Weekend Getaways
Moscow - A walk throught the Empire's capital
It is best to visit Mosow in May when lilac blossoms and sun reddens the sky until late evening hours.
The most colourful is the Old Arbat; open only for pedestrians, filled with cosy cafs and old-fashioned tiny shops. It is an exceptional place; it kept the artistic atmosphere that Bulat Okujava sang about. Arbat, which in the Tatar language means 'suburbs', was primarily inhabited by merchants and craftsmen. Then, in the times depicted by Tolstoy in the "War and Peace" novel, it was mainly aristocracy and finally in the nineteenth century people of liberal proffesions settled here. Arbat attracted newcomers with its mysterious nooks, little houses and overgrown gardens. This charm is still vivid. You can find houses – museums here; Pushkin, Andrej Biely or Alexander Skriabin used to live on Arbat. The tenements built before the revolution for the rich have blue, ochre and green elevations and are decorated by fancy turrets and sculptures. The street painters, singers and poets like to hang around the Arbat which brings back the old artistic climate.
Most of the Orthodox churches can be found around the Kremlin, the official residence and principal workplace of the Russian president. The Cathedral of the Dormition is a must-see sight. You'll find there the oldest icon in Russia – the St. George icon which was painted in the twelve century. Also the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the tallest Eastern Orthodox church in the world, must be visited. For an ordinary stroller Moscow churches are mainly about gold and colours – red, pink, blue and emerald.
In the capital of the Empire you can also see red and black pyramid – Lenin's Mausoleum in the Red Square. But maybe it is better not to look up there?
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