This is what St. Patrick's Day Parade in Moscow looks like! It was held on Arbat street on the 17th of March. It was the first St. Patrick's parade I took part in, so I decided to learn more about the holiday.
Saint Patrick's Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. Saint Patrick is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. And this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.
Now people in many countries around the world celebrate this day by wearing green, meeting up with the friends and going to pubs. I made a list of the best known Moscow Irish pubs, here they are:
The Shamrock Pub - Moscow’s first Irish pub founded way back in 1991: good Irish food, nice atmosphere and beer on Novy Arbat street in the center of the city.
Molly Gwynn's Pub is also on Novy Arbat so if you are done with the Shamrock you can continue the adventures :-)
John Bull Pub (metro Barrikadnaya/Ulitsa 1905 Goda and Smolenskaya) - there are two of them in Moscow - it's an English-style pub with a nice interior, good food but very high prices on beers.
Rosie O'Grady's by metro Park Kultury is part of a restaurant chain offering European and Asian food as well as Guinness, Harp and other Irish beers.
Katie O'Shea's at Grigolsky pereulok near Prospect Mira (the same street as the Irish Embassy) - serves excellent Guinness and Sunday lunch.
Silver's Irish Pub (metro Okhotny Ryad) is a little too small and too smoky but fun.
So this is it with my little research, I hope you had a very nice and green 17th of March!
Yours,
Michael TheMonkey
