St Petersburg Part 1

In the middle of our trip to Moscow, we decided to take a bullet train to the western frontier, Russia's "window to the west" St Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург in Russian).  While the train ride was itself quite something, and worthy of it's own blog post (click HERE to check it out), the destination was even better.   St Petersburg is truly one of the world's most beautiful cities, strewn with rivers, canals, bridges, palaces, cathedrals, museums, and world class parks.  It's color, compactness, architecture, and abundance of parks, museums, and waterfront location all combine to create an incredible and approachable experience (one that can be reached pretty much entirely on foot).   In fact, getting enough of the metro/subway as our primary mode of transport here in moscow, we set out to see if we could pull off an all "metro-free" weekend while in St Petersburg.   Did we succeed?  Well, you’re going to have to read on…..

First, a little background …. Russia's second largest city (population 5 Million) and its former capital, St. Petersburg is located in northwest Russia on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland (see map:)

Founded by Russian Tsar Peter the Great in 1703, the story goes that Peter felt that Russia needed a major seaport in order for his landlocked country to claim its place among the nations of Europe. And so in 1703 he captured a chunk of marshy Baltic coast from Sweden and proceeded to build a glittering new European styled capital there, with a network of canals draining the Neva River delta into a cluster of islands.  It flourished as Russia’s “window to Europe" and quickly thereafter became the capital of Russia for most of the next 205 years, as well as the country’s center of commerce, industry, and culture during most of that time. St Petersburg is the birthplace of ballet (as the locals say "where ballet was both invented and perfected).

The City has actually had 3 different names over the years, originally St. Peterburg (obviously, after Peter the Great), it was changed to Petrograd during WWI (it was thought St. Petersburg sounded too german), then to Leningrad after the 1917 Communist Revolution (where shortly afterward the capital was returned to Moscow), and then finally changed back to St Petersburg by popular vote in 1991.   The connection to Peter the Great is so embedded that in fact most Russian's just call the City by his name, pronounced "PITER" with a russian accent.

Now to the trip: after having to juggle a last minute re-booking of our hotel the day of our arrival (the original one we had booked denied having any reservation for us, but after some hard negotiating and about 15 phone calls) we got relocated into an even better hotel closer to the Hermitage and Palace Square.  Our trip happened to coincide with the annual White Nights; where St. Petersburg's high northerly latitude on the globe affords people extremely long nights near the summer solstice - sunset is past midnight - basking the whole region with warm sunlight, street festivals, evening access to museums, al-fresco dining, boat tours, palace gardens, etc (all of which we were able to take full advantage of).

There’s so much to see in this City and so much rich history - I’ll let some of the photos do the talking (click here) to check out our photos of beautiful St Petersburg, or just read below for 6 more blog posts!)

St. Petersburg Part 2 - Hermitage Museum

Simply put - the legendary Hermitage is the largest museum in the world, both in terms of floor space, size of the building and number of exhibits. Also one of the oldest museums, the Hermitage was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and opened to the public in 1852.   It's collections comprise nearly 3 MILLION ITEMS, including the largest collection of paintings in the world.   It is said that if one were to spend only 1 minute studying each piece in the collection, it would take nearly 15 years to finish.

Some places defy a lengthy explanation (or an explanation would not do it justice).. this is one of them, however luckily photos of it do.

Alexander Column (free standing 650 ton column erected to commemorate Russia's victory over Napoleon in 1812):

St. Petersburg Part 3 - Peterhof Palace

Wow. The incredible Peterhof Palace overlooking the Gulf of Finland adjacent to St. Petersburg is one of the most stunning locations in the world.  Sometimes referred to as the Russian Versailles, it's just one of the many palaces that were owned by Peter the Great.  Peterhof is not just a palace but actually a series of palaces, fountains, churches and gardens, and is now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The property is immense - 300 acres, and is probably best known for it's elaborate fountains (a total of 173 of them)!

Knowing we were going to see some fountains we decided to keep with the hydraulic and aquatic theme and took a 40 minute boat ridde over from St Petersburg (instead of driving).  

This is really the only way to get there because it allows you to experience Peterhof the same way all of Peter the Great's 18th Century guests did - by laying eyes on the entire masterpiece before you from a several hundred meter long canal leading up to the gardens and palace.   It's like he built it purposes way back from the entrance so you could have sufficient time to become awestruck prior to arriving at your destination.  

My Civil Engineering mind nearly exploded when I learned that all of the fountains throughout the property operate without the use of any pumps.  That's right, a 300 acre site with 100+ fountains, all done the hard way (engineered to work under gravity pressure without any mechanical assistance).   Water is supplied from natural springs offsite, collects in reservoirs in the Upper Gardens, then fed/dropped down with great velocity directly into the fountains across the lower garden.  This elevation difference (head) creates the pressure that drives most of the striking fountains of the Lower Gardens, including the Grand Cascade. The incredible centerpiece Samson Fountain is supplied by a special aqueduct over four km long, drawing water and pressure from a high-elevation source.

Peterhof, like St Petersburg itself, is an amazing symbol of Peter the Great's desire to elevate 18th Century Russia into a sophisticated European power. This is a Russian baroque garden, inspired by Versailles and designed by a pupil of Le Notre (Jean-Baptiste Le Blond). Peter the Great admired Versailles. For this, he chose a site for his summer palace with a good water supply. It stands on a natural terrace overlooking the Baltic Sea. A fabulous marble cascade flows from the palace towards the sea, along the Samson canal. It symbolises Russia's conquest of the Baltic coast in the Great Northern War. The cascade is lined with gilded statues and leads to a basin with a gilded statue of Samson, which depicts Russia tearing the mouth of the mythical lion (symbol of the swedes) open.   One of the greatest places I've ever visited. 

  

St. Petersburg Part 4 - Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

Built by Alexander III in the late 19th Century as a memorial to his father who died on the site a few years earlier, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is one of western Russia's most beautiful structures.   It has the largest collection of mosaics inside it's walls than any other church in the world (80,000 square feet).   So much so, that it's often called the Museum of Mosaic. 

Architecturally, the Cathedral differs from St. Petersburg's other structures. The city's architecture is predominantly Baroque and Neoclassical, but the Savior on Blood harks back to medieval Russian architecture in the spirit of romantic nationalism.  It intentionally resembles the 17th-century Yaroslavl churches and of course, the celebrated St. Basil's Cathedral in Mosocw (if you squint really closely, and throw back about 4 shots of vodka. the two really do look alike.   

St. Petersburg Part 5 - Peter & Paul Fortress

The Peter and Paul Fortress was the first structure Peter the Great built in 1703, to be the center of the new City St Petersburg.  The Peter and Paul Fortress sits on the northern banks of the Neva River, and the tall golden spire of Peter and Paul Cathedral marks the location. This spire was the tallest point in St Petersburg until the mid-1960s.  With it's 20' high walls the fortress was designed to protect its residents against outside attack, but ironically it later served as a political prison for centuries. Today the main cathedral that lies within the fortress is an important burial place; holding the tombs of all of the Russian Tsars from Peter the Great to Alexander the III, including Catherine the Great.  The grounds are very popular nowadays with sunseekers due to the plentiful grassy areas along the river, as well as providing the best views of the newer "main" part of town across the river.  

                                     peter and paul fortress               

                                                           

                                                            this town has flowers everywhere

  

                                 

                                  Peter the Great's Tomb

      

  

St Petersburg Part 6 - St Isaacs Cathedral

There's a beautiful cathedral or two (or 15) or in this town.   The largest one is called St. Isaac's Cathedral.  The largest church in Russia when it was built (101.5 meters high), and still remaining the third largest domed cathedral in the world. For visitors willing to climb 300 steps, it provides a spectacular view of St. Petersburg.  The cathedral took 40 years to construct, from 1818 to 1858, and was dedicated/named after Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great.

St. Isaac's Cathedral was ordered by Tsar Alexander I to replace an earlier Rinaldiesque structure.  French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand (1786-1858), who had studied in the atelier of Napoleon's designer, Charles Percier was selected as the designer.

Under the Soviet government, the building was abandoned, then turned into a museum of atheism. The dove sculpture was removed, and replaced by a Foucault pendulum. During World War II, the dome was painted over in gray to avoid attracting attention from enemy aircraft.   Today, worship activity has resumed in the cathedral, but only in the left-hand side chapel, and in the main body of the cathedral on feast days only.

 wanna climb 290 stairs?

 view of admiralty square and the neva river:

St Petersburg Part 7 - UFOs

I found a UFO in Russia !!! (actually it's just a really cool subway station in St Petersburg adjacent to the Peter and Paul Fortress).    We were able to make it about 95% of the way through the trip "above the labrynth" (avoiding the subway) but alas faced with only 3 hours left in the City and another 8 places to see - we took the plunge underground to save about 40 minutes of walking time - - and then encountered this flying saucer !!   (Footnote - for the record, the St Petersburg Metro does not even come close to meeting the architecture, design and functionality of the Moscow Metro)