My First Two Nights In Moscow As An American (Ish)
- Konrad Tillman
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Intro
Following a lovely sleep in China Eastern Economy, waiting 5 hours at immigration, and enjoying a lovely meal at Garda, there was one thing on my mind: sleep.
However, my friend had other ideas...
The Experience
Before heading to Moscow, I really had no idea what it would be like at night. My mum had informed me about how beautiful the daytime is, with fantastic architecture, easily able to grab a taxi on Yandex Go, and kind people, but the night is slightly different.
So, as we left Garda, the night began with a local bar, which happened to have happy hour. What could go wrong with 2 shots of Beluga vodka for 4$? A lot, apparently...
I digress, enjoying a few shots near the Bolshoi, we headed off to see the Kremlin/Red Square lit up at night. Simply unreal...
Now, that is all for night one, which I can talk about 😉. However, if I had to reflect on my day 1 reflection, it would be this: everyone I met was extremely kind, but I was extremely happy that I was with someone who spoke Russian due to it being difficult to get around without Google Translate. I don't expect people to speak English; in fact, quite the opposite, but this is a place where being with a local truly does help...
Night 2
The second night was supposed to be more chill, and to some extent, it was. However, it still made me wake up with a brutal hangover the next day, so there's that.
After sleeping most of the day, we made our way to this local Georgian cuisine near the Bolshoi again. The food scene is really quite interesting here; there is food from all over the world, and it sort of reminds me of New York City in some ways.
It was a really cool experience all around. I'm not going to go out of my way to recommend this restaurant, as there are so many in Moscow, but I do recommend finding a local place somewhere along the street to people-watch and have a cocktail.
See, me and this friend have an issue when we come together: we drink too much 😂. And I mean, I've never been to Russia, so I figured, let's do it. The night before, we had walked by this cool spot close to Garda, where tables were set up on the street, and everyone was laughing and drinking.
So we headed off there for a couple of drinks (expensive 13$ a drink) and enjoyed a couple each.
Man, it was just cool to see this sort of vibe. It was a mix between the locals in Asia who sit on the street drinking, and a European vibe. People seemed happy, enjoying life, and laughing.
While they closed down around 1 am, we still had some energy left before heading to bed and decided to hit one of the local dive bars. Throughout Russia, you will see these bars that are underground and with limited signage. Really, on almost every major street, there can be 2-5 per block.
And while there wasn't a single guest in the whole place, this was probably my favorite part of the night, primarily due to the bartender. He spoke some English, and we all chatted away for about 2 hours, just drinking and talking about Russia. It was fascinating to see the differences between a first-hand Russian account versus propaganda in the States. Obviously, it lies somewhere in the middle, but you have to see both sides to see the whole picture.
Final Thoughts
While I will talk about exploring the touristy parts during the day in a separate post, I wanted to share a small look into the bar nightlife in Moscow. To this day, life still goes on, regardless of the war. If you are looking to visit Moscow, just head out around the Bolshoi, and there are plenty of bars to choose from. I'm not going to recommend one, as where is the fun in that? Find your own place and enjoy Russia!
Russia Series
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