Russia (6): moving around in Moscow

Moscow is the biggest city in Europe, but fortunately it has also what is probably the most impressive metro in the continent. Each of the stations is a real piece of art. People in Russia like to say that this was is because the regime wanted to make the underground a sort of "palace of the working class", like a compensation for the hardships of everyday life during Soviet times.

But if you are on a low budget there are other ways to move around in the city, one of the most popular ones is to simply stand by the road and make signs to cars to stop. Like hitchhiking, just that in this case when the car stops (and there is no shortage of them, sometimes they even form a queue on the side of the road after making a simple hand gesture), a price for the ride is negotiated, which is often around 200 rubles (6 euros) for rides in the center. Some drivers might be rejected straight away if they do not inspire trust and old cars, like the zhiguli (a sort of Seat 124) are a regular fixture of this transport system.