Not expensive/cheap hostels in Moscow

Once we've already touched upon the topic of hostels in the center of Moscow (near the metro station Park Kultury)
Now we'll tell you about a few hostels where you can spend the night without paying that much.

1. Hostel "DOM" which means "House".
not far from the metro station Kurskaya. The lowest price is 600 rub (about 20$) per night.
Breakfast is included, free WI-FI,

2. Hostel "APPLE" is in the center of Moscow. Metro station Kitay-Gorod.
The lowest price is 750rub (25$).

3. Hostel "Napoleon"  - 5 min from the Kremlin! The lowest price is 600 rub.
Metro station Kitay-Gorod.

4. DA! Hostel Moscow! which means "YES!"
is in 5 min from Old Arbat, the oldest pedestrian street of Moscow.
The lowest price is about 21$.

5. Moscow Style Hostel is a good place for you if your dream is to wake up in the morning to enjoy beautiful sites of the Kremlin...

Romantic places of Moscow

It often happens that you want to invite you girl (or boy) friend somewhere where you may enjoy beautiful views and romantic atmosphere... where you want to be with others but still feel unique...

Moscow Explorers suggest the following romantic places for walking and visiting!

1) Bolotnaya Naverezhnaya (Bolotnaya Quay, Bolotnaya means marsh) - which starts between the Moskva-river and the Vodootvodniy Channel. \Walking down the quay you'll come across the Bolotnaya Square. There is a monument to Ilya Repin, a Russian famous painter, there. In 2001 a new monument "Children are the Victims of Adult Vices" was erected here to call on adults to think over their actions.

2) Krymsky Bridge is a bridge over the Moskva river, is considered to be one of the most significant in Moscow as it carries the Garden Ring across the river. The closest stations are Park Kultury (we've discussed it previously) and Oktabrskaya. If you cross the Bridge from the side of Park Kultury you'll find Gorky Park, which is one of the most famous places of recreation nowadays. Lots of people visit this park everyday in cold or hot weather.

3) Park of Art "Muzeon" is an ideal place for art lovers. The park provides exhibitions of craftsmen from different spheres. Besides, the Tretyakovskaya gallery is nearby.
The park is situated exactly opposite Gorky Park, just cross the street.

4) Arbat Street is considered to be one of the most famous and romantic..
The information is here http://exploringmoscow.blogspot.ru/2013/04/arbat-street.html

5) Tverskoy Boulevard is one of the busiest streets in central Moscow.
Metro station is Tvesrkaya (green line of the metro)

Parks in Moscow. Sokolniki.

At last summer has come to Moscow!
The weather is wonderful!

The 1st of June is a traditional Day of Children!
On the 1st of June we went to one of the Moscow Parks - Park SOKOLNIKI.
Every year people celebrate here the DAY of ICE-CREAM.
People can buy here all kinds of ice-cream of the most famous companies..take part in competitions, sing songs..
On the 1st of June we saw how old Moscovites spend their leisure time: one of the cafes was full of people from 40 to 70 years, listening to old songs and dancing from their hearts..Dozens of people were simply standing there watching them.

Park Sokolniki is one of the most famous parks of Moscow. Here you can not only simply walk eating ice-cream, but rent a bicycle or organise a picnic because the park is an area full of green trees.

The address is: metro station Sokolniki (red line). Go out from the metro, dong cross any road, but turn to the alley which will lead you directly to the parkю

On the official website you can find all the necessary information about the park and the events organised there. Besides, there is a page on the Facebook devoted to the park.

Excursions in Moscow

Spring and especially summer are the time of the tourists' "flow" into Moscow, as into any other country...

In the Internet you may find plenty of suggestions of tourfirms: professional guides will provide you with essential information concerning history, culture, traditions of the city. 

In this very post we would like to mention an organisation called "Moscow Greeter".

Now this organisation is free: volunteers, among them mostly students of linguistic universities, will show you the city from their viewpoint and will tell you everything they know. That's why, don't expect professional guides, however, friendly atmosphere is guaranteed.

The official website is http://www.moscowgreeter.ru/index.html

On should sinmply fill in the form. 

Have a good travel in Moscow!

Victory Day in Russia

On the 9th of May whole Russia celebrated its most significant holiday - the Victory Day - established due to the great victory in 1945.
During the long years of the war Russia experienced a lot, millions of people were killed...

This Day is a special Day for everyone.
How do the Russians celebrate it?

Almost every state organises a parade - mostly military technique is demonstrated.
Naturally, the most important parade is at red Square in Moscow. The President and all the civil servants are present there. Moreover, veterans, honoured heroes of the war, are present there and receive congratulations and enjoy this great for them holiday. However, almost every big park of Moscow becomes a place for celebrations (Park Gorkogo, Park Pobedi)

After it some veterans go to the Theatre Square, near Bolschoy Theatre, where festive, sincere atmosphere is set...You may here military songs and see dance.. A lot of people gather here, most of them are young, they come to congratulate veterans with their holiday and say "THANK YOU"...

In Russia there is a song "Victory Day" with the lines "Victory Day is the holiday with tears on your eyes..."
Yes, indeed, hardly no one can hold back their tear when then they hear military stories...

The day end with bright fireworks. People usually shout out loud "Ура!" (Ura!) which means "Hooray!"

Hotels and Hostels in Moscow. Arbatskaya and Smolenskaya

Stariy Arbat is almost the heart of Moscow. That is why it would be convenient for a tourist, as we think, to live in this region as all the most famous sightseeings of Moscow are situated not far from the street.

This site provides with a list of hotels on this street: http://en.moscow.hottel.ru/hotels.html?place_id=2581

However, there are also many hostels near. There is a list of some of them:

1st Arbat Hostel  

Bear-Hostel 

Hostel in Moscow

Sweet Moscow

Home from Home

Arbat street

If you walk along the Gogolevskiy Boulevard, at the end of it you'll come across an interesting street. It is Stariy Arbat, one of the oldest and most famous streets of Moscow ("stariy" means old).

 The street was mentioned in the XV century for the first time. The length of the street is about 1 km.
Once it used to be a roadway, however, the modern Arbat is a pedestrian zone which attracts a lot of tourists every day.

Arbat is full of sightseeings: houses of landlords, there are many houses where famous Russian poets and writers lives such as A.S. Pushkin (we have already spoken about him before), M. Lermontov, M. Tsvetaeva. In front of Pushkin's house there is a sculpture dedicated to him and his wife Natalya Goncharova. A famous theatre of Vakhtangova is also situated here, a "golden" fountain is nearby.

The street is also famous for the wall of memory of Victor Tsoy. a Russian rock-musician, who, unfortunately, died in a car accident in 1990. The admirers of his work could not believe his death and built this wall, full of notes "Tsoy is alive". Even nowadays you can find there a candle burning in his honour.

Today you can find here a lot of artists selling their works or ready to draw a portrait of any interested. You can meet musicians who sing songs or anyone else entertaining the public. There are a lot of shops here where you can buy Russian souvenirs.

So to say, Arbat is a beautiful place with its own festive atmosphere, especially on a sunny day.

What is more interesting, there is a street running parallel to Stariy Arbat, but is named "Noviy Arbat" ("noviy" means new). It is absolutely different as there are modern buildings, sky scrapes, modern shops there.

The nearest metro srations are Arbat, Smolenskaya, Kropotkinskaya.

Cafe in Moscow

In this post we will tell you about an interesting type of cafes that gain popularity in Moscow.

They are called time-cafe or co-working or anti-cafe.

The idea is the following: anyone comes to the cafe and pays for the minutes he or she spends there. 

What is more important, you can eat everything you can find in the cafe, usually these are different cookies, fruit, tea or coffee etc. You may bring even your own food. However, in most cafes alcohol is a taboo.

In the places like these you may work in silence because during the day there are not so many people there;

you may invite friends just to talk or to play table games which are provided by any cafe.

Moreover, many of these cafes organise various events: concerts, workshops, meeting with famous people... 

Besides, if you have anything to tell the people, you can present a lecture or sing for people, you may do it in one of the cafes. Everyone is welcomed!

Average cost is about 2 rub per minute. So, if you spend there an hour it will be 120 rub, about 4 dollars or 3 euros. 

Here are some of the most popular anti-cafes in Moscow

Good Republic - m. Chistie Prudy, Myasnitskaya street 13

Start Hub - m. Dmitrovskaya, Bolshaya Novodmitrovskaya 36/12

Flacon Coworking - the same address as Start Hub - m. Dmitrovskaya, Bolshaya Novodmitrovskaya 36/12

To-Do-Club - m. Kropotkinskaya, the opposite bank of the river, Bersenevskaya Naberezhnaya 6 (for working is perfect)

Pushkin Museum

One of the great Russian world-known writers and poets is Aleksandr Pushkin (1799 -1837).

Moscow provides a few museums named after A. Pushkin, however, even not all the citizens of the city are aware of them.
The biggest and the most famous is the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.
Even the building of the museum itself is worthy seeing as it is decorated with beautiful columns and statues of ancient heroes or philosophers.
The museum exhibits impressive collections of statues, figures which reflect culture of ancient cultures. Besides, there are a number of halls devoted to paintings of various artists.
The museum holds different exclusive exhibitions. For example, last year work by Salvador Dali were exhibited there.

Address: m. Kropotkiskaya, Volkhonka St 12,
Opening Hours: daily from 10 am to 7 pm. Closed on Monday.
Official website: http://www.arts-museum.ru/index.php?lang=en

Another museum named after Pushkin is also situated near the metro station Kropotkinskaya, but on the opposite side.

Pushkin State museum 
The museums provides with regular exhibitions "Pushkin and his Epoch", "Pushkin's fairy tales", There are a few concert and confereтсу halls where various events take place.

Address: m. Kropotkinskaya, Street Prechistenka 12/2
Opening hours: daily from 10am to 6pm. Closed on Monday and last Friday of the month.
Official website: http://www.pushkinmuseum.ru/

Another place devoted to the personality of Pushkin is his flat the so called "Memorial flat" on the street "Arbat" which vividly exhibits the way he lived. There is also a monument depicting him with his wife Natalya Goncharova on this street.

Address: m. Smolenskaya, St. Atbat 53
Opening hours: daily from 10am to 6pm. Closed on Monday, Tuesday, and last Friday of the month.

Fountains in Moscow start working on 30, April, 2013

There are so many fountains, about 700, in Moscow: big and small, old and new, in the buildings and in the street...
First fountains were built only in the 30s of the XX century! to decorate the city.

These are fountains which usually attract a lot of tourists and are beloved by city inhabitants:

In the center:

• in the Gorky Park - m. Park Kultury. This one is musical and at night is shimmering with beautiful colours.
•  on Arbat Street in front of the theatre. - m. Arbatskaya. 
• There are 12 fountains on the Manezhnaya Square. One of them is devoted to fairy-tales. m. Okhotniy Ryad or Novokuznetskaya.
• The famous ZUM (ЦУМ - Central Department Store of Moscow) in the Red Square also has a fountain. These store is a monument of architecture now, but once, in the Soviet Times, it was the place where everyone came to buy food and clothes of high quality. - m. Okhotniy Ryad or Novokuznetskaya.
• fountain on the Pushin Square, a famous places for dates. - m. Pushkinskaya

Not in the Center:

• A number of fountains in the park "Park Pobedy" (the Park of Victory). -  m. Park Pobedy. 
• A fountain of "Friendship between nations" in the All-Russian Exhibition Center. - m. VDNH. Nowadays  the All-Russian Exhibition Center is a place with many centers (building) where different exhibitions or events take place from time to time. 
• Fountain in the park "Tsaritsino" (Царицыно) is also musical at colourful at night.

This years all the fountains start working on April, 30 at the same time till late October.
At night they are usually turned off.