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World Cup fans flock to party in Moscow’s ‘street of lights’
MOSCOW, June 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A quiet pedestrian street leading off
from Red Square, Moscow’s Nikolskaya Street has unexpectedly become the party
zone of choice for thousands of international World Cup fans, to the
bemusement of locals.
During the day but even more so at night, the 700-metre-long street with
elegant stucco facades is packed to bursting.
Walking through, a passerby has to squeeze past ubiquitous groups of
Argentinean supporters, pass a cafe taken over entirely by Tunisians and
shake hands with innumerable Mexican fans, all of them wearing sombreros.
“Normally, Nikolskaya Street is very quiet,” said Armen, an Armenian
student living in Moscow who was watching highlights of the Croatia-Argentina
match.
The street is usually more of a shopping destination with some luxury
boutiques, especially since it was pedestrianised five years ago.
But for some reason, fans have chosen this particular street as their main
hangout.
Colombian Harold Castillo, a 22-year-old student, puts its popularity down
to the spectacular curtain of lights that hangs over the street.
“I came here by chance. I’ve been walking all over Moscow using TripAdvisor
and I just saw the lights. There are other pedestrian streets but it’s
wonderful here.”
Multiple garlands of lights hang over most of the street, giving it a
festive air as soon as night falls.
Even before the World Cup kicked off, Iranian fans were rubbing shoulders
with Saudis here and flag-draped fans from each South American country
colonised a part of the street.
Fans are travelling great distances across Russia to follow teams — the
Peruvians went to see their team lose to France in Yekaterinburg in the Urals
and the Tunisians have left for southern Volgograd to watch Saturday’s game
with Belgium. Yet while fans come and go, Nikolskaya has retained its
vibrancy.
“This is the fans’ street,” said Mohamed Chaaben, a 28-year-old Tunisian
engineer sitting on the terrace of a cafe with his friends, a national flag
wrapped round his shoulders.
“It has the best atmosphere, it’s a pedestrian street and it feels safe,
there’s no risk.”
He and his friends were amused at the interest from locals in their
national Tunisian headgear, round red caps with tassels known as chechias.
Plenty of Russians are coming to stroll on Nikolskaya Street too, eyeing
the exuberant fans with a mixture of surprise and amusement.
Argentineans have nicknamed the party-zone street the “house of lights,”
said Santiago Saltiva from Argentina’s city of Cordoba.
He said that’s how he was directed there by a WhatsApp group of Argentinean
fans as soon as he landed in Moscow, while he has not heard of the street’s
real name.
“They told us that all the Argentineans were here on this street,” the 42-
year-old businessman said.
“This street is like a Tower of Babel,” he said. “Every nationality is
here, every country is represented, everyone is speaking a different
language.”
The fans’ choice of Nikolskaya Street as their main base caught the city
authorities by surprise and they had to make some rapid changes. Public
toilet cubicles were brought in and barriers removed.
The crowds of fans have been great news for local traders, many of whom
have opted to remain open for 24 hours
“We’ve had to bring in staff from other branches,” said Maria Kuzina, the
22-year-old manager of a cafe that is part of a large Moscow chain.
“We did predict there’d be more customers but this has been way more than
we expected.”
So far, despite free-flowing alcohol, the street has been peaceful with few
incidents. Some unofficial street traders are coming here, most hawking the
beer of World Cup sponsor Budweiser and attempting to evade the discreet but
solid police presence here.
A pair of teenagers were indignant after two OMON riot police intervened to
stop them selling flags to fans.
“We were selling loads. For 200 to 400 rubles ($3 to $6) depending on the
look of the customer. Business was going well!” one said.
BSS/AFP/SG/MSY/1651 hrs