Old-world charm

Wed, May 14 12:45 AM

In Moscow, the modern day visitor can easily be lured into a world of new-fangled glitz. I had joined my husband on a business trip, where we stayed at the smart new Ararat Park Hyatt.

Our hosts took us to Cantinetta Antinori, a sparkling Italian restaurant, and to the much talked about Chinese restaurant, Turandot, decorated in opulent French style. There was talk of the phenomenon that has changed the look and feel of Moscow - its 40-odd billionaire oligarchs, the new cafes, bars and nightclubs that exercise "face control" (letting in only the wealthy, connected and gorgeous), of the racy contemporary art scene and the string of high-end designer showrooms.

Each year, a "Millionaires' Fair" is held in Moscow, where diamond encrusted mobile phones, private jets and private islands are publicly showcased. Very impressive, but I became wistful about finding myself somewhere in the pages of the novel Anna Karenina, in a world where families escaped on weekends to their datchas (country homes) and people wore ushanka hats (furry ones with ear-flaps that tie- down).

A city with a past Walking through Moscow, I was constantly rewarded with beautiful views of the skyline filled with spires, turrets and the onion- shaped domes of myriad churches from the Czarist era. The most remarkable ones were St Basil's cathedral in the Red Square, Terem Palace in the grand Kremlin complex, and The Cathedral of the Dormition.

In the Soviet era, Stalin built the Seven-Sisters, a series of functional buildings that are an integral part of the city's architecture. The famed underground Metro stations of Moscow are also a tribute to the communists, where decorative bronze statues of workers salute the motherland, artistic mosaics and antique chandeliers liven up an otherwise mundane journey.

Street vendors tote the iconic nesting matryushka dolls, replicas of Faberge eggs, and Soviet-era memorabilia. The "Reading Houses" in Gorky Park are a delightful testimony to a land of great writers such as Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Bumin and Mikhail Bulgakov.

At Novodevichy Convent Cemetary, the names of Russian nobility were evoked as I brushed past the graves of Peter the Great's sister, and authors and thinkers such as Chekov and Gogol. A cultural storehouse Caf and #233; Pushkin, an institution in Moscow, spirited me away to the 1830s when Pushkin's famous novel, Eugene Onegin, was published.

Here, we had a traditional Russian brunch of fresh orange juice, blinis (savoury pancakes) with sour cream and black caviar and honey cakes. Nearby, at Yeleseev's Food Hall, I found local delicacies such as fruit-jellies, caviars, chocolates and varieties of spirits.

Our last evening at the newly renovated Bolshoi Theatre was memorable, as we watched Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet. Originally conceived in France, ballet was taken to such heights in Russia that the world associates the art form with Russia.

Now that is something to be genuinely proud of.

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