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Slow Travel: Kent (Bradt Travel Guides (Slow Travel series)) Kindle Edition

• Print length 464 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Bradt Travel Guides Ltd.
• Publication date May 6, 2022
• File size 16834 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09ZLFLBR9
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bradt Travel Guides Ltd.; 1st edition (May 6, 2022)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 6, 2022
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 16834 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
• #2,020 in British Travel
• #6,106 in General Great Britain Travel Guides

About the author

Simon richmond.

Simon Richmond is a UK-based author and photographer with over 25 years of experience of developing, researching and writing travel guidebooks and other non-fiction titles for major publishers including Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, DK Eyewitness, Insight Guides and Thames & Hudson. Specialist areas include Japan (his Rough Guide to Japan won the guidebook of the year in the Travelex awards of 2000), Southeast Asia, South Africa, Russia, Eastern Europe, Australia, the UK and USA. Other major topics covered during his career include consumer affairs, personal finance, food and the arts. He has also researched and presented radio and TV programmes and created online content for websites and social media.

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Kent (Slow Travel): Local, Characterful Guides to Britain's Special Places (Bradt Travel Guides (Slow Travel series)) Paperback – 6 May 2022

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From gardens, castles and art galleries to beaches, woodlands and wildlife, discover Kent with Bradt’s unique Slow guide.

• Print length 312 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Bradt Travel Guides
• Publication date 6 May 2022
• Dimensions 13.21 x 1.37 x 20.17 cm
• ISBN-10 1784778273
• ISBN-13 978-1784778279
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bradt Travel Guides; 1st edition (6 May 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 312 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1784778273
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1784778279
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.21 x 1.37 x 20.17 cm
• 68 in Children's Luggage

About the author

Simon richmond.

Simon Richmond is a UK-based author and photographer with over 25 years of experience of developing, researching and writing travel guidebooks and other non-fiction titles for major publishers including Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, DK Eyewitness, Insight Guides and Thames & Hudson. Specialist areas include Japan (his Rough Guide to Japan won the guidebook of the year in the Travelex awards of 2000), Southeast Asia, South Africa, Russia, Eastern Europe, Australia, the UK and USA. Other major topics covered during his career include consumer affairs, personal finance, food and the arts. He has also researched and presented radio and TV programmes and created online content for websites and social media.

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Kent (Slow Travel): Local, Characterful Guides to Britain's Special Places (Bradt Travel Guides (Slow Travel series)) Paperback – Import, 6 May 2022

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• Print length 320 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Bradt Travel Guides
• Publication date 6 May 2022
• Dimensions 13.21 x 1.37 x 20.17 cm
• ISBN-10 1784778273
• ISBN-13 978-1784778279
• See all details

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About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bradt Travel Guides (6 May 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1784778273
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1784778279
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 kg 50 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.21 x 1.37 x 20.17 cm
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ United Kingdom

About the author

Simon richmond.

Simon Richmond is a UK-based author and photographer with over 25 years of experience of developing, researching and writing travel guidebooks and other non-fiction titles for major publishers including Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, DK Eyewitness, Insight Guides and Thames & Hudson. Specialist areas include Japan (his Rough Guide to Japan won the guidebook of the year in the Travelex awards of 2000), Southeast Asia, South Africa, Russia, Eastern Europe, Australia, the UK and USA. Other major topics covered during his career include consumer affairs, personal finance, food and the arts. He has also researched and presented radio and TV programmes and created online content for websites and social media.

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9781784778279

Simon Richmond

Bradt Travel Guides Ltd

06 May 2022

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Folkestone resident and globe-trotting travel writer Simon Richmond turns the spotlight on his home county in this brand-new title, part of Bradt's award-winning series of Slow travel guides to UK regions. Walkers, cyclists, families, food and art lovers, and wildlife enthusiasts are all catered for, with coverage of a wide range of attractions, as well as all the practical information you could need to plan and enjoy time spent in this delightful corner of England.

The diversity of Kent is striking, from Canterbury Cathedral, part of a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, to Dungeness, Kent's southernmost point, an extraordinary location and home to artist and film-maker Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage. The village of Pluckley was once named England's most haunted by the Guinness World Records, while St Leonard's Church in Hythe has the largest and best-preserved collection of ancient human skulls and bones in Britain.

This in-depth guide covers all the most popular places as well as many of the lesser-known ones, dividing the county into five easy-to-follow chapters. Explore Dover and spend time at its iconic White Cliffs, saunter through Vita Sackville-West's gorgeous gardens at the National Trust's Sissinghurst estate, visit the grave of Pocahontas in Gravesend, and contemplate the delightful and thought-provoking public art of the revitalised seaside town of Folkestone. History has been made in Kent, at Hever Castle, where Anne Boleyn spent her childhood and which was later restored by William Waldorf Astor, and at Chartwell, the family home and garden of Sir Winston Churchill.

Kent's food and drink offering is increasingly celebrated, with a growing reputation for high quality restaurants and boutique wineries, not to mention the world's oldest brewer and largest collection of fruit trees at Faversham.

From flora and fauna to castles, watersports, beaches and wildlife, discover Kent with Bradt's unique Slow travel guide.

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Kent (Slow Travel) Paperback

By Simon Richmond

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Kent : slow travel, local characterful guides to Britain's special places

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• GOING SLOW IN KENT Kent landscapes, Gardens, Kent wildlife, Kent architecture, Sacred Kent, A taste of Kent, Creative Kent, Active Kent, How this book is arranged, Getting there & around
• 1 Canterbury & surrounds Getting there & around, Canterbury, North & east of Canterbury, South & west of Canterbury
• 2 North Kent: Gravesend to Faversham Getting there & around, Gravesend, Cobham & surrounds, Ranscombe Farm Reserve, Hoo Peninsula, Medway towns, Isle of Sheppey, Faversham, Around Faversham
• 3 Thanet, Sandwich & Deal Getting there & around, Margate & surrounds, Broadstairs, Ramsgate & surrounds, Sandwich, Richborough Roman Fort & Amphitheatre, Goodnestone & surrounds, Deal & surrounds
• 4 Southeast Coastal Kent: Dover to Dungeness Getting there & around, Dover & surrounds, Folkestone, Sandgate, Elham & surrounds, Hythe & surrounds, Romney Marsh
• 5 Kent Weald & Downs Getting there & around, Darent Valley, Westerham & surrounds, Sevenoaks & surrounds, Edenbridge & surrounds, Tonbridge & surrounds, Royal Tunbridge Wells & surrounds, Further into the High Weald, Sissinghurst & surrounds, Tenterden & surrounds, Maidstone & surrounds, Ashford & surrounds Accommodation Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

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Kent (Slow Travel)

£ 12.99   £ 11.69

Slow Kent travel guide – holiday advice and tourist information covering history, walking, wildlife, gardens, family holidays, country houses, accommodation, restaurants, food, vineyards and festivals. Thorough coverage, including Canterbury, Dover, the White Cliffs, Dungeness, Sissinghurst, Folkestone and Faversham.

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About this book.

Folkestone resident and globe-trotting travel writer Simon Richmond turns the spotlight on his home county in this brand-new title, part of Bradt’s award-winning series of Slow travel guides to UK regions. Walkers, cyclists, families, food and art lovers, and wildlife enthusiasts are all catered for, with coverage of a wide range of attractions, as well as all the practical information you could need to plan and enjoy time spent in this delightful corner of England. The diversity of Kent is striking, from Canterbury Cathedral, part of a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, to Dungeness, Kent’s southernmost point, an extraordinary location and home to artist and film-maker Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage. The village of Pluckley was once named England’s most haunted by the Guinness World Records, while St Leonard’s Church in Hythe has the largest and best-preserved collection of ancient human skulls and bones in Britain. This in-depth guide covers all the most popular places as well as many of the lesser-known ones, dividing the county into five easy-to-follow chapters. Explore Dover and spend time at its iconic White Cliffs, saunter through Vita Sackville-West’s gorgeous gardens at the National Trust’s Sissinghurst estate, visit the grave of Pocahontas in Gravesend, and contemplate the delightful and thought-provoking public art of the revitalised seaside town of Folkestone. History has been made in Kent, at Hever Castle, where Anne Boleyn spent her childhood and which was later restored by William Waldorf Astor, and at Chartwell, the family home and garden of Sir Winston Churchill. Kent’s food and drink offering is increasingly celebrated, with a growing reputation for high quality restaurants and boutique wineries, not to mention the world’s oldest brewer and largest collection of fruit trees at Faversham. From flora and fauna to castles, watersports, beaches and wildlife, discover Kent with Bradt’s unique Slow travel guide.

About the Author

UK -born writer, photographer and artist, Simon Richmond (www.simonrichmond.com) has been researching and writing global travel guidebooks and other non-fiction titles for major publishers including Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, DK Eyewitness and Time Out for over 25 years. Having lived overseas for nearly two decades, Simon first visited Folkestone in 2014, during the third edition of its arts triennial. He was so taken by the seaside town that, three weeks later, he had bought a flat and was planning his relocation from London. By switching the city for the seaside Simon, like many other DFLs (Down From Londoners) has benefited from an improved quality of life. In his research for Slow Travel Kent he’s travelled all over the county, revisiting favourite haunts such as Canterbury, Ramsgate, Margate and Dungeness; it’s also been a treat to find good reasons to journey out to remote but sublime locations like the Isle of Grain and the Isle of Harty. He’s particularly enjoyed tracking down Kent’s horticultural treasures, particularly lesser-known gems like Pines Gardens in St Margaret’s Bay and the gardens attached to Restoration House in Rochester. Follow the visual record of his travels on Instagram (@slowtravelkent) and catch some of his sketches of the region on www.facebook.com/urbansketchersfolkestone.

Additional Information

GOING SLOW IN KENT Kent landscapes, Gardens, Kent wildlife, Kent architecture, Sacred Kent, A taste of Kent, Creative Kent, Active Kent, How this book is arranged, Getting there & around 1 Canterbury & surrounds Getting there & around, Canterbury, North & east of Canterbury, South & west of Canterbury 2 North Kent: Gravesend to Faversham Getting there & around, Gravesend, Cobham & surrounds, Ranscombe Farm Reserve, Hoo Peninsula, Medway towns, Isle of Sheppey, Faversham, Around Faversham 3 Thanet, Sandwich & Deal Getting there & around, Margate & surrounds, Broadstairs, Ramsgate & surrounds, Sandwich, Richborough Roman Fort & Amphitheatre, Goodnestone & surrounds, Deal & surrounds 4 Southeast Coastal Kent: Dover to Dungeness Getting there & around, Dover & surrounds, Folkestone, Sandgate, Elham & surrounds, Hythe & surrounds, Romney Marsh 5 Kent Weald & Downs Getting there & around, Darent Valley, Westerham & surrounds, Sevenoaks & surrounds, Edenbridge & surrounds, Tonbridge & surrounds, Royal Tunbridge Wells & surrounds, Further into the High Weald, Sissinghurst & surrounds, Tenterden & surrounds, Maidstone & surrounds, Ashford & surrounds Accommodation Index

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How I learned to love the slow route home to Ireland

Journeys are about so much more than getting from A to B, as our writer found when he ditched flying for the train and ferry between Dublin and London

T here’s always a moment in the journey from Dublin to London – which I make every month or two, taking the land-and-sea route via Holyhead instead of flying – when I stop what I’m doing – reading or writing or chatting to the person next to me – and think: you don’t get to enjoy this from 40,000ft.

Sometimes it’s at the Britannia Bridge in north Wales. As the train crosses the Menai Strait from Anglesey I can see, off to my right, a concrete statue of Lord Nelson keeping a lonely watch from the shore, and further upriver the grounds of Plas Newydd country house sweeping down to the water. To the left, on a tiny island with a curved jetty, stand two handsome whitewashed houses that will one day disappear beneath the rising sea levels but for now are holding out against the elements.

I’ll pause again as the train trundles past Conwy, with its hulking medieval castle and absurdly pretty waterfront, home to the smallest house in Britain, and later still as we move along the coast beyond Colwyn Bay, and legions of offshore wind turbines can be glimpsed through the haze.

On the return journey, as the ferry heads into Dublin Bay, I’ll cast an eye at Howth Head as it rises up to greet us, followed by the crimson lighthouse at the end of the Great South Wall and the looming red and white chimneys beyond – the unmistakable sign that we’re about to dock in the Irish capital.

People often ask me why I choose to travel between Dublin and London by ferry and rail instead of flying, which is considerably less time-consuming. I’ll respond by talking about the price, or the breezy check-in process with minimal luggage restrictions, or the direct connection into central London, or the carbon emissions, which by one estimate are about 95% lower than going by plane . But the little details – the things you see, the people you meet and the reveries you enter as the journey’s lulling rhythms take hold – matter to me almost more.

When I moved to London in 2002, the idea of taking the slow route home to Dublin didn’t occur to me. Going by air was quick: you can fly city to city in under 90 minutes, though of course you have to factor in the time it takes to get to the airport, clear security, wander through duty-free, wait to board, wait to take off, and go through the associated rigmarole on the other side. And it’s cheap.

Then, about 15 years ago, a friend tipped me off about SailRail, a package that bundled train and Irish Sea ferry tickets into a single fare – connecting not only to London but to any town across Britain with a station. I was dubious about the duration but the price was keen – these days it’s £102.20 return, but back then it was about half that – so I decided to give it a try.

I’ll be honest: I didn’t love SailRailing straight away. Train travel is one of life’s great pleasures but in Britain it can curdle to frustration in the face of delays, cancellations and broken-up routes. It took me a while to work out how to time my journey so I didn’t have to change trains in Crewe and again, 20 minutes later, in Chester. And Holyhead, for all the surrounding beauty of Anglesey, is not a town that makes the heart leap – not, at least, the stretch between the terminal and the ferry dock, which on even the sunniest afternoon feels oppressively grey.

The ships – Irish Ferries and Stena are the two options on the Holyhead-to-Dublin route – can feel dated and a bit tacky, and if you strike out from Dublin on a match day, you have the choice of watching football supporters getting stuck into cooked breakfasts and pints at 8am or joining them. The crossing can be rough, though it would take a serious gale to unsettle one of the bigger boats when its stabilisers are out. (In that kind of weather, I’d rather take my chances on a 50,000-tonne ferry than a dinky commuter plane.)

If you travel with Irish Ferries, which I tend to do, this unfolds within a literary theme park of unparalleled incongruity. The flagship Ulysses is riddled with allusions to James Joyce’s masterwork: you can eat reheated pizza slices (but not pork kidneys) at Boylan’s Brasserie, drink tequila slammers at the Leopold Bloom bar or engage in soft play at the Cyclops family entertainment centre. (The faster ferry, often cancelled if the wind picks up, is ingeniously named the Jonathan Swift.)

Despite – or perhaps because of – these idiosyncrasies, I kept returning for more. For years, I’d SailRail to Dublin and fly back; the journey out of London Euston tends to be smoother, especially if you catch the direct train to Holyhead departing about 9am. But since moving back to Dublin in 2020, I’ve ditched the air option and now actively look forward to my day meandering across the Irish Sea and down through Wales and England. The journey takes eight or nine hours, but without internet to distract me I usually get a solid day’s work done, or at least have time to read and think.

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Some distractions are welcome. When the Icelandic volcano eruption grounded European air travel in 2010, I got chatting to two fellow SailRailers on the train out of London. One, delightfully, was the actor who played Gestapo agent Herr Flick in the sitcom ’Allo ’Allo!. The other became a really good friend – and I often thank the ash clouds of Eyjafjallajökull for introducing us.

More recently I’ve fallen into conversation with touring graffiti artists, septuagenarian world travellers and a woman who found God after getting lost in the middle of the Sahara (she prayed for help and a crow appeared to guide her back to safety). Last autumn, when my partner and I took our whippet-saluki over on a morning sailing (pet-friendly cabins are available on Stena) he was lavished with attention by an elderly Traveller couple who told us about similar dogs they’d loved over the years.

The Traveller community uses the ferries a lot, following a route that Irish people with UK connections have taken for centuries. You’ll also encounter plenty of truckers, as well as students, backpackers and people who are averse to flying. What you don’t get a huge number of, among the SailRail contingent, are British tourists. When I mention the package to friends and colleagues in London, few of them have heard of it. And when I tell them the fare, which doesn’t shoot up for last-minute bookings, they’re astonished: £51.10 from London to Holyhead and then on to Dublin by boat? You’re joking, right?

Still, I rarely recommend SailRail without a string of caveats. It isn’t to everyone’s taste. And it could be so much better than it currently is – the rail connections are unreliable and foot passengers on ferries are often treated as afterthoughts. But despite its foibles I’ve come to enjoy the easy pace of the journey and offbeat crowd it throws together. I’ve even developed a fondness for those Joyce allusions.

And I love that long, slow train ride along the north Wales coast, past castles and wind turbines and island houses doomed to vanish beneath the waves. A journey is so much richer and stranger when you travel close to the ground.

SailRail tickets from London Euston to Dublin Ferryport from £ 102.20 return (+ booking fee) via trainline.com

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I Hate Running. I Trick My Brain Into Doing It Anyway.

When your mind hates running even more than your body does, you have to strategize.

By Erik Vance

It’s common knowledge in my household that Monday at 5:55 a.m. is the worst time of the week. That’s because Monday is a running day, and I hate running.

I have always hated running. In elementary school, I dreaded the mile run test and was always in the back with my fellow gym class rejects. In college, I was the only baseball player who could stretch a double into a single.

I’m 6 feet 7 inches tall and overly leggy, with knees that wobble in six different directions when I run. And yet, it’s crucial — especially in middle age — to challenge one’s body with a little intense exercise every week.

I don’t have access to a pool or lake, my ceilings are too low for trampolines and doing more than one HIIT workout per week quickly gets boring. Running offers intensity while distracting me with pretty scenery. Besides, 20 minutes later, I feel amazing.

After years of tinkering with ways to start running, I have finally come up with a three-part recipe for learning to tolerate this horrible form of exercise.

But before you start, make sure you are doing fun movements on other days. If your only exercise is running and, like me, you hate it, you won’t stick with it. Walk if you like that, swim if it’s your jam. I have a kickboxing dummy, a pull-up bar and some battle ropes that I genuinely look forward to using. Don’t make every workout a slog.

Hack No. 1: Reprogram your brain.

In past stories for the Well desk, we have mentioned the importance of “ reward bundling .” That’s a fancy term for treating yourself every time you do something that you don’t want to. But what we haven’t said is that reward bundling can actually train your brain as if you were a drooling dog.

Here’s how it works: One of my favorite podcasts is a movie review show called “The Rewatchables,” with Bill Simmons. I listen so often that I feel like Bill and his crew are actually my friends. But I never allow myself to listen unless I am running or getting ready to run. Ever.

This was essential, because in the short term, I started to look forward to running just so I could hang out with my imaginary friends and get their takes on “Forrest Gump” or whatever. And over time, something strange happened. I would wake up feeling dead set against running, flip on the podcast and suddenly be in the mood.

Psychologists call this either “classical conditioning” or “that thing that Ivan Pavlov did to his dogs when he pressed a buzzer before dinnertime .” Eventually, every time he did, the dog drooled. Humans are susceptible to this as well; it’s a key part of the placebo effect and modern marketing .

“I love it, it’s like a ritual,” Dr. Luana Colloca, a psychology professor at the University of Maryland and an expert in classical conditioning and placebo effects, said of my method.

Dr. Colloca said that she does something similar, except with smell. Every time she starts a Peloton session, she lights a lemon-scented candle. Now, just smelling that scent subtly puts her in the mood to ride.

Even when she’s not really feeling like exercising, she said, “it’s sort of an automatic response.”

Hack No. 2: Take breaks, but follow the plan.

I was raised to believe that runners run. They don’t walk — that’s for walkers. So I usually run up the small hill near my house and then down a big hill. But on the way back up that monster, I occasionally (OK, fine, almost always) walk.

Every time I slow down or rest, it feels and sounds like failure, often because I’m muttering expletives. But Chris Beedie, a sports psychologist and professor at Kent University, said that I need to realign my thinking.

“We’re not living in the 1970s anymore. There’s no ‘walking is a sign of weakness,’” he chided. “It’s a structured part of your movement.”

If you want to go for a 40-minute run, Mr. Beedie said, plan your timed breaks beforehand, perhaps every 10 minutes. Or plan to take them whenever your heart rate rises to a certain level or when you reach a hill.

Almost all of the serious marathoners he talks to take breaks at some point, and those breaks can even make for faster times overall. However, stopping altogether is not great for the body, he said, so I should try to at least walk. And presumably save my breath by not cursing at the pavement.

Hack No. 3: Get a dog.

Some days, even podcasts and promises of breaks aren’t enough to get me out the door. For that, I have Snitch, a slightly dopey, highly enthusiastic dog who waits at my door every Monday at 5:55 a.m.

Snitch needs exercise like Cookie Monster needs sugar , and if I don’t take her running, there’s a good chance she will take it out on my shoes.

Research suggests that dog owners (especially ones in Scandinavia ) may live longer than the rest of us, presumably because furry friends make us happier and more active. And while some are skeptical of this , I would argue it’s all about the kind of dog you get.

If you are looking for a running partner pet, I recommend a breed that’s athletic, but not too athletic. A pug is no good, but don’t make my mistake either. Snitch is a husky/beagle/gazelle mix who once lasted 16 miles on a set of mountain trails and looked ready for another 16. She’s exhausting. Find a middle ground — friendly with a dash of lazy.

In the end, I can’t promise that you will ever come to enjoy running. I’ve been doing it for two years now and I still mostly hate it. But every now and then, with the sun coming over the mountains, my buddy Bill in my ear and Snitch frolicking like an unhinged hyena at my side, I’m glad I made the effort.

Erik Vance is a staff editor for The Times’s Well desk, where he focuses on coverage of fitness and a healthy lifestyle. More about Erik Vance

A Guide to Becoming a Better Runner

Training to run a marathon? Here’s how to get ready . Preparing to run a shorter distance ? Here’s some guidance .

When your mind hates running even more than your body does, you have to strategize. Try these three hacks .

Starting a new running habit  doesn’t have to be hard — all it takes is comfortable shoes, a willingness to move and the right food to fuel up .

Whether you’re an experienced runner  or don’t know where to start, a running routine is critical. These tips will help you establish one .

Are you lacing up your running shoes after a long break? Follow these tips to get your groove back .

Shin splints. Achilles tendinitis. Runner’s knee. Dangers abound for runners, but there are ways to prevent them .

I started an Etsy candle store last year. The passive income helped me move out of my parents' house and travel the world.

• Francisco Rivera started an Etsy store while working a remote 9-to-5 and living with his parents.
• He quit his job after one year and moved into his own studio in Orlando.
• Rivera said the passive nature of his store means he can travel while making an income.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 26-year-old Francisco Rivera, an Etsy seller from Orlando. It has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified his profit and revenue.

I manage an Etsy store that made $403,499 last year after Etsy's fees and postage costs. I use a print-on-demand provider, which takes between 30 and 50% of my profits.

Since starting the store, I've moved out of my parent's house and started renting a studio in Orlando .

It's meant I could be an "intermittent nomad ." I travel while running my business, but I'm not away for super long periods of time, and I like having a home base to return to.

Before starting Etsy, I worked online and lived in Orlando with my parents

In 2020, I had to move from Texas back home with my parents in Orlando. I was pretty desperate for work, and though I'd never pictured myself working with kids, I started working as a teacher for an online education platform called Outschool, teaching logic and critical thinking skills to kids online using the game Minecraft.

I ended up loving it. I liked being in charge of making a curriculum, but I didn't like that my schedule was locked into specific teaching hours. I wanted more flexibility.

I started looking for potential side hustles

I started looking into other options, such as copywriting. I came across some TikToks from people selling via print-on-demand platforms in January 2023. I felt that was the best route.

In YouTube videos, sellers said T-shirts and mugs were quite saturated markets. It seemed as though the best approach was to choose one niche that could be applied to multiple products or one product that could be tailored to different niches and trends.

I scoured Printify, a print-on-demand platform, and found they were offering candles.

I did some research into how well candles were selling on Etsy — it seemed like a good space. They make good gifts, and there was a market for candles with funny messages where I could replace the text to apply to different niches. I saw shops that were successful in doing that over a short period of time.

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I'd research trending words or topics and come up with a joke or a cuss related to that trend for the candles.

I'd considered handling my own inventory, but using a print-on-demand platform didn't require me to spend money upfront or stay in one location. It seemed like a no-brainer.

I used Canva to experiment with different designs for the text printed on the candles and uploaded them onto Etsy. I landed on the most popular design and changed the text with different funny messages.

It meant each new product didn't need a new design — it was very efficient.

The manufacturing partner that Printify works with offers 10 different scents. Customers can choose which scent they want and pair it with a phrase. I also have an option for buyers to customize the message.

The first couple of months were slow

It takes a while to get people to trust you and to land reviews. I put out two or three products a day. I launched the shop in January 2023 and by March, my sales were picking up.

But it wasn't a viable full-time income until December when sales went through the roof because of Christmas. I made $136,700 in revenue from November to December alone.

That's when I realized my Etsy store could replace my income from teaching. I decided to quit in December 2023 — I probably could have before, but I wanted to make sure my store was viable.

Quitting my job was scary, but I knew that even if this particular shop failed, I could set up another store on Etsy.

I spend 4 hours at most a day on my store — and usually a lot less

I spend between 20 and 30 minutes a day on custom orders. I can spend as much time as I want uploading candles. Sometimes, I spend around three or four hours a day on that, about one in every four working days. The rest is passive income.

Sometimes I go into maintain mode and just live life. I've spent the last two weeks in Bali. I've traveled to Belgium, France, New York, and the Caribbean in the last few months.

Being able to afford my own place in Orlando and travel when I want is a huge win.s

Watch: Artsy CMO, Everette Taylor, tells Insider that the online art marketplace is more inclusive, and lucrative

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Snowstorm slams Northeast, Great Lakes with mass power outages and travel mayhem

A deadly storm that's left a trail of wreckage across a vast swath of the U.S. slammed the Northeast and Great Lakes regions with heavy snow, rain and wind on Thursday, knocking out power , closing schools and disrupting travel in major cities.

Parts of the Northeast received 1 to 2 feet of snow, according to the National Weather Service . By Thursday evening, the weather service reported over 17 inches of snow in Grey, Maine.

The combination of pummeling snow and gusty winds led to whiteout conditions and snow-covered roads in some areas. Many schools and government offices across the region were closed.

"Please stay off the roads today if you can," said Maine Gov. Janet Mills in a post on X . "If you must drive, take it slowly, and always give plenty of room to first responders, plow trucks, and utility crews."

While the heaviest snow was expected to subside by Thursday night, the weather service said periods of snow will continue through Friday. Occasional wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph across New England may also cause reduced visibility and hazardous travel conditions through Saturday.

The weather service issued flood advisories across parts of Illinois, east through Virginia and up to Rhode Island, including Washington, D.C., and New York City. Over 3 inches of rain had fallen in parts of New Jersey as of Thursday morning. The same storm impacted the Great Lakes, and several inches of snow was reported in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Meanwhile, parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico were under weather advisories warning of strong winds, coastal rain and snow in areas of high elevation. A front moving east over the northern High Plains, Great Basin and Southern California regions will linger over the Sierra Nevada Mountains through Saturday, while snow is anticipated to lash the Rockies into the weekend.

Dozens of accidents reported in Maine amid heavy snow

Since Wednesday night, there have been about 46 crashes and slide-offs on the Interstate and Turnpike, according to Maine State Police. Authorities have urged motorists to avoid travel due to the snowfall intensity and deteriorated road conditions.

The National Weather Service in Grey, Maine, recorded heavy snowfall throughout Thursday. The heavy snow band that moved through the region reduced visibility to less than a quarter of a mile, according to the weather service.

"There are trees down all over the place and its difficult to travel on any side road," the weather service in Grey, Maine, said on X, formerly Twitter.

Hundreds of thousands without power; flights canceled

More than 530,000 homes and businesses were without power across the Northeast, especially in Maine , where over 285,000 utility customers were in the dark Thursday night, according to a database maintained by USA TODAY . The Great Lakes region was not spared: Michigan and Wisconsin reported nearly 36,700 outages.

Airports in Boston, New York and New Jersey reported disruptions; there were about 100 cancellations and 150 delays on Thursday afternoon, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website .

Road closures because of debris, snow and floods were reported across the Northeast on Thursday.

Thunderstorms delay Baltimore bridge recovery operations

Bad weather and swirling currents are limiting recovery efforts in Baltimore harbor where the commercial ship Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, toppling a huge portion of the span and killing six construction workers.

The current of one knot, underwater visibility of 2 feet and the tangled mass of steel and concrete from the bridge have complicated the work of divers, according to a senior U.S. official briefed on the multi-agency recover effort.

Thunderstorms in the area have delayed operations until Friday, the official said. One container that had been knocked off the Dali has been located, and crews plan to refloat it by Friday.

-Tom Vanden Brook

Damage assessments, cleanup underway in parts of central, eastern US

The large storm system, which has walloped the nation with severe weather conditions since the weekend, spun up tornadoes in Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia this week, damaging businesses and leveling homes. In areas as far south as Florida, strong winds toppled utility poles and snapped trees. Throughout the Midwest, floodwaters trapped cars in roadways and left people stranded for hours.

"It's devastating," said Sunbright Mayor Karen Melton on Wednesday after a  tornado ripped through the small Tennessee city, about an hour northwest of Knoxville. Though there were no deaths of injuries, the damage was immense. "We had a young mother and father holding their babies, an infant and a 4-year-old (when) the tornado ripped the roof of their apartment. ... It was just horrific and sad. But they were safe, she had some scratches, but the babies were safe. That was just a major blessing."

In northern West Virginia, a mudslide washed out over 200 tombstones at a cemetery in Wheeling, a small city at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, CBS42 reported. The cemetery, which was closed Thursday, is home to thousands of graves, some of which date back to the Civil War.

In Indiana, the storm destroyed homes throughout the Evansville area, including the city's wartime museum, which had to cancel all events and close because it had "heavily sustained damage." Photos posted on the museum's  Facebook page show  caved-in ceiling tiles and exposed insulation.

Authorities in Georgia continued the cleanup effort following a pair of tornadoes that struck the Atlanta metro area and Crisp County, near the center of the state, late Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service. In Crisp County, where the tornado had maximum winds of up to 100 mph, about 36 homes were either damaged or completely destroyed.

"This is a dangerous situation: trees still being cut in the area, power lines still down, a lot of equipment moving back and forth," Sheriff Billy Hancock said in a video posted to Facebook on Thursday. "There's still plenty of work to be done."

Officials tie several deaths to powerful storm

At least four people died in Kentucky, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania because of the storm this week.

On Wednesday, two people – a 70-year-old man and an 82-year-old woman – died when their cars were crushed by fallen trees, multiple outlets reported. A young man in Campbell County, Kentucky, died in a traffic accident during Tuesday’s storms,  Gov. Andy Beshear said  at a news conference Wednesday.

On Monday, a 46-year-old unhoused woman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, died after seeking shelter in a storm drain   KJRH-TV reported .

Slow Cycling in South Africa

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Charlotte Sinclair . Photography by Kent Andreasen

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Inland of South Africa’s famed coastal Garden Route, away from the cars and whale-watching tours, there is a sense of time winding down. It pours over the Outeniqua mountains into the spreading valleys of the Klein Karoo, a palimpsest of crumpled hills and Afrikaans farmlands. History is emergent in every layer, from the San cave paintings decorating hidden outcrops to the Victorian engineering that conjured the Swartberg Mountain Pass, and the small towns founded by European settlers, whose ghosts are said to stalk the Boer graveyards.

It’s an area uniquely suited for discovery by bicycle, which is why The Slow Cyclist – a boutique tour operator created by Oli Broom in 2014 for which considered, conscious travel is a founding principle – is now operating here. Its ethos was inspired by Broom’s own trip from London to Brisbane to watch the 2010 Ashes; a slow cycle indeed, lasting 412 days, traversing 23 countries and coming in at 28,000km. Offering trips in Rwanda and Transylvania, Turkey and the Peloponnese, the company provides e-bike, slack-pack adventures high on charm and off-map experiences, and low on effort and injury.

Broom describes The Slow Cyclist as “a means to travel responsibly, with a light footprint, while creating real connections to people and places. I always say our clients are curious travellers with a bit of juice in their legs; they’re not cyclists, but they like cycling . To see the world from the saddle of a bike is to break down a barrier – the car windscreen, in this case – between you and the people and places you pass.”

Frankly, it’s a relief not to hear a single mention of Strava

There’s no doubt that pedal power provides opportunites for deeper interactions. The feeling under the wheels as the uneven shale of a track smooths into red clay, or the hair-dryer-to-the-face experience of zooming through shimmering pockets of hot air that rise from the road like will-o’-the-wisps. By car, it would be easy to miss the cawing of a hadada ibis as it detonates into flight from the top of a eucalyptus tree, or the swish of an ostrich corps de ballet racing on tiptoe down the curve of a field.

Video description

An aerial view of the Swartberg mountain range on The Slow Cyclist's trip to South Africa’s Western Cape

The Slow Cyclist’s debut trip to South Africa’s Western Cape encompasses three distinct biomes: the sprawling desert of the Great Karoo, the semi-desert of the Klein Karoo and the temperate rainforests of Tsitsikamma National Park, the miles and route spiralling down to the Indian Ocean. It’s a journey of approximately 330km and a 4,500m climb – a startling ascent that is, in fact, barely noticeable (the bike’s internal motor makes short work of even the steepest incline).

The route has been rigorously planned to avoid all crowds and cars, and to incorporate plenty of surprises: a deliberate lack of information on the itinerary allows for the rare treat of not knowing everything in advance. Each stop is intentionally designed to foster further insight into the landscape – whether pizza at a biker pub whose ceiling is decorated in racing-car flags, tea at a sculptor’s studio or a stop in the Klein Karoo’s patchwork fields, where a lunch of chicken and mango salad and cold white wine has been set up on a veranda.

Accommodation is, similarly, equal parts charming and illuminating, ranging from a boutique vineyard where the noise of a whip crack shoos starlings from the Chardonnay grapes, to an off-grid cabin stay where horses wander the glades, drinking from the rainwater swimming pool and nosing around our breakfast table.

We are a group of nine, plus our indefatigable South African hosts, Jaco van der Westhuizen and Katja Ratcliffe, and guide, Hannah Basson (responsible, after a long day’s ride at the back of the peloton, for cleaning and charging the bikes). It’s a very jolly crew – almost all British and averaging late 50s to early 60s. There is a Fulham couple in their early 70s on their third Slow Cyclist jaunt; a pair of Yorkshire farmers; a racecourse chairman; and a Swiss financier couple outposted in Singapore. The group’s age range is a reflection of the democratic nature of ebiking, which creates a low barrier to entry; a basic level of fitness is useful but not, perhaps, essential (bags travel separately, further minimising effort).

Frankly, it’s a relief not to hear a single mention of Strava. Slow Cyclists are as much defined by a love of exploration and down-to-earth attitude as by age; there are comparisons over lunch of trips made to Patagonia and the Antarctic. Says Sara Foyle, a sprightly 72-year-old: “This is for people who don’t want to take a cruise to Antigua or lie on a beach all day. We want adventure.” Later, she snatches the title of speed queen, hitting a fearless 54kmph while whizzing downhill one afternoon.

Our first day is spent climbing from Prince Albert – a colonial Karoo outpost with a handsome Cape Dutch church and a yearly jazz festival – up through the pleated hills of the Swartberg Pass. The road, which passes through a Unesco World Heritage Site, is the work of engineer Thomas Bain, who in 1888 created a route through an area of mountains previously deemed impassable. 

The vistas are monumental: a cardiogram line of hills foregrounds the desert plateau stretching to the horizon. It makes for a punchy initiation: a steep 1,000m climb that I stupidly decide (or, to be clear, my ego decides) to do on the lowest “Eco” setting. The bike weighs nearly 30kg; as I slow to a crawl, my legs circling crazily in the lowest gear, one of our peloton sails past me, trilling “Turbo!” – the name of the bike’s highest setting.

We ride out into gin-clear mornings, spinning down green valleys, past explosions of bougainvillea from cottage gardens, stands of willows marking the seam of a river. We dawdle to watch a water mongoose swimming across a dam. Children yell encouragement as we pedal past: “Hold, legs, hold!” From fields where blue cranes stalk the turned earth there rises the distant thunder of a tractor. When asked what’s farmed in the famously impenetrable Karoo soil, our guide, Katja, deadpans: “Rocks.”

“We’ve had drought here for seven years. Half the farms went bankrupt,” says Laura Schoeman, the owner of Berluda ostrich farm. The trade in ostrich feathers predates the arrival, in the late 1800s, of enterprising Lithuanians to Oudtshoorn – the so-called “feather barons” who made their wealth selling plumes to European hatmakers. By the turn of the 20th century, 1kg of white wingtip feathers fetched more than 1kg of gold. Now Berluda’s main customers are in Brazil, where the plumes are used for carnival costumes. Ostrich leather has become another source of profit: “The processing is very specialised,” says Schoeman. “Hermès, Louis Vuitton, they only want flawless skins with no marks. We do it all here.” The birds blink in curious disapproval as we cycle away.

We follow corrugated tracks upwards, through green hills felted in fynbos. The sun begins to sink, leaving shining streamers suspended over the Langkloof valley. We drop down to Louvain, a 50,000-hectare farm first settled in 1780 by colonists who followed the San people over the mountains. Owner Morne Jonker, charming in board shorts, grills ostrich steaks on the braai for supper. (Louvain’s ostrich leather, he tells me, goes to Prada.) “South Africans don’t mind hard work,” he says, understating the agricultural challenges of an environment beset by drought and wildfire. The next morning, Morne’s equally charming son, Douglas, leads us through the heat to a cave beside a spring where he swam as a boy. “But I never knew these were here,” he says, pointing to the cave’s wall, decorated with illustrations of giraffes and eland, painted by San people hundreds of years ago. In one bewitching image, a group of mermaids appear to stir the depths of the nearby spring.

As the miles accumulate, so do the stories: of who lives here, and how, and where. We move out of the farmlands and down into temperate rainforest; dinner discussions turn to politics – to the long shadow cast by apartheid and colonial rule, to farm ownership and the complex question of expropriation. The conversations speak to the unique perspective that comes from a slow-speed, eyeball-level observation of a place.

We pedal through a fine net of rain to reach the Knysna forests, where, at a tin-roofed tea house, an extravagantly bearded guide named Hardy Loubser recounts stories of yet more hard lives grafted into this wilderness, including 19th-century woodcutters who were born and died without ever leaving their arboreal residence. Today a solitary elephant still hides in this vast national park, the last living remnant of the herds that used to wander the Klein Karoo freely before it was carved into settlements. “All she knows is being alone,” says Hardy. “She’s lonely but doesn’t know she’s lonely.”

At the coast at Sedgefield, where the flat silk of the Indian Ocean spreads out beyond the dunes, we say goodbye to the bicycles. It is strange and bittersweet; the notion of getting into a car seems vaguely alien. “Travelling this way does something to the body and mind,” says Broom; it’s a thinking experience as much as a physical activity – “an antidote to mindlessness”. Importantly, it’s also great fun, an adventure as much about group dynamics as anything else – the jokes, the team spirit, the meeting as strangers and leaving as friends, the many glasses of delicious South African wines. A trip that proves the theory: the most memorable journeys are those shared. 

Charlotte Sinclair travelled as a guest of The Slow Cyclist, which offers a seven-night journey through the Western Cape from £3,945 per person, including support vehicle and luggage transfers, host and English-speaking guides, accommodation, meals, snacks and drinks, all activities, e-bike and helmet hire; theslowcyclist.com

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The Moscow Metro Museum of Art: 10 Must-See Stations

There are few times one can claim having been on the subway all afternoon and loving it, but the Moscow Metro provides just that opportunity.  While many cities boast famous public transport systems—New York’s subway, London’s underground, San Salvador’s chicken buses—few warrant hours of exploration.  Moscow is different: Take one ride on the Metro, and you’ll find out that this network of railways can be so much more than point A to B drudgery.

The Metro began operating in 1935 with just thirteen stations, covering less than seven miles, but it has since grown into the world’s third busiest transit system ( Tokyo is first ), spanning about 200 miles and offering over 180 stops along the way.  The construction of the Metro began under Joseph Stalin’s command, and being one of the USSR’s most ambitious building projects, the iron-fisted leader instructed designers to create a place full of svet (radiance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future), a palace for the people and a tribute to the Mother nation.

Consequently, the Metro is among the most memorable attractions in Moscow.  The stations provide a unique collection of public art, comparable to anything the city’s galleries have to offer and providing a sense of the Soviet era, which is absent from the State National History Museum.  Even better, touring the Metro delivers palpable, experiential moments, which many of us don’t get standing in front of painting or a case of coins.

Though tours are available , discovering the Moscow Metro on your own provides a much more comprehensive, truer experience, something much less sterile than following a guide.  What better place is there to see the “real” Moscow than on mass transit: A few hours will expose you to characters and caricatures you’ll be hard-pressed to find dining near the Bolshoi Theater.  You become part of the attraction, hear it in the screech of the train, feel it as hurried commuters brush by: The Metro sucks you beneath the city and churns you into the mix.

With the recommendations of our born-and-bred Muscovite students, my wife Emma and I have just taken a self-guided tour of what some locals consider the top ten stations of the Moscow Metro. What most satisfied me about our Metro tour was the sense of adventure .  I loved following our route on the maps of the wagon walls as we circled the city, plotting out the course to the subsequent stops; having the weird sensation of being underground for nearly four hours; and discovering the next cavern of treasures, playing Indiana Jones for the afternoon, piecing together fragments of Russia’s mysterious history.  It’s the ultimate interactive museum.

Top Ten Stations (In order of appearance)

Kievskaya station.

Kievskaya Station went public in March of 1937, the rails between it and Park Kultury Station being the first to cross the Moscow River.  Kievskaya is full of mosaics depicting aristocratic scenes of Russian life, with great cameo appearances by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin.  Each work has a Cyrillic title/explanation etched in the marble beneath it; however, if your Russian is rusty, you can just appreciate seeing familiar revolutionary dates like 1905 ( the Russian Revolution ) and 1917 ( the October Revolution ).

Mayakovskaya Station

Mayakovskaya Station ranks in my top three most notable Metro stations. Mayakovskaya just feels right, done Art Deco but no sense of gaudiness or pretention.  The arches are adorned with rounded chrome piping and create feeling of being in a jukebox, but the roof’s expansive mosaics of the sky are the real showstopper.  Subjects cleverly range from looking up at a high jumper, workers atop a building, spires of Orthodox cathedrals, to nimble aircraft humming by, a fleet of prop planes spelling out CCCP in the bluest of skies.

Novoslobodskaya Station

Novoslobodskaya is the Metro’s unique stained glass station.  Each column has its own distinctive panels of colorful glass, most of them with a floral theme, some of them capturing the odd sailor, musician, artist, gardener, or stenographer in action.  The glass is framed in Art Deco metalwork, and there is the lovely aspect of discovering panels in the less frequented haunches of the hall (on the trackside, between the incoming staircases).  Novosblod is, I’ve been told, the favorite amongst out-of-town visitors.

Komsomolskaya Station

Komsomolskaya Station is one of palatial grandeur.  It seems both magnificent and obligatory, like the presidential palace of a colonial city.  The yellow ceiling has leafy, white concrete garland and a series of golden military mosaics accenting the tile mosaics of glorified Russian life.  Switching lines here, the hallway has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel, impossibly long with decorative tile walls, culminating in a very old station left in a remarkable state of disrepair, offering a really tangible glimpse behind the palace walls.

Dostoevskaya Station

Dostoevskaya is a tribute to the late, great hero of Russian literature .  The station at first glance seems bare and unimpressive, a stark marble platform without a whiff of reassembled chips of tile.  However, two columns have eerie stone inlay collages of scenes from Dostoevsky’s work, including The Idiot , The Brothers Karamazov , and Crime and Punishment.   Then, standing at the center of the platform, the marble creates a kaleidoscope of reflections.  At the entrance, there is a large, inlay portrait of the author.

Chkalovskaya Station

Chkalovskaya does space Art Deco style (yet again).  Chrome borders all.  Passageways with curvy overhangs create the illusion of walking through the belly of a chic, new-age spacecraft.  There are two (kos)mosaics, one at each end, with planetary subjects.  Transferring here brings you above ground, where some rather elaborate metalwork is on display.  By name similarity only, I’d expected Komsolskaya Station to deliver some kosmonaut décor; instead, it was Chkalovskaya that took us up to the space station.

Elektrozavodskaya Station

Elektrozavodskaya is full of marble reliefs of workers, men and women, laboring through the different stages of industry.  The superhuman figures are round with muscles, Hollywood fit, and seemingly undeterred by each Herculean task they respectively perform.  The station is chocked with brass, from hammer and sickle light fixtures to beautiful, angular framework up the innards of the columns.  The station’s art pieces are less clever or extravagant than others, but identifying the different stages of industry is entertaining.

Baumanskaya Statio

Baumanskaya Station is the only stop that wasn’t suggested by the students.  Pulling in, the network of statues was just too enticing: Out of half-circle depressions in the platform’s columns, the USSR’s proud and powerful labor force again flaunts its success.  Pilots, blacksmiths, politicians, and artists have all congregated, posing amongst more Art Deco framing.  At the far end, a massive Soviet flag dons the face of Lenin and banners for ’05, ’17, and ‘45.  Standing in front of the flag, you can play with the echoing roof.

Ploshchad Revolutsii Station

Novokuznetskaya Station

Novokuznetskaya Station finishes off this tour, more or less, where it started: beautiful mosaics.  This station recalls the skyward-facing pieces from Mayakovskaya (Station #2), only with a little larger pictures in a more cramped, very trafficked area.  Due to a line of street lamps in the center of the platform, it has the atmosphere of a bustling market.  The more inventive sky scenes include a man on a ladder, women picking fruit, and a tank-dozer being craned in.  The station’s also has a handsome black-and-white stone mural.

Here is a map and a brief description of our route:

Start at (1)Kievskaya on the “ring line” (look for the squares at the bottom of the platform signs to help you navigate—the ring line is #5, brown line) and go north to Belorusskaya, make a quick switch to the Dark Green/#2 line, and go south one stop to (2)Mayakovskaya.  Backtrack to the ring line—Brown/#5—and continue north, getting off at (3)Novosblodskaya and (4)Komsolskaya.  At Komsolskaya Station, transfer to the Red/#1 line, go south for two stops to Chistye Prudy, and get on the Light Green/#10 line going north.  Take a look at (5)Dostoevskaya Station on the northern segment of Light Green/#10 line then change directions and head south to (6)Chkalovskaya, which offers a transfer to the Dark Blue/#3 line, going west, away from the city center.  Have a look (7)Elektroskaya Station before backtracking into the center of Moscow, stopping off at (8)Baumskaya, getting off the Dark Blue/#3 line at (9)Ploschad Revolyutsii.  Change to the Dark Green/#2 line and go south one stop to see (10)Novokuznetskaya Station.

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Jonathon Engels, formerly a patron saint of misadventure, has been stumbling his way across cultural borders since 2005 and is currently volunteering in the mountains outside of Antigua, Guatemala.  For more of his work, visit his website and blog .

Photo credits:   SergeyRod , all others courtesy of the author and may not be used without permission

Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

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Moscow Metro – Part 2

Have you been to Moscow ? In all seriousness, they have the prettiest metro stations I have ever seen and I still can’t believe how immaculate and lovely every station was. There are several different stations pictured below and this is the second of several posts where I will show you the beauty of the Moscow Metro. Did you see part 1 ?  There really isn’t much to say because I think the pictures speak for themselves. I have so many more pictures to share with you!

Have you ever been to Moscow? Is it someplace you have thought about visiting?

She speaks fluent English, French and Spanish, and works for a major airline. And guess what? She’s also a licensed elementary teacher and has an MBA.

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This is the train STATION?? Oh my god… So gorgeous. Moscow has never even crossed my mind as a possible travel destination but this is gorgeous…Hmmm… LOL

I know, right? We spent several hours in the metro, just marveling at the beauty of each one. Thanks for stopping by!

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