There is no question that St Petersburg is laden with history and culture, so where do you begin?  For starters you will find it on the Neva River on the west coast of Russia, and the 2nd biggest city in this huge country, and known as the cultural capital.  It started life in 1703 as St Petersburg founded by Peter the Great, but changed to Petrograd and Leningrad before it reverted back to St Petersburg in 1991.

You can’t fail to notice at this time time of year is how light it is.  It stays light all the time, well from 4am till gone 10pm.  It took some getting used to.  Walking and exploring St Petersburg you find it is huge, really huge.  In the few days I have been here the Fitbit says I have walked a marathon ~ that’s how huge.  Roads and canals intersperse each other as the history just seeps out.

The grandness of The Hermitage is striking …she speaks out ‘take me seriously’…when it comes to history St Petersburg knows what it is talking about..

Starting out it is all about knowing where you are going. Getting your bearings.  With a few more years experience I might be able to get there, but for now St Petersburg is a work in progress.  The Metro is the St Petersburg underground, and when I say underground it is a LONG way down.  It is hard to explain how far down, so I thought I would add a link to a video – the esculators are never ending https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtLha7UCwJM

The museums and art are part of the city and there are several must see.  I took in quite a few that are on show in this great city.

 

To capture a few days here I thought it best to talk about some of the sites and sounds of the place.  This city takes work, but worth it to see the place as well as the hidden areas too.  A hip, trendy city these days that exhibits a young population in and around the history.

Hermitage – this is an amazing building.  It is the art and culture museum, but it is such an impressive building, never mind the art.  Built in 1764 it is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world.  Impressive stuff.

Food – every great city has to have great food.  There is so much choice, from stroganoff to caviar and everything in between.  My favorite restaurant was ‘The Idiot’, though a bizarre and brilliant name, a great place.  Free vodka is always a winner 🙂  Great hospitality, food and a delightful and different type of place.

There are gastro pubs, great bars and a you can always find somewhere wonderful to eat.  I don’t think I had a bad meal here.  Especially great was Stolle, which I heard about and then had to search out ….pies baked to time tested Russian recipes, and truly scrumptious.  Definitely a place to find  http://www.stolle.ru/en/about-stolle

Peterhof – The Russian Versailles.  It takes a 30 minute trip by hydrofil across the Gulf of Finland, and meander into the Winter Palace at Peterhof.  The fountains are impressive, though it does get a bit over the top after a while when there is a fountain at every turn.  As you can see, the fountains in this royal estate are pretty darn nice.

Back in St Petersburg  after a few more of those gigantic esculators in the metro led to a visit to the interestingly named ‘The Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood’.  An impressive building inside and out that nestles on the canal and is one of the most iconic buildings in the city.

As I found, if you want pictures at night you have to wait a while.  It stays light for a long time, so it was well past 10pm when I was able to get some picture, and even then it wasn’t so dark till later.  I did of course find time to visit the local football stadium, Zenit St Petersburg.  Ex Chelsea and Spurs manager Andre Villas Boas is the manager here these days at this famous club.  He wasn’t there to greet me though !

A must see place of history, culture and a beacon for Russia.  It was interesting to struggle with language.  So many countries have English prevalent as a second language especially in hotels and restaurants, not in St Petersburg.  I liked that.  It makes this place and people different and interesting.