Russian Visa Philippines

10/03/2020

russianvisa.ph



Tags: russianvisa, russianvisainvitation, russianvisainvitations, russianvisas, russianvisasupport, russiatravel
Russian Visa Service Center in Philippines

RussianVisa.ph welcomes and invites you to visit, study and work in Russia!
For long time we’ve been helping Filipino travelers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to visit Russia. RussianVisa.ph is your one-stop shop for Russian visa. Our agents are standing by to answer any of your question. We also will be happy to help you to get invitation and process your Russian visa. You can reach us on Facebook and like us on Instagram. You can read about us in the local Cebu business direction

10/03/2020

10 foods from your local Russian store you've GOT to try

Just one taste of Plombir ice cream and you’ll fall in love with Russian cuisine. Guaranteed! And once you do, there’s no turning back.

Want to learn about Russian food? The Russian supermarket in your city is a great starting point. We bet you’ll find lots of delicious things there!

1. Sunflower seeds

For many Russians, fried sunflower seeds taste even better than popcorn or other snacks. So much so that Russia is a world leader not only in producing but also importing, sunflower seeds. They’re mostly used for making oil, of course, but have you ever tried chewing on them? And although it’s probably not great to do so it in public places — the discarded husks make a mess, after all — it is impossible to stop! It’s also relaxing and even a kind of meditation for some people.

2. Vareniki

This is one type of dumpling. But what is the difference betweenvareniki andpelmeni? Well, pelmeni use raw fillings (usually meat or fish), while vareniki are stuffed with ingredients that are already cooked. The most popular fillings are cherries, tvorog, potatoes, mushrooms, and minced meat. One way to tell them apart is that vareniki are traditionally made in the shape of a semicircle. Like pelmeni, vareniki go great with sour cream. Sweet dumplings can also be served with jam, while savory ones go well with fried onions.

3. Plombir ice cream

If you like ice cream, then you definitely need to try the legendary Russian Plombir. The technology for manufacturing it was actually brought over from France, but somehow Plombir became most popular in Russia and the former Soviet Union. Made from rich cream and butter, Plombir is an extremely rich and fatty ice cream. And so, as you can guess, it’s also delicious. Oftentimes, it is packed into waffle cones or briquettes, sometimes with berry filling or covered in chocolate.

4. Kvas in briquettes

You may know that in Russia there is a drink called kvas, which is made from rye bread. It tastes like a very low-alcohol beer and is perfect for quenching your thirst on a hot day. Homemade kvas takes lots of time because you have to filter breadcrumbs, but a dry starter makes the process much easier.

5. Chocolate

It’s not an exaggeration to say that chocolate is one of the pillars of Russian cuisine. The mass production of chocolate began here in the 19th century, and kids have been eating it ever since. Many pre-revolutionary factories are still in operation, keeping the traditions alive while making chocolate under new brand names. What kind of candy is best to try? There’s no easy answer. Everything, really. Maybe start with Clumsy Bear, but don’t forget about Kara-Kum and Little Red Riding Hood!

6. Tvorog

To understand what Russian tvorog is, you really just need to taste it. Russians generally make a more granular version (although soft tvorog is also sold here). It is neither salty nor sweet, consists mostly of fat (9% fat is most popular) and is wildly delicious! Russians use tvorog to prepare cheesecakes,syrniki, casseroles and use it as filling for pancakes, but it’s also great on its own or with jam or sour cream.

7. Caviar

One of the main delicacies of Russian cuisine can be easily found in any Russian store abroad. Red and black caviar is the very essence of a New Year's feast in Russia. To eat it like a Russian, make a sandwich with wheat bread and butter, try filling pancakes with it or simply eat it on its own with a spoon.

8. Pickles

Fermented products are in vogue now as health foods, but Russians have a long tradition of preserving food this way. Of course, you can pickle cucumbers or tomatoes yourself. It’s not that difficult! But who wants to wait until they’re ready when you can just pick up a jar and dig right in?

9. Halva

This Middle Eastern dessert came to the Russian Empire in the early 20th century and quickly became a part of Russian cuisine. Russian halva is a bit different though. It is traditionally made from sesame seeds, but in Russia (no surprise!) it is most often made from sunflower seeds. Halva is sold by weight, in briquettes or covered with chocolate.

10. Russian soda

It wasn’t so long ago that Western brands of "capitalist" soda appeared on the shelves of Russian supermarkets. In the Soviet period, people drank completely different sodas, many of which are still popular today. We recommend trying Duchess with pear syrup, Baikal with herbs or the vanilla-tasting Cream Soda.

russianvisa.ph



Tags: russianvisa, russianvisainvitation, russianvisainvitations, russianvisas, russianvisasupport, russiatravel
Russian Visa Service Center in Philippines

RussianVisa.ph welcomes and invites you to visit, study and work in Russia!
For long time we’ve been helping Filipino travelers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to visit Russia. RussianVisa.ph is your one-stop shop for Russian visa. Our agents are standing by to answer any of your question. We also will be happy to help you to get invitation and process your Russian visa. You can reach us on Facebook and like us on Instagram. You can read about us in the local Cebu business direction

08/03/2020

russianvisa.ph



Tags: russianvisa, russianvisainvitation, russianvisainvitations, russianvisas, russianvisasupport, russiatravel
Russian Visa Service Center in Philippines

RussianVisa.ph welcomes and invites you to visit, study and work in Russia!
For long time we’ve been helping Filipino travelers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to visit Russia. RussianVisa.ph is your one-stop shop for Russian visa. Our agents are standing by to answer any of your question. We also will be happy to help you to get invitation and process your Russian visa. You can reach us on Facebook and like us on Instagram. You can read about us in the local Cebu business direction

https://youtu.be/r5P2OC5Euck

While the world’s media attention was drawn to the coronavirus, Russia continued to build new enterprises, elaborate new equipment, make scientific discoveri...

07/03/2020

What is Russian hospitality?

Here’s why Russians will offer you food, drink and a bed, but not a smile.

You have probably heard the phrase "to party like a Russian." This is when someone puts on a sumptuous feast for their guests and is even prepared to spend their last kopek to do so. This famous Russian hospitality runs so deep that it is even in fairytales, like when Baba Yaga still provides a warm welcome to the fine youth she plans to eat later.

Food, drink and a bed for a night

The unique Russian attitude towards guests is likely associated with the enormous size of the country. Even now, in our highly-connected world, if you drive just 100 km from Moscow you can find yourself lost in vast open spaces far from the nearest building or gas station. And in the past, travelling around Russia was a downright extreme undertaking. Even the journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow took five days on horse-drawn vehicles.

And that is on a relatively easy and heavily trafficked route, so you can imagine what it was like in more remote and deserted areas like Siberia and the Far East. Because of the enormous distances, it also took news a long time to arrive to some of these places, and residents often only learned about what was going on in the wider world when someone visited.

This is one of the reasons why over many years Russians developed a tradition of opening their doors and laying out the table for guests, including strangers. There is even an old saying that a guest should be "offered food, drink and a bed for a night" before being asked any questions.

In Old Russian, the word for "guest" ("gost’") means a "stranger or visiting merchant." But in Western European languages the related words "gast" and "guest" meant "alien or enemy." Although nowadays the words are synonyms from a linguistic point of view, their original meanings are deeply entrenched on the national psyche.

In Russian fairytales, it is a common story that some bogatyr (an old Russian knight) visits Baba Yaga (a kind of cannibalistic old hag who lives in the forest) and, instead of eating him, she invites him to have some tea and sweet buns. Now you know why.

No effort spared for a guest

In the past, hosts would invariably come outside to greet their guest. They would bow from the waist to them, and the guest was expected to bow in return. Hosts would welcome a guest with bread and salt. The bread symbolized health, and salt was rare and showed prosperity.

Guests, in turn, brought presents. Offerings from overseas, such as beautiful fabrics, scarves or jewelry were particularly highly regarded. The host would then put all the best food in the house on the table for the guest. They would bake loaves of bread and pies, put fish and meat (which was eaten far from every day in the past) in the oven and prepare sweet desserts.

And don’t think all this applied only to the homes of wealthy families. Even poor peasants would offer the best they had to their guests and would sometimes even borrow food from their neighbors to feed a complete stranger since, apart from bringing news from afar, the guest would then continue on their journey and tell others about how their hosts lived. Everyone wanted to make a favorable impression on their guest.

Who is an "uninvited guest?"

So if Russians are so warm-hearted and hospitable, why is it that they are often so stony-faced and reserved in their manner? It’s true that this is a bit of a contradiction, but the answer, as usual, lies in Russian history.

In the 13th century, Russia was subjected to constant raids by nomadic invaders and subsequently lived for over 200 years under the Tatar-Mongol Yoke. This gave rise to the expression "An uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar." During this period, these strangers would not only come with empty hands but at times would just plunder the entire town.

While tradition dictated that Russians should lay out the table for their guests and greet them with bread and salt, these brutal conditions brought a fundamental transformation to this generous attitude. As a result, Russians became somewhat suspicious about visitors at first: Who is this person, where do they come from, and what do they want? To some extent, this duality in behavior has become something of a national trait, and Russians usually do not smile at strangers until they figure out what their intentions are. And yet, at the same time, they will feed their guests and put them up for the night without fail.

russianvisa.ph



Tags: russianvisa, russianvisainvitation, russianvisainvitations, russianvisas, russianvisasupport, russiatravel
Russian Visa Service Center in Philippines

RussianVisa.ph welcomes and invites you to visit, study and work in Russia!
For long time we’ve been helping Filipino travelers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to visit Russia. RussianVisa.ph is your one-stop shop for Russian visa. Our agents are standing by to answer any of your question. We also will be happy to help you to get invitation and process your Russian visa. You can reach us on Facebook and like us on Instagram. You can read about us in the local Cebu business direction

05/03/2020

10 unwritten rules of the Russian Far East

We talk about life in the farthest region of Russia (as viewed from Moscow), at the extremity of the legendary Trans-Sib.

1. Right-hand drive

Almost everyone in the Russian Far East has a car. And almost all of them are right-hand drive. The reason is the proximity of Japan, the supplier of cheap junk cars that get imported on overloaded ships and snapped up by the locals. Left-hand drive cars, which the rest of Russia uses, are expensive to cart several thousand kilometers overland, so inhabitants have long adapted to foreign vehicles from neighboring countries. SUVs are held in particular esteem. They are good for fishing trips to remote bays where roads are simply non-existent.

2. Selling cars and selling off the top of cars

Twenty years ago, Vladivostok was a city of car dealers. Every family was somehow connected to the trade. These days, however, a rise in duties has made it less profitable, causing residents to adapt to the new realities. Now the city’s most famous car market, Green Corner, sells not only cars, but bicycles, Japanese coffee, and other goods, including contraband alcohol, placed shamelessly right on the hood.

3. To save money, go Chinese

Everything’s expensive in the Russian Far East, but the cheapest option comes from China. There are many Chinese people due to the closeness of the border, and everyone is used to them. A Russian beauty salon will style your hair for around 1,000 rubles ($15), while a Chinese one will do it for 300 ($4.50). A Russian manicure costs upwards of 1,500 rubles ($23) against 500 ($7) for the Chinese equivalent. And the rule applies to everything!

4. Buy Asian, not Russian

Residents of the region happily buy anything made in Korea, Japan, or China. Be it cosmetics, household chemicals, shoes, you name it, they depend more on the Asian market than the Russian one. The downside is that when some force majeure happens (like a virus epidemic), Asian products are the first to vanish from the shelves.

5. What’s a walk in the park?

Leave parks to Muscovites and residents of other airless megacities. Here, the concept of going for a stroll in the park simply doesn't exist. You go to the seaside or the river, or you swim or sail to an island, a bay, a lighthouse, or even the local volcano. The nature here is, believe it or not, natural, and by far the best thing about the Russian Far East. So there’s no need to go for a walk through an artifical green space in the center of town.

6. Life at high altitude

Mother Nature has been kind to the Russian Far East in terms of photogenic views, but less so with living conditions. Many live right on top of huge hills and the slopes of volcanoes. It’s normal here to live on the 9th floor and be eye-level with the 2nd floor of the neighboring apartment block. In winter, when everything is covered with a crust of snow or ice, the road home from work turns into an hours-long quest.

7. Meet a bear in the street

Towns and cities are literally in the middle of the wild. So you might have bears come round to visit. Every year, local media report incidents of bears entering people’s homes, attacking livestock, or running down streets through the stream of traffic. This is a case when the most clichéd stereotype about Russia happens to be true. Incidentally, Kamchatka tops the leaderboard by number of bears per person: 15 to 1. Everyone has their own bedside story about how they once (or twice) encountered a bear.

8. Seafood delicacies

What other regions of Russia consider an expensive delicacy, for the Russian Far East is... also an expensive delicacy! That said, they eat them more than often than once a year on Jan. 31. Caviar and the famous Kamchatka crab come from here, and the prices are half what they are in Moscow. Local markets sell caviar literally by the bucketload, and it looks mouth-wateringly good. All the same, it’s a myth that the caviar here is so cheap that locals eat it every day for breakfast. 1 kg of sockeye salmon caviar costs 2,900 rubles ($44).

9. China or the dacha, not Europe

Europe is too far away, and a flight there (with an obligatory transfer in Moscow or the Urals) will cost several monthly salaries for most people. So a trip to Europe is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, if ever. A much more convenient option is Asia — it’s right there on the opposite bank of the Amur River. Plus there’s a visa-free regime between border cities.

10. Perpetuate the myth of the good life

Here, whole hectares of land are handed out free of charge to everyone. True, it’s in the middle of the endless taiga, with no roads, infrastructure, or anything at all. But still, the image of pristine nature and golden mountains all around is alluring. It might not be quite as wonderful as it sounds, but inhabitants of the Russian Far East are in no hurry to debunk the myth.

russianvisa.ph



Tags: russianvisa, russianvisainvitation, russianvisainvitations, russianvisas, russianvisasupport, russiatravel
Russian Visa Service Center in Philippines

RussianVisa.ph welcomes and invites you to visit, study and work in Russia!
For long time we’ve been helping Filipino travelers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to visit Russia. RussianVisa.ph is your one-stop shop for Russian visa. Our agents are standing by to answer any of your question. We also will be happy to help you to get invitation and process your Russian visa. You can reach us on Facebook and like us on Instagram. You can read about us in the local Cebu business direction

03/03/2020

WHAT RUSSIA'S POPULAR TOURIST DESTINATIONS ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE

Instagram vs reality: we shine an honest light on the top tourist places in Russia, and show what they'll really look like when you arrive.

RED SQUARE

Probably the most famous tourist spot anywhere in the former Soviet Union. It is still the calling card of Moscow and the whole of Russia. The kaleidoscopic domes of St Basil’s Cathedral sure are beautiful, aren’t they? But to squeeze them all into the frame, it’s best to sit or even lie on the paving stones.

Useful tip? Keep an eye on the ground so as not to trip over anyone.

ZARYADYE PARK

The floating bridge in the new park by the Kremlin walls is its most popular attraction. It offers a beautiful panorama that encompasses a Stalinist skyscraper, St Basil's Cathedral, and the Moskva River.

One problem: everyone wants such a photo.

MAMAYEV KURGAN

When it comes to WWII memorials, this place at Volgograd is hard to beat. At its heart stands one of the largest monuments in Russia — the gigantic Motherland Calls statue (85 meters, 8,000 tons).

Every year, thousands come to take a closer look.

OLD ARBAT

This old Moscow street once teemed with artists and creatives, Anton Chekhov himself dined in its restaurants, and the aristocracy rubbed shoulders with young bohemiams. Old Arbat is more than 520 years old.

In recent times, Old Arbat has been transformed into Moscow’s main tourist thoroughfare, which has somewhat diluted the quintessential spirit of the old capital. Souvenir shops, down-market cafes, beer taverns, and street artists are now staple features.

SWALLOW'S NEST

This fairy-tale castle atop a Crimean cliff is one of the most romantic places in Russia. It was built in the early 20th century by German businessman Baron von Steingel, who loved to vacation in Crimea.

CHARA SANDS

These giant dunes in Siberia are perhaps one of the strangest deserts in the world. Fifty square kilometers of sand lie right in the middle of mountains, swamps, taiga forest, and rivers. A photo can create the illusion of being somewhere in the UAE, for example, but we think the reality is even more beguiling.

PETERGOF

The “Russian Versailles” — 40 km from St Petersburg, full of gilded fountains, gardens, and palaces — is the former summer residence of the Russian tsars. True, in summer there are more people than blades of grass. 99.9% of the time it looks like this:

TRETYAKOV GALLERY

The Tretyakov Gallery, which hosts many of Russia's most eagerly anticipated exhibitions, is a place of pilgrimage for art lovers all over the country and beyond. For the really big events, the waits can be looooong... This was the line for 2016’s Ivan Aivazovsky exhibition.

MOSCOW CITY

There aren’t that many skyscrapers in Moscow, and almost all of them are concentrated in one place. This can create a deceptive sense of distance in photos. In fact, Moscow-City’s skyscrapers are very compact. This is particularly noticeable in contrast with the surroundings.

LAKE BASKUNCHAK

This salt lake in southern Siberia is the source of 80% of Russia’s salt. No living things live or grow here, since the salt concentration is 300 grams per liter of water. But there are lots of tourists. Besides the unusual landscape, they are attracted by the local medicinal clay.

BAIKAL

Baikal never disappoints. The lake is beautiful both in summer and especially in winter — due to the clear blue ice and snow-crusted rocks. This is that rare case when expectation and reality coincide 100%

russianvisa.ph



Tags: russianvisa, russianvisainvitation, russianvisainvitations, russianvisas, russianvisasupport, russiatravel
Russian Visa Service Center in Philippines

RussianVisa.ph welcomes and invites you to visit, study and work in Russia!
For long time we’ve been helping Filipino travelers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to visit Russia. RussianVisa.ph is your one-stop shop for Russian visa. Our agents are standing by to answer any of your question. We also will be happy to help you to get invitation and process your Russian visa. You can reach us on Facebook and like us on Instagram. You can read about us in the local Cebu business direction

29/02/2020

What to do in Yekaterinburg in winter?

Ever dream of visiting the place that Brad Pitt's favorite motorcycle comes from or getting a feel of what it was like to be a 19th-century gold prospector? You can have a great time in the capital of the Urals any time of the year and even in sub-zero temperatures.

Yekaterinburg is beautiful city that is filled with history. With 1.5 million inhabitants, it is the largest city in the Urals and the unofficial “third capital” of Russia. It is just a couple of hours from Moscow or St. Petersburg by air, and its new airport, Koltsovo, is one of the best in the country. With well-developed road and rail infrastructure, the city is a convenient base for travelling around the rest of the Urals. It attracts outdoors enthusiasts with its stunning mountains, caves, taiga forests and so-called "energy sites") but is also popular among fans of industrial tourism who come to advantage of the guided tours that many factories offer. What’s more, it is as interesting here in the winter as it is during the summer.

1. Take a walk around the most compact Russian city (with over a million inhabitants)

Yekaterinburg has a reputation for being a sort of Moscow in the Urals. People from neighboring towns come here to study and work and generally enjoy its big city culture. Modern skyscrapers, paid parking facilities, ski centers and hipster restaurants – from craft burger eateries to cafes serving gluten-free desserts – have sprouted up like mushrooms throughout the city.

Yekaterinburg is most famous for three things. First, it is where the last Russian Emperor was murdered. This event is memorialized in the Church on the Blood, built on the site of the demolished house of the engineer Nikolai Ipatiev in whose cellar the gruesome event took place. Second, it is the hometown of Russia’s first president, Boris Yeltsin, and the city has a Yeltsin Center with a museum and souvenir shops. Finally, it is famous as the most compact Russian city with over a million people, and all of its 1.5 million residents live inside a relatively small area. Nevertheless, the city is actually quite large, and it will take you about 30 minutes to walk from the Yeltsin Center to the Church on the Blood, although on a map they appear just opposite each other. You will need the same amount of time again to walk from there to the Chekist Village housing complex or to the pedestrian-only Vaynera Street.

Yekaterinburg has a metro system with a map that includes station names written in the Latin script. It certainly isn’t the biggest metro system in the country, but it is more convenient to get from the railway station to the center by metro than on foot (10 minutes vs. one hour). The metro works with old Moscow Metro tokens, so if you happen to have some left over from previous trips to Russia, be sure to bring them with you.

2. Visit the biggest military equipment and vehicles museum

Even if you don’t consider yourself a military equipment enthusiast, you're sure to find this museum interesting. The Military Museum of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) occupies an enormous area in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, a northern suburb of Yekaterinburg. In the open-air part of the museum you will find everything from aviation equipment and artillery to vintage armored vehicles, including various modifications of the famous T-34 tank, a Project 1125 armored river-boat (a veteran of the Battle of Stalingrad) and a 1943-vintage armored train.

When the cold begins to get to you, you can step inside and look around the museum of military hardware (ever seen an armored sled?) or the vehicles museum, which even has Estonian racing cars. The museum curators told us that a museum of parade equipment and an aviation museum will open soon, making this even more of a must-visit site.

To get there, take Bus No. 111 from Prospekt Kosmonavtov metro station to Metallurgov Street. Entrance costs 300 rubles (about $5) and the open-air section is free.

3. Hold up a leaning tower

You might already know that many things in Russia are only held together thanks to Instagrammers, so you too can do your part to support the Leaning Bell Tower of Nevyansk! But seriously, Yekaterinburg is surrounded by lovely little towns with perfectly preserved pre-Revolutionary architecture, including many beautiful merchant houses and wooden churches. For example, Nevyansk, 85 km north of Yekaterinburg, is famous for its tower, which leans 1.85 meters to the side. It is thought that from the outset its architect designed it as a leaning tower to compete with the one in Pisa.

Today it functions as a historical museum that is very popular with Russian tourists. During the summer, the area around the tower is downright bustling. You can get there in two hours by suburban train from Yekaterinburg ‘scentral station.

4. Go down a mine

It may seem a bit cliché, but the Urals are a treasure trove of gemstones and semi-precious stones, and this is where malachite, emeralds, amethyst, jasper and non-ferrous and ferrous metals are extracted. Numerous local mining enterprises have embraced the idea of industrial tourism in recent years and allow anyone interested to go on tours of their mines.

The nearest of these to Yekaterinburg is the Russkoye Zoloto (“Russian Gold”) museum and former mine. It is located in the northeast suburb of Berezovsky, which you can get to by taking bus No 114 from Marins Park Hotel to the Khram stop. It hasn’t been a functioning mine for a long time now but has been converted into a museum. You can book your excursion on museum website.

Near Asbest, you can visit a real emerald mine. The Malyshevskoye deposit is the biggest in Europe, and emeralds, alexandrite, lithium and many other previous things that are extracted here. During the excursion, tourists can put themselves in the shoes of an early 20th century prospector and have a go panning for minerals. Bookings can be made on the mine’s website.

5. Get a glimpse of the post-industrial future

Do you want to learn what happened to towns that were once industrial centers but have since been ravaged by population decline? For an illustrative example, try visiting Degtyarsk (60 km southwest by bus) where the skyline is dominated by gigantic heaps of discarded spoil brought up from mines. In the early Soviet period, it was home to a copper mine that was run by an American company. Former American President Richard Nixon visited the town in 1959, and it has been widely claimed that his parents worked here for a time in the early Soviet period. The town itself is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

Four hours’ north of Yekaterinburg, you will find the old factory town of Alapayevsk. Here, deep in the taiga, you can see one of Russia’s longest narrow-gauge railways. Not far away is the evocative town of Irbit, where the famous Ural motorbikes are still manufactured. They were the most sought-after motorbikes in the Soviet period, but production has since dwindled, although they still have a cult following that includes Brad Pitt.

From Yekaterinburg, you can reach other major cities of Perm, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen and Novosibirsk in just a few hours.

russianvisa.ph



Tags: russianvisa, russianvisainvitation, russianvisainvitations, russianvisas, russianvisasupport, russiatravel
Russian Visa Service Center in Philippines

RussianVisa.ph welcomes and invites you to visit, study and work in Russia!
For long time we’ve been helping Filipino travelers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to visit Russia. RussianVisa.ph is your one-stop shop for Russian visa. Our agents are standing by to answer any of your question. We also will be happy to help you to get invitation and process your Russian visa. You can reach us on Facebook and like us on Instagram. You can read about us in the local Cebu business direction