X-Files of Russia: KGB and Other Top Secret Sites (CB-08)

Arrival in Moscow. Our driver will meet you in the arrival sector with a Go Russia sign board. Transfer to the hotel.

A guided walking tour around major cultural and historical points in Moscow. You will see one of the famous “Seven Sisters” skyscrapers built during Stalin's last years and initially thought as elite housing. We will visit Lubyanka Square – the world-famous KGB centre of the Soviet epoch, Teatralnaya Square next to Bolshoi Theatre. Then we will continue our walk through the small central streets and lanes where every building has its own unique and interesting story. Most of them currently represent Russian theatres, hotels, museums or state institutions. We will also visit Tverskaya Street – the main and the busiest street in Moscow – with lots of shops, restaurants and unique combination of old, Stalin and modern architecture. We will finish our tour on the pedestrian Old Arbat Street, famous for its souvenirs and street dancers and artists. After the guided tour you will have some free time to browse among the shops selling merchandise and enjoy various Arbat cafes or restaurants.

Guided tour of Moscow Underground – explore one of the masterpieces of the Soviet era created in the Socialist Realism style. Moscow Metro with its stations decorated with marble, mosaics, stained glass panels and bronze sculptures looks like a vast art museum. It was one of the proudest achievements of the Soviet era and it’s still is beating many other European underground system with its extremely reliable services.

Guided visit to the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of Russia which contains 24 exhibition halls. The strength of the Museum’s historical collection is in its collection of banners of Soviet and Third Reich Army and personal belongings of Soviet and Nazi leaders (including the General Zhukov and Adolf Hitler). The Museum has a wide range of weapons, military uniforms and decorations. The outside exposition of the Museum presents many armoured vehicles, artillery, antiaircraft systems and battle aircrafts.

We will visit the Red Square arguably one of the most famous squares in the world. It’s got its name from the Russian word for "red", which many centuries ago meant "beautiful". Each building here is a legend: you will see brightly-domed St. Basil's cathedral, the world - renowned Lenin Mausoleum, expansive facade of the GUM department store, Kazan Cathedral and Kremlin towers. During the Soviet period the Red Square used to be associated with images of stone-faced communist party leaders standing in the cold atop Lenin's Mausoleum and watching military parades. Today, Red Square is a popular tourist attraction and it is often used for rock and pop concerts including high-profile participants like Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd and others.

You will discover the interior of the Kremlin - the former residence of the Tsars and now the residence of the Russian president. You will also visit the Kremlin’s beautiful orthodox cathedrals. The Cathedral Square still retains the aura of early Tsarist Russia, where the spirits of Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, and the early Romanovs loom large. You can also visit the Armoury to see a unique collection of ancient state regalia: the ceremonial vestments and coronation dress of the Tsars, gold and silverware by Russian craftsmen, and ceremonial weapons and arms (optional excursion at your request).

The fist mentioning of Armoury recorded in 1508 and it started to function as the storehouse for the Kremlin weaponry. However, within a few decades the structure had gained the added function of a workshop and a repository for all sorts of treasures of the Imperial court. In 1813 the Armoury building became an exhibition hall and a museum. The collection of the Armoury is overwhelming. It contains such exhibits as the chalice of Yuri Dolgorukiy, the helm and armour of Boris Godunov, collection of over fifty Faberge eggs, golden and silver works of applied art by Russian, European and Oriental masters, invaluable weapons and other works made of precious metals and stones.

We invite you to visit the former top secret command centre of the Russian Armed Forces recently converted into museum of the Cold War period. It is the newest museum opened in Moscow. After entering a regular building in a quite central street of the city and a ride on a rapid elevator 65 meters under the ground you will see a real top secret military facility of the USSR. During a short 30 minutes guided tour you will pass through the secret tunnels, see samples of communication equipment and fire arms, learn about the life and functioning of the secured post during the Soviet period.

Poklonnaya Hill (Poklonnaya Gora in Russian) is the most significant monument constructed in honour of victory in the Great Patriotic War. The solemn opening of the Victory Memorial in Moscow was held on May, 9, 1995. On February 23, 1958 on this site, a memorable granite sign was established with the inscription: "Here there will be a monument to the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War."

Since the 1980s the hill also includes the monumental museum to the Soviet victory in the WWII. The Victory Park and the Square of Victors are important parts of the outdoor museum with many tanks and other vehicles used in the Second World War.

Star City is situated to the North-West of Moscow in a beautiful pine and birch forest. See the hall where real space vehicles are used to train astronauts, the hydro laboratory, in which future astronauts learn to live and work in conditions of weightlessness, and the largest centrifuge in the world. You will see unique equipment where cosmonauts train for flight, including the MIR simulator. All the crews on the Vostok and Voskhod missions and the various models of manned “Soyuz” spacecraft, as well as those who worked on the MIR orbiting station, were trained here.

Guided tour to the Central Museum of the Air Forces at Monino - one of the world's largest aviation museums, and the largest for Russian aircraft. You will see the famous "Ilya Muromets", Soviet "Concorde" (Tupolev-144), Ivan Kozhedub’ s La-7 (during the WWII he brought down 62 German airplanes), Tupolev-95 Bomber (NATO classification - Bear), Tupolev-22М (Backfire) and other legendary aircraft... The museum also features collections of weapons, uniforms and air-related artwork.

Transfer to the airport. Our driver will meet you with a Go Russia sign board at the hotel lobby.