Russia, the largest country in the world, spans Europe and Asia. The diverse population consists of over 193 ethnic groups and over 100 languages. Consider the safety situation before visiting.
Adventures | Must Sees: St. Petersburg | Must Sees: Moscow | Must Sees: Sochi | Food
MUST SEES: ST. PETERSBURG
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
The multicolored, spiky onion domes add romanticism and exoticism to Russia’s architecture. The church was built where Alexander II was assassinated.
Hermitage
Catherine the Great created one of the greatest art collections in the green Baroque Winter Palace. It has paintings by da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, and Caravaggio. It also has works by modernists such as Matisse, Kandinsky, and Picasso.
Peterhof Palace
Peter the Great created a “Russian Versailles” with Baroque palaces and gardens. The Grand Cascade is transcendent. Its balcony has staircases descending by a grotto. There are golden statues and fountains that empty into a semicircular pool.
Peter & Paul Fortress
The Peter & Paul Cathedral’s golden needle is the center of Peter the Great’s star fortress. The tsars held political prisoners within the fortress. The Bolsheviks spread propaganda painting the prison as a tortuous place.
Canal Ride
Glide on low flattop boats across canals and below bridges. Architectural gems flank each side of the waterway. In the main channel, you’ll need the ship-provided blankets. After the Hermitage, the boat reaches the Neva River and docks by the Palace Embankment in time for sunset at 10:30 pm.
Museum of Cosmonautics
There are sample rocket parts and mementos to heroes like Yuri Gagarin. Dear Laika, the first animal to orbit the Earth, burned up upon re-entry into the atmosphere. There is a replica of Sputnik, the first satellite.
MUST SEES: MOSCOW
St. Basil’s
Saint Basil’s has onion domes painted in alternating swirls of color. It’s a whimsical concoction of architectural styles and design elements. Ivan the Terrible commissioned this cathedral to celebrate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan.
Red Square
Red Square is east of the Kremlin’s red fortified walls. The State Historical Museum forms the northern boundary of Red Square. The grandiose museum really puts the red in Red Square with twin spires (golden double eagles) reaching for the sky.
Kremlin Armoury
The Kremlin Armoury is a treasure trove of royal artifacts. It contains a royal throne, Catherine the Great’s dress, and carriages. Monomakh’s Cap was a gift from Uzbeg Khan of the Golden Horde. The Diamond Fund holds the Imperial Crown and the Orlov Diamond.
Fabergé Eggs
Peter Carl Fabergé created the jeweled eggs as royal Easter gifts for the tsaritsas. The imperial eggs had intricate designs of gold, silver, and jewels. Ten of the remaining 44 Fabergé eggs are on display at the Kremlin Armory. Perhaps, one day you can find the missing six!
Kremlin Cathedrals
Coronations of monarchs and burials of Metropolitans and Patriarchs occurred under Assumption Cathedral’s five domes. The Cathedral of the Archangel was the tsars’ burial place with a giant gold dome and silver domes. The Church of the Annunciation has nine gold onion domes. Ivan the Great Bell Tower is the Kremlin’s tallest tower.
Kazan Cathedral
The cathedral was built in thanks to the Virgin of Kazan icon’s divine help expelling Polish invaders. Later, Stalin cleared Red Square of churches for military parades. The pink and green Kazan Cathedral was the first church to be rebuilt after the fall of the USSR.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
This is the third tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world. The USSR demolished the original due to official state atheism. The Russian Orthodox Church rebuilt the cathedral in the Russian Revival style with giant gilded domes.
Peter the Great
The 322-foot monument rises by the Moskva River and Vodootvodny Canal. Zurab Tsereteli designed the statue to honor the Russian Navy, established by Peter the Great. Muscovites loathe the statue, and Peter loathed Moscow.
Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines
Russia has a nostalgia for retro Soviet culture. You get a matchbox of 15 kopeck coins for playing with the machines. The controls are clunky, but it’s fun learning what the Soviets did for fun. The games include table ice hockey and submarines.
Nikolskaya Street
Nikolskaya Street is a pedestrian passageway with restaurants, shops, and the GUM department building on one side and the Kremlin on the other. At night, there are dangling strings of lights that seem to float over the street, which attracts crowds of people.
Moskva Cruise
Embark on a cruise along the Moskva River. The ship passes the gargantuan Peter the Great statue and turns around at Gorky Park. Then, it cruises past the Kremlin and turns around again near the overhanging observation deck of the Floating Bridge.
MUST SEES: SOCHI
Black Sea
The Black Sea borders Europe from Asia through its connection to the Mediterranean via the Bosporus Strait. There is a rocky Black Sea beach behind Sochi’s Olympic Village. The clear sea water is slightly cool and you can tiptoe on some boulders in the water.
Olympic Village
Russian influencers came up with Sochifornia because of its beaches, sunsets, heat, and snow-capped mountains. Although Sochi was the site of a Winter Olympics, its summer resorts are doing better than its winter resorts.
Sochi Skypark
Sochi Skypark has a giant pendulum that swings you back and forth above Akhshtyrskoye Gorge. From a 60-story platform, you fall through a trapdoor without any warning. The three seconds of free fall offers an experience of weightlessness. After the giant swing, you can cross the Skybridge above the Mzymta River.
FOOD
Beef Stroganoff
This dish contains sautéed strips of beef and onions in a sauce of sour cream and mustard. This is typically served with crispy potato straws, mashed potatoes, or pickles.
Borscht
Borscht is a soup with bone broth, beets, sautéed vegetables (cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes, and tomatoes), and fermented beet juice. It can also contain meat. The soup can be enjoyed either hot or cold, and with sour cream.
Blinis
Blinis are thin crepe-like pancakes. They are usually savory, although there are sweet versions. Blinis are commonly served with caviar, sour cream, cucumbers, and dill. They can be folded like a taco or rolled up as a tube.
Pelmeni
Pelmeni are flat round dumplings in a wrapper, steamed and served with dill, sour cream, and butter. Mongols brought pelmeni were from China to Siberia. It’s a delicious method of preserving meat during the long Siberian winter.
Olivier Salad
Olivier Salad contains diced potatoes, onions, pickles, carrots, celery, dill, peas, and mayonnaise. At some of the finer spots, the salad is accompanied with slices of beef in olive oil and black pepper.
Grenki
These garlic croutons are thick deep-fried strips of dark rye bread with a garlic sour cream dip. The carraway seed and coriander-flavored bread is crispy on the outside, and dense and chewy on the inside.
Golubtsy
Cabbage rolls consist of cabbage leaves filled with various meats and vegetables, simmered in a tomato and sour cream-based sauce. The tender golubtsy may include fillings such as minced beef, pork, mushrooms, rice, or buckwheat.
Vareniki
Vareniki is a moon-shaped dumpling stuffed with potatoes, cabbage, cheese, or mushrooms. These boiled dumplings are a Ukrainian dish originating in Turkey.
Shashlik
Shashlik are skewers of cubes of meat grilled over a wood fire. The barbecued meat is smoky, charred, and crispy. The chunks of lamb is eaten with thin sheets of lavash flatbread. Onions, dill, pomegranates, and hummus can be added to the wrap.
Ukha
Ukha is a fish soup containing chunks of salmon, white fish, and parsley. It comes with a shot of vodka and a lime that you pour into the soup.Regions
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