When I travel I always stick to one rule: the trip is incomplete if I haven’t visited a local flea-market. Therefore I fully understand tourists in Moscow who are looking for flea-markets to buy souvenirs or (pseudo) ancient and useless stuff. The problem is that here are none of those tiny and cozy flea-markets that are so common elsewhere in Europe.

The only place that I think could satisfy the tourists’ expectations is the Vernisazh in Izmailovo. The market quite far away from the city center (though only a 5 minutes walk away from the Partizanskaya metro) and to be honest I had never been there myself before.

However this weekend I went there for the first time and I found out that the market is a fantastic place to spend a Sunday even if you're not interested in matryoshka (wooden dolls with several smaller copies inside) or other Russian handicrafts.

Words will not help much so let the pictures tell the story:

The Vernisazh in Izmailovo is a huge territory near the Izmaylovsky Kremlin, which is a very strange construction that is anything but medieval and has a vodka museum inside. I was not too brave (or desperate?) to check it out. Next time maybe!

At Vernisazh you can find tons of traditional russian crafts.

Anything you want – from shawls...

to dolls...

and colorful coffee cups.

Things for sale can be rather absurd – like this huge wooden spoon...

or this typical matryoshka but in acid version. Cindyrella, Little Mermaid, Sponge Bob. Can you decide which one to choose? I can't.

I found lots of inspiration for how to decorate a New Year's tree, such as these wooden hand-painted eggs?

What I found was not only funny but also useful such as stalls selling traditional Uzbeck ceramics. The beautiful big plates (about $20) are great as wall decoration and the pots and pialas will be great for tea-ceremony. I actually have these ceramics at home.

What about carpets from Iran and Turkey. They are new but look pretty faded. Prices start from $200



I have always had a soft spot for Soviet porcelain statuettes.

What about fragile gypsies, pioneers or a bunch of asparagus which is actually a butter dish.

This plate with Lenin on is in perfect condition and it is expensive – about $300.

Retro–pins are cheap and pretty ugly

I chose this weird Mickey Mouse.

Despite the huge variety of items for sale the greatest attraction of Vernissage is people. How do you like this Venus in furs...

or this seller of antique statuettes?

Visitors are great too. Especially the tourists. This madame is my favourite. She definitely won’t get cold.