Touring the heart of Moscow: Russian capital as seen by football fans

The usually crowded pedestrian-only Nikolskaya Street is now swarming with tourists. English, Spanish, Chinese and Polish can be heard everywhere. Argentineans wearing white-and-blue T-shirts, Brazilians in bright-yellow and green T-shirts, Mexicans in green T-shirts and Croatians sporting red-and-white checkered shirts are everywhere. Here songs and football chants are heard and most incredible dances are performed. Many World Cup fans chose Nikolskaya Street to roam and celebrate their teams’ victories.

This is where free walking and bus tours of the city start. Thirty minutes are left until the ‘The Heart of the Capital Open to Football’ guided tour, but 15 people are already to go. On this hot summer day, many guests are eager to stroll around the city. Quite a few tourists are standing near a mobile tour centre that looks like a red football. Its three young employees wearing #Moscow loves football# T-shirts offer guided tours, hand out maps and tell people how to reach any destination.

“China Town” and a lullaby for Colombians

Guide Yulia Dmitryukova asks tourists to introduce themselves before the tour gets underway. Her multiethnic group includes people from Colombia, Mexico, Poland, Australia and China. “We are now in Kitai-Gorod which is translated as China Town, but the name has nothing to do with China,” she said smiling. According to Dmitryukova, the word ‘Kitai’ probably is related to Italian сittá (‘cittadelle’ that translates as ‘citadel’), ciudad (city) in Spanish and City (central district) in English. (Editor’s note: Historians have different theories on the area’s name, and this is just one of them.)

Nikolskaya Street merges with Lubyanka Square with the impressive Central Children’s Store on Lubyanka Square. Dmitryukova suggests visiting the shop’s observation deck after the tour. Two Australians thought this was a good idea. Ms. Dmitryukova also suggested that the family from Colombia visit the shop itself, that the kids would love it.

The Colombians arrived in Moscow two days ago. According to Catalina Alvarado, Moscow differs a lot from Colombia and from the other countries they’ve visited. She was really impressed with the huge buildings, pedestrian zones and pavements. People are very helpful. “We were riding a bus, our baby girl wanted to sleep and started crying, and a woman nearby started singing a lullaby in Russian. This was great,” she noted. The Colombians said they wanted to see the famous Red Square, its Stalin-era skyscrapers and something linked with Wassily Kandinsky, one of Ms. Alvarado’s favourite artists.

Moscow’s many faces: from Tretyakov Gallery to baths

The tourists then walked towards Nikolsky shopping mall, built by Pavel Tretyakov, the most famous Russian entrepreneur and patron of the arts. However, the visitors said they knew nothing about Tretyakov or the State Tretyakov Gallery. Undaunted, the guide compared the gallery with Le Louvre, the Hermitage and the Prado Museum.

The group then stopped near surviving sections of the 500-year-old red-brick Kitai-Gorod wall near the light-colour buildings.

The nearby Hotel Metropol dating to the early 20^th century is famous for Mikhail Vrubel’s mosaic panel ‘Princess of Dreams’ and celebrity guests. Dmitryukova pointed to a balcony on the fourth floor and said Michael Jackson and Catherine Deneuve had stayed in that suite.

Visitors can see a monument to Ivan Fyodorov, the founder of the Russian printing industry, who printed the country’s first book ‘Apostolos’ in 1564. The Khludovs’ Bath House is located opposite the monument at 2 Neglinnaya Street. The guide explained that a traditional hot Russian steam bath was similar to a Finnish sauna. Someone said the steam had spilled into the streets. Indeed, the city is seeing temperatures of 28 degrees Celsius in the shade.

Laura Valderrabano from Mexico was surprised by the weather. It was somewhat cold when she and her friends arrived, and a strong heat wave has now set in. The city seems very hospitable, she noted. “Everyone is nice; they try to help with luggage and explain where to go,” Ms. Valderrabano who has never been to Moscow before added. She and her friends have already walked through central Moscow and visited Gorky Park. Like Catalina Alvarado, she was impressed with the local architecture, including the “Seven Sisters,” the Stalin-era skyscrapers and the Government House. She liked the guided tour: “Apart from seeing Moscow, I wanted to learn more about the city and its history.”

The group then walked towards Teatralnaya Square. Of course, everyone had heard about Russian ballet, and the tourists also discussed Karl Marx and the nearby monument. The square provides a great view of the Bolshoi and Maly theatres and the Russian Academic Youth Theatre. The Bolshoi Theatre deserves special mention, and tourists wanted to know why it was called Bolshoi, when the first public theatre was opened and what it is famous for.

Playing football on Red Square and myths dispelled

The tourists stopped near the State History Museum to hear about the life of Marshal Georgy Zhukov who made a major contribution to the Soviet Union’s victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. They also admired the Zero Kilometre mark where people stand to toss coins and make a wish. Dmitryukova showed an archive photo that would thrill any football fan. The photo shows a 1936 football match on Red Square when two Spartak team squads played each other on a thick felt field during a physical fitness parade.

Today, Red Square is filled with fans who have decided to visit this iconic landmark and to see St. Basil’s Cathedral. Kaiyuan Hu from China said the cathedral was typical of Russia, and that, in his opinion, Moscow looked like a cosmopolitan city.

“This is a major tourist landmark in Europe. I have noticed only one problem: Not everyone speaks English here. But they were offering Chinese guidebooks all over Sheremetyevo airport where I landed. This is very good for tourists,” he noted.

It made Polish fans happy to learn that city residents were doing their best to help tourists even if they didn’t know English.

“The people are very friendly. Poland and Russia have some political disagreements, but, to be honest, we don’t see this. People are trying hard to help, and sometimes they speak Russian if they don’t know English,” Arthur Szichotowski noted. He liked the city and was particularly surprised by its extensive metro system.

As the guided tour drew to a close, the fans learned that the clock on top of the Kremlin’s Spasskaya Tower was the earliest timekeeping device in the capital, that its face had a diameter of over six metres, and that the entire country listened to the president’s speech and Kremlin chimes on New Year’s Eve.

Moscow’s beautiful sights and football secrets: over 600 tours for fans

Over 600 walking and bus tours along six routes will be held here before the World Cup ends. The ‘Sports and Culture Moscow’ walking tour will focus on the history of Triumfalnaya Square and Tverskaya Street, as well as football players and historical personalities who lived in the area. The ‘Heart of the Capital Opens to Football’ will unlock the mysteries of Nikolskaya Street. The tour, ‘Moscow and its Residents in the History of Russia and Sport’ will show Red Square, Zaryadye Park and the river embankments from the standpoint of football.

The ‘Moscow’s Beautiful Sights: History, Culture, Sport’ bus tour will show the domes of old churches, narrow streets in central districts and 20^th century sport landmarks. The ‘Moscow through the Centuries’ tour focuses on football stadiums and areas where famous football players lived. And the ‘Sports Moscow: Chronicle of Victories’ guided tour describes the lives of Soviet football players, including Nikolai Starostin, Igor Netto, Lev Yashin and Konstantin Beskov.

Guided tours are offered daily from 10 am through 8 pm in Russian, English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese. People can sign up for the tours at mobile football-shaped excursion centres on Triumfalnaya Square and near the glass dome in Zaryadye Park.

Each excursion centre offers two to three walking and two to three bus tours daily. According to organisers, each walking tour can take ten people, with 20-30 places for each bus tour. Tours in Russian, English, Spanish and Chinese are the most popular. People working at these tour centres say the tours are mostly popular with guests from Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Germany, Spain, Mexico and Portugal.