Russia People & Culture

Moo Moo Restaurant, Old Arbat Street (next to Home from Home Hostel)
Nice Restaurant with Buffet, Barbecue, also local specialities. Meeting people is easy, fun place.
Meet Phil!

It's one of the most wonderful cities I have ever seen!
I would not even know where to start with all the things that are there to visit, but first of all I'd suggest to go in the summer. The winter must be quite magical up there, but to see it well surely good wheather is better. Especially around the end of June- beginning of July, when you can see the "White nights" (when the sun does not go down and it's pretty clear even at 2 am).
Once you're there, and you have a guide (I used lonelyplanet, it's quite good as far as places to visit/opening times/tips etc are concerned, but don't trust the prices. When I went there, for example, it said one underground ticket was 8rubles, but in fact it was 12), you can move quite easily with the underground. Still, some places are far from any station, so also get a map of the city (you can find it in any bookshop).
I would also suggest that you should learn some at least basic word in Russian, because most people don't even speak english there. For example: to buy an underground ticket (it's acually a coin), ask for "adnà proyèzdka". Thank you: "spasìba", please: "pazhàlsta" etc...
Better not to use tram or marshrutki if you're not sure where they're going ;) but if you do, the ticket for the tram is sold on board and for the marshrutka you pay directly to the driver (the price is written outside the car).
Said this, my favourite thing EVER was the church (which USED to be a church, now it's actually a museum) of the Saviour on the Spilt blood - it may seem a typical old russian thing, in comparison to all the other palaces in the city, which are more european, but actually it was made as an imitation of the actually old ones, in the 19th century. It's built on the place where the czar Alexander Ist (or was it II, anyway) was wounded to death.
And finally, you HAVE to taste khatchaupuri, a typical georgian thing. When you're walking along the Nevskij Prospekt, and you see a palace decorated with green statues on the first floor, take that perpendicular street and then turn right. After a while you'll have a "mama roma" (which is written like "MAMA POMA"), an italian restaurant (also good, and im saying it as an italian) on the right, and on the left a little georgian restaurant on the corner. Go there and ask for a "hatchapuri s sirom" (khatchapuri with cheese). It's S-P-E-C-T-A-C-U-L-A-R!
Enjoy St Peterburg :)

I won't be giving any advice about accomodation, cause a friend found blood on her matrass. However, cool to go to, even with a price comparable to cities like Stockholm, is Griboyedov club. It's a former bunker, and it's filled with crazy Russians! For people that can read Russian: http://www.griboedovclub.ru/ However, the basic rule is to ask your vodka on fire there, and inhale the fumes. All very cool.

When arriving to Moscow, try to pick up flight landing on Domodedovo.... it took me 2 hours in taxi from the airport Sheremetyevo to reach hotel; only afterwards I learnt foreing people mainly use Domodedovo....

Go to Club Dacha on Ulitsa Dumskaya. It's a foreigner locale, but always offers a good time, with great people and good old rock music and retro 80s. It is also easy to find a hot Russian girl that wants to practice her English. Drinks are inexpensive, but be warned...the bar gets extremely packed.

Have food in an open restaurant near the monument overlooking the Wolga river, and look at the soon to be married couples who take their pictures here. Otherwise be prepared for a culture shock and dont take a walk during the night.

Volgograd is a great Russian city rich with History and Culture. If you did not know, Volgograd was once known as the Famous city of Stalingrad, but was renamed after the Volga River that runs through it. I would strongly suggest seeing the Stalingrad War Memorial and Museum. The famous Russian Sniper Vassili Zaytsev is buried there, his Rifle and Diary are on display there. It was declared a "Hero City of WW2" by the British. If you can, try to talk to the locals, they can tell you stories that the tourist information won't tell you. Well if you have any more questions contact Peter Smirnov, it appears as Lt. Peter.

It's my home city, there are a lot of places, buildings showing a national culture, it is a city on a river, a beautiful landscape, a lot of restaurants, shops, clubs...

Give Hermitage museum at least a day. The Hermitage collections of works of art (over 3,000,000 items) present the development of the world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century.
Don't miss Picasso rooms! they are the best!

Sochi, the city of the Winter Olympics of 2014. There is a long way to go until the Olympics - rather small Airport and not too many Western Style Hotels.  I have been in Sochi and I liked it very much - very warm, southern style meditaranian culture - quite funny to think of Winter Olympics.  Will definitly go back during Winter and check out the slopes.

GENERATOR Club, Tolyatti
rock music/live club just outside of town. rather small but very rock'n'roll! the bar has just about nine beer glasses, so sometimes you have to wait for them to collect and wash 'em... lot of famous russian and also international bands played there.

Tinkoff Brewery/Restaurant: while the setting is rather upperclass, you can eat a lot for little money. Tinkoff is a Russian beer brewery, so you are at the source here ;)
They also serve sushi, and at night it turns into a club when local or national bands and DJs perform, from Rock to Electro.

Go to Club Dacha on Ulitsa Dumskaya. It's a foreigner locale, but always offers a good time, with great people and good old rock music and retro 80s. It is also easy to find a hot Russian girl that wants to practice her English. Drinks are inexpensive, but be warned...the bar gets extremely packed.

Moscow is an incredible city, with a lot of things to see in the daytime and a lot of club and disco for the nightlife.
I can speak about Red Square, Kremlin, etc etc... but I am sure u already know u cannot miss them. Something to take care of is the Metro.It is not just a metro, it is a piece of art, especially in the oldest lines. U must see these stops, at least: Komsomolskaya, Novoslobodskaya, Belorusskaya, Krasnopresnenskaya, Kievskaya, Ploshchad Rvolyutsii, Mayakovskaya.

As for restaurants:
Шашлык-машлык, Caucasian rest in Arbat street (Arbat 38/1). I tried an amazing plov: famous uzbek plate with rise and meat.
Glavpivtorg, Russian rest in Lubyanskaya (ul Bolshaya Lubyanka 5). Borsh was very good. This is one the best place to eat typical russian food in Moscow.

As for nightlife:
"Real McCoy" for easygoing night of dance and alcohol.
"Soho" for a more sofisticated environment.When I was there I found the performance of Moony, italian dance music singer.

Feel free to contact me for futher suggestions.

30th Agu, 2008

Hike up to the viewpoint. About halfway up there is a chair lift that will take you to the very top. It is a fairly easy hike. The ski lift is older and played disco music when I was there. The view is amazing! You can see a lot of the lake from there. Worth the trip. Also, take a boat trip for an hour (or more) to get a better view of the lake and some other towns on the lake. It is lovely!

If you like fish and sea food go to Porto Maltese restaurant - it's a lovely chain of Serbian restos in Moscow

Do try sea food in Yuzhno, although it is more expensive to by local salmon rather than from elsewhere. Red caviar is excellent quality and quite cheap. Try Yuzhno's fish market (rynok).

This was practically my birth and childhood town. Except from VERY extreme climate and nature, there is nothing to see. Fishing is great! We were living from it. Nowadays the island is almost uninhabited and, as I'have heard, is going to be closed for visitors.

Not an interesting city, mostly industrial; but, there are a couple of great mountains for winter sports.. good for snowboarding..

Take a fishing and smoke sauna trip to Lake Ladoga.

Moo Moo Restaurant, Old Arbat Street (next to Home from Home Hostel)
Nice Restaurant with Buffet, Barbecue, also local specialities. Meeting people is easy, fun place.
Meet Phil!

GENERATOR Club, Tolyatti
rock music/live club just outside of town. rather small but very rock'n'roll! the bar has just about nine beer glasses, so sometimes you have to wait for them to collect and wash 'em... lot of famous russian and also international bands played there.

Tinkoff Brewery/Restaurant: while the setting is rather upperclass, you can eat a lot for little money. Tinkoff is a Russian beer brewery, so you are at the source here ;)
They also serve sushi, and at night it turns into a club when local or national bands and DJs perform, from Rock to Electro.

Bring warm clothes whenever u come here, smt. we have snow in june;)

Has one of the worlds most modern underground tubes, have a look at it, you wouldnt expect it. Also try the various local dishes, some of them are ok some are really amazing.

Visit the Lake Baikal ! "The blue eye of Siberia" is the deepest and the largest freshwater lake in the world. During the last years, the Poutine's government built a lot of polluting industries all around the lake. Congratulations Mr President.

I visited Hassan, a rather poor Chechen back in 1992, before the wars. Hassan's simple house had no electricity, but he greeted us with grilled lamb and two bucket sized bowls full of caviar, one - red, the other one - black.

During the feast I asked Hassan what came of the Russian special forces unit that Eltsin's government had sent to "take care of things" in Grozny soon after Chechen's had declared independence. Hassan pointed to the back of his house.
"See the man in shackles weeding my garden? Ivan is one of them. He is our slave now."

The tip I took home was: come to Chechnya as a friend and you will be treated as a king; come to Chechnya as an enemy and you just might end up in shackles, doing hard labor in people's gardens...

That was 15 years ago. Things might have changed now. Who knows...

My last choices among economy class dining are : Taras Bulba (urainian food, that will be interesting for the tourists) It's a chain, one restaurant that I really like is at Novokuznetskaya st. And another choice is Grabli (also a chain) with restaurants at Novokuznetskaya as well and the best one I think is near Alekseevskaya st.