’s Cathedral, The Kremlin – we did it all!

There are few sights so characteristically Moscovian than the ones we saw today. It was awesome! 

A few highlights from our day sightseeing in Moscow.

Aside from its small group sizes, one of the other reasons we chose “On the Go” as a tour company is because they don’t lock you up in an air conditioned bus and just drive you around town; you get to ride local public transport, eat at local restaurants, the guides are English-speaking locals, etc – it’s a bit more “authentic” shall we say. As close to just jumping in an doing it on your own (like we did in Japan and Korea), without actually having to do it yourself. This does mean, however, that you are on public transport with everyone else, and in Moscow, this means having to be particularly vigilant about safety. 

We’ve heard all sorts of horror stories about the pick pockets and gangs of thieves targeting tourists on the Moscow Metros system and in Red Square, so our philosophy was to take as little with us on our sightseeing trips as possible and to vigilant (“Be alert, not alarmed” – thank you Howard for that little motto). After 5 weeks on the road we also look scruffy enough that may also act as a deterrent. Most of our tour group, however, have obviously not heard the same horror stories, as they went out for the day with big handbags (the ladies mostly), flashy sunglasses and lots of jewellery. *SIGH* 

Shane and I had one lady in particular picked out as the most likely victim, just because she’s older, seems a bit vague and had this giant handbag with just a little zip on her. Sure enough, first bloody day, first Metro ride, and she was targeted by a pack of young Gypsy girls. I saw them out of the corner of my eye surrounding her and managed to pull her out of the situation before the thieves had gotten anything, but they had already half unzipped her bag. The poor lady was completely freaked out, but thankful that nothing was stolen. I know pickpockets are an issue everywhere there are lots of tourists, but man it’s crap having to be constantly on alert and watchful of everything and everyone around you. We’re lucky back in Aus that we don’t have to worry about stuff like that day-to-day.

Red Square and the Kremlin were busy but not packed so it was easy enough to avoid the worst of the crowds and any suspect characters, so the rest of the day was incident-free in that regard. And maybe having something like that happen on the first day made some of the other people in the tour group with their flashy jewellery and giant handbags rethink their sightseeing accoutrements. 

Anyway, we didn’t let that little hiccup upset our day ’cause we had some epic sights to see! From our local Metro station we went to Lubyanka Square, just a few hundred metres form Red Square and home to the Bolshoi Theatre (interesting factoid: bolshoi means “big” or “grand” in Russian); the “Lubyanka Building” a nondescript block that used to be the KGB headquarters (now home to the FSB – Russia’s Federal Security Service); and the Moscow Hotel – once the only hotel in town, designed to impress visiting foreign dignitaries with its enormity and grandeur (it is still a hotel, but way outside our budget at about $3000+ AUD per night).  

The “Lubyanka Building” – former home of the KGB.

The Bolshoi Theatre (with the beautiful blue awning of a local ice cream vendor in front – my photography skills need some work).

The huge and opulent Hotel Moscow. Dressed as we were, we wouldn’t even have been allowed in!

Outside Red Square, just about to enter via the Resurrection Gate.

Entering Red Square via the Resurrection Gate.

Inside Red Square, with the State Museum of Russia behind us and the Western wall of the Kremlin to one side.

Before it became Krasnaya Ploshchad this was the market square for the town of Moscow for centuries. Its rather grand size and appearance only began to take form, however, Moscow became the capital of the expanding Russian Empire in 1340. From then, successive rulers added to the square, building the churches and officially state buildings that now characterise this iconic location, including: 

• Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan – originally built in 1612, the cathedral was destroyed in 1936 until Stalin, but rebuilt in the 1990s.
• In 1555 Ivan the Terrible was responsible for the construction of one of Red Square’s most famous landmark buildings: St Basil’s Cathedral. 
• The State Museum of Russia is housed in a 19th century, purpose-built building.
• Lenin’s Mausoleum contains the embalmed body of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union. (We had the opportunity to line up to spend 30 seconds inside the mausoleum viewing Lenin’s embalmed body, but decided to forgo this for some lunch instead. It was amazing to see the length of the queue however – people line up for hours in order to get their glimpse of Lenin’s body.)
• My personal favourite: the GUM department store. Once the only department store in the entire Soviet Union where “foriegn” goods could be bough. The Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin (translation = main universal store) is now a high-end shopping mall and is beautifully restored and maintained. We had lunch here and spent a hour or so perusing the shops, including the most expensive grocery store in Russia where the ladies behind the counter wear the same uniforms they would have worn under Soviet rule, and crystal chandeliers light your way.

The square is huge (330mx70m) and is flanked along the Western side by the imposing walls of the Kremlin and along the Eastern side by the GUM department store. Tatyana, our guide, took us on a 3 hour walking tour of the square, feeding us tid-bits of information (just enough to impress us, not enough to bore us – a good balance), and giving us time to take our touristy photos of everything. After our walking tour we had a couple of hours of free time for some lunch and to revisit our favourite spots. It was great! Shane and I took hundreds of photos, but have picked out the top 10 or so for you to enjoy.

The rather austere facade of Lenin’s Mausoleum.

The red walls of the Kremlin dominate the Western side of Red Square.

The beautiful 19th century building that houses the GUM department store/mall.

The colourful domes of St Basil’s Cathedral were even more impressive in real life than in pictures or on TV.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan was rebuilt in the 1990s after being destroyed under communism.

The famous clock tower of Moscow, famously televised all over Russia to count down the New Year.

Inside the GUM supermarket. Shane was a little concerned we would get asked to leave, given our scruffy clothes and obvious lack of bling.

The rest of the GUM shopping mall is beautiful and gave us a cool place to relax over lunch for an hour or so.

Lunch at GUM in Moscow anyone?

Another shot of St Basil’s Cathedral – Shane’s favourite photo stop of the day.

And one last epic shot – looking back towards Red Square from the banks of the Mokva River.

Ah, the Kremlin. Another enormous Russian edifice designed to make visitors feel small and insignificant. Kremlin in Russian means “fort or “citadel”, and Moscow’s Kremlin is the fortified complex which has served as this city’s heart and centre of government since the 14th century. Situated at the geographical heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River and Red Square, the Kremlin compound includes a handful of government buildings built during the Soviet era, five 19th century palaces, 4 cathedrals and the enclosing Kremlin Wall with Kremlin towers. Since the Russian revolution of 1917, the Kremlin has served as the seat of government and includes the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation (we did not get to see Putin during our tour).

The Kremlin was huge, overwhelming, impressive, fascinating and just a little intimidating; Shane and I both agreed that it would have been great to have a few hours to explore the complex on our own, but that’s the compromise when doing a tour isn’t it? You get a guide to hold your hand when you need it, but you also need to do your bit and “stay with your herd”, as it were. Still, it was fantastic to see what we did. Again, we took way too many photos (we’re such TOURISTS!), but have tried to limit our selection to the highlights….

View of the Kremlin and its enclosing walls from outside. You can see the profile of the green-roofed Great Kremlin Palace, which now houses official government departments.

The first building we saw within the Kremlin compound: The Palace of Congresses. This Soviet-era box was built in 1961, atop a much prettier 19th century palace, we were told. The building sinks 18m into the earth and contains over 700 offices as well as a 6000-seat auditorium.

The Senate Building. Originally built in the 19th century to house Russia’s first People’s Senate, the building has, since 1991, been the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation.

The Cathedral of the Assumption is the oldest church in the Kremlin (built in1432) and also the most important; this was officially the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church for centuries and was where Russian Tsars were crowned.

Cathedral of the Archangel (left) and the Cathedral of the Annunciation (right). The Archangel Michael was chosen as the patron saint of the rulers of Muscovy in the 14th Century. The Cathedral that bears his name was erected in 1505 and is where Russian royals were buried.  The Cathedral of the Annunciation was originally built as the domestic church of the Tsars; this is where they went to mass, celebrated christenings, etc.

The Tsar’s Cannon was made in 1568 and was designed to frighten enemies with its huge size. It’s more than 5m long and each cannon ball weighs more than a ton (it has a 890mm gauge!). Do you think the Tsar that commissioned this was trying to compensate for something?

The Tsar’s Bell. This is the largest bell in the world, weighing over 200 tons and standing more than 6 metres high and 6.6 metres across. It cracked and broke during its construction; it has never been rung.

Crossing the bridge, leaving the Kremlin. A soggy tend to an awesome day!