Oh, the simple pleasures of travelling within stylish stations.
At least the Metro was one of Stalin's better urban construction efforts. The stations were designed as part of the state propaganda to impress visitors and remind them of the achievements of the State.
As you can see in these photos they are all exceptionally clean and well maintained. At the bottom of every escalator there is a security booth with someone keeping an eye on all the passengers. Possibly the world's most boring job?
The trains were cheap (30 roubles for each journey, irrespective of its length) and very efficient; we never had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a train, even outside the rush hour. Opened in 1935, the Moscow Metro is the third busiest in the world (according to Wikipedia) with more than twice as many people using it as London's Underground.
Our guide planned a tour for us stopping off at some of the more scenic stations. I have included some of the more picturesque ones on this page.
