One of the main reasons I chose to do Topdeck’s Red Star Special tour was because it went well beyond the old iron curtain, into the heartland of Mother Russia.
I always have had a curiosity with Russia. Throughout modern history classes in high school, the 1917 revolution and the Soviet Union were two of the topics I found most fascinating. Throughout my time in Russia, I learnt more about the people, its customs and what really makes Russia one of the most unusual countries on this planet.
The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg.
After crossing the border from Estonia, the bus made its way to Saint Petersburg, formerly Leningrad.
As we travelled through Russia, it was highly requested that we have a Russian tour guide who works for the Russian government with us. Naturally, this was so we had an ‘official’ history told to us and not one that challenges the governments standpoint.
The two tour guides we had were great. They knew what they were talking about and were easily able to answer questions. Despite this, they both did not talk much about Soviet history and when they did, it was usually focussing on positive aspects of it.
The Kremlin, Moscow
This was slightly disappointing, as the Soviet history was one of the key draw cards for me going to Russia. In saying this, the tour guides were more than happy to talk about soviet history on a one on one level.
The Russian people truly are an odd bunch. The stereotype about them is true, they never smile! According to one of our tour guides this is because Russian people think smiling for no reason is stupid, and those who smile for no reason are stupid. This lead to a number us travelling together calling each other stupid for smiling.
Church of Spilt Blood, Saint Petersburg
This comes again down to the rich and complex history of Russia as a whole. The people have been through so much, under the tyrannical reign of its Tsar’s, to the Soviet Union. It is no wonder people hardly smile.
As a vegetarian, I was also incredibly interested to see what the reactions to me, a young male, being vegetarian were. When I travelled to Cambodia and Vietnam last year, I investigated how history and culture have a direct impact on views surrounding vegetarianism. I discovered that when countries have experience hardship, or not had such regular access to food, food becomes more of a means to an end. Diets such as vegetarianism by choice are looked on as strange and different because of this.
Also, much is known about the masculinity problem Russia has. Men HAVE to be masculine and females HAVE to be feminine. Eating meat is often considered a strong part of masculinity and so I got a lot of strange looks as a skinny red-headed male being vegetarian.
Red Square at night
Naturally I would not come to Russia without asking people their thoughts on the political situation in Russia. How could Vladimir Putin have so much local support? What do Russian’s think about the Ukraine situation? About Pussy Riot? About western views on their country?
What I discovered was Russians are a very patriotic people. Everything they do is for their country, and everything their country does is for them. This theme strongly echoes back to the communist times of the Soviet Union.
When talking with one of the tour guides I had on the tour, she offered me a perspective that I think echoes that of the majority of Russians.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union Russia faced many hardships. The people were embracing this new-found democracy, they were loving this new found democracy. But other parts of the country were going backwards, not forwards, which was supposed to happen in this new exciting federation.
Entrance to Red Square
Then along came Vladimir Putin. A man who was right for Russia at the time. He was incredibly popular within the country and he stood up for Russia on an international level, not letting other countries walk over him.
When it came to running for his third term in office, my tour guide told me that most Russians accept the undemocratic nature of him being re-elected (as a Russian president can only be in for two terms) as he is the leader Russians need right now.
In terms of Ukraine and Pussy Riot, I found a large number of Russians have mixed feelings on the issue. I was told that this is a good thing though, as having these different opinions on tense political issues such as these show just how far Russia has come since the end of the Soviet Union.
I can’t help but agree.
Moscow Metro
In terms of what I did in Saint Petersburg, I visited the Winter Palace and the rest of the Hermitage museum, I visited a number of the famous churches and also did a river/canal cruise. From Saint Petersburg we went to Novgorod, where we spent the night before travelling to Moscow. In Moscow, I went inside the Kremlin, saw Red Square, went to the Ballet and the Circus, visited Lenin and went to the armoury museum. On our way out of Russia (to Riga in Latvia), we stayed in a town called Velikie Luki. There was nothing there apart from a supermarket and a tank.
I could go on and on and on about Russia. To conclude, Russia has been an incredible experience. I learnt new things about the country, new things about their beliefs and realised that there is so much left to explore. I can definitely see myself coming back here to investigate more about the small things I have already discovered.
So from Russia with Love, this is Tobi signing off another post.
