3 Best Sights in Moscow, Russia

One of the country's largest bookstores has an English-language section on the second floor. This is also a good place to get books for Russian-language learners. The chain has other stores around the city and a website where you can order online.

This former market, which takes up an entire block between ulitsas Ilinka and Varvarka, just east of Red Square, is made up of two imposing buildings. Running the length of pereulok Khrustalny is the Old Merchant Arcade, erected by the Italian architect Quarenghi between 1791 and 1805; on the other side of the block, bordering pereulok Rybny, is the New Merchant Arcade, built between 1838 and 1840 on the site of the old fish market. The complex now houses a number of restaurants, art galleries, and shops, though none of them are worth making a special trip to visit. Besides the facade, the only parts of the building of historical interest are the capacious glass-topped arcade inside and a small exhibition of the structure's old molding and other features, displayed simply in a set of rooms on the western side of the complex.

Pronounced "goom," the initials are short for Gosudarstvenny Universalny Magazin, or State Department Store. This staggeringly enormous emporium, formerly called the Upper Trading Rows, was built in 1889–93 and has long been one of the more famous sights of Moscow. Three long passages with three stories of shops run the length of the building. A glass roof covers each passage, and there are balconies and bridges on the second and third tiers. Another series of passages runs perpendicular to the three main lines, creating a mazelike mall. It all feels like a cavernous turn-of-the-20th-century European train station. There are shops (both Western and Russian) aplenty here now, with all the world's big-name boutique brands crowding the first floor, and a saunter down one of the halls is enjoyable. One can't-miss spot is the newly restored Gastronom No. 1, which runs the length of one side of the ground floor. It's a nostalgic supermarket with pricey caviar and champagne, as well as lowbrow canned meats that Russian World War II vets would recognize. In the adjacent hall, the store also runs a row of small cafés that serve affordable and tasty eclectic fare. Back across the ground floor from the market is the elegant Bosco restaurant, which has a small summer terrace that looks out onto Red Square.