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Monday, 23.07.2007
Arbat - The Soviet Union's first pedestrian precinct
"If you don't know the Arbat, you don't know Moscow" goes the saying. The (Old) Arbat in Moscow, with its shops, cafés and souvenir stands, is Russia's most famous pedestrian zone. The lively street to the west of the Kremlin has something for everyone.
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Street musicians play alongside artists busy with their drawing and beer drinking punks. If you’re looking for a typical Russian souvenir to take home with you, you’ll find it on the Arbat.
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The range of souvenirs on offer extends from matryoshkas of all sorts and sizes to the famous hand-painted cutlery and crockery. Here it is wise to be careful. For those without Russian-speaking friends, prices might turn out to be in dollars and a deal more expensive.
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The Arbat is one of Moscow’s oldest streets, and is often called Moscow’s Monmartre, and was sung about by Bulat Okudshava, the Soviet cult singer of the 1960s – even before it was closed to traffic.
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Starting at the venerable restaurant "Praga", where Lev Tolstoi und Ilja Repin used to dine, you can stroll along the boulevard to the towering Russian foreign ministry built in the Stalinesque wedding cake style.
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| Coordinates: |
Ul. Staryi Arbat
Nearest metro station: Arbatskaya / Smolenskaya
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The old noble district in the heart of Moscow calls to mind the many Russian poets and artists of recent centuries. Alexander S. Pushkin spent his honeymoon here in 1831, and his residence for those weeks has now been converted into a Pushkin apartment museum.
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Old Arbat should best not be confused with the New Arbat, where rows of ugly high rises (nicknamed Khruschev’s third teeth) lining a busy main road are today the opposite of inviting, although it also has its share of shops and cafés.
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(osi/.rufo).
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