Lefortovo Park

This area, in the east of the city, lodged all foreigners living in Moscow up from Tsar Ivan the Terrible till the 19th century. This so-called Nemetskaya Sloboda, Foreign Suburb / Quarter, was located far outside the outer city walls. It was from here that Tsar Peter the Great made his first foreign "expat" friends from western countries, and not only from Germany (Nemets means German). He built his own private army, that later became his elite troops, and started to practise "wars" with modern methods. The area still houses important military academies, hospitals and other facilities residing in former palaces. Nowadays you can see ordinary citizens strolling in the park near the Yauza river and eating - what else? - shashlyki in the sun. The suburb is also famous for the Lefortovo prison the KGB used during communist times.