'Nastorovia!'. Welcome to Moscow.

First published in Aeroflot in-flight magazine 2018

2019 is probably one of the best times to visit Moscow post world cup and this mega-city, in fact, all of the cities in Russia have undergone a mighty cosmetic makeover and who were proud to show their best face to the world.

Moscow is an incredibly exciting and vibrant city and, walking the streets one can feel the history literally oozing up through the cracks in the pavements or clinging to the stone walls of the centuries-old buildings.

Moscow is the northernmost (and coldest!) metropolis on earth meaning winters are referred to here as ‘brutal’ One of the first things one notices is that the city planners, over the years had a passion for building things really, really tall! Take for instance the Ostankino Tower being the tallest free-standing structure in Europe and, if that wasn’t enough there is the Federation Tower which stands head and shoulders above all of the skyscrapers in Europe.

Anyway you look at it, this is a megacity, covering an area of 2511 square kilometres with a population of over 10 Million. For me, Moscow is one of those cities once visited stays with you forever given its iconic architecture, typified by the coloured domes of St Basil’s Cathedral. The backdrop to St Basil's is the rather sombre Moscow Kremlin, a medieval city-fortress, home to the current President of Russia.

This mighty structure is perched above the Moskva River so typified in almost all of the spy thrillers we have seen over the years. Of course, there is also the rather imposing Red Square which rightly has been listed as a world heritage site if only for its sheer size and grandiosity.

Even though Moscow might lose some of its charms in the winter typified by watching its citizens walk down snow-covered streets huddled in their fur coats braving sub-zero conditions.

It is in summer when the city really sparkles. The majestic Moskva River divides the city in half and a walk along its banks rivals anything that London, Florence or New York has to offer. It is a little known fact that over forty per cent of Moscow’s urban sprawl is covered by greenery and has the largest forest in any city on the planet.

An afternoon spent roaming in the wonderful Gorky Park is the place to see Muscovites relaxing or at play on its vast lawns, shaded by giant Plane trees.

Large metropolises can be daunting for a first time visitor as getting around is confusing but here meticulous planning has created a user-friendly transit system that seems to move it’s population effortlessly from place to place. The transit network includes four international airports, an inner city monorail and one of the deepest underground rapid transit systems in the world.

The Moscow Metro is an engineering marvel is one of the busiest in the world with it’s two hundred “over the top’ stations festooned with gigantic chandeliers and magnificent frescos adorning the walls and ceilings. Simply taking a train from one of these stations gives the visitor the feeling of being inside a cavernous art gallery.

The architecture of this city is alluring and, like Paris, one can never tire of it. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Moscow was a centre of several religious cultures which ensured that believers embarked upon massive building programs meaning the skyline was dominated by the domes and spires of soaring Orthodox Churches.

With the fall of the Tsars and the subsequent Russian revolution saw the rise of the ‘soviet era’ when the overall appearance of the city began to change rather rapidly. Joseph Stalin set about ‘modernizing’ Moscow by building a network of wide avenues (some over ten lanes wide) meaning that many of the classic architectural structures were razed to make way for his expansionist views. Even the magnificent Kazan Cathedral wasn’t spared, flattened by Stalin’s bulldozers. Thankfully the cathedral was lovingly rebuilt and restored to its former glory during the 1990s under Brezhnev’s ‘Perestroika ‘reforms.

There is a lot more to Moscow than just awe-inspiring buildings, as it is one of the world’s most vibrant cities packed with nightclubs, bars and mega shopping malls.

Countless galleries and museums are filled to overflowing with the work of old masters and no visit to the city would be complete without a visit to the Tretyakov Gallery which will literally take your breath away.

A night at the Bolshoi Ballet is a must as both the performance and fairy tale architecture of the theatre is a memory that will last a lifetime. To experience the city’s culture one only has to take a wander through the old Arbat area where once Russia’s classic writers and composers sat around drinking coffee and arguing with their contemporaries.

The current state of the Russian Rouble, Moscow is now a lot more affordable than it was just five years ago so now is the perfect time to visit.

Really it’s a city not to be missed!