Patriarch's Ponds

Lonely Planet review

Once this area contained several ponds that kept fish for the Patriarch's court (thus the name). This peaceful fishpond was immortalised by writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who had the devil appear here in The Master and Margarita . The initial paragraph of the novel describes the area to the north of the pond, where the devil enters the scene and predicts the rapid death of Berlioz.

Bulgakov's flat, where he wrote the novel and lived up until his death, is around the corner on the Garden Ring. Although the empty flat used to be a hangout for dissidents and hooligans, it now has tight security appropriate to this high-rent district. The park, however, is still free for all. It is a popular spot for grandmothers pushing strollers, lovers kissing on park benches and kids renting ice skates.

The small park to the west of the pond has a huge statue of 19th-century Russian writer Ivan Krylov, known to every Russian child for his didactic tales.