#73 best destination in the world

The State Hermitage Museum

• #15 of the top 25 museums in the world
• Museum of art and culture, with 3 million items
• Contains the largest collection of paintings in the world
• Founded in 1764

Curonian Spit

• Thin, long, curved sand-dune spit
• UNESCO World Heritage Site

Lenin’s Mausoleum

• Currently serves as the resting place of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin
• His preserved body has been on public display there since shortly after his death in 1924, with rare exceptions in wartime
• The structure incorporates some elements from ancient mausoleums, such as the Step Pyramid, the Tomb of Cyrus the Great and Temple of the Inscriptions

Red Square

• Square meant to serve as Moscow’s main marketplace
• Also the site of various public ceremonies and proclamations, and occasionally a coronation for Russia’s Tsars would take place
• UNESCO World Heritage Site

Saint Basil’s Cathedral

• Church that is now a museum
• Built from 1555-1561 under Ivan the Terrible
• Commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan
• Was the city’s tallest building until 1600

Bunker 42

• Tunnel system beneath the streets of Moscow, leading to a secret cold war fortress once code named Bunker 42
• Built after the first series of nuclear tests by the Soviet Union, these tests revealed that the optimum depth for the bunker must be no higher than 165 feet beneath ground in order to survive nuclear fallout
• The task for the builders was to construct a gigantic structure beneath the city streets without damaging Moscow’s existing infrastructure of streets and communication pathways
• Otherwise this would alert the public and innumerable unknown spies to the existence of the bunker
• It allowed quick access to the bunker for
  Stalin
• Completed in 1956
• Today, it’s a historical monument that is a museum of what life was like on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War era, bringing visitors below ground to a time when the world lived on the constant brink of nuclear annihilation

Izmaylovo Kremlin

• Unique center of culture and entertainment
• Built in a architecture style of Old Muscovite Russia which consists of colorful ornament and wooden architecture
• It is an imitation of Moscow based on sketches from the 14th-17th centuries
• It is supposed to depict many elements of Old Russian architecture as it looked like in pre-Petrine times, inspired by drawings of Russian fairy tales
• There is a reconstruction of a wooden Russian church that used to dot the Russian countryside before the Russian Revolution

Moscow Metro Stations

• Opened in 1935 with one 6.8 mi line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union
• There are now 276 with its route length at 253.6 miles, making it the sixth-longest in the world and the longest outside China
• It is the busiest metro system in Europe

Novodevichy Convent

• Cloister of Moscow
• Virtually intact since the 17th century
• UNESCO World Heritage Site

Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius

• Most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church
• founded in 1337 by one of the most venerated Russian saints, Sergius of Radonezh, who built a wooden church in honor of the Holy Trinity on Makovets Hill
• Currently is home to over 300 monks
• UNESCO World Heritage Site

Kazan Kremlin

• Historic citadel built under Ivan the Terrible on the ruins of the former castle of Kazan khans
• UNESCO World Heritage Site

Ganina Yama

• Ganina Yama was a 9 ft. deep pit in the Four Brothers mine near the village of Koptyaki
• In 1918, after the execution of the Romanov family, the bodies of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (who had been murdered at the Ipatiev House) were secretly transported to Ganina Yama and thrown into the pit
• The Russian Orthodox Church declared the Ganina Yama site holy ground
• The grounds were therefore dedicated to honor the family’s humility during capture and their status as political martyrs
• On the anniversary of the murder, a night long service is held at the Church of All Saints (Church on the Blood) on the site of the Ipatiev House
• At daybreak, a procession walks four hours to Ganina Yama for another ceremony
• The former mine pit is covered with lily plants for the ceremony

Sochi Park

• Theme Park located at Olympic Park territory close to the main sport objects
• Offers a pedestrian promenade with retail area, attractions, and shows
• The park’s concept is based on Russian folklore, traditions and achievements in different field of studies
• The amusement park consists from 6 theme lands with stylized architecture and attractions

Dargavs

• Necropolis outside the village of Dargavs, called “City of the dead”
• Comprises 99 different tombs and crypts
• Some sources say the oldest of the crypts dates back to the 12th century, though others say the oldest crypt dates back to the 14th century and some say it dates to the 16th century
• At the back of the complex there is a tower, though the top of it is destroyed
• It takes one hour from Vladikavkaz on narrow roads and many hills to get there

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Costs

Number of Days: 31 days

Best Time To Fly: June-August

Airline ticket: $1,994

Seattle -> St Petersburg (one way) $1,274
Saint Petersburg -> Kaliningrad (one way) $34
Kaliningrad -> Moscow (one way) $37
Moscow -> Kazan (one way) $24
Kazan -> Yekaterinburg (one way) $63
Yekaterinburg -> Sochi (one way) $123
Sochi -> Vladikavkaz (one way) $37
Vladikavkaz -> Moscow (one way) $67
Moscow -> Seattle (one way) $335

Food: $20/day x 31 days = $620

Entertainment/tours: $109

Airbnb/hotel: $53/day x 29 days = $1,537

TOTAL: $4,260