“A brilliant world-class capital” – foreigners are amazed by the changed Moscow
The Russian capital has changed a lot for the better and is not inferior to Berlin or Paris today.
This conclusion was reached by foreign fans who came to Russia for the World Cup, a selection of whose opinions publishes "Independent newspaper".
“We are trying to figure out Moscow, it turned out that it, no less than Mexico City, did not expect this from a European city,” said Mexican Emilio. – We have two groups, one checked into a hostel, one into a hotel, but we will get together and explore the city. From what I saw, it is simply a brilliant capital on the level of Paris or Berlin. I see that Moscow will be very safe - the local residents perceive us very friendly, I didn’t see any aggression during the day, everyone, on the contrary, is trying to take pictures with us or help us in some way. The volunteers at the airport were very helpful, guiding us and telling us what to do first.”
“We don’t live in the center, we’ve already taken the metro, which is impressive - very clean, and the trains run very often,” says Marco from Spain. – I liked the central part of the city, it’s clear that a lot has been updated, and this was done not for the championship, but simply to improve the city. For now we are trying to figure out the texts in Russian - although navigation is installed for fans, there are many volunteers, but we want to see more non-tourist places, to see something authentic. We deliberately located further from the center, choosing Chertanovo, since one friend told me that, judging by the location, it could be a dangerous area. And it turned out to be completely calm, clean and well-maintained.”
“Two stadiums of such a level as Luzhniki and Spartak for one city are very cool,” says Andrzej, who came to support the Polish national team. – I know that these are not all the arenas that are in Moscow, it is surprising, of course, that they are all in such excellent condition. This year I was surprised by the work of volunteers - there are a lot of them, they are really ready to help in any way they can, and there is always someone who knows at least some foreign language, not just Russian.”
“Moscow is beautiful, a little colder than I expected for the summer, but I was told that you would generally have to wear a jacket here,” says Maria from Egypt. – I have a friend studying in Moscow, so I knew a lot about the city, that it is very beautiful, convenient for living and has changed a lot lately. I’ve already driven a circle around the Moscow Central Circle - unfortunately, we don’t have anything like that, although Cairo is also huge.”
“We were in Moscow in 1998, but now it feels like a completely different city,” say Martin and Ilsa from Germany. – We arrived early to relax here before the start of the championship, walked through places we saw 20 years ago, and did not recognize them - pedestrians can now walk in the center, the streets are not clogged with cars as before. Zaryadye Park is simply fantastic, I can’t believe that it could have been created in such a short period of time. And all the historical buildings, which often looked bad before, have been renovated. There are cafes and shops on every corner that are open until late. The changes are amazing, the city looks like a world capital not only in size, but also in its level of development.”
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