"the capital of an amazing and colossal... " a Moscow Travel Page by jorgejuansanchez

You can get easily a Russian visa contacting the Russian youth hostel organizations by email. In December 2004 I got my Russian visa through one of these associations inside the hotel Asia. They sent me an invitation by fax, then I showed it to the Russian consulate in my city, and after 8 days (you can get it in the same day if you pay more), I got one month tourist visa. Then, upon my arrival in the hotel Asia (they were waiting for me) I paid the visa support fee, around 25 euros, plus 30 euros for a single room that night. They registered my passport in the OVIR (visa registration department for foreigners), and next day I was free to travel during the rest of my visa wherever I wanted in Russia without any hotel reservation or booked tour.
If you arrive in Moscow by plane, do not take a taxi in the Sheremetevo airport, because it is expensive, especially for a foreigner. Better board a minibus, which costs less than 1 euro, until the Metro station Rechnoy Voksal, and then buy a ticket for a few roubles to your destination.
The Moscow Metro is the most fantastic and artistic in the whole world. Pay special attention to the stations Ploshad Revoliutsii (my favourite), Komsomolskaya, Kievskaya, Mayakovskaya and Novokusnietskaya.
Moscow, with a population over 10 million souls, is a very expensive town. But you can still eat for little, and not only in the Mc Donalds. Check the “stolovaya” or restaurants were the Russians themselves go for business lunch from 4 to 6 euros. Most of the inhabitants of Moscow have a very low salary compared with Western Europe, and they survive.
If you are Spanish, then you should visit the Spanish centre, in the Red Cross building, in front of the metro station Kuznetski Most. They can give you advice. The people in charge are the “children” who were sent to Soviet Union during the Spanish civil war. Now, the survivors, about 300, are very old, but they still keep the Spanish language and traditions, and their granddaughters dance flamenco. They will appreciate your visit.
Pushkin square is a good place to make purchases. In the shop Armenia, just in the corner of that square, you can buy good Georgian wine and Armenian delicatessen. Have a look at the beautiful shop called Yelisey, in the Tverkaya ulitsa (street), which looks like a palace.
If you visit the Kremlin complex (UNESCO monument), the Saint Basil temple in the Red Square, the Novodevichi monastery (with lots of old icons), the pedestrian street Arbat (with many souvenirs shops), the museum Pushkin and Tretyakov gallery, then you can proudly say that you know Moscow better than many of their citizens.
Near Moscow, I advise you to spend a few days visiting the Golden Ring cities. Unless you have a lot of time, I suggest you to visit only three, in my opinion the most beautiful: Sergei Posad, Vladimir and Souzdal.
Finally, a good internet café where you can spend the night while on line, is the one inside the Detski Mir store, near Kuznetski Most metro station, which is open 24 hours a day.

In the Soviet Union times thousands of tourists gathered in the Red Square to take pictures of the Lenin Mausoleum during the change of guards.

New Jerusalem is not far from Moscow. You have to take an elektrichki, or local train to Istra, and ask for New Jerusalem. Then walk one kilometer or so and you will discover an amazing monastery. Entrance is free, but the museums inside are paying. Patriarch Nikon is buried there.