The Summer Palace - Peterhof

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Yesterday our alarm went off at 4.30am, in time for us to have a quick shower, and grab our suitcases to take the Hotel Shuttle to Berlin’s Tegel Airport. We chose to fly with Air Brussels, as there were limited available flight options to Saint Petersburg. This meant though, that we first had to catch a plane to Brussels, then change to a flight to Saint Petersburg. Air Brussels didn’t allow hardly any time between landing and departure at Brussels Airport, and to compound the problem, our flight from Berlin was delayed and the check in at Brussels Airport was literally at the other end of the very large Brussels terminal. We ended up running along several travellators in order to make the flight to Saint Petersburg.



The flight with Air Brussels was uneventful, although we had to fly from Berlin to Brussels, then head in the other direction to fly to Saint Petersburg. As the plane landed at Pulkova Airport in Saint Petersburg, then taxied to the terminal, the passengers on the plane erupted in applause for the captain, I presume for landing the plane safely. Was this an unusual occurrence in Russia for a plane to land safely?



Our Hotel is located just five minutes walk from Nevsky Prospekt, on one of the main canals in the city. After checking in, we obtained a map of the centre of Saint Petersburg from our very helpful young Receptionist, who was very happy to meet some visitors from Australia. She was fascinated to learn about kangaroos. We headed out to walk from our Hotel, down the length of Nevsky Prospekt, the high end shopping street, the equivalent of Andrassy Avenue in Budapest, down to the Neva River, across three canals, to The Hermitage Palace. Saint Petersburg has been termed the Venice of the North, however, having recently been to Venice, there are in fact far fewer canals and bridges here. After stopping off for a coffee, we continued on to The Hermitage Palace to take some photos. With the outside temperature around 2 degrees, and the day fading, we then headed back to our Hotel, walking up the other side of Nevsky Prospekt back to our Hotel.

Originally, Swedish colonists built Nyenskas, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a land then called Ingermanland, that was inhabited by a Finnic tribe of Ingrians. A small town called "Nyen" grew up around it.

St Petersburg is Russia's second largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants. Situated at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27^th May 1703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg. Between 1713 and 1728 and in 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved to Moscow.



Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north and closed to shipping for months during the winter.



On 12^th May 1703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskansand soon replaced the fortress. On 27^th May 1703, closer to the estuary 5 kms inland from the Gulf, on Zayachy (Hare) Island, he commenced building the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. Today Saint Petersburg is the most westernized and modern city in Russia, as well as its cultural capital.



This morning we walked down Nevsky Prospekt to Admiralty Wharf, where we boarded a hovercraft for Peterhof, the Summer Palace of the Romanov Tsars of Russia. The Peterhof Palace (Dutch for Peter’s Court) is a series of palaces and gardens located in Peterhof, some twenty klms from Saint Petersburg, across the Gulf of Finland. It was laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. These palaces and gardens are sometimes referred as the "Russian Versailles". The Grand Cascade is modelled on one constructed for Louis XIV at his Chateau de Marly.The fountains of the Grand Cascade are located below the grotto and on either side of it. There are sixty four fountains in all. Perhaps the greatest technological achievement of Peterhof is that all of the fountains operate without the use of pumps. Water is supplied from natural springs and collects in reservoirs in the Upper Gardens.



The Grand Palace, the largest of Peterhof's palaces, looks very imposing when seen from the Lower or Upper Gardens, but in fact it is not overly large. We purchased an all inclusive ticket to visit the Grand Palace, the Treasury, which was literally full of treasures, the Chapel, and the extensive gardens. We had to wear plastic coverings over our shoes for each part of the Palace, in order to protect the detailed parquetry flooring. The interiors of the Peterhof Palace were as grand as the exterior, with the private Romanov Chapel being elaborately decorated.



The occupying forces of the Nazis largely destroyed Peterhof Palace during WWII. Many of the fountains were destroyed, and the palace was partially exploded and left to burn. Restoration work began almost immediately after the end of the war and continues to this day



After completing our visits to the Peterhof Palace, we walked around the gardens, stopping off to feed squirrels, having a coffee, looking at the follies throughout the gardens, and taking photos. Our only regret with visiting Peterhof is that we missed seeing the magnificent fountains in action. They had only been turned off two weeks ago. We caught the late hydrofoil back to Admiralty Wharf, and walked back to our Hotel. It was a great experience to get a glimpse of the opulence of the Tsars of Russia, in the form of the Peterhof Palace, and a great way to spend our first full day in Saint Petersburg.

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