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Published: September 8th 2006
St Petersburg Skyline at Dusk
Looking towards the River Neva. The green building on the right is the incomprable Winter Palace.Ok it is difficult to get these up so for the time being i will just post small entries and photos (when possible). When i can i may come back and edit the entries and add more material to them.
We had heard before we arrived in Moscow, and during our stay there, that St. Petersburg was very different to Moscow. Whereas Moscow is fast chaotic, and somewhat gritty, St. Petersburg is relaxed, cultured, and, well, beautiful. We certainly found this to be the case. Whereas it took us a couple of days to 'get' Moscow, we fell in love with St. Petersburg on the ride to our place from the airport. It is a spacious and planned city with beautiful Italian style buildings everywhere, and plenty of waterways. It's beautiful. This is easily my favorite city on earth. None that I have been to come close. There are many places on earth I am yet to visit, I certainly hope I enjoy the rest of my travels as much as I enjoyed this city.
I have been thinking recently what it is I like so much about this place. I think one major thing is that the history
The Winter Palace at Dusk
The Winter Palace as seen from the top of St Issacs Cathedral. These photos, all from St Issacs were taken at about 10:30 at night. is so tangible. In 1703 Peter the Great (1682-1725) declared he would build a new capital for Russia. By 1713 St.Petersburg was the capital. This is the reason the city appears so planned and spacious and easy to walk. As Italians were the most renowned architects at the time, many Italians came to St. Petersburg to work, explaining the Italian like appearance of the city. In this respect the city does not have the long history of some cities of Europe like Athens et al. However when walking around some of the older cities of Europe with a guide, you discover that many of the 'old' buildings have been 'lovingly restored'. Often these historic sights have been completely rebuilt, others partially, some of the old buildings have been restored to the point where you don't know what is old and what is new. In Prague when we did a walking tour of the city the oldest building in the city was pointed out to us. It was completely cement rendered with a small square left so you can see the original stone work. Maybe I am hard to please but it didn't really seem that old to me, I wasn't
The River Neva
The main artery of St Petersburg that impressed.
Don't get me wrong, these renovations and rebuilding are necessary, otherwise there would be nothing left at all. When you consider the pounding Europe got in WWII, reconstruction is without doubt required.
The thing about St Petersburg is that the history is still there. You can see it, you can walk it. As many know St. Petersburg was under siege from Nazi military for 900 days during WWII (the Siege of Leningrad). St. Petersburg too took a pounding and required much renovation after the war. However the history of the place is more modern than other cities in Europe, much of it is still there. You can see the gates the Bolsheviks stormed in 1917, you can go to the cabin built for Peter the Great as construction of the city began, you can go the the apartment Dostoevsky died in, you can walk the route taken by Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment as he went to murder, you can see the former palace of the Tsars' in the Hermitage.
Many of the building have been reconstructed as a result of the war, but if you walk through the suburbs and look at the buildings
which were left untouched by the war you can see that the only difference between the new and old buildings is cleanliness. It doesn't feel that much is lost with the reconstruction as it looks like the rest of the city.
The sights are too numerous to mention. We were there for 2 weeks and couldn't see them all. We didn't even catch the metro. The two most enjoyable sights though are the Hermitage Museum (contained in the Winter Palace of the Tsars') and the Mariinsky Opera and Ballet Theatre. Both are breathtaking.
I was told before we left that St. Petersburg was like a living, breathing museum. Strange I thought as it is only a relatively young city. I now think that is perhaps the best way to describe this city. It is beautiful, modern with a history you can touch. We have only just left and we are already planning our return trip.
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