Friendly Local Guides: 2012

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Local stuff. Sandunovsky Baths

Tourists always ask me "Show us something non-touristy", "What is particularly local to eat/do/", "I want something original and authentic:...

So here is a #1 typically Russian, authentic, original thing

Fact 15.
Sandunovsky Banya

Sandunovsky baths today is the largest bath complex in Moscow, three male and two female department, preserved historic interiors, license baths, beauty salon, restaurant and laundry service. The main advantages of the complex is the recognized quality of service and range of products - from classic to modern.

Sandunovsky BATH existed in the XVIII century and named for the Force N. Sandunova - actor, who served at the court of Catherine II in the 1790s.

Sanduny Baths. Among Guests of Honor are John Travolta, Naomi Campbell, Jean Claude Van Damme, Adolf Lundgren and many other famous people

Explore the authentic places of Moscow with us on our Going Out in Moscow Tour
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Thursday, August 30, 2012

International Military Music Festival "Spasskaya Tower"

Fact 14.
From August 30 to September 7, 2014 on Red Square in Moscow will be International Military Music Festival "Spasskaya Tower". It is one of the brightest and most significant events in the cultural life of the capital of Russia.

This time the festival will mark the 862 th anniversary of the capital.

The traditional participants are the Honor Guard unit of heads of state and leading military orchestra of Russia and foreign countries.

Thanks to the festival, military musicians become the ambassadors for peace representing all the variety of national, creative and army traditions of the world.

In the entire history of the Festival, 100 orchestras have been presented from 40 countries. About 1500 musicians, soldiers and artists take part in the festival this year from: Armenia, Bulgary, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, Mexico, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Russia.

As in previous years, the 2014 opening of the event is timed to the Day of Moscow. Daily audience of the Festival only on Red Square will exceed 7,000 people, and 55,000 people total throughout 8 days of the festival (more than 100 million people including the Internet and the television audience).

September, 1 at 10 am will start parade of soldiers of the annual festival "Spasskaya Tower 2012". On the route to the Arc de Manezh Square to the Kremlin, led by cavalry regiment will be 20 military bands. Performance of military bands will become the final episode of the opening ceremony of the Day of the Red Square.

Photos: Spasskaya Bashnya

Be a part of this grand event with us on our Red Square and the City Tour
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Saturday, July 7, 2012

Red Square & the Kremlin

Couple of days ago I was showing Moscow again to some tourists and we ended up in Red Suqare. I can say some things never get old, but only more gorgeous year after year. So I admired the Red Square 1000th time and want to share with you some of the shots.

So, the entrance to Red Square...

Fact 13.
Resurrection Gate (also called Iberian Gate) is the only existing gate of the Kitai-gorod in Moscow. The first stone gate leading to Red Square was erected in 1535, when the Kitai-gorod wall was being reconstructed in brick. In 1931, the Resurrection Gate and the chapel were demolished in order to make room for heavy military vehicles driving through Red Square during military parades. Both structures were completely rebuilt in 1994-1996, and a new icon of the Iveron Theotokos was painted on Mount Athos to replace the original.

And that's how they looked in 19 century...

What do we see on Red Square? Your favourite St Basil's!

Basil's Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox church erected on Red Square in Moscow in 1555–61 on orders from Ivan the Terrible. It commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan.

The building is shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky, a design that has no analogues in Russian architecture: "It is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to fifteenth century ... a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design."

And on the right there is the large Kremlin Wall with it's, that was a fortress initially.

The Kremlin includes four palaces, four cathedrals and the enclosing Kremlin Wall with Kremlin towers. The complex serves as the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation. The Slavs occupied the south-western portion of the hill as early as the 11th century.

The Soviet government moved from Petrograd to Moscow on 12 March 1918. Vladimir Leninselected the Kremlin Senate as his residence. Joseph Stalin also had his personal rooms in the Kremlin. He was eager to remove from his headquarters all the "relics of the tsarist regime".

The existing Kremlin walls and towers were built by Italian masters over the years 1485 to 1495. The irregular triangle of the Kremlin wall encloses an area of 275,000 square metres (68 acres). Its overall length is 2235 metres (2444 yards), but the height ranges from 5 to 19 metres, depending on the terrain. The wall's thickness is between 3.5 and 6.5 metres.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a war memorial, dedicated to the Soviet soldiers killed during World War II. It is located at the Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden in Moscow. "Your name is unknown, your deed is immortal". Change of the guards is every hour in summer, every half an hour in winter.

And then just left from St Basil's there's superb GUM...

With some festive events constantly taking place there.

With the façade extending for 794 ft (242 m) along the eastern side of Red Square, the Upper Trading Rows were built between 1890 and 1893. The trapezoidal building features an interesting combination of elements of Russian medieval architecture and a steel framework andglass roof, a similar style to the great 19th century train stations of London.

And then there is Alexander Garden. Historic, relaixing, very green and touristy, picturesque and ... marvelous!

So that was a little tour to Red Square and the Kremlin. If you have any questions or need a tour, just let me know;)

Flash back to the times of the past on our Red Square and the Kremlin Tour

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Sunday, June 3, 2012

Where to meet locals in Moscow

Fact 12.

There are three original places to meet locals and make friends with them in Moscow.
1. Parks. Thousands of people go to Gorky Park every day, 20 000 to be precise. Only subway can compete with this number, but then you probably would prefer a relaxed stroll then being squeezed at a rush hour

2. Embankments and Bridges. They are picturesque especially at sunset, and we love taking pictures on them

3. Restaurant terraces, which are an essential part of Moscow, and are a concentration of most modern, beautiful and cheerful crowd in one place

Photo: Yamoskva

Get local with us on our Going Out in Moscow Tour
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Friday, June 1, 2012

Russian Architecture

Walking along the streets I often find extremely nice and atmospheric buildings of Soviet Moscow.

Fact 11.
There has always been an eye-catching contrast between modern & old architecture and day by day it's noticed more often. Old houses are forbidden to destroy, new ones are appearing every day (not in the center itself though). This contrast reflects the Russian mentality too, by the way. Contrastive, surprising and unpredictable...

I'm happy such cute houses still exist and exactly in the center. I love such isles of romantic walking and eating a vanilla ice-cream. Mmm...

Apart from 7 Stalin skyscrapers and modern Moscow city ones there are just beautiful buildings, historical, of course. Almost everything in Moscow has its history

And everything has its price. Appartments in the center of Moscow can cost as much as $ 11 million...

I don't know what impresses me more: architecture of such buildings or people who built these houses. This one in particular was built in 90-ies.

Explore the architecture. art and culture of Moscow with us on our 3 Days in Moscow Tour
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Sunday, May 20, 2012

Gorky Park

Fact 10
Gorky Park is a Central Park of Moscow, with a monthly attendance of more than 20,000 people a week day, and 100, 000 a day on the weekend. Since 2011 the park sets new standards for social events, so it has earned a reputation as one of the main urban areas of leisure for Moscovites. This space is designed for a new audience, focused on the European way of life.

The first recreational park in Russia was opened August 12, 1928. The main objective of the park was to conduct a broad political and educational, cultural and educational work among workers during Soviet times.

In 1932, in connection with the 40th anniversary of the social and literary activities of Maxim Gorky, the park was named after a Soviet writer, and since then this place is called "Gorky Park"

Gorky covers an area of 109 hectares and is divided into two parts - a parterre garden, and "Not Boring Garden" (Neskuchny Sad).
Nowadays, the park is popular among locals for its dance classes, yoga classes, lectures, festivals and all kinds of cultural and modern events.