I thought it strange to see a ‘metro tour’ as one of the options when looking up activites in St Petersburg and in Moscow, but then I read a little bit more about them. Both cities have some beautiful metro stations, with striking architecture of typical soviet design. There is elaborate artwork and lighting combined with exquisite arches and columns.
St Petersburg metro system is one of the deepest metro systems in the world and the station Admiralteyskaya is 86 metres underground, which takes about 3 minutes on an escalator.
Moscow metro system was the first in the Soviet Union and one of the longest in the world! Our guide told us a story about the brown circle line that surrounds the city centre; when the plans for the metro were being drawn up, Joseph Stalin placed his coffee cup on the paper. When he lifted it up, it left a brown ring and the men in charge of the plans were to i frightened of him to ask if he meant to do that. So they built it! Cute story, but not true 🙂 That circle line has the most notable stations, with distinct ‘Stalinist’ features.
If you find yourself in either city, grab a metro ticket and do a little tour, just maybe not at rush hour!
-F xx
Travel in Trainers 