St Petersburg

Saturday 13th August 2016

The alarm clock went off at 5.30am, as we have an early start today  due to a big program. We docked at St Petersburg at 7 am, and pretty much everyone is going on an organized tour of some type, as if you wish to go on your own you need to have obtained a tourist visa before the cruise.

The kitchen opened at 6 am, and the buffet is packed for breakfast from 6 am onwards. We were finally allowed to go ashore at about 7.15am, and had to clear immigration before meeting up with our tour. We have not booked Holland America Tour, but one with a private company, SPB tours who work with smaller groups at a lower cost.

We had no problem finding our tour operator and were all on the mini bus by 7.40am ready to go on our tour (due to commence at 8am). Alas, one couple had not turned up, so we waited till 8.10 am and went without them. They subsequently joined as at our first stop (someone from the tour company had tracked them down and drove them to our location to join up with us). There excuse was there was no-one there when the exited immigration. There was a bit of mumbling from everyone else as the rest of us had no problem.  They were an elderly couple, and sadly it turned out they were from Sydney.

It got worse, but I will cover that later.

The first part of our tour was a city tour, driving around to get some orientation with some photo stops along the way.

Next was a ride on The St Petersburg Subway, something they are very proud of. As soon as we entered the station we were stunned by the station itself and the way it was decorated with incredible mosaics and marble finishes. The platform we had to go to was 150m below ground level, and unbelievable combination of 2 escalator rides, the first one being the longest I have ever been on.

Heading down 150 metres

 The Stations are decorated with Mosaics

The trains run at about 5 minute intervals, and whilst getting a bit old, they run at very high speeds, so it wasn’t long before we were at our destination and ushered off the train by our guide. 

Now we had to get back up to ground level, and about a third of the way up the steep ride, one of our group fell over and was held from falling back down the escalator by a couple of our fellow travellers. The emergency stopped the escalator, and greatly embarrassed our guide who was trying to get it going again by yelling at the operator some distance away. Guess who it was who fell over, yep you got it, the same person who missed the bus this morning. We kept a pretty low profile and later found out the were Hungarians that lived in Australia, but still didn’t advertise we were Australians.

More mosaics at the Stadium Station depicting Olympic Sports

Our bus was waiting for us  near the station we exited from, which was near a large sports stadium which had some involvement in the Olympics (we think). We were then whisked off to one of the highlights of our visit, The Hermitage Museum, which is Russia’s largest museum and is probably one of the World’s greatest repositories of art .

It is so impressive it is difficult to describe. Once the Winter Palace, this accumulation of buildings showcases the wealth and extravagance of the Romanov’s, which eventually lead to the Bolshevik rebellion.

The buildings are so impressive, and as we will find out over our visit, St Petersburg is littered with Palaces that the Romanov’s built for each other at the pubic expense, with no cost spared.

The tour through Hermitage takes us through both an incredible series of buildings and exhibits of artworks by most of the masters, Goya, Rembrandt, Da Vinci etc.

These three Gentleman sang a Russian Song for us to demonstrate the amazing acoustics

Incredible mosaic floor

Large Malachite Vase (one of many)

Our guide, Maria

After the Bolshevik revolution, all assets of the wealthy were Nationalised and the Hermitage, like every other Palace in St Petersburg is now State owned. The wealthy were disenfranchised and were either killed of fled to other countries, and many of the significant buildings were seriously damaged or destroyed by the Bolshevics during the revolution. The art displayed today in the Hermitage is in any ways a collection of private art collections that the State seized during the revolution.

Furthermore, Russia was hit hard in WW2 and many of these lovely buildings were badly damaged. The Germans also looted most of the palaces and there are many artworks that have never been recovered.  The restoration of the buildings, however, has been absolutely amazing, many of them reconstructed from drawings and sketches to bring them back to their former beauty.

The opulence of these palaces is beyond  comprehension.

From the Hermitage we moved on to the Church of The Spilled Blood, one of the most impressive buildings in the city.

After that we went to St Isaac’s Cathedral, the largest in the city.

Next was a real surprise  Yusupov Palace one of the most lavish palaces in St Petersburg. We found out that this was only one of 4 palaces the Yusupov family had in St Petersburg. This palace even had its own theatre to entertain their guests. We sat through a Russian group of 4 men singing traditional music to demonstrate the excellent acoustics.

The Yusupovs were successful industrialists with a real eye for the future and many of the small detail in the palace was quite modern for the period. On the darker side, it was in this palace that the demise of Rasputin was devised and carried out. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos, which was a real shame, as this place would rival any of the others we have seen.

It was then on to the Church of St Peter and Paul, where the remains of the Romanovs are interred.

There were Helicopter Fun rides in a fairly serious looking Russian Helicopter, for the brave

It was a huge day, and fascinating, giving as great insight into why Russia has had such a chequered history.  Our guide, Maria, has been exceptional in the insights she has passed on.