Vladimir

Vladimir is one of the cities in golden ring of Russia, which is located nearly 200 kms east of Moscow. By a car trip from Moscow you can reach there in nearly 3-4 hours, depending on the traffic. It is famous with its old history, churches. A small city with one main street, one central square.

There is not much things to do in the city, but you can spend a nice weekend, by staying there one night. In the town after asking to people and searching i can advice you the places Dejve restaurant, Orion hotel; to see the main street, city center and churchs part, main shopping center.

Gus-Hrustalniy

Gus-Hrustalniy is a small city nearly 230 km far from Moscow, located in north-east part of Moscow, which can be reached with 3-4 hour trip by car. It is located near Gus river and famous with its crystal factory. The name of the city also means as 'crystal goose' in English. It is a very calm, not developed small Russian town. Mostly houses are small village houses or 5 floor Stalin type old Russian buildings.

People in the town are usually old Russians or people who preferred to have a calm, small village life. The economic situation of the town is not very well, which can be seen from the general view of the town. It is surrounded by huge Russia forests and have a nice nature.

Not a touristic city, but with its crystal factory and to buy special crystal presents can be given a small stop while travelling through, if its on your route.

Sushi in Moscow

Sushi is one of the most popular foods in Moscow where you can find nearly every where: sushi restaurants, markets, shopping centers...The prices also are not expensive compared to Moscow standard prices of food. Usually these restaurants are set of restaurants located near different metro stations of Moscow.

As a person first time trying sushi in Moscow I didnt like it much at first time. But after going a few times you get to use and even like it. Now once a month I try to get to some sushi restaurant. In these restaurants, you can also find some chicken, meat, sea food as alternative. My favorites are california and tuna maki, green tea.

My preferences of sushi restaırants in Moscow in order are Tanuki, Yakitoria, Planeta Sushi, Yaposha Mama.

If you come to Moscow you should try sushi...

Tokat Restaurant - Moscow

One of the restaurants I was hearing for long time but hadn't been was Tokat Restaurant in Moscow. Some people were saying it was so good, others not a place to go at all. A few weeks ago I find the change to visit there with my friends. Compared to other Turkish restaurants in Moscow, it has a real feeling of a Turkish restaurant at side streets of Aksaray, Taksim; where nearly all clients are Turkish...In the restaurant Turkish league footbal mathes are shown from television. It is nearly full at match days. As a fan of Besiktas, I went to watch my team's match with Trabzonspor. But I was shocked to see that like %90 people watching the match was fans of Trabzonspor, even some of them with special Trabzonspor tshirts. I guess these people were mostly related with construction business who came form Trabzon.

The taste of food is similar to done in Turkey. Mercimek corbasi, adana kebap and coban salata were the most similar taste of Turkeys, comparing with other Turkish restaurants in Moscow. The prices are also cheap.

The atmosphere is man dominant and not nicely designed. The people coming there are mostly classical workers, middle business men in Moscow. You can hear slang words and Turkish style joking in the restaurant. Some days in restaurant they play live turkish music and songs.

It is located at metro Komsomolskaya, at the parallel street back of Kazanskiy Vakzal. Need to see sometimes for food and watching matches...

How to rent a flat in Moscow?

Renting a flat is a general problem in Moscow. Its hard to find a good house with the specifications in your mind, with a good house owner. Specially knowing little Russian, its a hard thing to do yourself where most of the agents and house owners do not know English.

To rent a flat, you need to find some agent phone numbers from your friends and colleagues. There are some Russian agents even knowing Turkish. In Russia, usually flat owners has his/her agent and the renter has his/her own agent. When the flat is found, 1 months renting price is given to these two agents as commision also. Usually flat owners want a one month price as deposit as well. So when doing contrat, three months renting money should be with you.

The flats in Russia is mostly rented with furnitures, so you don't need to buy or have many things for a new home. Also in Moscow, the flats are rented very fastly. In one week you should search detailly and rent the house you like' directly. Other day this flat can be already rented.

On the internet a popular flat searching site is : http://www.cian.ru/

How to buy a car in Russia as a foreigner?

As a foreigner, most of us are usually afraid to do new things which we don`t know, such as buying a car. We are mostly afraid of the diplomatical and procedural things. Instead, it is not such a hard thing and i can say that it is even easy after buyig it.

Firstly you have to decide which car to buy, as well as deciding buying a brand new car or used one. I would offer to buy a new car beacuse there is not much price difference. You should buy from the offical sellers in the city. The others sellers are mostly more expensive and they dont give a trustfull image to you. You have to give an order 3-4 months before to get the car with your specifications. or you can buy the car waiting in the saloon which will not fully satisfy or be over your expectations.

For foreigners there is a different place for car registrations. It is located near Tsaritsno Metro. To do prodecural thing you can find somebody(some Turks working in Moscow long time as driver for example) who would help you in such things with some money. Also in this process, payoff to some people is needed to get your things fastly done.

While driving car you have to carry 4 documents with you.
1) The translation of your driving license in Russian and the original driving license.
2) The OSAGO document, which is the govermental insurance of the car.
3) The registration document of the car to your name.
4) Ownership document of the car.

Also you may carry the private insurance document with you.

Buying car and registering is the only two steps firstly to buy a car. If you have money and will to have a car, i would offer you to buy a car and not to wait for it. Your life really changes in moscow after having a car...

Turkish Restaurants in Moscow

As a Turkish person who is devoted to delicious food, specially Turkish kitchen, its the main problem to find good Turkish resturants in Moscow. The list below is all restaurants i know in Moscow, in the order i like the foods there.

• Pasha Resturant : the restaurant has a nice internal design, with quality service and delicous food. Especially mercimek soup, i would advice you to try. The only disadvantage is that the location of the restaurant is far from the city center and the prices are a little expensive. For one person like 700-1000 rubles. Metro: Preobrajenskaya Ploshad.
• Bosphorus Restaurant : located in enterance of old Arbat street, has a large menu of Turkish foods. In the base floor you can also watch Turkish leauge or uefa matches. Has good mezes. Suitable for to take your guests, with nice internal design also. One person price 500-800 rub.
  
• Sikidim Restaurant: located in shopping center Atrium near Novokuznetskaya metro. The food is similar to home made food, where you can choose your food, looking to daily prepared foods. The portions are large and you will feel fed after your meal. Only the internal design and place of the restaurant is a disadvantage. Price for one person 500-800 rub.
  
• Kebap House : Located in old Arbat, prepares all kind of kebaps.The kebaps are not very delicious and internal design is classical Turkish Kebap house. The place is easy to go and have a kebap. Can be tired sometimes. Prices 400-600 rub.
  
• Kebap House in shopping centers : Can be found specially on old Ramstores and new Auchans at the food court; Sevastopolskaya, Kiveskaya Evropeski, Universitet ramstore... For to get Turkish taste, you can try mercimek corbasi, lahmacun, adana durum and ayran. Also a few house meals are serviced. Price for a meal would be 250-500 rub.