We arrived late at Rastila Camping in Helsinki and booked in for a week at the reduced weekly rate of 200 euros. After spending the night we locked up Luanne (our van now has a name) and headed to Helsinki port to catch the ferry to Saint Petersburg.
Driving to St. Petersburg had briefly been an option but getting a tourist visa for Russia is a long process and we would have needed to apply before we left NZ, and then there was the obvious, driving into Russia alone is not considered safe. So, we opted to leave the van behind and visit St. Petersburg by boat, on a 3-night, 2-day excursion.
Russia has realised the lucrative cruise industry is worth tapping into, especially with a city as easily accessible and with such historical significance as St. Petersburg, so they offer 72-hour visa free entry if you arrive on a cruise ship. St. Peter Line operates a ferry service that doubles as a “cruise”, and therefore passengers can take advantage of this visa free entry. The only proviso is that the cruise must include a city tour and St. Peter Line gets around this by offering a shuttle service to and from the port for passengers, called the City Tours Shuttle.
The ferry leaves Helsinki at 7pm and sails for 13 hours overnight to St. Petersburg. Because of availability on the outward sailing we only had the choice of the more expensive “deluxe” room, but with an inside “economy” cabin available for the journey back we went ahead and booked online. St. Peter Line offers the option of overnighting onboard while docked in St. Petersburg, rather than finding a hotel in the city, which we thought was easier. But, I couldn’t make the booking work online, so I called the office and they sorted us out with the deluxe cabin for all three nights, including a buffet breakfast each morning, all for a very reasonable 652 Euros ($1021 NZD). We weren’t expecting much, as it’s a ferry rather than a cruise ship, but were pleasantly surprised. The room onboard was spacious and included a complimentary fruit bowl and mini-bar, and the rest of the ship had numerous restaurants and lounges, and even live entertainment. It was like being on holiday from our holiday.
Day 1:
We docked in St. Petersburg at 8am. Being deluxe travellers we had priority and were first off the boat at 9am. I’d been dreading the Russian border control, but it was painless and quick, and we were soon on the shuttle heading to St. Isaac’s Square in the heart of St. Petersburg.
It was a beautiful sunny day and the gold dome on St. Isaac’s Cathedral was shining brilliantly. Just one of many gold spirals and domes in this spectacular city.
We set off. First stop was to admire the impressive yellow and white Admiralty building with its gilded spire. Built in 1704 as the main Russian shipyard on the Baltic Sea, it’s now the headquarters of the Russian Navy.
After a short walk from there we were in Palace Square outside the beautiful Winter Palace, home of the Hermitage Museum. This enormous building was the official residence of the Russian monarchs from 1732 to 1917, and its size was obviously intended as a display of power and might. We lined up to enter, and after a short while realised we were at the back entrance for the tour groups, taking advise we went around the front and lined up again, only to realise this was also the wrong queue – half an hour wasted before finally finding the front door and the right queue. After another 45-minute wait, thankfully in the sunshine, we were through the doors and exploring the world’s largest collection of fine arts and artefacts.
Every room in this huge palace is more breath-taking than the last. The opulence of the décor coupled with the splendour of the exhibits is overwhelming. After two hours we still hadn’t seen everything, but felt we’d seen enough, and with much more to see in this great city we went to leave. Easier said than done. We could not find a way out, and every exit sign seemed to send us around in circles. I’m certain there must be tourists still wandering the halls of the Hermitage after entering years ago, lost and snow-blinded by gilded opulence. Eventually we were out into the sunshine, and very much in need of an ice-cream to regain our energy.
From the Winter Palace we walked across the Dvortsovy Bridge past the old St. Petersburg Stock Exchange and the Rostral columns with their natural flames lighting the way for ships navigating up the river Neva in previous times. These important structures were influenced by Greek Architecture and were built in the early 19th century.
Further around the spit we crossed over the bridge to Hare Island and the Peter and Paul Fortress. The fortress covers this small island in the river and is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great in 1703. It has a dark side, being once used as a prison and execution ground by the Bolshevik government. Now it is a popular tourist attraction and as it has a beach on the island many locals also frequent the area to swim and sunbath.
Inside the walls of the fortress is the magnificent Peter and Paul Cathedral with its lofty gold-plated spire. This ornate cathedral houses the remains of almost all the Russian emperors and empresses from Peter the Great to Nicholas II and his family, who were finally laid to rest in 1998. Growing up the story of Princess Anastasia and her possible escape from execution always fascinated me, so to see her tomb was significant. The bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral houses an impressive carillon of 51 bells of all shapes and sizes, and of course provided a great view across the Neva to the city.
From the fortress, we walked back to city over the Trotsky Bridge, then through the beautiful Summer Garden, past Mikhailovsky Castle to the grand Mikhailovsky Palace, home of the Russian Museum.
From there it was on to the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, perhaps the most iconic building on the St. Petersburg skyline and the most beautiful cathedral we have ever seen. The richly decorated façade and bejewelled onion domes glittering in the sunlight are straight out of a fairy-tale. The interior is covered in mosaics, in fact it contains over 7500 square meters of mosaics — said to be more than any other church in the world. We were in awe.
It was early evening by this stage, and after such a wonderful church we thought we’d finish on a high, so we called it a day on cathedrals and museums and instead enjoyed walking through the streets and absorbing the atmosphere. We walked along the Griboyedov Canal to the bustling Nevsky Avenue and headed back towards Palace Square, through the arch on Bolshaya Morskaya Street. By this stage the sky was starting to blacken and with 25,000 steps on our Fitbits we thought it was time for a beer and found a very cool craft beer bar just as the skies opened. Sheltering from the thunder storm we enjoyed a pint of local IPA and some classic Russian cuisine, beef stroganoff for Mr Love and cod on creamed millet for me.
Day 2.
The Faberge Museum was first on the agenda for Day 2. We walked from St. Isaac’s Square, where the shuttle dropped us, along the Moyka River, and up the wide sweeping Nevsky Avenue to the museum. The museum’s collection contains the world’s largest collection of works by Carl Fabergé, including the famous Imperial Easter Eggs. There are only 9 of these extravagantly decorated eggs on display, but they are truly beautiful to behold.
From there it was back down Nevsky Avenue, stopping at the beautiful Art Nouveau building that houses the Eliseyev Emporium coffee shop and food hall. The window display with wooden puppets dancing enticed us inside to an incredible array of delicacies – chocolates, caviars, cheeses, exquisite marzipan fruit; a treasure trove for foodies.
After drooling over these treats, we continued down Nevsky Avenue, stopping to admire the imposing Kazan Cathedral from the outside, before continuing back to St Isaac’s Cathedral to climb its impressive dome.
Built between 1818 and 1858 St. Isaac’s Cathedral is one of the most impressive landmarks of the city. The interior décor is mind blowing, and the sheer the size of the space is overwhelming. For us, it didn’t knock the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood off its top spot, but it came very close. The cathedral’s main dome rises 101.5 metres and is plated with pure gold. It is spectacular looking up from the floor, and the view from the top was well worth the 262 steps to get there. We stayed up there a while admiring the city skyline is dotted with church domes and spires.
A walk to senate square to see the statue of The Bronze Horseman, a tribute to Peter the Great commissioned by Catherine to Great in 1782, and our St. Petersburg tour was complete. Like any visit to a big city when you have limited time you need to pick and choose what you see and do. Andrew had vowed to only see three cathedrals or museums and he ended up visiting six and loving them all. Unlike many cities the entrance fees were very reasonable and we never paid more than 450 rubles ($11 NZD).
While enjoying a pizza and red wine as we set sail for Helsinki we reflected on the city we’d just visited. It’s different to a lot of the cities in Europe as it’s not an old city, only 300 years old. It doesn’t have the charming narrow cobbled streets and rough cast stone buildings of cities built in Medieval times. It was designed to plan, with wide streets, imperialistic buildings, and statues all placed strategically to display the wealth and power of the empire.
St. Petersburg was glamorous and grandiose when the Russian monarchs lived and ruled from there, and to step back into that world was an unforgettable experience, but the city was neglected through the Soviet era, and although some vibrancy has returned, it still feels a little dour and dark. The six ads for escort services on the official city map handed out at the information bureau say a lot.
