Spending One Day in Moscow on a Layover

In 2007, when I visited St Petersburg with my parents as part of a vacation to the Baltic region of Europe, I remember being struck by the city’s elaborate architecture and world-class art. My family and I spent nearly a week walking up and down St Petersburg’s bustling streets and cruising the city’s canals–taking in the sights of glimmering gold-domed churches, world-class museums and grandiose palaces

Yet, after a visit to Russia’s cultural capital, I immediately realized that I had barely scratched the surface of what the world’s largest country had to offer. I longed to delve deeper into the land of nesting dolls and onion domes.

So, when I received the opportunity to visit Moscow for one day on a work trip this past summer, I leapt at the chance. I had seen the country’s artistic and elegant soul when I visited St Petersburg. This was my chance to see the its vibrant and pulsating heart.

 

VISITING THE BEST OF MOSCOW IN ONE DAY

While once closed off to much of the western world, Russia has opened up in recent years, making it possible for tourists to visit the once-forbidden land and marvel at the city’s rich architectural and cultural heritage.

Still, for many westerners–especially Americans–Russia sits largely off the trodden tourist trail.

And this is likely because traveling in Russia still has many challenges. The visa is expensive, tourist infrastructure is relatively nonexistent and English is seldom spoken. Not to mention, Moscow has climbed atop the list of the world’s most expensive cities.

I knew that if I wanted to see Moscow, I should pick up a trip on my off days and work a flight to Russia’s capital. Though there are more things to do in Moscow than I could possibly fit within a day, this would be my chance to visit Russia the easy way–without having to worry about applying for a tourist visa or figuring out my own accommodation and transportation from the airport. I wanted to spend more than one day in Moscow, but couldn’t pass up the ease of visiting Russia’s capital city on a 24 hour layover for work. 

It did not matter that my schedule was so busy that I could barely string two days off in a row. It didn’t matter that I was exhausted and overworked. I was going to see the Red Square before summer’s end, whatever the cost. 

And the Red Square did not disappoint.

 

THE RED SQUARE

The Red Square dazzled me with its brilliance and impressed me with its opulence and splendor. I entered the complex through the Resurrection Gate at the square’s northwest end. The sight of the square’s iconic buildings took my breath away immediately.

To the left, I could see the peach-colored Kazan Cathedral and the colossal GUM Department Store. To the right, I could see the stately walls of the Kremlin. Behind me, stood the imposing neo-Russian State Museum and its delicate spires. And directly ahead, the colorful swirls of St Basils candy-like domes rose above a sea of gawking tourists.

Lined with strikingly ornamented buildings and crowned by cheery onion domes, the grandiose and monumental square is not only a testament to Russia’s artistic and cultural heritage, but also the epicenter of the country’s political and social history. The Red Square has been an important public marketplace and meeting point for centuries and its origins date to the late 15th century. During the Soviet era, it became the focal point of the new state and housed parades and military demonstrations that were designed to showcase Soviet strength.

When I visited Moscow, the Red Square was abuzz with activity. I witnessed grim-faced soldiers keeping watch over the entrances to the Kremlin and Lenin’s Mausuleum, while throngs of tourists took pictures of the monuments. In the opulent orthodox shrines, old babushkas lit candles, while fashion-conscious youth flooded in and out of the GUM Department Store, carrying bags of designer clothes.

I sat on a patch of grass in the shadow of the Kremlin’s walls, absorbing the chaotic jumble of activity around me and admiring the city’s juxtaposition of old and new.

 

THE KREMLIN

After spending more than an hour at the Red Square, I crossed the Moscva River in order to view the fortified walls of the Kremlin from afar. From the bridge, I could see glistening cathedral domes peering over the red-brick walls. Unfortunately, I was not able to set foot on the grounds of the presidential palace, since the Kremlin complex is closed to visitors on Thursdays.

 

NIKOLSKAYA STREET AND THE GUM DEPARTMENT STORE

After circling the Kremlin, crossing the river and wandering up and down the escalators of the GUM Department Store, I realized I still had a bit of time before my appointment with a fellow crew member, so I wandered down Nikolskaya Street. The pedestrian drag that connects the Kazan Cathedral to Lubyanka Square, contains a mix of ornate buildings and high-end stores. It is the center of Moscow’s luxury shopping district and has a remarkably cosmopolitan feel.

As I walked down Nikolskaya Street, I realized that Moscow was worlds away from the old Soviet capital I’d had in mind.

When I visited Moldova‘s breakaway republic of Transnistria in 2012, I felt as though I had stepped into an open-air museum of Soviet history. Statues of Lenin, billboards of sickles and drab grey buildings with serious-looking guards could be found everywhere. Yet Moscow—a city that was once the capital of the USSR—felt remarkably more European and modern.

Some relics of the USSR remain: the solemn faced security guards watching over the Kremlin’s walls, the rows of concrete high rises and, of course,  Lenin’s preserved and embalmed body. But so too are there grand shopping malls, well-dressed businessmen and women donning the latest fashions.

 

ARBAT STREET

In the afternoon of my 24 hour Moscow itinerary, I walked around the Kremlin towards Arbat Street–Moscow’s main pedestrian drag. Arbat Street is known for its souvenir shops and its eye-catching architecture. It is one of the oldest surviving streets in Moscow.

Unfortunately, as we were window shopping for souvenirs along Arbat Street, it started to rain, so we ducked into a cafe for dinner and waited for the rain to subside.

 

VISIT THE RED SQUARE AT NIGHT

When the rain let up a bit, my companion and I returned to the Red Square to see the buildings at night. It was my third time visiting the Red Square in less than 12 hours and, this time, the throngs of tourists that we had seen during the day were nearly gone. It was just us, the monumental buildings and the few other tourists who had decided to linger long enough to see the colorful domes of St Basil’s illuminate against the night sky.

Again, I was spellbound by the Red Square’s magic.

 

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I only had one day in Moscow, but my short 24 hour visit to Russia was everything that I had hoped it would be. Moscow can be a difficult and frustrating place to visit, but it’s also enthralling. Squeezed between drab apartment buildings and box-like high-rises, are pockets of intense and eye-catching beauty–ornately decorated buildings, gold-domed churches and, of course, the dazzling Red Square.

In the words of Winston Churchill, “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Modern and traditional, drab and beautiful, historical and cosmopolitan.

Perhaps that is what makes this land of paradoxes and contrasts such an alluring and fascinating place to visit.