Thursday, January 27, 2005

Underground Moscow #7 - Smolenskaya

This pedestrian underpass allows one to cross under the Garden Ring near both of the Smolenskaya metro stations (yes, there are two of them with the same name, with different entrances - one on the dark-blue line known as the deeper Smokenskaya station, the other, on the light-blue line, known as the shallower Smolenaskaya station). If you need to get from Old Arbat to the Stockmann department store located in the Smolensky Passazh shopping center and don't want to use the underpass across from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, this would be the one to use.


Entrance on the inner (East) side of the Garden Ring.
The sign touts a 24-hour currency exchange.


Before descending one can purchase shaurma.


This is deeper than many underpasses.


And longer.


Not much pedestrian traffic on a Saturday.


Exiting on the outer side of the Garden Ring.


The descent into the underpass is overseen by - what else -
a slot-machine hall. Note the large photo advertisements
showing young, normal-looking people engrossed in the
slots. The portable toilet nearby is an appropriate
accompaniment - might as well toss your money in there
as into a Moscow slot machine.

All of these photos were taken shortly after 1pm on Dec 18, 2004.

2 comments:

Tim Newman said...

Wow!! I stayed at the Belgrad Hotel on Smolenskaya Ploschad when I was first in Moscow, and that was the Metro station nearest to me. It took me an age to find it, it's just tucked behind the McDonalds kind of off the street in amonst a load of wooden buildings, IIRC.

Tim Newman said...

Actually, I remember trying to cross the Garden Ring at night in very heavy traffic with a girl in high heels. Having nearly got us killed twice, we made it across and back. It wasn't until a couple of days later that an irate policeman told us to stop tyring to commit suicide and use the underpass (which we hadn't previously seen). Doh!