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EXCURSIONS IN ST.PETERSBURG |
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St.Petersburg, Tsar Peter the Great's "window on Europe", is Russia's most cosmopolitan city. Standing on 42 islands linked by rivers, canals and nearly 300 charming bridges, its sheer elegance has attracted visitors for generations.
The State Hermitage occupies six magnificent buildings situated along the embankment of the River Neva, right in the heart of St Petersburg. Put together throughout two centuries and a half, the Hermitage collections of works of art (over 3,000,000 items) present the development of the world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century. The tour will include the reception quarters of the Winter Palace, the former official residence of the Russian Emperors, the highlights of the Old Masters’ Collection: Italian, Dutch, Flemish, French Art, and the highlights of the famous Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections.
The State Russian Museum is home to the world's largest collection of Russian fine art covering the entire history of Russian fine art from the tenth century to the present day. The collection numbers over 400,000 works, including unique Russian icons, paintings, graphic art and sculpture, decorative and applied art, folk art and numismatics, as well as the world's finest collection of Russian avant-garde.
 Peter and Paul Fortress is where the city was born. The date of its foundation, May 16, 1703, is celebrated as the city’s birthday. The most striking building inside is Peter-and-Paul’s Cathedral, the burial place of the Russian Tsars, from Peter the Great till Nicholas II.
 Lavishly decorated St.Isaac’s Cathedral ranks among the largest Christian cathedrals of the world.
The Church of Our Saviour on Spilt Blood, built in the early XX century in the ‘Old Russian’ style, boasts over 7,000 m2 of glass mosaics.
 The Summer Palace of Peter the Great is located in Summer Gardens, the first park of the city. It was built in 1710-12 and survived without major alterations.
 The Yusupov Palace is the most elegant former private palace (of the Counts Yusupovs) where they lived from the beginning of the 19th century till the revolution of 1917. Luckily, it preserved its original charm and fascinating interiors. This is the place where Rasputin was murdered…
 The Menshikov Palace, commissioned by the first governor of Saint Petersburg and close associate of Peter the Great Alexander Menshikov, is the first stone palace in the city built 1710- 1721. It is the most luxurious building of St.Petersburg of Peter's time where you can still see the original interiors of the time.
 Catherine’s Palace in the town of Pushkin (Tsar’s Village) is the largest royal summer palace in the vicinity of St.Petersburg, which is famous for the splendour of its Baroque interiors and its unique Amber Room. The town is also associated with the great poet Alexander Pushkin who studied at the local Lycee.
Pavlovsk , named after Paul (Pavel in Russian), is one of the former summer residences of the Russian tsars. It was given to Paul by his mother Catherine the Great to reward him for the birth of a grandson, the future tsar Alexandre I. The Great Palace was designed and decorated in by the best Neoclassical architects. Pavlovsk Park is one of the largest landscaped parks in the world
 Peterhof is an official royal summer residence founded by Peter the Great in 1704 on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, 30 km from St.Petersburg. It is world famous for its elaborate grounds featuring over 150 fountains and numerous palaces, including the Great Palace, Monplaisir (the favourite palace of Peter the Great) and the royal bath house and kitchen.
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Oranienbaum, a royal summer residence on the coast of the Gulf of Finland dating back to the time of Peter the Great, is famous for the Chinese Palace of Catherine the Great. It was built in 1774 as Her Majesty’s “Own Countryside House". Unlike other suburban residences, this unique Rococo palace survived World War II.
Monument to the Defenders of Leningrad is the southern gateway to the city. The Monument is devoted to the heroic siege of Leningrad during WWII from September 1941 till January 1944, 900 days and nights. There along with various artefacts from the siege period, you’ll be able to see a documentary film about those tragic and heroic days.
Bridges: this tradition exists nowhere else but in St.Petersburg. Over 300 bridges span the banks of the numerous rivers and canals there. Not accidentally was St.Petersburg nicknamed “the Venice of the North”. The bridges across the main river Neva are drawn every night at 1.30 am during the navigation season (May-October), and the embankments are flooded with people who come there to see this spectacular sight: in the slight dusk of the white night slowly and gracefully the bridges are drawn against the fascinating city line… You have to see it, to be there to feel it… All of your friends will be overwhelmed to look at your picture against the drawn bridges, the symbol of St.Petersburg!
Rivers and canals: Being built on water, St.Petersburg can be seen at its best from the water. It will give you a different perspective of its unforgettable buildings.
St.Petersburg metro (underground, subway) was started in 1954 and is still being extended today. The stations are richly decorated with marble, statues, chandeliers, mosaics, crystal, lamps… It’s a real underground palace!
A farmers’ market is where many people prefer to shop. You can’t miss the impressive displays of fruits and vegetables, meats and fish, flowers and dairy products, Russian pickles and honey.
A visit to a local supermarket is meant to help you familiarise yourself with the everyday life of the city; you may also wish to buy Russian chocolate and caviar!
Dinner with a Russian family (about 10 people per house) will give you a rare chance to meet Russians “face to face”, see how they live, discuss their everyday joys and problems as well as taste home-made specialities of the Russian cuisine (e.g. Russian salad, “vinaigrette” salad, pickles, pelmeni, blini, etc.) In the course of the evening the women will tittle-tattle with the lady of the house in the kitchen while the master of the house will present an intensive course on traditional vodka drinking to the men.
The Podvorje Restaurant is a reconstruction of a traditional countryside wooden house where you will try a typical Russian ‘home-made’ lunch.
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