St. Petersburg, Russia

St. Petersburg, Russia

St. Petersburg, a two day stay on the Gulf of Finland, Russia

St. Petersburg was founded by Peter 1 in 1703 and became the capital of Russia. During the first world war the name was changed to Petrograd and then to Leningrad in 1924. In 1991 the historic name St. Petersburg was restored for this magnificent city.

Day 1

We arrived into St. Petersburg at 7:00 a.m. on a sunny and warm , 20 C, morning. It gets light before 4 o'clock in the morning and stays light till close to midnight. Because the Ocean Princess is a smaller ship we are docked  near the downtown area which saves approximately 45 minutes of driving to get to most sites. Sig and Pat visited the Hermitage Museum which was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great as her Winter Palace . It houses on of the finest collections of art in the world, over three million works of art including Da Vinci, Rafael, Monet, Rembrandt, Renoir.  Elaine, Jim, Dianna and Al enjoyed a half day tour of the Peterhof  Palace .  It was designed by Peter the Great to rival Versailles and boasts a classical facade and stunning fountains and gardens.

The palace is approximately a half hour drive outside of St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland.

Day 2

Another beautiful day, sunny and around 20 degrees C.  Jim and Elaine toured the Hermitage and lucked out because they were the only group and therefore had the whole place  for their group without the usual thousands of other tourists because the Hermitage is usually closed on Mondays except for special arrangements.  In the afternoon, Jim, Pat and Sig, Dianna and Al took a 10 mile cruise along the Neva River and the canals in St. Petersburg and viewed the magnificent architecture and historical buildings and sites. There are over 80 canals and rivers

Neva river cruise

St. Nicolas Church, the favourite church in St. Petersburg

A few thousand less people would have made this a perfect tour!

We were given about half an hour to shop in a flea type market to buy souvenirs (very expensive compared to 6 years ago.)

We sailed from St Petersburg around 6pm and headed for Helsinki, Finland.  As we were leaving St. Petersburg we passed the Russian ship graveyard.  Six years ago there were miles and miles of rusty ships, however now there are only a few left.  They are being dismantled for scrap metal.

Ship graveyard

For more information on St. Petersburg, visit the wiki travel page here.