Part one- Moscow
Reading time-15 minutes
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| Saint Basil's Cathedral |
I traveled east for 74 days. I crossed 5 countries and the first country was Russia.
General Information
The Trans-Siberian is a 7 day journey from Moscow to Vladivostok .The distance is 9289 km.
Of course you can break the journey as many times as you want and I highly recommend that otherwise all you'll see is endless wilderness , birch trees ,swamps , small villages and towns every now and then.
The price depends on the comfort you demand and the stops you make along the journey.There are three classes to chose from 1st-,2nd and 3rd . In general I found the prices quite reasonable.
The season you chose depends on the scenery you want to look at and how you can handle cold/hot.
I traveled in Russia for 17 days from 1st to the 17th of October so it was Autumn. Beautiful colors of the trees.The weather happened to be nice and since it was off season there were very little tourists, so I mainly traveled and interacted with Russians. It's good if you could speak a little Russian or at least read Cyrillic but anyhow ,I think you'll get through even if you don't speak ,people will try to talk to you in Russian though.
I highly recommend buying and reading the Trans-Siberian Handbook by Bryn Thomas .
I had an old 2001 edition but I found a lot of the information still applicable, except train timetables and some other things which you can check online.It's a great source of information.
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| GUM |
The initial plan to fly to Helsinki and enter Russia by train failed due to my lack of organization and I lost 1 week from my visa in preparation, which was a shame. I obtained a 28 days visa for Russia from Sept 24th to Oct 21st.To get a Russian visa you need to have visa support (which you can buy online from travel agencies or from hotels in Russia) travel insurance, a passport valid for at least 6 months and a photo. In the beginning, I decided to apply myself in the visa center in Sofia but I figured out that it would be even more expensive to do it myself, so I found a company Solvex in Plovdiv which did everything for me and saved me the hassle. I only gave them my passport and a photograph and the visa was ready in 10 days. So after I lost 1 week I decided to skip Helsinki and St Petersburg and fly directly to Moscow on the 1st October with Bulgaria air.
I arrived at Sheremetievo airport in the evening and when I walked out of it I found myself in quite a difficult situation.I thought that since I could read Cyrillic and know a few words in Russian I'll be OK-wrong.I had no Idea which way to go and all the signs looked really confusing. When the taxi driver saw me wandering around like a headless chicken started chasing me with their offers so I had to lie that I'm waiting for someone to pick me up.Eventually I asked a girl and she pointed me where I could go and get a train Aeroexpress to a train station ,where I could transfer to the metro.So I did it after 30 minutes I was at Belaruski vokzal(trainstation) .I got on the metro and after asking several people I finally arrive at the Borovitskaya station where I had booked a hostel for two nights(my only reservation)I had no Idea how I'll continue after that .The hostel is Called Kremlin Lights and it's a bit hidden ,so it took a while until I found it although it was very centrally located. You could actually see the Kremlin when you walk out of it.I did the check in and dropped my huge backpack and went off for a walk towards the Red Square.After about 15-20 minutes I was there and I was so impressed.It was very beautiful in the night with all the lights ,St Basil cathedral is magnificent and GUM with all the lighting and Kremlin with the beautiful landscape in front make the square looks amazing at night. After a short stroll and a few shots i went back to the hostel. Next day I visited the Cathedral Hrista Spasitel which was nearby, Red square again and started walking around central Moscow just to look around.In the evening I had a meeting with Dmitry from Moscow who had just returned from his trip in Bulgaria.We couldn't meet there so decided to meet on Russian land.He took me to a really nice Georgian restaurant in Kitai Gorod where he treated me to a delicious meal. After that we had some craft beers in a bar opposite the KGB building in Moscow.Dmitry was born and raised in Moscow so he gave me a few tips on some of the nicest places to visit in the city VNDH-a ,ВДНХ-а,Moscow State University -Университет,Коломенское парк,Kolomenskoe park-museum and a day trip to Sergiyev posad town-the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church.
He also suggested to download the Yandex app ,the maps all Russians use to get around and buy a local sim card from tele2 mobile operator.
I went to visit the Bolshoi Theatre. Next to the box office there was a queue waiting for tickets .A student -Nikita approached me and asked if I want a free ticket for a student play Severna Odiseya/Northern Oddisey in a smaller hall on the left side of Bolshoi Theater.He bought it for a friend who couldn't make it to the concert.So I went with them The play was really cool and was about people who were trying to move vodka from one place to another and the Perestroika in Russia. Apart from the teachers, I might have been one of the oldest in the hall with all the students.In the antrakt me, Nikita and all his friends ,aviation students shared a bottle of whisky they've brought :) After the play I went with them for a short walk , we had some food in a local McDonalds and then we parted.All of them were very nice and smart guys.
Moscow city center is kept very clean and it's difficult to see any rubbish on the street.The streets are washed almost 24/7.It was as clean as it was in Japan actually.
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| Kremlin in the background .Very close to the hostel I stayed.in The streets are washed all the time. |
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| Hristos Spasitel Cathedral-Christ the Saviour |
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| Cool metro stations |
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| Another metro station |
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| Bolshoi theatre |
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Red Square  |
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| Beautiful churches in Sergiev Posad |
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| Sergiev Posad |
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| Sergiev posad |
I want to mention the journey to get there though as it was very interesting.I think the train was just like the old 'elektrichka' trains that we still use here in Bulgaria and it was stopping at small villages.On the way there there were maybe more than 20 merchants who passed through our carriage selling all kind of stuff from secateurs,glue,torches and demonstrating how exactly everything works.
Some of them had a mic in front of their mouth and amp hanging on their neck.One guy was even selling electric shocks and teasers for self defense! .It was very entertaining journey
be checked at every metro station,train station , everywhere.You do have to have your passport with you all the time in case you're stopped for a check.Also you need to register in every hotel/hostel you stay.They normally do it for you and give you a stamped paper with the dates saying that you've stayed with them.
I highly recommend taking a tour around the Moscow metro.
All the stops on the circle line 5 are very beautiful.The steps on the metro go very deep under the ground.
It's very fast and trains go one after the other so it's very good to get around and if you buy a Troika card it's even cheaper than the metro in Sofia.Don't tell me that Moscow is an expensive city !
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| Университет |
I managed to visit all the places suggested by Dmitry .On the last night of my visit I went out with Natalia -a girl I met at a CS event the previous night.She is also from Moscow and showed me around a bit more of the city.We walked together down Stary Arbat street where there are a lot of souvenir shops ,street performances and street art.We bumped into a Bulgarian guy who was trying to attract customers to a local Turkish shop.He complained about his life in Moscow for 5 years and he said that he want to return back to Bulgaria.He didn't have the best job ,chasing people on the street ,so I could understand his point of view .I quite liked Moscow for the 5 days I stayed there but his words did make me think .
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| Стари Арбат |
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| Modern buildings |
That night I already had my backpack packed at the hostel so went back there ,took it and caught the metro to Yaroslavski voklzal .I felt it was time to go, so I bought my ticket on the Trans Siberian 20 minutes before the departure of the train.A young girl going to St Petersburg tried to chat me up and I gave her my email.She never emailed me back..
At 23.30 I boarded the international train to Pekin. For the next four days I was on the train travelling 5185 km to Irkutsk.
That;'s how my journey began.
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