St. Petersburg - the City of Czars

Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood

We had three full days for touring St. Petersburg - the Voyager was docked in a cargo port a bit away from the center of the city. Smaller ships are able to dock right in town on the Neva River which would be even more special. In preparation for the trip I enjoyed reading Nicholas & Alexandra by Robert Massie as well as listening to a series of college lectures on the History of Russia. This port was the highlight of the trip and was so rich in sights and history that it merits another visit.

My friend Denise summed it up in her quote:

"So much history, so much opulence, so much gold!

Our travel agent organized private tours for groups of 6 people per minivan with the tour operator Red October. We had morning tours and then a break back at the ship for a quick lunch and then headed out again in the afternoon. We were able to get in a huge amount of sites this way without having to wait for a busload of people.

some sights we saw and things we did during our three days:

• Peterhof, official summer residence of the czars, located on the Golf of Finland
• Peter & Paul Fortress, where the city was founded in 1703, serving as a fortress and political prison over the years
• Peter & Paul Cathedral, burial place of the czars
• Spilled Blood Cathedral, built as a memorial to Alexander II who was assassinated on the spot
• St. Isaac Cathedral
• a "locals" tour - riding the subway, visiting an upscale grocery store, shopping at local markets
• Yusupov Palace, former home to one of Russia's most wealthy and influential families and site of Rasputin's murder
• Mariinsky Theater, formerly known as the Kirov theater
• Chesme Palace and Chesme Church, built at the direction of Catherine the Great
• Catherine's Place, built by Peter I for his wife Catherine I
• The Hermitage including the Gold Room and Hermitage Theater
• Decembrists' Square
• Nevsky Prospekt

Our locals walking tour was particularly interesting. The Soviets spent a ton of money on their subway stations in the 1950's, There were marble pillars, elaborate detailing, historical lessons carved into the walls and myriad statues. Unfortunately photography was verboten. The city totally exceeded my expectations. I expected a somewhat depressing city with remnants of the Soviet Union everywhere, but it is quite lovely. You could be in almost any large European city. There were nice parks, wide boulevards, sidewalk cafes and lots of restoration underway.

The one thing I wished we had gotten from our guide was personal social commentary. She described some events as happening during the "Socialist Regime" as if that had been some brief period in their distant past. I asked her if her life had changed during the Putin vs. Yeltsin years, but she dodged that by saying that Putin was good for St. Petersburg because he was allotting more money to development and restoration in the city.

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Catherine's Palace

Chesme Church