travel
Mysterious Moscow
This year become a Moscovite for the Christmas season, don some warm winter woolies and have a shot of vodka. Na zdorovje*!
I
t’s -25ºC, it’s blowing a gale and the driving snow stings your face like a swarm of bees; in Moscow, it’s time for a party! Moscow is the city of contrasts. Take a stroll through the city today and you will find countless lavish boutiques selling Givenchy bags, where, not so long ago, people shivered all day in queues outside the state-run GUM department store in Red Square, only to find rows of bare shelves. New Arbat Avenue is another gentrified zone, offering some of the most luxurious hotel suites in town, and let’s not even get started on Moscow’s cutting-edge nightlife scene which would simply have been unthinkable before Glasnost. In addition to this juxtaposition between Moscow’s nouveau riche culture and its communist past however, there is a growing awareness in the city of a new kind of indigenous Russian culture - one that breathes the creative freedom of the West yet is authentically local. All this only adds to the giant enigma that is Moscow and, by extension, Russia. How can one country that stretches half way round the northern hemisphere, spans nine time zones and is home to more than 140 million people retain such a strong sense of itself, of what it means to be Russian? How does the brash, high-spending present square with the years of communism? You would need to live among Russians for a long time before you truly ‘got’ this mysterious nation. 15 | The Gentleman | December
But spend a week in Moscow and you’ll start to get at least a taste of the real Russia. And what better time to do just that but Christmas time? The Moscow Russian Winter Festival is indeed a spectacle to behold. It takes place during the last week of December and the first week of January, and combines all manner of secular and religious holidays. Activities in Izmailovo Park include traditional folk music, troika rides (sleighs drawn by three horses), Russian food and lots of vodka, dancing performances and characters dressed as popular figures from Russian mythology milling with the visitors. Other Winter Festival activities include ice sculpting on Red Square and snowman-building on Arbat Street. However, if sleigh rides and snowmen aren’t really your thing, you may find Moscow’s December Nights Festival more tempting. The classical music scene in Moscow is at its winter height during the latter half of December and the first couple of weeks in January, with exceptional performances by both local and international musicians. New Year’s in Moscow is yet another unmissable celebration. Head to Red Square to join the throngs of people ringing in the new year with the chime of the Kremlin clock tower, Moscow’s version of dropping the ball in New York City. Dress warmly, though, because if you think it’s cold by day, Moscow at midnight on January 1st takes bravery and a good pair of warm boots! TG www.visitrussia.org.uk *Cheers in Russian