I was travelling to Belarus and decided to tick Moscow off my ‘to do’ list en route. It was the month of the British Airways catering strikes, and all the flights were outrageously delayed. So much so that, by the time I arrived, my intended long weekend had turned into a day and a night in Moscow before my flight on to Minsk.

I checked wearily into the dark and imposing Hotel Rossija in the small hours, resolved to cram my whole weekend’s visit into the following day.

Opening the dusty curtains the next morning, the gaudy colours of St Basil’s Cathedral shone in the hot August sun, just a stone’s throw from my window. I remembered why I had thought the Rossija was a good idea, and was now grateful for its prime central location that would allow me to explore on foot. The journey from the airport had demonstrated the immensity of the city; one massive, intimidating sprawl of incomprehensible signage.

I headed straight for the impossibly photogenic St Basil’s, expecting to walk into a grand central hall. I had no idea that inside was a rabbit warren of tiny chapels connected by staircases and narrow corridors, every inch painted in red and blue frescoes and echoing with multiple simultaneous services. No guidebook had told me it was so charming!

Leaving St Basil’s, I emerged onto a sunny Red Square filled with ice cream and balloon sellers, and families strolling and shopping. Lenin’s tomb was closed that morning, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to queue to see his waxy features, and this let me off the hook. I strolled to the Kremlin entrance, expecting a historically notable yet charmless government complex. Wrong again.

Destroyed and rebuilt by successive occupants including Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Napoleon, Tsar Nicholas I, Lenin and Stalin, the Kremlin complex incorporates four palaces and four cathedrals surrounded by a moat and wall. The nearly 70-acre site has been continuously inhabited since the 2nd millennium BC and now serves as the official residence of the President.

The impressively restored Cathedral of the Dormition was designed by Italian masters in the 15th Century, and was the coronation church for the Tsars. Its beautiful domes and outlandish frescoes were like nothing I had seen before in Eastern Europe. I explored and eavesdropped on tour guides for a while, enjoying their hundred stories of raids and coups and celebrations.

After the Kremlin, thirsty from a day on foot, I headed to one of the many outdoor beer tents for some refreshment and people-watching. As I listed to street musicians and watched couples perusing the menus of bustling restaurants, it struck me that Moscow in the summer is a more colourful, more cheerful and more festive city than it is usually given credit for.

It was not what I expected, and my one day was a snapshot I was glad to have taken.