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>Russia
The history of Russia has been turbulent. In the last 100 years it has gone from a monarchy before the revolution of 1917 brought Communist rule which remained in place for most of the 20th century. During this time, Russia saw the purges under Stalin, their rise to become a world super-power, and dramatic fall of communism which started in the docks of Gdansk (Poland). The fall of communism saw the break up of the Soviet Union and the start of Peristroika (restructuring). This was a turbulent time which saw the rebirth of the Russian Federation and a lot of economic restructuring. Today, Russia continues to grow stronger as it generates huge income from it’s vast reserves of natural resources.
It is possible to order your Roubles before you travel or you can wait until you arrive in Russia. You will find cash machines at the international airports and there are plentiful around the main cities. There are also numerous money exchange kiosks where you can exchange hard currency for roubles although you will almost certainly be asked for identification. Credit cards are accepted in places and some banks will exchange travellers cheques but you should rely on this especially outside the major cities.
Islam is the largest of the minority religions while others include Protestant, Roman Catholic, Buddism and Judaism. A significant proportion of the population consider themselves as atheists which is down, in part, the Soviet suppression of religion.
You’ll find some of the airlines serving Russia listed here >> If you prefer a slower journey, it’s possible to take the train to Russia. As with any long distance train journey, there are several options to consider. One important thing to note is that some routes from Europe to Russia go through Belarus and you will almost certainly require a transit visa so it’s probably best to plan your route to avoid Belarus. Despite it’s extensive coast line, there are relatively few ferry services that will take you to Russia. St Petersburg is part of the route for Baltic cruises but there is no scheduled ferry service. Instead you will need to take a ferry to Estonia and Lativa and from there, take the train or bus on to Russia. The Black Sea resort of Sochi has two ferry routes from Turkey and Georgia and over in the East, Vladivostok has ferry routes to Japan and Korea. The ferries to Vladivostok take a long time and can be expensive. The passengers tend to be mainly businessmen importing cars to Russia.
Fortunately, you don’t have to rely on your mobile phone to call home. Calling cards are an excellent option for making cheaper calls to home when you are in Russia. Calling local numbers within Russia is generally considered to be cheap. There are also a number of free and pay per use WiFi hotspots available in the cities so if you have one of the more advanced phones which have VoIP software, this is probably the cheapest way to make international calls from Russia.
You will sometimes here the description of European Russia which is the area to the West of the Ural Mountains and Asian Russian which is the area to the East of the Ural Mountains (GMT +4 to GMT + 12). |
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Russia is the world’s biggest and most diverse country with a population
of 145 million people. The size of the country is overwhelming with over
20,000km of land borders, nearly 38,000km of coastline and spans 11 time
zones from the exclave Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea over to the village
of Uelen on the Bering Straits across from Alaska.
The currency in Russia is the Rouble. The financial crisis in the 1990s
saw the currency was rebased in 1998 with 1 new rouble equalling 1,000
old roubles. 1 rouble is made up of 100 kopeks. Notes come in 5000,
1000, 500, 100, 50 and 10s and coins come in 5, 2 and 1 roubles. It’s
always useful to have some small denomination money with you to pay for
things like bus and tram tickets. You may still see some prices quoted
in US Dollars or Euros but transactions will be converted and carried
out in roubles. This used to be done when the value of the rouble was
liable to fluctuate but that is no longer the risk it used to be.
220 volts is the standard throughout Russia. The plug is a standard
European 2 round pin plug. Bring your own converter (if needed) as
buying them in Russia can be difficult.
There has been a strong revival of the Russian Orthodox church in the
post communist era, during which, religion in the Soviet Union was
savagely suppressed. It continues to be the main religion in Russia
today and you will find their magnificent churches everywhere.
Moscow and St Petersburg are both well served with plenty of
international routes. The 2 main Russian airlines are Aeroflot and
Transaero both of which operate modern western aircraft are forming
alliances with other established airlines. In early 2006, Aeroflot
became a full member of the Skyteam Alliance (including KLM and Air
France).
When calling Russia, the international dialling code 7 and costs will
vary depending where you are calling from. Calls to mobile phones will
be more expensive than to landlines. There is an excellent mobile phone
service in built up areas although away from these, coverage may be
intermittent. The cost of making and receiving calls in Russia is quite
high and paying £2 per minute to make calls from Russia is not unusual.
You are advised to check with your service provider about the costs
before you travel.
This huge country spans 11 different times zones stretching from
Kalliningrad (GMT +2), Moscow and St Petersburg (GMT +3) continuing all
the way over to Kamchatka (GMT +12). Daylight saving is observed in line
with Europe.
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