Surprising St Petersburg (Russia, N E Eur No 9)

Dear Friends and Family,

Our 14 hour overnight cruise to St. Petersburg, Russia left Helsinki at 7pm, but we were on board by 5 pm anxiously awaiting departure. We were entering the land of Putin and the KGB, an enemy land of spies and intrigue. (ominous music here) Maybe our upgraded cabin would be miked? Maybe we would be drugged and shipped off to Siberia! Claustrophobic Bruce has never taken an overnight cruise. He was really glad our cabin was on a higher deck, since most of the Titanic’s lower deck passengers never made it to the upper decks before the ship sank. We booked an upgraded cabin with two large windows and a queen-sized bed. Our booking included two champagne breakfast buffets. We also received a fruit basket and a fridge stocked with wine, beer and other beverages, all complimentary! We were glad we upgraded. Our $800 cruise allowed us to enter Russia for 72 hours, visa-free. Otherwise, it would have cost us $700 and several months to obtain the visas. Well, nothing alarming happened during the cruise, or during our two night stay in St. Petersburg. We did feel the boat’s gentle rise and fall in the water as we crossed the Baltic Sea, but we didn’t feel ill. Our ship cruised up the Neva River and docked on time. As priority passengers, we were allowed to disembark before many others, which saved us at least an hour. We had no trouble finding our hotel near our shuttle van’s drop off point at St. Isaac’s Cathedral. The Cathedral is near the Bronze Horseman Monument, a gift from Catherine II to Peter I. The receptionist at the Comfort Hotel greeted us at 10am with a hearty “Welcome to Russia!” and free shots of vodka. 😜

The hotel is in a great location, very close to Nevsky Propect, the tourist heart of the city. We strolled this great avenue with hundreds of tourists from every country in the world. Unlike most of Eastern Europe, Russia’s historic architecture is very much intact. Largely destroyed by the Germans during WWII, it has been painstakingly rebuilt. The buildings and Russian Orthodox cathedrals are so beautiful! Our favorite church was the “Cathedral of the Savior on the Spilled Blood.” It was built over the spot where Tsar Alexander II was murdered. The exterior has a colorful onion-dome design, and the gorgeous interior is completely covered in mosaic designs. Some of the tiles are covered in gold or bronze copper foil so they shimmer in the light.

We were lucky enough to get tickets to the Mikhaylovsky theater performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. We were in a lodge box on the second balcony and had a great view of both the orchestra and the ballet dancers. The performance was truly superb. What a treat! We purchased a video copy of the ballet as a souvenir. The U.S. dollar is a strong currency here, and the food is delicious, so we had fun eating out and shopping for souvenirs. One evening we found Reca, a “farm to table” restaurant filled with locals. We joined them for Russian peasant style cuisine. We loved the borsch. It’s a beetroot based broth with carrot, cabbage, tomatoes and bacon. The vareniky, potato dumplings filled with mushrooms and onions, and the pelmini, aka. Siberian Dumplings, which are filled with minced meat and topped with sour cream were equally delicious. We washed it all down with Kriek, a cherry beer we first tasted in Bruges, Belgium. We found a Russian chain restaurant called Teremok and ate there on our second day. We tried savory bliny, Russian pancakes with various fillings. We shared two bliny, one with ham and cheese, and another with chicken, mushroom, and cheese. We had a sweet bliny for dessert, filled with creamy caramel and apples. Yummy!

The St Petersburg city center is a UNESCO World Heritage listed site. We absolutely loved it there! St Petersburg was named after its founder, Tsar Peter the Great, in 1703. It was later named Leningrad, in honor of the founder of communism, Vladimir Lenin. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the name reverted back to St Petersburg. It is sometimes called the “Northern Venice,” because it contains 65 rivers, lots of canals, and over 300 bridges! The city was awarded the title “Hero City” in 1945 to honor its citizens for their tenacity and bravery during the 29 month “Siege of Leningrad” from 1941-44. The city is fascinating as well as beautiful and we hope to return for a longer visit someday.

We made time for visits to the the Hermitage and the Faberge museums. Our entrance fee into the famous Hermitage museum was only $8 because a tour guide let us in as part of his group. It is second in size and content only to the Louvre in Paris. The art collection here was begun by Catherine the Great. After the 1917 Communist revolution, the Soviets added the works of rich private collectors who fled the country. We saw rare works by Gauguin, Van Gough, Renoir, Rembrandt, Monet, Manet, Matisse, Cezanne, Picasso, and Degas. With over three million works of art and treasures, we were enthralled. The museum itself is breathtaking. One of the six buildings was the Tsar’s winter palace. Some of the rooms rival the Palace of Versailles in their opulence. No wonder the people rose up and overthrew the Tsar in 1917!

The Faberge collection of nine Easter eggs created for the last two Russian Tsars and their families is on display at the Shuvalov Palace. Both the grand palace and the art were really impressive. Each Faberge egg is different and of a unique, intricate design. They included built in clocks, small brightly feathered birds that pop up and chirp, music boxes, tiny ink portraits of the nobles, precious stones, and beautiful enamel. Each egg took about a year to make. Some of the eggs have hidden compartments with jewelry or miniature objects. One had a detailed replica of a royal carriage. In addition to the eggs, there are over 4000 other treasures in this museum, including jeweled snuff boxes, coffee/tea sets, paintings, swords, etc. The value of the treasures we saw in both museums is mind-boggling!

Our whole experience in St Petersburg was surprisingly wonderful. We were so glad we went and look forward to returning to Russia one day. Next time, we will obtain regular visas and stay longer!

We’ll write again from our next stop, Zacopane, Poland.

Hugs to All,

BnL

Author: bnlmos

We are a retired couple, together nearly 35 years, who love International travel. Having a "blog" is brand new to us, so have patience as we do our best to keep in touch with our friends and family. Please feel free to comment on this blog or contact us via personal email. brucemos@hotmail.com View all posts by bnlmos