First of all, I would like to apologize for not posting in a while, but I have been very busy with my travels, and I'd like to share a journey with you. From March 28th until March 31st 2015, I enjoyed my holidays in Moscow. I landed at 4:20 in Moscow, with no luggage, since my first flight from Prague to Belgrade was delayed, and barely made my connection onwards to Moscow. Also I forgot my laptop charger, so the journey was bound for adventure. Russia became the 28th country I've seen in my life so far.
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| St. Basil's Cathedral during sunrise. |
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| The Red Square by night. |
Moscow in general is a really beautiful city, no matter if you're strolling through the red square next to the Kremlin, or if you're in one of the many shopping streets in Moscow, or even if you're visiting a socialistic monument. Moscow has a lot to offer. I personally enjoyed being on the Red Square, as it's surrounded by beautiful buildings and structures, like St. Basil's Cathedral, the Kremlin and even Lenin's mausoleum. It's the heart of Moscow, and the only place where you can also find other tourists. Since I speak Russian, I was surprised to find out, that many of the tourists on the Red Square are Russians or from a country of the former Soviet Union, visiting their capital. A nice woman from Kaliningrad even did a photoshooting for me at the Red Square.
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| Me on the Red Square, with the Kremlin in the background. |
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| The GUM Shopping Mall on the Red Square by night. |
Of course, Moscow does not only consist of the red square, it also features many other beautiful places from its history. Moscow began its development as an important city under the rule of the Russian Royal Family, which was in power of Russia until 1917. However, at that time, Moscow was not the capital of Russia, and thus all important palaces and structures of the Royal Family themselves stands in todays St. Petersburg (formely called Petrograd [until 1917], and Leningrad [1917-1990]). Moscow kept some beautiful buildings though, like the Arbat street and the Bolshoi Theatre. Another beautiful street would be Kuznetsky Most, also preserved from that time.
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| The old Arbat street. |
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| The Bolshoi Theatre |
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| Kuznetsky Most |
In 1917, Moscow became the capital of the Soviet Union (the USSR, in Russian: CCCP [standing for SSSR]), the first socialistic state of its era. After World War II and up until 1990, the Soviet Union was the leader of the Eastern Block (the states of the Warsaw pact) and was dramatically oversized. Whilst the old part of Moscow is rather modestly small, the parts built by the communists are huge. Since in 1917, Moscow had to be shaped into a representative capital, it was expanded into all directions, making it the Mega Metropolis it is today. Moscow also features a unique street system, going in circles all the time, to keep traffic from the city's core. The following four shots have been made from the Ostakino Television Tower, built in 1967, which is the tallest structure in Europe.
As you can observe on the pictures, most of Moscow's residential parts are shaped by the socialist architecture, which forsees block buildings and housing for many people on as little space possible. However, even though the housing was minimalized to a small space, the public places built in the communist era are some of the largest I've seen. The communists really had an idea on how to present themselves as strong and important. Most of the squares honoring heroes from World War II, or heores of the revolution in 1917, or even the cosmonauts (astronauts) of the Soviet Union, got very large monuments, accompanied by a huge surrounding area.
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| Exhibition Centre |
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| Park Pobedy (The park of the winners) |
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| Park Pobedy in the distance |
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| Monument of the Cosmonauts |
Moscow can be divided into three eras: The Era of the Royal Family, The Era of the Soviet Union and The Era of Russia. The current era thus exists since 1990, and showcases the development of the capistalistic economic system and its impacts on the new democratic Russia. In the past few years, before the sanctions came into place in 2014, Russia had a growing economy due to its natural resources and profited from it. Moscow can see this economic rise in its urban development, as the brand new Moskva-Siti project is being developed. Moskva-Siti host high rise office buildings, hotels and residential areas, as well as a mega mall, and is the new hub for the Russian economy, showcasing, that Russia is moving on, and keeping up with the current global pace.
We in the West like to think of Russia as the corrupt country, which limits human rights, especially regarding the LGBT community, and as the mad country, which invades the territory of other countries, most recently regarding the Crimea issue. We also like to think of Russia, as a country of censorship, and unfortunately, to some extent, that is true. Russian newspapers seemed very censored to me, and didn't give basic information in some cases, when it came to international politics, and I tried to find some articles which were critising the government, and I did find some, after a long search and a lot of struggle. I talked to a former journalist, and she told me, that there were things, she was not allowed to write, even though the entire population was aware of the situation, it was not supposed to be explicitly mentioned. She refused to tell me the actual issue, but confirmed my theories on censorship in Russia. Another interessting fact about Russia: Many museums prohibit photography entirely, and some charge you extra if you want to take pictures, but you may not post them on the internet, as it is illegal. I refused to pay the extra charge, thus I didn't take pictures in museums, because I didn't want to pay anything in museums, as in Russia, almost all cultural activities for minors under 18 years of age, are free of charge, which was a pleasent surprised for a solo 17 year old traveller on a budget like me.
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| The Temple of Chirst the Saviour |
Now, let's talk about the Russians for a while. The Russian people are some of the nicest bunch I've met in my entire life. They have a sense of hospitality, and when they see a foreign tourist trying to speak Russian, they immediately appreciate the effort. I suppose, that this comes from the Russian-Orthodox church, as most Russians are religious, they have a stronger sense of community and unity. The church is powerful in Russia, and it brings people together, which is nice. I myself am Serbian-Orthodox, and thus direct affiliated with the Russian-Orthodox church, so I know a thing or two about it. Even though the church forces some outdated values on the population, it also brings the communty together and makes them work as a whole, and the combination of living in a time after communism in a religious country, makes it much more safer to walk around Moscow, than New York. Everyone in Moscow minds their own business, but is also happy to help if you need it, thus they are open towards others, but don't want to harm them. I felt safe in Moscow, pickpocketing in being held to a minimum and the crime rate is astonishingly low. I even had my hotel next to the central mosque in Moscow, close to Prospekt Mira, and I didn't feel unsafe, I enjoyed the clash of cultures, as many muslims from the other ex-soviet republics were there, and I was lucky to observe such a feeling of community.
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A station on the Moscow metro, the most beautiful metro system in the world, with almost all stations decorated like this.
Name: Komsomol'skaya |
Now, when one observes the prejudices, we all have against Russians, most of them are true, but on a different level. It's not true, that they drink vodka in masses, because they are a nation of alcoholics, but because the feeling vodka gives you is like a warm wave in your body, which can really be good for you, when you live in freezing Moscow. I dealt with temperatures of down to -4 degrees celcius and up to 6 degrees celcius, whilst visiting Moscow during the end of March. I do not wish to experience the weather in winter.
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| A park in Moscow on March 31st 2015 |
Russians are also very famous for being intolerant, also complete nonsense. Sure they have laws against the LGBT population, and many people discriminate them, but we can't call the Russians intolerant, if the call the western world tolerant, whilst they discriminate against muslims and also Russians. Many of my friends from Prague didn't want me to go to Moscow, because they hated Russia, and also didn't trust the people there, whilst the people welcome every visitor, who's nice to them, and respect every religion and nation. And this is not me trying to spread propaganda about the Russians, this is my serious opinion about them. I think, that everyone should go see Russia for themselves and then judge them, but we judge by the media so much, that we won't even let our friends go to Russia, because we're scared of the unknown. Intolerance is nothing but a fear of the unknown. And it discrimination happens in Russia, as much as it happens in the EU and the US. Ferguson is always a perfect example.
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| A typical Stalin skyscraper |
My final point on Russia would be, that their political situation can be compared to the USA. I'm going to raise a very unpopular point here, but Russia seems to be oddly similar to the USA. In both nations, patriotism is widely spread, both nations have very religious communities, and both nations are superpowers. Also, and I know most people will not like this statement, both nations invade other countries. We all blame Russia for taking Crimea, but when we look at the USA in past few years, they invaded Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Serbia, Lybia etc. etc. Personally, I believe the reason why the USA and Russia hate each other so much, is because they are so alike. Think about it.
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| Tretjakovskaya Art Gallery |
To sum it all up, my experience in Russia was extremely pleasent, and I enjoyed strolling through the streets of Moscow and seeing most of the cultural sights, very much and I hope to return soon to Russia, hopefully to Moscow as well, but it would be nice to see other cities as well.
From Russia with Love, Stefan.
