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  to Staritsa from Moscow

 
Nov. 2, 2004
     
  Direct bus from Moscow A bus leaves for Staritsa about 10am daily from Metro Tushinskaya. Tickets need to be bought in advance, especially in the summer, but I charmed the bus station ladies into accepting a deposit and reserving tickets for me over the phone, in exchange for one chocolate tablet per ticket. You are most welcomed to take advantage of this little privilege I carved out for myself and my guests.  
  Through Tver Alternatively you can travel to Tver by train or bus, and then take a Tver to Staritsa or Tver to Rzhev bus. The last bus leaves Tver at 5-something in the afternoon.

The rate for the Tver to Staritsa taxi ride is around $25.

  
  By car 3-4 hours from the Moscow's outer ring to the city. Russian drivers have been known to make it in two. Take Novo-Rizhsky highway to Zubtsov, turn right immediately after Zubtsov, the right again at the end of the road. Warning: these winding roads are not marked and temptingly smooth and empty. Be careful.

There are more interesting ways to travel to Staritsa. See Turning your trip into a tour.

You may want to check when I plan to travel to Starisa by car. With some luck you'll get a ride. A suitable car upkeep contribution is $50 if I'm going anyway. A larger amount will help me to adjust my plans to accommodate you. Or you can go truly extravagant and just hire me to take you there at **your** convenience, VIP style. Speaking of chauffeur services, please make a note of my www.moscowdrivers.net

Staritsa taxi drivers will retrieve you from Moscow for $120 or so while hiring a driver in Moscow will cost you about twice as much. See Staritsa Taxi for the phone numbers and brief descriptions of drivers.

  
  Turning the trip into a tour A drive from Moscow to Staritsa may be turned into an tour with emphasis on Russia's military history and in particularly the 1941 battle to defend Moscow from advancing German troops. The trip can be plotted to include some or even most of the following:
  • Kutuzovsky prospekt with its many monuments
  • The Poklonnaya Gora memorial park
  • The Krylatskoye district, the home for the political, economic, and criminal elite
  • Mitino, perhaps the world's larges market where pirated software is openly sold, your chance to get back at Bill Gates
  • New Jerusalem, an imposing 17th century monument to Russia's ambition to become the center of Christian civilization.
  • Memorials, museums, tanks and rocket launchers, and other reminders of the war.
  • Volokolamsk, with its well kept and quite photogenic churches and old fortifications
  • Yaropolets, once a major center of art and literature, which became famous under the Communists because of the first rural hydro station build there under Lenin's close supervision
  • Rzhev and Zubtsov, the site of some of the most fierce tank battles of the Eastern Front in World War 2
  • The country estate of Piotr Tchailovky in Klin
  • Gorodnya, with a uniquely beautiful 18th century church over the Volga turned into a reservoir
  • Tver, once a rival of Moscow, a profoundly provincial city now enjoying unprecedented economic revival
  • ......

An WW2 fortification north off Volokolamsk

 

An arc on the Kutuzovsky to commemorate the 1812 war

A pyramid believed to have supernatural properties by the New Riga road. A popular site.
  Map Take a look at this map of the area between Moscow and Staritsa.  
  Going back Daily direct bus at 10am. Lots of Moscow-bound traffic so just follow others.  

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