Nascida e criada em Portugal. Já morei na Polónia, no Brasil, na República Checa e agora é a Suécia que me acolhe.
O meu blogue, tal como o meu cérebro, é uma mistura de línguas. Bem vindos!

Born and raised Portuguese. I have lived in Poland, Brazil, Czech Republic and now I'm in the beautiful Sweden.
My blog, just like my brain, is a blend of languages. Welcome!

quarta-feira, 17 de setembro de 2014

Grand Express train

A nossa viagem à Rússia foi de certa forma especial e decidimos aproveitar esta visita ao máximo e passar o fim de semana a seguir à conferência em São Petersburgo. A viagem de Moscovo a São Petersburgo pode facilmente ser feita de avião, em menos de 2h, ou de comboio em cerca de 4h. Outra opção é viajar de comboio de luxo, ao estilo da antiga União Soviética. 
O comboio Red Arrow começou a fazer o trajecto Moscovo - São Petersburgo em 1931. Hoje em dia ainda se pode viajar neste mesmo comboio, à mesma velocidade e no mesmo estilo, numa viagem que se faz durante a noite e demora cerca de 8h. Este é provavelmente o comboio mais luxuoso, cujos bilhetes custam uma pequena fortuna, principalmente se considerarmos que a viagem é feita em menor conforto, pois o interior recria a decoração antiga (quem experimentou queixa-se geralmente dos colchões duros). O Red Arrow é portanto uma atracção turística, para quem quiser ter uma experiência única e não se importe de passar uma noite mal dormida. 

Our trip to Russia was somehow special and we wanted to take maximum advantage of our time there. We wanted to visit Saint Petersburg as well, and we went there the weekend after the conference. The trip from Moscow to Saint Petersburg can be easily done in less than 2h by plane or in about 4h by train. Another option is to travel by a luxurious train, somehow portraying a Soviet Union style. 
The Red Arrow train started connecting Moscow and Saint Petersburg in 1931. Nowadays, the Red Arrow still runs this route at the same speed and in a similar style, taking 8h during the night. This is most likely the most luxurious train in Russia and the tickets cost a small fortune, especially if you consider that the trip is less comfortable since its interior portrays its original decoration (people usually complain about the hard mattresses on the beds). Therefore, the Red Arrow is a touristic attraction for those looking for a unique experience, that don't mind a sleepless night.

Interior of Red Arrow cabin (from the internet)

Nós pusemos o Red Arrow de parte, procuramos comboios semelhantes mas mais confortáveis e encontramos vários bem mais baratos. Acabamos por escolher uma cabine de 2 pessoas no Grand Express, apenas por ter um website mais fácil de traduzir. 

Discarding the Red Arrow option we looked for something similar but more comfortable and we found several other ones, way cheaper. We ended up choosing a sleeping compartment for 2 people in the Grand Express train, simply because their website was easier to translate. 

Grande Express, na estação de Moscovo / Grande Express, in Moscow's train station

Na estação de comboios e para nossa surpresa, ouvimos um anuncio que chamava os passageiros do luxuoso comboio Grand Express a bordo. Entreolhamo-nos e pensamos "luxuoso??? Deve ser engano". Não era... 

To our surprise, in the train station we heard the passengers of "the luxurious Grand Express train" being called and we thought "luxurious??? It must be a mistake". It wasn't...



À esquerda o corredor da nossa carruagem e à direita e em baixo o interior da nossa cabine. O sofá transformava-se numa cama de 120cm de largura e por cima, tipo beliche, abria uma outra cama de 90 cm.
On the left, the corridor of our carriage and on the right and in the bottom, the interior of our compartment. The sofa could be turned into a 120 cm wide bed, and on top of it a 90 cm wide bed could be open. 


Não me senti num filme do James Bond, mas a cabine era super confortável e dormi melhor que nunca. O comboio viaja devagarinho, daí demorar 8h e não 4h, e sentí-me embalada a viagem toda. Foi como dormir no carro, mas esticada numa cama fofinha. A cama era tão boa como a de um hotel, a cabine tinha armários, um lavatório, mesa e TV. Além disso ainda tivemos direito a um snack antes de dormir e pequeno almoço servidos na cabine. 

I didn't feel like I was in a James Bond movie, but the compartment was super comfortable and I slept really well. The train goes quite slowly, that's why it takes 8h instead of 4h, and I felt I was being rocked as a baby the whole trip. It was like sleeping in the car, but laying down on a nice soft bed. The bed was as good as in a hotel, the compartment had a wardrobe, a lavatory, a table and a TV. We also got a snack before sleeping and breakfast in the morning served in the compartment. 

Lavatório / Lavatory

 Snack: fruta e croissants / Snack: fruits and croissants

Pequeno almoço escolhido antes de dormir: crepe de geleia e omelete de salmão, com iogurte, leite e chá servido numas lindíssimas canecas russas. 
Breakfast was chosen before we went to sleep and we had: crepe with jam and salmon omelet, with yoghurt, milk and tea served in two gorgeous russian-style mugs. 

Algures na Rússia às 5h da manhã / Russian countryside at 5am. 

Adorámos a experiência e valeu imenso a pena porque de manhã estavamos cheios de energia para explorar São Petersgurgo.

We absolutely loved this experience and it was totally worth it as we woke up well rested and full of energy to go and explore Saint Petersburg. 

6 comentários:

  1. I've always wanted to take a train trip overnight, somewhere. Yours looks very nice and comfortable. Maybe sometime in the future, I will take one to visit my daughter in Colorado. Thanks for sharing your trip.

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  2. It's a great experience and it's a great way to take advantage of the night time.

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  3. A great way to travel and enjoy the views instead of being cooped up inside an airplane!

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  4. It's true Sami, trains are always more enjoyable than planes, especially if they are this nice.

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  5. Nancy, that question is a bit tricky to answer. It depends on a lot of factors but I would say I do it more in the summer than in the winter. If I count work and leisure trips together I probably travel in average once a month, plus day trips around here sometimes. Don't get fooled by my posts though. I'm slow at posting my trips and there's places I visited last year that I haven't posted about it yet.
    I hope you enjoy reading about my things.

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