On the Road and at Home: Baltic Memories - 2017

St Petersburg, Russia

(June 2017)

We thought St Petersburg would be the highlight of our Baltic cruise and it was, but the other cities we visited were amazing and we were just as delighted with the smaller cities, but of course the size of St Petersburg was definitely what made it a "wow" at every palace we visited, and there were quite a few, and we didn't even see them all. It is also a city we never had dreamed of visiting as obtaining Visas etc. is not easy unless you are on a cruise or an organised tour.

We had a two day visit in this beautiful city and we made use of every minute, but at the end of the 2 days we were absolutely exhausted, but it was worth it!

Once we had disembarked we had to go through Customs, and there were about a dozen lines, and I think we got the slowest one. The Russian Custom Officers were very serious and we were even told not to smile when we were at the counter and to just do what we were asked, but it still took at least a half hour to get through. Finally we were on the bus and our tour started. We did a tour by a local tour company, not the tour organised by the cruise ship, as we had been recommended by friends to use Alla Tours and they were very good and our group was only 16 which made it much easier to get around.

Rostral Column

A roadside market

Canal Cruise

After boarding our Mini Bus we were taken on a short tour of the city and then boarded a boat for a canal cruise on the Neva River, which took us under many beautiful iron bridges and we saw many of the magnificent buildings on the river.

Back onto the bus and our next stop was the Metro, the deepest underground railway in the world, and where only a few weeks before was a terrorist attack. We thought this stop would have been cancelled but nobody even mentioned it, so we were there and hoping all would be ok, and thankfully we were. It was something very different for us, as the only other underground we have travelled on was in London. This was very, very clean, and not as busy as expected, but on the walls were huge mosaic murals, and although we were rushing through behind our very organised tour guide, we did manage a few photos, while also keeping an eye open for anyone looking suspicious!! Not that we would have been able to do anything. We then jumped onto a train and sped at high speed to another station, not sure how far we went, as it all happened very quickly, while following our guide.

Mural in the Metro

The Metro underground

Yusopov Palace

The room where Rasputin was supposedly poisoned

Yusopov Palace

Interior of Yusopov Palace

More gold!

Our next stop was Yusopov Palace, where Rasputin was murdered in 1916. He was the spiritual advisor to the Romanov royal family.We did a guided tour of the Yusopov Palace, through many of the rooms full of beautiful furniture, but it was a bit rushed and so many tourists that it was difficult to keep up with our Guide.

We managed to keep up with Elenna and thankfully we have photographs as I don't think I would have remembered much.

Our next stop was Catherine's Palace which was about an hour's drive out of the city. We were given lunch in a box on the drive out to the Palace. Lunch was very good, and consisted of a meat pie, a sweet pie, a chocolate bar and a packet of dried fruit and nuts, too much for me, so I kept some for later on in the day.

Catherine's Palace, and again it was Amazing!!

I have never seen such a huge building, and so beautiful, it was breathtaking to say the least. I knew it was going to be huge, but I could not have imagined the size and such a pretty palace.

By the time we got to the Palace, having spent over an hour walking in Yusopov Palace, I was starting to struggle, so I used my folding walking stick to help me get through Catherine's Palace, as I didn't want to miss anything.

Me with the covers on my shoes, and my walking stick!

On entering the Palace, we were taken into a room with huge baskets full of those shoe covers that doctors wear in operating theatres. Once we had these on we were then guided through the many rooms of the Palace, and as it was very crowded I can understand why we had to cover our shoes as the beautiful parquetry floors would get damaged by so many people.