Guide books and blogs say to go on or take a tour of the Moscow metro. They aren't kidding. Wow. Just wow. Easily the most unique thing about this trip so far. Don't get me wrong, the other things are amazing, too. But I have never seen anything quite like the Moscow metro. I'm sure, like anything, that the beauty starts to fade the more you ride it, but seeing it for the first time is awe inspiring.
Opened in 1935, not only is it beautiful, it is efficient and cheap - 50 rubles (currently $0.70) for one trip. It's the largest metro system outside of Asia and during rush hour, trains run about every 90 seconds. We haven't had to wait more than 3 minutes for a train.
I've navigated plenty of underground public transport systems and generally have a good understanding of them. This is the most confusing simply because of the language barrier. When my family went to Turkey, I assume it was similar, but my parents did all the navigating and I just followed along. Riding the Moscow metro is
one big matching game. Lots stopping and comparing maps to signs and generally looking lost.
Most of the street signs and all of the signs in the metro use the Cyrillic alphabet as opposed to the Latin alphabet that I am used to. Check it out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_alphabets
Turns out, when we got here on the first night, we made it out of the correct exit at the station near our hostel by sheer dumb luck. Since then, we've done it incorrectly 2 times. I think we've finally figured out the signage. At least now we know how to get back to the hostel from all exits from the metro now. The first time we did it wrong it took us almost an hour to get un lost in the same neighborhood! Last night we added maybe 10 minutes to our walk once we left the wrong metro exit - that should give you a pretty good idea how big the metro stations are!
Here are photos from 4 of our metro stops on our self guided tour (one of the hostel staff recommended her favorite stops). Still a few more to see!
Komsomolskaya
Belorusskaya
Kievskaya
Arbatskaya
Beautiful underground artwork! It also sounds fairly efficient. I love the subway networks of major cities! I've used four in my travels: London (fantastic), New York City (expansive), Paris (kind of dirty), and Boston (small). There is some art in London's system as well but often the planning and structure of the stations is the best art around.
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