As I walked through the park by the Kremlin, my attention was divided between its towers and the pretty girls. Moscow is a beautiful city in many ways. It has history and it has now regained its spirit; it is equally suited to self-indulgent hedonism and to philosophising. It has wide boulevards and narrow alleys, luxury and culture. It’s big city but the quintessence of Moscow can be found in a small space.

The Moscow Kremlin – Kremel, sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River (to the south), Saint Basil’s Cathedral and Red Square (to the east) and the Alexander Garden (to the west). It is the best known of kremlins (Russian citadels) and includes four palaces, four cathedrals and the enclosing Kremlin Wall with Kremlin towers. The complex serves as the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation.

A giant among the icons of Russia, home to the stars, Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, but also Gorbachov and Yeltsin. Despite its from the outside high red crenellated walls buttressed with tall pointed towers, it looks more spacious than from the inside. What you will find inside the walls is perhaps the highest density of churches anywhere in the world. Inside, these temples are unexpectedly cramped, chockfull of icons and topped with onion-like domes that glister in the sun. The government buildings are not open to the public but if you ask any of the uniformed guards shere the president’s seat is, he will discreetly gesture with his head. Of course, you will find here also the famous massive cannon that children play beneath and huge church bell. Then you take a couple of steps and you find yourself in the garden. Beautiful flowerbeds and trees – in the blistering heat you can join the others on the lawn and no one will order you out.