Kotlyakova Plaza

We wanted to find a hotel near the airport to stay overnight. We were then going to go back to spend the day in Moscow but when we found this hotel we decided to spend the day here instead. The front desk clerk suggested we walk to the shopping centre and then walk to the river, which we did. It was a lovely walk. The "shopping centre" consisted of a couple litle shops but the grocery store had everything. We then proceeded to try to find the river which took us about fifteen minutes to walk to. We passed a lot of pretty nature and some beautiful big mansions and some neglected ones. We also passed a lot of interesting gardens and wild berries, which we could eat some of. My companion grew up in Russia and she picked the ones she knew were edible. After our walk, we returned to the hotel and checked out the grounds. There was a cute little porch swing, some apple trees which we were free to eat from, a couple cute little cats running around and just lots of greenery. It was lovely. We had a home made dinner. They grow everything there themselves and make all their own food. We had beet salad, borscht and a turkey, potato, tomato and cheese stack. It was fabulous and I couldn't finish mine. All the while the desk clerk, who may have been an owner, talked to us a with a big smile on her face. Of course, like most of Russia that I experienced, she didn't speak a word of Engish, but my companion did. I could tell that she was very proud of her property. After dinner, we took advantage of their automated massage table and sat in a "salt room". Again, because of the language barrier, I didn't quite get what the point of it was, but it was a fun experience. The room was full of salt and the ceiling had a built in view of the night sky including shooting stars. These were an extra fee, but it wasn't expensive and it was fun. They also had a cedar barrel you could sit in which emitted herbal steam and a jet tub, but we didn't do those. As far as the accomodations, we only stayed one night. The room was perfect. It had a window we could open for fresh air, a tv, and a mini fridge. The beds were comfortable. The lobby and restaurant were very nice. Basic, but well decorated. This hotel was a gem. I'm so happy we chanced upon it. There was a booth at the airport advertising a free shuttle so we chose this hotel. When we checked in, they told us that if we had booked it on our own, it would have been a bit cheaper, because they had to pay the people at the airport a commission. But we would never have found this if we didn't see their booth at the airport. It was cheaper than the hotel connected to the airport. My companion checked the prices. Again, everything was in Russian and I think it would have been difficult to communicate had she not been with me.