Moscow River Cruise - One of the Obligate Things to Do in Moscow, Russia

Moscow River Cruise

Everytime my colleagues visit our office in Moscow during summer I reserve them a time in agenda to take a cruise on Moscow river.

There is not too much to see and do in Moscow if you are not in love with visiting art museums, churches, monasteries or night clubs. That's why every good tip on what to do is invaluable.

Moscow river cruise gives you an opportunity to look at the most famous attractions of Moscow in close view from the best lookout points - the deck of the river tram or the river banks.

There are several stops and as soon as the boat moves very slowly (more than hour one way) you may decide to do not follow all the way but I recommend you the full route.

Take a taxi or metro ("Пролетарская" - "Proletarskaya" station) to get to the pier near Novospasskiy Monastery and Novospasskiy Bridge.

Visit monastery to touch to the ortodox architecture and interiors.

Cashiers at the pier ticket booth will not speak any languages except Russian with 99% probability. Give them 1000 roubles per ticket, use fingers to explain how many tickets you need and grab the change. Try to manage to explain however that you need a special ticket "proezdnoy na ves' den'" if you are going to hop-on-hop-off.
You may print and show the following:

ДАЙТЕ МНЕ, ПОЖАЛУЙСТА, ПРОЕЗДНОЙ НА ВЕСЬ ДЕНЬ.

Jump onto a boat. Departures every roughly 30 min.

First you will see and pass the impressive new concert hall building on the left bank.


Then, on the right bank, where the tributary Yauza runs into Moscow River, you will see one of the 7 famous and impressive Stalin's Skyscrapers. This is the "Residential House on the Kotelnicheskaya Embarkment" where the huge and prestigious flats were given by government to the most powerful people of Stalin's era. Photos are especially stunnig during late day light.

You can jump of and walk around the old houses and small churches of tiny streets of Solyanka area.

Passing the big construction zone you may remember old photos of the area with a huge Soviet style palace - Hotel "Rossija". The biggest hotel in Europe with several thousand rooms next to the Kremlin walls has been demolished in 2007.

Now take a breath. It's Kremlin. Hurry to make shots.


Just several hundred meters down the river is the main Russian Ortodox Cathedral - Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Being demolished by communists for the purpose to build an outdoor swimming pool "Chaika" it was rebuilt after Perestroyka.

There is also the ugly monument of the greatest Russian tsar - Peter The Great - by sculptor Tseretelly and the stunning brick buildins which used to be the most branded Russian chocolate and confetry factory "Red October" - "Красный Октябрь". Despite it moved to the new location it still produces the best chocolate confetries ever. Buy and enjoy them being in Moscow.

You can't jump off here to visit the cathedral or to walk around another part of the heart of old Moscow. But if you really want you can jump off next stop and then to make a couple km walk along the wide embarkment back to the previous stop bypassing the cathedral and the Kremlin. Crossing the pedestrian bridge to the left bank you can walk to President Hotel one of the most acceptable places to stay if you are not rich enough to pay 500USD for a standard room in alternative 4 or old 5 star hotels.

You can continue your cruise for another half hour journey to bypass or jump off
* at famous but nothing to do Gorky Park,
* Russian space-shuttle "Buran",
* charming Letniy Sad park,
* the "Red Army" Headquarter,
* huge sportcomplex built for the 1980 Olympic games with famous "Luzhniki" stadium,
* Vorobyovy Gory Lookout and Moscow State University
* legendary Novodevichiy monastery
* to the "Kievskiy Vokzal" train station
* walk to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Stalin skyscraper and to Arbat Street

On this leg of the cruise boat stops at following places:

1) Krymskiy Bridge opposite Gorky Park - to walk back to the cathedral and the Kremlin

2) Gorky Park - to visit the park (I wouldn't).

3) Opposite "Luzhniki" stadium. Here you can climb up the popular among wedding couples, tourists and all Moskovits "Vorobievy Gory Lookout" to look at the Moscow, to buy surprizingly cheap souvenirs and to be impresed by another Stalin's Skyscraper - The Moscow State University (Lomonosov's MGU). Be jelous - I studied there for 5 years. Right in the top of the tower.

3) Near "Kievskiy Vokzal" - you can go to metro station here or cross the river by the bridge to another Stalin's skyscraper - The Ministry Of the Foreign Affairs. Just after the building starts the famous pedestrian Arbat Street - a Montmartre de Moscu.

Using such an unusual mean of transportaion you can spend a wonderful day visiting all the most famous and impressive Moscow's attractions. The best option for one day visitors. No public traffic hustle. No Traffic jams. Just an amazing cruise, easy walks, stunning photo shots.

Detailed information is here, but it's in Russian: http://www.cck-ship.ru/?con_id=city




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Whitewater Patagonia and more... as seen on Travel Channel!

Caution: I do not accept any advertizing bonuses for the placement in the "Amazing Websites" section. Only the gems which amazed me could appear here. It's free. I will be thankful for your recommendations and nominations and will consider with my pleasure any website which amazed you. But I would keep the right to tell only about those ones which, per my opinion, could impress my readers.

Earth River Expeditions
http://www.earthriver.com/


Things I'm amazed:

One of the intrepid journeys I would participate.

One of the most impressive landscapes I would see.

One of the most stylish designs I would enjoy. The pages just brief with romance and thrill the imagination!

The greatest opportunity to make a virtual adventure if cannot do in real life. Yet.


Things I would change:

I think the volume of flash is annoying, and it could be easily substituted in most cases by simple interactive images. That's exactly the case when desiners crazy of flash forget what for it is dedicated.

Navigation is also too complicated: not obviouse and not intuitive - if I have to think where to click - it's desiners mistake. Regardless how stupid I am.

More "Excitement" Than You Have Paid For! orWhat Happens When You Reach the Bottom?

Our world undergoes the sinusoidal principals of periodic declines and climbings. In our days of the global recession when everyone waits when we reach the bottom and start climbing up I would like to share with you the truly unexpected experience. It's hard to believe but there was a case in my life when I got an idea that it's probably not so great to live in periodic world.

It was Bungy Jumping!

It's really interesting to think how strange the trivial or not so trivial things unexpectedly push you to philosophic discoveries. Now I know that whatever could make you philosopher, even the falling with the bullet speed (was it 2 Mach or it's too much?) down to the Earth surface.

- Man, your knees are shaking, - bungy master tried to take the strain off.
- I bet!

Crane raised us up to 75 meters from the sea level. The night lights on the embankment of Turkish resort Kushadasi laid under and in front of us. Ants watched up expecting the next thrilling fun - one more stupid jumper trying to be cool.

- Turn around. Now take your hands off these rails, if you do not jump I will push you.
- No need. I can fly.

No doubts I can. It's easy to die in sight. Especially if there's a huge crowd below.

I spread my hands and jumped in a classic style seen on TV.

My first discovery was:

DISCOVERY 1: "To fall" does not mean "to fly".
Yeh, you rather feel yourself a dropping pickaxe with the stretched out hands rather then a glyding bird with the spread wings.

DISCOVERY 2: You have time to think about if you fall from the high enough altitude.
I thought about one thing: when it will finish?

DISCOVERY 3: No need to worry about your legs.
I was worrying whether my legs will remain with me when the rope will stop my fall. No problem there. It slows down gently. It slows down and you have more extra time to think about.

And that's exactly the illumination moment. The moment when you make your philosophic discovery about imperfection of periodic world:
DISCOVERY 4: Damn, it will pull me up again!
Right, dude, that's exactly the whole idea of Bungy:

TO GIVE YOU MORE "EXCITEMENT" THEN YOU HAVE PAID FOR!!!

From this moment you start enjoying Bungy Jumping again. And again. And again. And...
Of course amplitude reduces and 50 meters are much lower then 75 metres! What we are talking about! It's just a poor 17 storey building! Even nothing to discuss!

And, right, don't forget that all this time you need to look like a cool man not like a sack of shit! Crowd's looking, dude:
DISCOVERY 5: It's a hard job for your legs to keep you in a vertical position.
My calfs remembered my endless jumping for a couple days like after the ice hockey match. My back also remembered how I tried to keep the face up pulling head back as a maniac victim with a knife near the throat!

There are several hundred meter bungy in New Zealand, Africa and other parts of the world. I am not sure that bungy is what should inspire me or you to go there. But, mates, after all of above, being there, would you miss an opportunity to try?

Russia Travel Tips: Train Travel

Despite the ugly quality of hotels in Russia, the quality of trains is unExpectedly high.

Train travel was always popular in Russia. And it will remain for a long time in the future. There is a specific romance for Russian soul to travel by train. Every of us lives in more or less limited world and we do not face other worlds very often. Train is a place where we meet people from different worlds, of different occupancies, lifestyles, classes, interests, places. Long talks with strangers you'll never see anymore, the sound of knocking wheels, vast country running outside the window and the early childhood memories, of course, will always attract people.

Besides it's cheap and night trains help to save money on hotels (which cost crazy in Russia).



The quality of the trains is dramatically different depending on price. And the cheap tickets are normally booked several weeks in advance. Expensive class tickets are normally available at any moment. Sales opens 45 days before departure. You cannot book ticket. Only buy. But cancellation policy is reasonable (ask travel agent or locals for your exact trip).

The only problem is that staff never speaks English (Spanish, Deutsch, French), but very often is highly keen in informal Russian. So it's better to travel with local friends or to learn Russian. There are chances to find some passengers speaking English, but do not rely on this too much. Do not get lost during stops on way - no chances to find anybody speaking English somewhere in deep regional Russia between the biggest cities. There are no English signs or notices in Russia. You are in risk to get lost forever. I always recommend you to have mobile contact with local Russian friend or Travel Agent who speaks English (or your native language).


Here we do not discuss suburb trains (which are better to avoid for foreign travellers), but we tell about inter-city trains.

Normally trains in Russia contain many cars (wagons), from 12 to 18. They are divided for different categories. Not all categories are represented in every train, but usually there are always 3 options. There is also Restaurant-Wagon (Vagon-restoran) in the middle of the train.

Regardless of category wagons and trains are normally clean inside but with dirty unwashed windows.

There are different categories of wagons:

1. Sidyachiy (Сидячий) - Seating - the cheapest
2. Platskartniy (Плацкартный) - sleeping in crowd (52 bunks per wagon in sections without doors) - very hot, no ventilation, romantic odour of dirty socks, boiled eggs, fried chickens, salted cucumbers and vodka. Unforgettable experience for truly Russian travel. Most of windows will never be opened.
3. Kupe, Kupeyniy (Купе, купейный) - sleeping in separate cabins with doors (4 bunks per cabin). There is a huge gap in comfort and price between Kupe and lower categories. Very often it is the best option for normal traveller: no luxury and no extream.
4. Spalny (Спальный) - Sleeping VIP. - The best option for the romantic trip with girlfriend. Sleeping cabins of high comfort with 2 wide soft bunks per cabin. Great opportunity for long trip together! Only one disadvantage - price. Sometime higher than flight.

There are also some variations, like 3 bunk cabins on trains running to Europe, but they are not so common.

Trains are also of different categories.

1. Passazhirskiy poezd (Пассажирский поезд) - passenger train - the slowest train which stops very frequently. Low quality interior. Delays sometime. The cheapest price. Cost almost nothing in Platzcart or Sidyachiy class. Mostly they are fine for travel without any problems. But ask local advice before making your decision. Sometime such trains might be not only ugly, but even dangerous. Especially if they are legendary runs from the usual prisoner areas when a crowds of released "ex"-crimes return home. Some of heroes do not manage to complete their journey and are convoyed back. Moscow - Vorkuta is one of such legendary trains. But in almost all other cases it is fine option for cheap travel.

2. Skoriy poezd - (Скорый поезд) - fast train. Excellent trains. Clean. Cheap. Little number of stops.

3. Firmeniy poezd (Фирменный поезд) - brand trains. The best option for VIP travel. These trains are the most comfortable and famous trains. Almost every intercity railway has at least one such train daily. They all bear the individual brand names and are the pride of owning railway. High comfort inside. Air conditioning. Cabin service etc. Like a perfect hotel on wheels (only if you do not select Plazcartny wagon, which are normaly 2-3 per brand train). If you want to travel in Sleeping VIP wagon (Spalny) you normally will find them only here, in firmeniy poezd.

There are also some specific trains like Super-expresses (between Moscow and Saint-Petersburg) and others.


In fact all the railways in Russia belong to semi-governmental company RZD - Russian Railways (Российские Железные Дороги). Football fans know their famous football club "Locomotiv" (which did not win UEFA cups though, yet). However, different sections has separate sub-rulling and are in a kind of competition to each other in terms of quality (not price).


Russia Train Timetable

Moscow - St.Petersburg trains and TransSiberian train from Moscow to Vladivostok are the most popular among foreigners. I hope to have an opportunity to tell about them in more details later.

Hot Hot Air Ballooning

This post opens the the new section of the "WildBron is On", which we will call "unExpected Experiences". It's about what I did not mind before I tried.


- I told you, bring a cap, - pilot shakes his head.
- Yeah, but it was too late.

It was a mid summer in Moscow and we took off for our first in a lifetime Hot Air Balloon flight. We had no idea how it is upstairs "outside the airplane cabin". Wishing to be prepared we prepared everything from Pepsi to warm high-mountain dawn equipment. But everything was not necessary at all. All was left in the ground-escort mini-van. Caps (or hat if you prefer) - the only what we needed. And the only what we did not have.

It's not cold in a sky. Of course, if you will take part in the serious flight on high altitudes you find out that temperature drops a degree per every couple hundred meters, but "normally tourists don't fly too high". Sounds like aphorism. Should remember this.

Soon after boarding we understood why Hot Air Ballooning is called "Hot". It's really hot above your head. Besides I found one more disadvantage of being tall (you know I collect all those funny things like obstructed view in a bus when you stay not having seat): The taller you are the closer is the fire.

Balloon is not a toy in a hands of the wind. Or more correct: it is a toy, but pilot can control how wind plays with it. Everyone asks pilot:
-How do you know where we will go?
There is no steering wheel. But the atmosphere is pretty chaotic and damnly whimsical Lady. Changing the height, pilot is able to catch the wind of the required direction. Our pilot was of real Russian aces, owning the 230 km in a day non-stop flight record, but the only small problem he faced - we did not have wind at all. Nowhere. On all heights. After 1.5 hours of hanging we moved ahead just for around 2km.

Another thing which I knew before and wanted to make sure is: There is no wind when you ballooning. Balloon follows the wind and only some unexpected blows break the impression of a quiet whether. I did not have an opportunity to make sure due to calm weather, but pilot assured me that it's true.

Buoyancy control is everything for Hot Air Ballooning. Remembering the difficulties with my underwater buoyancy control during diving I was surprised how professionals can manage this huge inertial body of the hot air. Keeping 5 centimetres above the ground or the tree-tops is not a problem for professionals but another unExpected Experience for passengers.

I'd now want to try it somwhere above NgoroNgoro. Would you?

Travel Visa to Egypt: Do you need visa? or How I was deported from Egypt.

This is a short story of how I was deported from Egypt for not having entry visa and what to do to avoid this. Seams strange. But visa matters are always full of stupidity, idiotism and unexpected surprises.

I mostly avoid travelling to the countries with strict visa regulations (except on business trips). This is not because I'm afraid to be refused visa granting (I doubt that it may happen with my travel record and social status), but just because of being too proud to beg for permit to visit not the obviously best places of the world. However since my first visit to Egypt I faced unexpected trouble: "Open & Welcoming" countries are not so Open and Welcoming.

I was going to make a 4 day trip from Moscow to Jordan with overnights in Cairo (to visit the Pyramids). I heard that Egypt has a kind of tricky non-visa status so before I left home I made a phone call to Egyptian Embassy in Moscow and ask them to grant me tourist visa. They were (as all the embassy officers) very arrogant and irritated and did not want even talk to me. They strictly refused to talk about this because:
1) They do not have visa department, stamps, application forms and any other visa facilities.
2) Citation: "Russians do not need visa to Egypt".

I tried to insist but they stopped the conversation.

On my way to Jordan I crossed the Egyptian border with a crowd of Russian tourists and Got my lucky 10 $ (or so) stamp labeled into passport.


After a lovely trip around northern Egypt and across Jordan I was on my way back to Moscow.

The Flight from Amman to Cairo landed at around 2 a.m. - the very deep night. Airport was empty and I was the only passenger with European face on board. So no any chances to mix with the crowd. It was almost unavoidable that I filtered out and taken aside.

The arrogant Egyptian officer had nothing to do in a night time so he had a lot of time to play his role. Our arguing continued for about couple hours, but the short thesises were like this:

- You do not have visa.
- I contacted Egyptian Embassy in Moscow they said I do not need visa.
- They are stupid. I say you: you need visa.
- Do you have Boss above you?
- I am Boss.
- May I call the Embassy?
- You can but they sleep. Tomorrow you will.
- But my flight departs tomorrow at noon. I will spend just some hours in your country. I simply want to sleep at the bed.
- I can let you pass through if you find an Egyptian tourist company which will invite you.
- I have an invitation letter from Sales Manager of InterContinental Hotels we have an appointment for the breakfast and I just want to take a taxi to go to my bed in InterConti

It was absolute true, our company was a GSA of InterConti in Russia and I booked the Pyramis Park Hotel for the special Travel Agent rate and had an appointment and the letter on the official IterConti yellowish paper with the golden letterhead and logo. I showed him a letter.

- It's a fake.
- What makes you think so? This is my business card.
- Anyway. It is not enough. You must have a Travel Agency inviting you.
- Well. Now what?
- I can call my friend. He is a travel agent.
- And how much does it cost?
- 400 US$.
-???? What? Do you have cell or cage where I can wait for my plane and take a wooden bed with insects and killers?

At that time all the people around us (Egypt Air staff, Customs and others) tried to convince that officer that he is too..., that he probably should find better job for tonight, but this only made him more resistant and I was pompously DEPORTED.

Three guards and one slim well-shaped sexy stewardess convoyed me to... Egypt Air's Transit Zone Hotel. I checked-in for both hotel and flight (which should depart at least 8 hours later) my baggage was also checked in for the flight. I spotted a Rack rates on a wall and found that one night stay costs 90US$, but I even was not sure that I have such a huge money.

-How much should I pay?
-Nothing.
-????
-This is Egypt Air's fault. We should not allow you to board the plain and now we have to cover cost of your accommodation.

It was very nice. I would even say it was great! But only one thought about what could happen if they do not allow me to board a plane in Amman made me cold sweating.

In the morning I was woken up just 40 minutes before flight departure and it was exactly enough time to wake up, check out the hotel and pass into the plain. No customs, no baggage check, no queuing - It was like left your home and take your bus to the office.

TIPS ON TRAVELLING TO NON-VISA COUNTRIES

All good what ends good. But I would recommend you couple simple things to help you to avoid troubles in future:

1. If you go to non-visa country via travel agent - it should not be a problem as they arrange all the procedures, pay certain bribes and make friends with right people. So organized groups are legalized. However, you know, there are always dodgy professionals in any industry. Make sure your agreement with travel agent contains clear statement of visa regulations so in case of problem Travel agent will have to cover your costs and moral damage.

2. If you travel independently - you might be potentially in trouble (but this is not a reason to stop an independent travelling). Even if country is definitely non-visa you should not relax and try to think in advance what you will do if it happens with you. You must have an itinerary flexibility, back doors and extra money to solve the problem. In my case I did not plan to stop in Egypt for the long time and in case of border trouble I was planning to hang around transit zone (what finally happened).

3. Very often countries which are commonly mentioned as non-visa destinations are not so in fact. Be careful. Most of non-visa countries just have a "liberal" forms of visas which could be obtained upon arrival. But that's a tricky question: what are the conditions. You should know about this before departure and we will discuss it in further posts in Travel Visa section.