A Day in Moscow’s Red Square

Welcome to another travel post! I have lived in Europe for less than a week and I already have a really strong itch to book a trip to somewhere new.  Good thing there is a bank holiday at the end of next month (around the same time as Memorial Day in the States) and hopefully I can find somewhere great to go then.  In the interim, I want to show you all some of my favorite photos from my layover in Moscow last month. 

I have shared a bit of this trip before but I wanted to go into more detail about my amazing time in Moscow. I was in the Russian city for eight hours but knowing time would be of the essence I did everything ahead of time so that customs was a very quick process (though getting my visa stateside was not) and utilizing the Aeroexpress and metro from Sheremetyevo Airport less than an hour later was standing in Red Square in awe of the architecture and the hustle of the vibrant city. 

I am fully aware I did not even scratch the surface of what Russia or even Moscow has to offer by not wandering far from Red Square but what I did see was pretty spectacular. I started at St. Basil’s Cathedral which dates back to 1561 and it is stunningly preserved.  The cathedral is no longer used as a church but instead it is a museum dedicated to the church.  Even though I was short on time I decided to pay the 500 rubles to enter (about $8) and I am glad I did – for as bright and colorful as the outside was the dark wood and gold on the inside were a beautiful contrast. 

After I was done with the Cathedral I walked on a very chilly but bright and beautiful day along the wall of the Kremlin that borders Red Square taking in the beauty of the Konstantino-Eleninskaya Tower, The Spasskaya Tower, the back of the Senate Palace, and Nikolskaya Tower. From there I walked by Lenin’s Mausoleum which I had considered visiting except it was closed. Then I decided to skip the State Historical Museum but really appreciated the red hue of the imposing building. Check out some of these gorgeous sites:

Passing by the Okhotny Ryad shopping mall I headed for the entrance of the Kremlin museums to buy tickets in the Alexandrovsky Garden in order to enter. For more on the Kremlin, stay tuned for another post coming soon!

Have you ever been to Red Square?