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    Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 11:14am
Thought I'd just create a thread on this as it may be useful for next year (Hopefully so!).
Have a friend who is Scottish but has been following Portugal away for over 20 years (His best mate is Portuguese and has friends at the Portuguese FA). 
Anyways, they went off to St Petersburg for the Portugal game at the weekend. Initially, he was a bit sceptical and was saying that if he didn't like it then he probably wouldn't bother going to the world cup next year. Met him last night and he couldn't shut up about the place ! Said it's a lovely city, lots of history etc and lots of nice buildings. Not one hint of trouble over there, said the locals were pretty friendly. 
The Metro has lots of English signs so no hassles getting around using that. The stadium is kinda in the middle of a big park so around 20 mins from the Metro. Nothing around it in terms of bars etc (I did point out that this was perfect "Bag of Cans" territory !) Said it wasn't as cheap over there as he expected : If you are close to the main areas then you'll probably be paying UK prices for things. As with most cities, if you go off the beaten track a bit then it gets cheaper. 
Also mentioned there is a chain of 3 Irish pubs in the City called "O'Hooligans" !

He said the ID system they have in place for the tickets etc is very effective and would eliminate most of the possibility of touts selling tickets. He wasn't too impressed with the outside of the stadium but said they view in there was great, as expected. 

Obviously, this is one one person's view of one city but maybe Russia might turn out to be a pleasant surprise for those who are a bit wary. 


Edited by Borussia - 28 Jun 2017 at 11:34am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Borussia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 11:15am
Cr@p - Meant to post this is the Travel sections. 
Mods, feel free to move.....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Denis Irwin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 11:18am
O'Hooligans
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Bill O'Herlihy: Ah ye can't be saying that now Eamonn
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote the_walls Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 11:27am
I've never been but I've heard before that St. Petersburg is meant to be a lovely city.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ConorMac77 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 11:34am
Think we all now know rightly that if we qualify we'll end up being drawn to play in more obscure cities like Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk etc. LOL
 
Sounds good about St Petersburg though if we do end up there. Thumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cabra Hoop Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 12:36pm
Originally posted by ConorMac77 ConorMac77 wrote:

Think we all now know rightly that if we qualify we'll end up being drawn to play in more obscure cities like Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk etc. LOL
 
Sounds good about St Petersburg though if we do end up there. Thumbs Up
 
Don't think we could have done much better than the locations we had in Poland and France.
 
Anyway, kind of hoping we avoid Moscow if we qualify. I'd imagine some of the lesser known cities would be more welcoming to visitors. On saying that, Volgograd wasn't very welcoming to visitors in the past.


Edited by Cabra Hoop - 28 Jun 2017 at 12:38pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Claret Murph Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 12:37pm
Would be happy just to get there really .
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote irishmufc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 12:43pm
Originally posted by Denis Irwin Denis Irwin wrote:

O'Hooligans

LOLLOL



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote irishmufc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 12:48pm
Sochi is the spot I'd love us to get. 

Hope we don't get the cities that further east if we qualify.

My preference would be

Kaliningrad
Moscow
St Petersburg
Sochi 

They'd probably be the handiest travel wise. 


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sham157 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 12:55pm
Originally posted by Borussia Borussia wrote:

Cr@p - Meant to post this is the Travel sections. 
Mods, feel free to move.....
Moved Thumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lassassinblanc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 1:16pm
Originally posted by irishmufc irishmufc wrote:

Sochi is the spot I'd love us to get. 

Hope we don't get the cities that further east if we qualify.

My preference would be

Kaliningrad
Moscow
St Petersburg
Sochi 

They'd probably be the handiest travel wise. 




Sochi is absolute miles away from rest of the venues. I think SuperDave mentioned before it is a day on a train away from Moscow.

The Germans were glad they got to play their Semi Final in Sochi as it meant they didn't have to make another long ass journey
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lassassinblanc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 1:20pm
looking at the World Cup It looks like B3 would be the best to be drawn into in terms

First match in Leningrad then Moscow then onto Kaliningrad
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ConorMac77 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 1:24pm
Originally posted by irishmufc irishmufc wrote:

Sochi is the spot I'd love us to get. 

Hope we don't get the cities that further east if we qualify.

My preference would be

Kaliningrad
Moscow
St Petersburg
Sochi 

They'd probably be the handiest travel wise. 


Believe it or not there actually is a slot that could get us all 4 of those cities but in a different order! ShockedLOL
 
B3 would have us in St Petersburg, then Moscow followed by Kaliningrad. If we were to finish 2nd in the group we'd then be in Sochi.
 
Problem with that is getting to and from Kaliningrad as flying would probably be the only feasible option especially if we were to come 2nd in the group as the distance between Kaliningrad and Sochi would be too big to make overland travel feasible, aside from the hassle of sorting visas to transit through Belarus.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ConorMac77 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 1:31pm
Originally posted by Cabra Hoop Cabra Hoop wrote:

Originally posted by ConorMac77 ConorMac77 wrote:

Think we all now know rightly that if we qualify we'll end up being drawn to play in more obscure cities like Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk etc. LOL
 
Sounds good about St Petersburg though if we do end up there. Thumbs Up
 
Don't think we could have done much better than the locations we had in Poland and France.
 
Anyway, kind of hoping we avoid Moscow if we qualify. I'd imagine some of the lesser known cities would be more welcoming to visitors. On saying that, Volgograd wasn't very welcoming to visitors in the past.
I'd actually prefer Moscow, not least because there'd be far more to do there than the lesser known cities and would open up the only real chance to take in one of the other games as a neutral (not exactly an option with the other host cities due to the distances between them).
 
As you say though, we were pretty much spoilt rotten in France being based in Paris, Bordeaux/La Rochelle/Arcachon, Lille and Lyon. It was also easier to get to matches in other host cities if you wanted, compared to Russia.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lassassinblanc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 1:33pm
I've heard Kazan is supposed to be lovely.

St.Petersburg again so i've heard has a massive mosquito problem especially during summer as the city is built on what used to swamp lands


Edited by lassassinblanc - 28 Jun 2017 at 1:34pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pre Madonna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 1:47pm
My missus was there about six weeks ago and loved it, still going on about it. I was curious about racism but she said she never saw anyone who didn't look stereotypically Russian, which I suppose is one way of solving that problem. She loved the food as well. It seems to be a grand tourist spot.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SuperDave84 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 3:26pm
Originally posted by ConorMac77 ConorMac77 wrote:

Originally posted by irishmufc irishmufc wrote:

Sochi is the spot I'd love us to get. 

Hope we don't get the cities that further east if we qualify.

My preference would be

Kaliningrad
Moscow
St Petersburg
Sochi 

They'd probably be the handiest travel wise. 


Believe it or not there actually is a slot that could get us all 4 of those cities but in a different order! ShockedLOL
 
B3 would have us in St Petersburg, then Moscow followed by Kaliningrad. If we were to finish 2nd in the group we'd then be in Sochi.
 
Problem with that is getting to and from Kaliningrad as flying would probably be the only feasible option especially if we were to come 2nd in the group as the distance between Kaliningrad and Sochi would be too big to make overland travel feasible, aside from the hassle of sorting visas to transit through Belarus.


You don't need a Belarus visa, nor do you need to fly.

The match in Kaliningrad is on the 25th June. There's a night bus to Riga every night, arriving the following morning (say you leave on the 26th, arrive on the 27th). There are sometimes daytime buses, so you could go earlier and spend a night in Riga. From Riga, there's a daily train (overnight) to Moscow, arriving at 10am or so the next morning (that would be the 28th). There's a daily fast train from Moscow to Sochi at 2pm or so (so plenty of time to get from one station in Moscow to the other - they're only a mile or two apart) arriving in Sochi the following afternoon (which would be on the 29th). The Sochi second round match is on the 30th at 21:00, so there'd be plenty of time to get there.

Of course, that all costs about €300, and you can't book it with free cancellation afaik, but it does give you a full day in Riga to see the sights there, and you could also stop off for 24 hours en route, either in Riga or Moscow. Alternatively, for about €100 less, you could get a slower train to Sochi, arriving the afternoon of the match, leaving Moscow about midnight the day you arrive from Riga, so two nights on that train, albeit this removes the possibility of spending a night in Riga or Moscow en route.

Those trains all have bunk beds, so you should get a reasonable nights sleep, compared to sleeping in a seat at least. It's probably not for me (it's a stretch to spend one night on a bus seat followed by two or three on trains) but it is an option for the adventurous.

Having said that, if we are in Kaliningrad in that position, it would make sense to get a Belarus transit visa that allows for multiple entries; that way, you could use one entry on the first journey from Moscow to Kaliningrad, and a second from Kaliningrad back to Moscow, en route to Sochi. That would definitely make more sense and it would be little extra administration, given you'd be applying for a Belarus transit visa already.


Edited by SuperDave84 - 28 Jun 2017 at 3:28pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Borussia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2017 at 3:40pm
Did I not read somewhere that there is going to be free transport for the duration of the world cup i.e. Your visa is your train ticket etc ?
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