Things to do in Moscow’s artist’s block

Arbat Street is a 1.25km pedestrian mall and is one of Moscow’s most famous streets. It’s an art market, with instant portrait painters, craftsmen, jugglers, buskers and little cafés offering nice treats.

Arbat Street, with poet Pushkin’s house

Arbat St and little picture exhibits

There were a number of performers who were handing out discount coupons for circuses and music shows and other gigs.

Wall of peace

This wall at the east end of the street consists of individually painted tiles on the theme of international friendship. A section of it is covered in spent chewing gum, forming an interesting but sticky mosaic.

Café. I can’t quite read cursive Cyrillic alphabet

шоколадный торт и кофе с молоком

Sports Bar (near Arbatskaya)

At night, I went to a sports bar to have some local beer and watch a football (called soccer in USA) game between Moscow and St. Petersburg (I think). I was meeting someone I found on couchsurfing, and she told me it was important to get out of the place before the match ended. The place was getting louder as the match was drawing to an end. I did encounter drunk football fans in the subway later on.

So as you can see, I had fun on Arbat street and it definitely deserves more attention that I gave it!

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