Advertisement
Published: March 31st 2011
Mother Russia, land of oil billionaires, corruption and vodka. We've been quite excited at the prospect of visiting this vast land, not least for the epic journey involved in travelling to the Far East but for the sights of European Russia as well, which is why we chose St. Petersburg as our entry point rather than going straight to Moscow.
The Estonian/Russian border crossing was far less hassle than I anticipated especially considering the bureaucracy involved with getting the visa in the first place. It only took about an hour for the bus to stop, offload all passengers and bags and then pass through immigration, which was quicker than a lot of other border crossings we've encountered. We then drove for a few more hours before we reached St Petersburg.
Due to the time difference (+1hr) the bus didn't reach the station till 22.15, and as we didn't want be wandering around an unknown city at that time we'd figure we'd grab a taxi to our hostel. The first price we got from a driver was ridiculous and after some negotiation we still couldn't manage to get the price down to something more reasonable so gave up, opting instead
to try the metro. It was more hassle but it was only 25 roubles each and was quick and efficient so totally worth it. Once we reached our metro stop on Nevsky Prospekt we then did the usual thing of wandering around with a map looking confused till we found our place. We instantly warmed to St Petersburg, the metro was great, we walked past some incredibly beautiful monuments while looking for our hostel and we didn't feel unsafe at all, even though we were wandering round the streets close to midnight without any real idea where we were going. A man wearing a bright red cape pretending to be superman even helped Faye carry one of the pushchairs up the metro steps.
Our hostel was ideally located close to all the main sights and only a few minutes walk to the winter palace so on our first day in the city we took a walking tour outlined in the guide book. It started at the majestic St Isaac's cathedral with a huge glittering golden dome that dominates the city skyline and then took us through to Dvortsovaya pl (Palace Square), an incredibly impressive space virtually enclosed by the
magnificent Winter Palace and the equally impressive General Staff Building. After a bit of meandering around some canals the walk then brought us to the feet of the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood.
This church, in the Moscow style is simply spectacular with its various multicoloured domes dotted around and the inside was also incredibly beautiful with over 7000 sq meters of mosaics covering every surface. Mosaics so detailed that from a distance (and in photos) they appear to be paintings. They were breathtakingly beautiful and well worth the entrance fee.
The walk ended at the grand sweeping pillars of the Kazan Cathedral, an incredibly large working cathedral which was one of the buildings that welcomed us out of the metro the night before when we were looking for our hostel.
Our second day in the city was concerned mainly with the State Hermitage Museum. This museum mainly set in the winter palace houses an expansive art collection all wrapped up within the incredible splendour of the palace itself. It was a bit pricy (but so is everything in this country) and we weren't sure we'd be able to fully appreciate it with the boys
as they might get bored really quickly but they were just as happy to stroll around and take in the impressive spaces as we were. Personally I was less concerned with the art and more with the ornate palace but that's just my taste. We spent a few hours in the museum and left suitably impressed so again it was well worth the entrance fee.
Our final day, before we caught an overnight train to Moscow, was spent walking over the Neva River to the Peter and Paul fortress, which after everything else we'd seen in the city completely failed to impress. It was worth walking though as it gave some impressive panoramic views while crossing the river.
We left St. Petersburg with some great first impressions of Russia. The walk we took was a great way to take in the scale, colour and grandeur of the city's architecture and it only confirmed what we'd come to think when we first turned up late at night. St. Petersburg is amazing; a seriously beautiful city that’s charm was easy to fall in love with.
Roll on Moscow; you've got an impressive act to follow.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.324s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 26; qc: 104; dbt: 0.152s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
EdVallance
Edward Adrian-Vallance
Simply staggering photos, thanks for sharing :) On my many visits to St Petersburg I've never managed to capture the city's beauty in the way you have - massive thumbs up! Am also headed for the Russian Far East tomorrow, Kamchatka in fact, will be there for 10 days...