Moscow + St Petersburgh by bus?

[global_guy]

g'day!

We are a couple of Australians back-packing around Europe, and we want to come to Russia! We were hoping to hook-up with some other travellers on a bus-trip, does anyone know which are the good ones? The places we heard were good are Moscow, St Petersburgh and Kiev, does anyone have any other suggestions?

[Dr_Woland]

Hi global guy!

Being absolutely truthful with you, our company runs some bus-trips between Moscow and Petersburg, and although we've checked-out the "scene" thoroughly, we're not aware of anyone else doing that right now except ourselves.

There are some great places to visit in Russia. Moscow and Petersburg are must-see's, of course, don't get me wrong! But neither of them is going to show you "Russia" - they are both big, cosmopolitan metropolises, and although they're fun to see and visit, they are not really "typical" of the rest of the country, which is very peaceful and rural.

A few other places (not necessarily places our company offers, this isn't an ad!!) you could try:

VLADIMIR & SUZDAL - This is the "golden ring" of Russia - beautiful medieval towns in a "ring" around Moscow, heaps of gold onion-domes and walled monasteries. There are some other towns on the golden ring too, like Plyos, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, but I especially recommend Vladimir (and its "suburb", Suzdal) because there's a new high-speed suburban train from Moscow, so you can make a day-trip of it. The others have more quirky, and frankly grotty transport.

VOLOGDA is a nice medieval town which is visitable from St Petersburg. NOVGOROD is a larger medieval town, also visitable from St Pete's, although they are sufficiently far-away that you might want to make them overnight stops.

PSKOV is another nice Russian town with traditional architecture.

To the south of Moscow, you might consider going to places like KOLOMNA and RYAZAN, although the accommodation in both is pretty vile.

KIEV is very beautiful, but remember that it's not in Russia - it's the capital of Ukraine, and you need a separate visa to go there. I haven't been in Kiev for years, so I can't give you much practical advice about it these days.

Enjoy!

Dr W.

[global_guy]

hey doc!!

Thanks for the info!! My girlfriend really wants to see the Faberje Eggs, where are they in St Petersburg, are they in the Hermitage Gallery?

Too bad about Kiev, how hard is it to get their Ukrainian visa?

Could you give me some details about the bus trips you guys are offering? How much are they, when do they run? If you could send it to global_guy@thefreesite.com that would be really helpful.

Thanks

[Dr_Woland]

Hi Global Guy once again.

The Faberge Eggs, along with the rest of the Faberge items, are actually not in St Petersburg at all - they are in Moscow, in the Kremlin's Armoury Chamber Museum, along with the rest of the royal treasures.

Sorry, I can't help you much with Ukraine questions, it's way out of my field, I'm afraid :-(

Details on our bus trips are at:

http://www.beetroot.org

I hope you'll find some useful info there, but please drop us another line here if you need more, there are lots of people here who have useful info to share!

Dr W.