St. Petersburg is relatively young for a European city and less than three centuries have passed since the first structure. Peter and Paul Fortress was built by Peter the Great in 1703. However, it has a rich cultural and political history, being both the home of the Imperial Royal Family and the cradle of the Proletarian Revolution, for which it was here that Lenin began is revolutionary activity and laid the foundations of the Communist Party.
There's something eerily fascinating about coming to St. Petersburg. It's probably a combination of Cold War remembrances (this was, after all, once an Evil Empire) and all sorts of warnings from ship personnel and our tour guide about pickpockets and black marketers. It doesn't help that you have to walk past stern-faced, uniformed customs officials at the pier before you can experience the city itself.
This process only took about half an hour, although we had been warned that we could be on line for hours.
Once in the city, though, we found that St. Petersburg is a wonderful place. It's not entirely without hassles: The key museums and attractions are not air-conditioned and rarely have special facilities for the disabled. Very few signs are in English, and understanding what you are seeing -- whether it's a street sign, a shop name or a painting description -- can be impossible. And the Hermitage is typically packed to the gills. Fortunately for us, we had Svetlana from SPB tours to keep us out of trouble.
Above is our little group of 10 that Kos coordinated on the Cruise Critic Message Boards prior to the cruise. We have found that we get a much better experience in a small group than with the typical ship's tours where there can be 45-50 people on the bus. Also, the smaller coaches allow everyone to have access to a window as well as personal attention from the tour guide. Traveling with us on this 3 day agenda was Pam and Gary from Australia, Jack and Linda Jo from Georgia, Lynnette and Jeff from Wisconsin and of course, Rich and Jane from Florida.
Svetlana, our tour guide was absolutely wonderful. She guided us through the crowds, including the pickpockets, with precision!
Just in case you're wondering - yes there is a McDonalds! I'm not sure we've ever been to a city that didn't have one!
This beautiful city Peter the Great founded in 1703, in what was then swampland, has unbelievably sumptuous Czarist-era palaces (efforts have been underway for years to fix the crumbling ones), onion-domed churches and the lovely Neva River. Peter was inspired by London, Paris and Vienna and carefully developed the city by plan, creating canals and passageways that will remind you of Venice or Amsterdam. The city is situated on 42 islands! Most of the design remains intact today, testimony to St. Petersburg's pride -- and the inability of Hitler to conquer the city during World War II. It's a fascinating place, with a lurid past that's fit for a romance novel. Most of the canals have been filled in and are now roads. The cold and long winters caused them to freeze over so navigating them was impossible. It was a good idea though!
Our stop at the Church of the Spilled Blood was fascinating. This is one of the main Russian Orthodox churches of St. Petersburg. The name refers to the blood of the assassinated Alexander II of Russia, who was mortally wounded on that site in 1881.
The fact that our cruise ship spends 3 overnights here allowed us to explore the countryside, as well, where the bland Soviet-style apartment buildings of the suburbs are opulent country palaces -- impressive memorials to the best Czarist money could buy.
Inspired by his travels through Europe, Peter the Great set out to create a grand port city - Russia's "Window to the West". In 1703, the first fortress was erected on the River Neva. Neo-classical facades, domed cathedrals and baroque residences were built along the city's canals. By 1712, the capital was moved to St. Petersburg. Then, Catherine the Great continued the dream, adding even more elaborate palaces, parks and squares - all designed by French and Italian architects. But in the face of all this opulence, social unrest grew, giving way to Lenin's Communist Party. This is where the revolution began...and also where it started to collapse.
We had lunch in a typical Russian restaurant - Pierogi was delicious, and not the same as what we know pierogi to be - this was a bread that was stuffed with meat or salmon.
The Hermitage Museum is home of one of the world's greatest art collections, though the building itself is a masterpiece.
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org
It was 87 degrees today and of course the museum is not air conditioned, so our tour was somewhat uncomfortable. (OK - a lot uncomfortable) Not to mention the crowds. Svetlana did her best to guide us through the main collections.
My favorite was the Peacock Clock!
The photo below was taken from two different angles signifying the extraordinary skills of the artist in bring out the perspective of the painting. Depending on the angle that you view it, the building appears larger or smaller.
You can see in the photo above, the lines of people waiting to get into the museum. We were happy we had the opportunity to visit the Hermitage, but were glad to leave after a couple of hours. Our group is very well matched in our interests, and there was no one who wanted to spend hours on end in any of the museums. Once Svetlana understood our interests, she was fantastic in accommodating us.
This evening we were treated to a Russian Folk Show which we all looked forward to. The entertainment on the ship hasn't been what we generally get.....I suppose the fact that this cruise is tour intensive, most of the passengers are too exhausted in the evening to go to the shows. Most of the time the theater is half empty.
On Day 2 in St. Petersburg, we started our tour at the subway station, which was like a museum in and of itself. The ride down the escalator (200 feet), was like an amusement ride! The subway is acclaimed as one of the best in the world for efficiency, cleanliness and architecture.
Notice the decoration on the chandelier....hammer and sickle.
After our stop at the subway station, we drove to Peterhof - Lower fountain park and the upper gardens. Today was another hot day - 88 degrees!!!
Lunch was palmeni and borsht .....excellent!
After lunch, we went to Catherine's Palace with the Amber Room. Catherine's Palace was the summer residence of the Czars. Photo's were not allowed in the Amber Room however I found this photo in the Smithsonian Magazine.
On day three, we began our tour with a shopping stop. Our guide brought us to a tourist shop which wasn't too expensive and it appeared that everyone in our group had a good time shopping.
Afterwards, we went to St. Isaac's Cathedral - built in 1818, a Russian Orthodox Church - the third largest cathedral in the world.
Today lunch was beef stroganoff ....and a Russian Vodka tasting! :) Svetlana said it was a custom to drink Vodka in order to make our visit to the museum more pleasant! :)
Pictured above is our driver, Igor and our guide, Svetlana. Igor formerly worked as a driver for President Putin and was the best that Svetlana had every worked with. He was extremely careful and professional. He didn't speak a word of English but Svetlana taught us some Russian! I did see him smile a couple of times! :)
The last part of our tour was a trip to the Russian Museum which was opened for visitors in March of 1898 with the largest collection of Russian visual art in the world. The Museum's collection numbers more than 400,000 works including paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, folk and decorative art. On display in the Museum are icons, 18th century portraits, works by artists from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and members of artistic circles of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Stairs, stairs, and more stairs. These tours are not for wimps!
Well, this was the end of our three day tour. We were all happy that we did this, rather than take the ship's tours. Sorry to say that Jeff's wife, Lynnette wasn't able to do the last 2 days of the tour with us. She was having an issue with her knees and knew she would not be able to keep up the pace. Fortunately, Jeff joined the group and took lots of photo's to show Lynnette.
Tomorrow - Helsinki, Finland.
Location:St. Petersburg, Russia
