Russia’s capital provides a mix of high culture and unashamed glitz
09.00: Start your morning at the 24-hour Simachev Bar (www.denissimachev.com) on the designer boutique-lined Stoleshnikov Pereulok. Owned by the darling of the Moscow fashion industry, Denis Simachev (who, rumour has it, is bankrolled by Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich), Simachev Bar is a small, cosy and quirkily designed bar/restaurant. Since opening in 2007 it has been a firm hit with Moscow’s young and beautiful, both for the clothes in the upstairs boutique as well as for its nightlife and the food in the downstairs bar/restaurant. The chef is British, and the eggs Benedict superb.
10.00: Walk down Tverskaya Street and enter Red Square through Resurrection Gate. This is a truly breathtaking experience – the vast expanse of the square is flanked by the multi-coloured onion domes of St Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow’s most famous landmark; the imposing walls of the Kremlin, looming over the simple granite of the Lenin Mausoleum; and the majestic elegance of GUM, Moscow’s famous and architecturally exquisite store. Double back, leave your bags and cameras (including phones with cameras) at the State Historical Museum’s left luggage office, and join the queue to see Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The former Soviet leader has been lying in his mausoleum for more than 80 years now, mummified by a closely guarded secret recipe invented especially for this purpose. After collecting your bags and cameras head across Red Square for a look around St Basil’s Cathedral.
11.00: Wander through the three glass-roofed arcades of GUM before visiting the Kremlin, the epicentre of power in Russia and the oldest part of Moscow. A plethora of gold-domed churches and cathedrals are enclosed inside the Kremlin’s 2.25km wall. The oldest buildings date to the 15th century and the finest of them is the Assumption Cathedral with its five golden domes. Other ‘must-sees’ are the Ivan the Great Bell Tower (the tallest structure in Moscow until the 20th century), the Tsar Bell (the largest bell in the world at 202 tonnes), the Armoury, which houses such royal extravagances as jewelled thrones and gold carriages, as well as a collection of Fabergé eggs, and finally the Diamond Fund exhibition which includes a 190-carat diamond belonging to Catherine the Great.
13.00: Head down into the nearby Ploshchad Revolyutsii metro station and spend five minutes admiring the slightly larger-than-life bronze statues idealising the men and women of the socialist revolution. These include workers, peasants, soldiers, aviators and a hunter with his dog. Then take the metro to Partizanskaya (confusingly the station is also known by its old name, Izmailovsky Park). The station was completed during World War II and was named in honour of the partisans who resisted the Nazi invaders. Following the martial theme, at the top of the platform’s columns are bas-relief Kalashnikov assault rifles.
13.30: Follow the crowds down to Izmailovsky Park’s Vernissage market, a living, breathing museum of Russian history and culture. Religious icons, silver samovars, original Soviet propaganda posters and memorabilia, pre-revolution antiques and traditional weaving, to name but a few, are on offer every Saturday and Sunday for the discerning shopper and souvenir hunter. What makes this place truly fascinating is, while visited by tourists, a large number of those buying are Russian, many nostalgic for the past. Start with lunch as you enter; both the plov (an Uzbek lamb and rice dish) and shashlik (kebab) are highly recommended.
16.00: On the way back to the centre, change onto the Circle Line at Kurskaya metro station and travel around this line, getting out at each station to admire the architectural magnificence and diversity that is unique to the Moscow Metro’s ‘underground palaces’.
17.00: Head back to your hotel to freshen up and get into suitable attire for a night out on the town.
19.00: Take advantage of some world-class high culture at affordable prices at the Bolshoi Theatre (www.bolshoi.ru/en)
21.00: Have dinner at the $50m folly Turandot (26/5 Tverskoi Bulvar, (+7) 495 739 0011) which, for sheer extravagance, cannot be beaten, even if its Chinese-Japanese menu falls slightly short of the regal surroundings.
23.30: Head to Rai Club (Bolotnaya Naberejnaya 9), the latest addition to Moscow’s already wildly sybaritic nightlife. If you make it past the ‘face control’, be prepared for everything the legendary Moscow party scene has to offer, with a twist of the bizarre… think gargoyles, serpents, waterfalls, go-go dancers and cash.
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