Travel Notes

Russia’s rail monopoly Russian Railways has launched service from Moscow to Nice, in the South of France. The 53-hour trip to the French Riviera passes through Belarus, Poland, Austria, and several other European countries, leaving Belorussky Train Station every Thursday afternoon. The cost of savoring such a journey ranges from €306-1,200, depending on class. Russian Railways claimed it sold 90 percent of its seats on the maiden journey to Nice, which was a popular resort in tsarist times and is home to the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral outside of Russia.

The global hotel company Rezidor Group has opened a new hotel under its Park Inn brand in Novgorod. The hotel was formerly known as the Beresta Palace Hotel, but was renovated and re-opened with additional restaurant and conference space. The four star hotel has 225 rooms and is one of 25 in the Park Inn chain in Russia and the CIS.

A petroglyph museum opened in Khakassia to showcase a large stone covered with drawings dating as far back as 2 BC. The stone, located near Malye Arbaty, a village southwest of the regional center of Abakan, has turned into a major tourist attraction, with some visitors leaving handwritten wishes in the cracks of the stone, which damages the drawings, local museum worker Nadezhda Lukonina told Abakan Radio. Tourists will now be led about the site in a more organized fashion, and the stone will be protected from vandalism, she said.