Perehods

One sure way to have people look at you and think ‘he’s not from around here’ is to try and cross major, multi-lane Moscow roads at street level. Every couple of hundred metres are pedestrian underpasses, called perehods, which are used by more sensible folk.

 

Many perehods contain little shops selling odds and ends such as clothing, jewellery, toys and the like. Some months ago I read an item in the Moscow News about these shops and apparently the rents are astronomical, which surprised me considering the stuff they sell is hardly top-of-the-line and they are actually fairly dingy places to shop. That might help explain why I have seen a couple of perehods in recent months having their shops dismantled. 

Quite a number of perehods also contain the entrance doors to Metro stations. At the end of this one you can see the doors to Tverskaya & Pushkinskaya Stations.

The shops are quite tiny cubicles in which a woman (usually) shopkeeper spends her day.

Another view of the long perehod under Pushkinskaya Ploschad

Most, though, are empty tiled corridors, occasionally inhabited by buskers (the acoustics are good), old ladies begging, or some sad old guy sheltering from the cold. 

Opposite the entrance to Gorky Park, this perehod has become an art gallery.