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Regular version of the site

Where to Take a Stroll in Moscow

Old Arbat is the most popular pedestrian precinct for muscovites and visitors alike. It first made history in 1493 when a church there caught fire. When the fire spread to neighbouring wooden buildings almost all of Moscow burnt down. Many writers, poets, artists, sculptors, architects, composers and academics have lived in the Arbat District and some of their apartments have become museums.

For lovers of Russian poetry there’s the Alexander Pushkin apartment-museum, the Mikhail Lermontov house-museum, the Andrey Bely memorial apartment and the Marina Tsvetaeva house-museum. The apartment museum of pianist and composer Alexander Scriabin contains his synesthesia piano device (worth a look) and not far off are the memorial rooms of the writer Nikolay Gogol. Incidentally, Arbat wasn’t always for pedestrians only. from 1930-1950 it was a government controlled route which Stalin and his entourage took to the Kremlin and the street was heavily guarded by the security services. With the collapse of the USSR, Arbat became a favourite place for Moscow tourists. It turned into a big street market where tourists could buy the things most associated with Russia – Matrioski (russian dolls), valenki (felt boots), and ushanki (fur hats with ear flaps). Artists sold their paintings and musicians busked. Arbat has changed a lot in recent years. The souvenir stalls and artists have all but vanished. The street is easier to walk down and quieter for residents but that doesn’t stop the Arbat from being one of the capital’s most bright and interesting streets.

nearest metro stations: Arbatskaya (light or dark blue lines), Smolenskaya (dark blue line)

Gorky Park is one of the most popular outdoor places in Moscow. It hasn’t always been the way we think it is now. Not so long ago, the park was almost deserted, people only came to go on the funfair rides. You’ll find it hard to believe if you visit the park today. These days it is all fashionable restaurants, free wi-fi, outdoor yoga classes, a ping-pong club, a beach volley-ball pitch with lovely white sand, deck chairs on grassy lawns, bike stands and good bikes for rent, a modern skating rink in winter and a wooden beach in summer. And in summer the Pioneer cinema becomes an auditorium for the open lecture series when HSE professors give free lectures to city residents on economics, history, philosophy, design, urban studies, culture.

Thousands of people visit Gorky Park every day. We recommend going during the week because at the weekend it’s so crowded you spend a lot of time waiting in line. If you are tired of company you can always escape into Neskuchny Garden, wander in the shade of the trees and try to find the Oar Girl sculpture. She was the symbol of the park when it first opened in Soviet days (and the story goes that she was removed because her naked figure was deemed too sexy for the general public). You can barely hear the traffic in Neskuchny and you can sit all day on the embankment, watch the city bustling on the other bank and wave to the tourists on the river tour boats.

9 Krymsky Val, nearest metro stations: Park Kultury (red line), Oktyabrskaya (circle line), free entry