A scenic cruise to the north-west of Moscow river boat trips from Troitse-Lykovo pier

River passenger boats appeared in the villages of Strogino and Troitse-Lykovo in the early fifties of the twentieth century and were originally meant merely for transportation purposes. Back in the day, fresh-out-of-the-oven Moskvich boats, just built at the Moscow Shipyard, carried passengers of Strogino, Troitse-Lykovo and Tatarovo villages to Shchukino and Serebryany Bor, where the workers then took street cars and trolley buses to get to the city center and metro stations.

The ferries operated in a mode of real public transport straight from six to one in the morning, at intervals of 15 minutes, and navigation lasted as long as it could: from early spring to late autumn. After the termination of navigation pontoon semi-permanent bridges were erected.

Gradually, Moscow started absorbing the outskirts; new roads and bridges were constructed, and small villages and rural areas replaced with urban ones. Thus, the villages of Tatarovo, Strogino and Krylatskoe were completely destroyed. Ferrying the workers was no longer necessary. However the river transport, still fancied greatly by the residents, started to be used for recreation means, all the more so since the North-Western water area was always renowned for its particularly picturesque landscapes.



The Circumnvagition line is now served by Amsterdam boats, which started navigating in 2016, and of course favorite back-on-track "M" motor boats - that earlier had only hard wooden benches to offer to its passengers, with their number sometimes reaching 200, and that are now equipped with the state-of-the-art technologies and can comfortly accomodate 60-70 guests.

Landscapes unfolding before the passengers as the boat glides through the river line waters have also changed. Passengers can now admire a chic ellipse shaped Zhivopisny bridge, supported by the cables, whose large-scale construction immediately became the pearl of the route. The reconstruction of the Trinity Church in Troitse-Lykovo, an architectural monument of the 18th century, built in the Naryshkin Baroque style, is also finally completed.

On the site of the demolished village of Tatarovo there now is a promenade area for residents of Krylatskoe. Time flows, as well as the waters of the Moscow River, but the landscapes of the Northwest of the capital remain unfailingly beautiful, silent witnesses to the long history of this land.

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