St Petersburg (Russia)

...in having finally arrived) into St Petersburg the change in atmosphere hit us as quickly as the icy Baltic breeze. Visited in succession it is hard to believe that these cities, the two largest in Russia, are even in the same country, let alone only 5 hours apart by train.

St Petersburg, dubbed the Venice of the North thanks to its network of canals, has experienced a turbulent history. Foundered by Peter the Great in 1703 to provide ...
...Tsars. In the 20th century St Petersburg has endured more mixed fortunes. Renamed Petrograd in 1914 it was the scene of the 1917 revolutions. Then the city, known as Leningrad since 1924, was surrounded by German troops during WWII. The people of St Petersburg fiercely defended their city in a siege that lasted over two years in temperatures dropping to -35°C.

I have it on good authority (first hand witness) that St Petersburg bore ... more

Introduction

Stepping off the train from Moscow (and not without some relief in having finally arrived) into St Petersburg the change in atmosphere hit us as quickly as the icy Baltic breeze. Visited in succession it is hard to believe that these cities, the two largest in Russia, are even in the same country, let alone only 5 hours apart by train.

St Petersburg, dubbed the Venice of the North thanks to its network of canals, has experienced a turbulent history. Foundered by Peter the Great in 1703 to provide access to the Baltic, St Petersburg was raised from the inhospitable Neva marshland. The strongest legacy of the city's 300 year history is the magnificence bequeathed to the city by the Russian Tsars. In the 20th century St Petersburg has endured more mixed fortunes. Renamed Petrograd in 1914 it was the scene of the 1917 revolutions. Then the city, known as Leningrad since 1924, was surrounded by German troops during WWII. The people of St Petersburg fiercely defended their city in a siege that lasted over two years in temperatures dropping to -35°C.

I have it on good authority (first hand witness) that St Petersburg bore its battle scars and was consequently in a poor state of repair until very recently. Apparently even in the 1990s many of the beautiful historic buildings along the canals were run down and uncared for. In recent years St Petersburg (the original and, in my opinion, far superior name was re-instated in 1991) has been restored to its former glory, including a major facelift for the city's 300th birthday, and has seen an accompanying surge in tourism.

While Moscow bears the architectural scars of the Soviet era in the form of grey utilitarian buildings, St Petersburg has emerged remarkably unscathed. The city has remained as elegant and stylish as originally intended and its beauty rivals, and possibly exceeds, that of any European city.

Getting Around

Thanks to the superb location of our hotel (see previous review for more details) we needed very little help in getting around the city. Our whole time in St Petersburg we only got the bus once when we arrived, down Nevsky Prospect. Our tried and tested point at the map technique saw us on the correct bus and it was, again, very cheap at 15 roubles (28p).

St Petersburg does have a metro system connecting the northern and southern suburbs with the centre of town via all the different mainline stations. However the centre of the city is relatively compact and, as it is so beautiful, walking is by far the best way to get around unless you are going further afield.

What To See

The Winter Palace / Hermitage Museum - The northern side of Palace Square is home to the world famous Winter Palace, the magnificent residence of the Russian Tsars. The palace is now home to the largest portion of the Hermitage Museum. It is universally acknowledged that to see all the treasures of the Hermitage would take weeks. We decided to concentrate on the truly stunning State Rooms and the brilliant collection of French Impressionist paintings. This alone took up the greater part of a day and was very much worth the 350 roubles (£7) entrance fee. The Hermitage is open from Tuesday to Sundays, closed on Mondays.

Church on the Spilled Blood - From first view of this church, a riot of colour topped with the obligatory onions, you could be in no doubt you are in Russia (the rest of St Petersburg could easily have you believing you are, in fact, still in Europe). Whether you like the church or not is very much a question of personal taste but I think, at least from the outside, it is beautiful. For a slightly pricey entrance fee of 300 roubles (£6) with 50 roubles (£1) on top for the privilege of taking photos you can step inside. I found the heavy mosaic effect interesting and unique but, at the same time, I certainly didn't like it!

n.b. On our tickets for the church there are also pictures of St Isaac's Cathedral and St Sampson's Cathedral indicating, possibly, that 300 roubles gets you into all three. However our frustrating inability to read Russian meant that we didn't know for sure!

The Admiralty - One of the most attractive buildings in the city the primrose coloured Admiralty building reflects St Petersburg's seafaring roots. It is now used as a naval academy and cadets scurrying around in their distinctive blue attire can be seen across the city.

Peter & Paul Fortress - Across the other side of the river Neva from the Winter Palace is Hare Island on which the Peter & Paul Fortress was built by Peter the Great to protect Russia. The fortress, which didn't actually see active combat until 1917, was used as a prison and the cathedral at the centre is the final resting place of the Russian Tsars. The fortress can be reached by metro, but the circular walk across the Dvortsovy, Birzhevoy and Troitsky bridges spanning the Neva offers spectacular views of the elegant city vistas.

The ticket price of 120 roubles (£2.40), to enter all the attractions within the fortress walls, turned out to be one of the best bargains of out holiday. The cathedral is magnificent and reflects St Petersburg's royalist history with all but a couple of the Russian Tsars buried there, including Nicholas II and his family who were finally laid to rest here in 1998. There are also several other attractions within the fortress including the prison and Engineer's House. A true gem though is the 'History of St Petersburg' museum within the Commandant's House. We never expected to find such an extensive and wonderful collection of paintings, prints, photos, artefacts and costumes (the Art Nouveau collection is particularly outstanding) - worth 120 roubles in itself!

The Mariinsky Theatre - On our first visit to Russia, how could we not spend a night at the world famous ballet? We purchased our tickets for a performance of crowd pleaser Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theatre, home to the Kirov Ballet, well in advance through www.balletandopera.com. The tickets were delivered to our hotel prior to our arrival and so we found ourselves seated in the lavish 18th century theatre decked with gold and chandeliers. Our seats were classified as "Luxe" and cost £58, but economy tickets can be had for as little as £21. I really enjoyed the experience of sitting in a box looking down, although the left hand side of the stage was obscured. The performance of the always magical Swan Lake was wonderful and the whole experience was very memorable and highly recommended.

Peterhof Palace - Slightly further afield, the imperial palaces of Peterhof and Pushkin make excellent day trips. Peterhof Palace is located to the east of the city on the Gulf of Finland and can be reached by train from Baltysky Station or via tourist boats which depart from the front of the Winter Palace. A return trip on the boat cost us 500 roubles (£10) per person but it was a very convenient, fast and fun way to reach the Palace.

As you alight at the jetty you pay a standard 300 rouble (£6) to enter the gardens. Peterhof is a truly superlative palace and, right from the beginning, it gets you gawping in amazement. Built in the 18th Century by Peter I, the palace has been dubbed the Russian Versailles. Particularly in respect to the gardens I would actually argue that Peterhof is superior.

It costs a further 450 roubles (£9) to enter the palace itself making Peterhof a fairly expensive day trip. I would recommend aiming for the 10am or 11am boat because the last one of the day leaves the palace at 4.30pm (although we thought they may run more boats in peak season) and there is just so much to see it warrants a full day.

Pushkin (Tsarskoe Selo) - The reason we are returning to St Petersburg! We only had time to visit one of the imperial palaces and I believe we made the correct choice with Peterhof because with the boat trip and the gardens it made a great excursion. However the blue and gold Catherine Palace and Pavlosk Palace, reached by train from Pushkinskaya Station, we were really sad to miss.

Other Notable Attractions - There is so much to see and do in St Petersburg and just wandering around this fantastic city keeps springing surprises. Kazan Cathedral and St Isaac's Cathedral are beautiful, the great squares (Decembrist's Square, St Isaac's Square and Palace Square) are fantastic, stunning historic houses line the numerous canals and the parks and gardens are lovely too.

To the east of the city is the Smolny Complex, the centrepiece of which is the Smolny Cathedral, a baroque masterpiece dating from the mid 18th Century. With no metro station nearby it would have been a challenge to reach and sadly, again, we just ran out of time.

The above is by no means an exhaustive list of St Petersburg's attractions and it is also a really lovely city to just hang out in. I would recommend at least 5 days for a visit to St Petersburg, any less and you'll be left wanting more.

People & Manners

Well the scary Kacca ladies are still alive and running the country in St Petersburg! However as a rule we found the people of St Petersburg friendly and helpful as well as being more cosmopolitan and better dressed than in Moscow! Customer service here is generally good and people speak enough English that you can make yourself understood.

Food & Drink

After sticking with Western cuisine in Moscow we wanted to be a little more adventurous in St Petersburg! There are so many places to eat in this city from the American giants such as Pizza Hut, KFC and Subway to the coffee houses lining Nevsky Prospect serving the most delicious pancakes to wonderful Russian restaurants. We very much enjoyed our borsch (beetroot) soup (vegetarians like myself must be careful with this as meat is sometimes thrown in for good measure) and potatoes with mushrooms partaken in at a fab streetside eatery, while sushi seems popular here too (I ordered some by accident).

Special mention must go to a restaurant called "The Idiot" found at 82 Naberezhnaya Reki Moiki. This cosy eatery with a deliberately bohemian feel serves wonderful food, including a great variety of vegetarian dishes, at very reasonable prices. Two main courses, a white wine, a coke, a coffee and two shots of complimentary (or should that be obligatory?) vodka to wash it all down with cost under 500 roubles (£10).

Geography & Temperature

St Petersburg is the largest city so far north in the world with over 5 million inhabitants. Just below Finland, the city is at the same latitude as Oslo as well as southern Alaska and Greenland. As a city raised from the marshes it is flat, low-lying and traversed by rivers and canals. Apparently the climate in St Petersburg is actually quite mild (mild, that is, for it's latitude) with average temperatures of -8°C in January and 18°C in the warmest month, July.

We visited St Petersburg during he month of May. This certainly had its advantages as the summer influx of tourists, particularly from the numerous cruise ships which spew out their cargo into the city, had yet to arrive so queues were non existent. However it did have a two day downside too! The weather in St Petersburg can be, how shall I put this, changeable. Our first two days the city was bathed in glorious sunshine - but my god talk about wind chill factor! The freezing wind whipping in north from Finland certainly gave us some appreciation of how cold this country must be in winter. However the next two days were beautiful and warm - much like England in May minus the rain.

Another interesting feature of this fascinating city is White Nights - June through to early July - where the sun barely sets. We were immediately struck by how late it got dark in May, about 11 - 11.30pm, and it is very weird but beautiful when you leave an evening event such as the ballet in broad daylight (I took photographs at 10pm that look like it's the afternoon!).

Traveller Tips

· A very un-cosmopolitan aspect of St Petersburg which gave us a real shock are the muzzled baby brown bears paraded around the squares by exploitative persons. If only tourists would refrain from posing for photographs with the poor animals this unsavory and archaic trade would no doubt come to an end, but sadly people can be very stupid. I had never seen a brown bear before and I was gutted to see several like this.
· As previously mentioned temperatures in St Petersburg can vary dramatically from day to day and even in different areas of the city. Bring a variety of clothing.
· Do your research. Different attractions are closed on different days of the week, for example the Peter & Paul Fortress is closed Wednesdays, as is the Church on the Spilled Blood, while the Hermitage is closed on Mondays. A good guide book is very helpful in this respect.

Conclusion

My enthusiasm for this city should be obvious. It resembles a combination of Paris and Venice, and is easily as beautiful as either city. Flights are relatively inexpensive (we paid £250 return flying with BA into Moscow and out of St Petersburg) and short at just 3.5 hours. I very much enjoyed the contrast of visiting Moscow and St Petersburg in succession, but of the two the former is the "easier" city. You really needn't be an adventurous type to visit St Petersburg and...and I'm going to stop before I'm offered a job at the Russian tourist board! Let me just conclude that I would return to St Petersburg in a nanosecond and, one day, I hope I'll be lucky enough to revisit this amazing city.
 

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