158 NORTH EASTERN EUROPE
Shopping & Entertainment
It is easy to find interesting and beautiful souvenirs in
Moscow and St Petersburg. A wide range of goods is
available, from enamelled badges to hand-painted
Palekh boxes and samovars. Traditional crafts were
encouraged by the state in the former Soviet Union and
many items are still made by arti sans using age-old
methods. Moscow and St Petersburg also offer an
impressive and varied choice of entertain ment, from
theatre, opera and ballet to lively nightlife venues. St
Petersburg has many rock and jazz clubs, bars, art cafés,
discos, nightclubs and casinos. Moscow’s street
performers are additional attractions.
MARKETS
The markets in Moscow and
St Petersburg cater more to the
daily needs of locals than to
visitors. However, there are a
number of souvenir and flea
markets. Izmaylovo Market in
Moscow has all the usual sou-
venirs on sale, includ ing Soviet
memora bilia and painted
Russian matryoshka dolls.
The official souvenir market
in St Petersburg, near the
Church on Spilled Blood (see
p153), sells the best and cheap-
est selection of matryoshka
dolls. Visitors are also likely to
find handmade chess sets,
watches, fur hats, old cameras
and military paraphernalia.
OPENING HOURS
Shops in Moscow and
St Petersburg usually open
from 10am to 7pm. In
Moscow, shops are open all
day on Saturdays, and for
shorter hours on Sundays.
In St Petersburg, depart ment
stores and other large shops
remain open on Sundays;
smaller places may close
at weekends in summer.
NIGHTLIFENightlife in Moscow is
boom ing. For main stream pop
and disco, there are large clubs
in Moscow such as Zona.
Foreign DJs often perform at
Propaganda and Fabrique.
House music is blended with
more up-tempo Latin beats at
Karma Bar, while Kult offers
more urban grooves. Na
Lesnitse and Slava cater to
the “new-rich”, with prices
and cover charges to match.
St Petersburg’s nightclubs
offer mostly techno and
mainstream pop. Metro plays
house, techno and Russian
dance music. Havana Club has
Latin even ings, but also plays
house and pop, while
Tribunal is purely main stream.
Smaller, more diverse clubs,
such as the under ground
Griboedov, are still very much
of the alternative culture
trend, play ing a variety of the
latest hits from Europe.ART AND ANTIQUESBoth Moscow and St
Petersburg have a host of
treasure-filled art and antique
shops worth exploring. Ulitsa
Arbat, in Moscow, has many
of the best antique shops.
Serebryaniy Ryad offers a
good selection of icons, silver,
jewellery and china, while
Ivantsarevich has a variety of
inter esting Soviet porcelain.
The Foreign Book Store,
though principally a book-
shop, also sells furni ture,
china and lamps.
Most shops in St Petersburg
are very expensive, but Tertia
is an exception, with readily
expor table items to suit all
pockets. The Antique Centre
is a veritable treasure trove.
It is worth visiting Anna Nova
or S.P.A.S. to see the paintings
on sale. The Union of Artists
has exhibitions by local
artists, while the Pushkinskaya
10 artists’ colony stages shows
at week ends, some with
works for sale.HANDICRAFTS
Handmade goods are cheaper
in Moscow and St Petersburg
than in the West, and they
make interesting souvenirs
to take home. The best places
to shop in Moscow are
Izmaylovo Market and the
souve nir shops on ulitsa
Arbat. Elsewhere in the city,
a good range of arts and
crafts is available at Russkiy
Uzory. For more unusual
sou venirs, Dom Farfora sells
hand-painted tea sets and
Russian crystal and the Salon
of the Moscow Cultural Fund
offers samovars, old lamps
and sculptures.
In St Petersburg, there are
good gifts to be found in the
Souvenir Market and
Gostinyy Dvor. Local porce-
lain is avail able in the
Imperial Porcelain Factory.rather than in jars. Popular
vodkas such as Stolichnaya
and Moskovskaya are
available in supermarkets
such as Sedmoi Kontinent.
Gostinyy Dvor and
Passazh are the most
cen tral and reliable places
for both vodka and caviar
in St Petersburg. For some-
thing sweet, the Krupskaya
Fabrika choc olate factory
has long been famous across
the Soviet Union, while
the Chocolate Museum sells
novelties such as famous
build ings crafted in chocolate.MUSIC, THEATRE
AND DANCEIn Moscow, many famous
foreign acts, as well as the
best in local talent, play at
clubs such as Music Town and
Sixteen Tons. The Tchaikovsky
Concert Hall and the Moscow
Conservatory stand out
among the classical music
venues, while opera and
ballet are performed at the
Bolshoy Theatre. The city’s
theatre scene is vibrant and
the Taganka Theatre and
Mossoviet Theatre are among
the city’s best, staging
excellent productions
of Russian classics.FOOD AND DRINKRussia is the best place in
the world to buy vodka and
caviar. Caviar should not be
bought in the street and it is
advisable to buy it in tins