You can enliven your walks over the city with boat tours on the Moscow river, which may be quite an interesting entertainment. From the river you can see the Kremlin, the embankments of Zamoskvorechye, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Stalin`s skyscrapers and many other sights of Moscow.
You can join an tour on the Moscow river in two places (terminal points of excursion boats) – at the Kievsky railway station and opposite the Novospassky Monastery on the Krasnokholmskaya Embankment near the metro station `Proletarskaya.` You may go aboard these boats at the intermediate stops of the Moscow river route, for example, at the Gorky Park, but then the tour will be incomplete.
Boat restaurants also run on the Moscow river. They are swell ships where one can combine a river boat ride with a supper at the good restaurant. Almost all these ships are owned by the Radisson-Ukraine Hotel, and are moored at the hotel on the embankment of Taras Shevchenko, opposite the White House of Russia.
If you start the tour on the Moscow river at the Novospassky, at first you can see the Stalin`s skyscraper on the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment and small two-storey buildings of Zamoskvorechye. Then you can see the Moscow Kremlin at a distance. Its wall stretches for almost a kilometer between the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge and the Big Stone Bridge.
After the Kremlin there will be two interesting sights on the Moscow river. The famous building on the (Kotelnicheskaya) Embankment is on the left. Stalin had this huge residential complex built for the top political leadership of the country. It was also dwelled by scientists and cultural figures. As is known, in the period of repressions prison vans came there every night.
Going down the Moscow river on your left you will have the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, built in the 19 century to commemorate the victory over Napoleon in the Patriotic War of 1812. Opposite the cathedral there was built a pedestrian bridge leading to the red buildings of the `Krasny Oktyabr` confectionery on the opposite bank of the river. Now these houses, built in the eclectic style, are occupied by the most fashionable clubs in Moscow. And nearby you can see the enormous monument of Peter I.
Beyond the beautiful Krymsky Bridge the tour boat go along the Gorky Park and the Neskuchny Park on the Moscow river. There you can see the Russian space shuttle `Buran`, the first and the last launch of which took place on November, 15, 1988.
After the Gorky Park the Moscow river makes a big bend around the Luzhniki. Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills), the highest point in Moscow, are located there. From the observation point before the University you may have a beautiful view on the central part of the city and all its main sights.
After the Luzhniki the tour boat comes to the Kievsky railway station, its destination. The tour duration is two hours. You should buy a single ticket as the return trip won`t be as interesting.
