The Арбат is a district in Москва not far from the Kremlin. It’s an easy trip on the Metpo (3 stops with one connection – about 25 minutes) from our apartment if you know where you’re going (see post for October 13th). The first time we decided to go to the Арбат we walked for about 4 kilometers on the wrong side of the Москва River and never made it there. On the second attempt we made it on the Metpo. I have since acquired an excellent map which has made things a lot easier to get around.
The Арбат is a long brick-paved avenue for pedestrians only. If you know about driving and parking in Москва (see previous post) you’d appreciate how nice it is to have a car-free pedestrian mall.
Walking along the Арбат feels to me like a cross between Greenwich Village along Bleeker Street and Washington Square Park and New Orleans complete with street performers doing acrobatic hip-hop. To be honest the street guys in the Village or Central park are several orders of magnitude better than the Арбат street guys although they do draw a sizeable crowd around them when they perform. One difference is the avenue is very wide, not like the streets in the Village or New Orleans. There’s also some pretty good graffiti especially on one long wall about half-way down the avenue.
There are trendy new shops as well as older more picturesque stores selling just about anything you can image. There are also many restaurants one of which we stopped at for lunch. Walking from one end to the other at a leisurely pace is a nice afternoon’s trip and a street photographer’s paradise. If you ever come to Москва put the Арбат on your list of places to visit – you won’t be disappointed.
I’ve put a slide show of scenes from the Арбат if you’re interested on my site: http://www.andrewmcdonoughphotography.com/
Click on the Russia link. The file is named: arbat.exe.
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