What was visiting Russia like?

[Trunkss]

To those who had visited Russian Federation before the war what was it like?

I've started getting very interested in Russian history, culture and language. What's Moscow and St Petersburg like compared to London and other cities? How are they at different times of the year? I assume very cold and snowy in the winter months, but what's the summers like?

Re allotments / growing - yes, many Russian people still do this. It’s very common to have a dacha in the countryside and spend summers there / lob your kids off to granny there. People grow, preserve, pickle etc on a scale which would look eccentric to a lot of British people.

Food and food service - pretty dire imo. Georgian cuisine is the exception and we lived on it when there. There was and is a 24/7 service culture so ordering , buying etc anything and having it appear at your door delivered by a beleaguered (likely illegal) Tajik was the norm.

My first degree was in Russian history and I speak Russian (but not fluently).

I was lucky enough to spend about 10 years in my 20s-30s working in Ukraine, Russia, Kyrgystan, Georgia and a few other former Soviet countries. But have not visited now for 20 years, much to my sadness.

So I think I was in Russia itself before the real age of the Oligarchs. They still saw Westerners are rich and an easy target at that time. My overwhelming memory of Moscow was grey, dull, sad, scary, dangerous. I adored Ukraine- lived there 3 years. Loved Kyrgystan also which I only visited for work 5-6 times for a week or so at a time. Georgia was beautiful. Tblisi is like a fairytale city.

The history is fascinating and still a big love for me. I hope you get to visit someday.

But... the food! I had a grandmother who had Russian parents. She cooked ALL the food. Borscht, pirogies, solyanka, Salat Olivier, lamb plov, cabbage rolls, oh my. This is the food that makes my heart sing! I cook most of it for my DCs - we are having lamp plov tonight. I am beside myself with delight when I find a Russian restaurant anywhere (well, Eastern European anyway!).

I've just noticed autocorrect said Dachau instead of dacha, apologies.

I remember the traffic creating its own extra lanes, too!

We went to St Petersburg in 2016 and Moscow in 2017. I am also interested in Russian history. St Petersburg was beautiful and felt very European to me. Moscow was much more exotic. We stayed in a hotel near the red square in January and it was freezing, but we walked everywhere and I loved the food. My highlight was ice skating in the red square and touring their amazingly beautiful metro stations.
I also remember how people didn’t smile much as culturally I think you are considered a bit simple if you smile to strangers. I also remember everyone seemed to have job, so for example you had a person whose job it was to take your ticket when you entered the Kremlin and put it into the ticket machine for you.

I regret not going when it was still a 'safe' place, it's looks amazing, maybe it'll be ok again in 20 years, that twat Putin should be dead by then 🤞

We went to Moscow in… 2018 and we absolutely loved it. We’ve traveled extensively but it was one of the best places we’ve been. Really lovely city (at that time). We had some issues with the accommodation (our fault for being cheap 😂) but otherwise we thoroughly enjoyed it. We went in May and it was BOILING most of the time too. St. Basil’s cathedral was on my bucket list and I was delighted to see it in real life.

Is there a variety of international cuisines or is the food mostly russian and former republics of the USSR cuisine?

We sought out Russian food, but I recall cuisine in Moscow as being mainly Russian and accompanied with a lot of vodka which was served with the meal. I had the most amazing cocktails in the bar of Hotel Metropol too.

Russian versions of international food are a whole vibe. Sushi… with mayo. Pizza… with mayo.

Or over the top pretentious restaurants with price tags to match.

My favourite was Kroshka Kartoshka for fast food - something like Spud u Like but so good and very Russian.

We sailed into st Petersburg on a rally in 2017 in our 40 foot yacht via other Baltic countries. Before we could enter Russia we had to moor in Kronstadt island approximately 17 miles away where our boat was turned upside down by customs and sniffer dogs. One or two of the boats had codeine aboard which unbeknown to them was a banned substance and whilst the rest of us made a treacherous journey through the canals missing cruise ships and hydrofoils to the marina which had been built for the Olympics in the 80’s they had to wait until cleared by port officials. Seemingly no consequences but they arrived 6 or 7 hours after once there papers were approved! The marina itself was dire toilets not attached to the floor and so dirty. We had been warned about not drinking the water and discovered it was full of heavy metals. Shopping in the supermarket to provision the boat was definitely an experience not much fresh foods and I had to rely on pictures on the cans! Suffice to say we had some interesting meals. We did manage to do the touristy bits and on one day there Putin was expected so all bridges were left up and led to traffic chaos but this did mean going on the palatial underground which was a real experience. I guess sailing our boat to Russia should have been the pinnacle (I believe more people have climbed Mount Everest than foreign boats entering Russia) of the trip but all I saw was the gap between the very wealthy and the ordinary people and couldn’t wait to reach Finland.

St Petersburg is more like a European city than a Russian one with a mix of Russian and European architecture.

I have been twice, with school and university. 1988 and 1991, I think, so still Soviet era. There were still tanks on the streets on the second occasion, it was shortly after Gorbachev was overthrown.
I remember profound generosity, people were welcoming and friendly and excited for the future on the second trip. But also a sense that we were constantly being watched, always supervised. The accommodation was very basic and bleak. Food was simple and not very varied.

The historic sites were fascinating, mostly the same as Miranda65 listed. The metro stations are the thing that has stuck with me. They were stunning.