St Petersburg

Wow. That is (almost) all I can say about St. Petersburg. This is beautiful city, full of 18th century architecture that wasn't destroyed by the Russian Revolution, even the buildings destroyed during the German Bombing of WWII we're rebuilt by the Soviets after the war had ended. And unlike many other modern cities, there is little to no modern buildings dominating the landscape, it all 3 and 4 story buildings until you are well outside the city centre, with a small number of exceptions from Soviet times.

The lady we stayed with, Valentina, is the mother of a friend of a friend. She had extensive knowledge of the history of St Petersburg, its buildings and it's museums and galleries. For 3 days she walked, bused and trained us around the city showing us many very beautiful things.




Valentina our very lovey and gracious host. What she didn't know about St. Petersburg wouldn't have been worth knowing!




Place square


And from the other side the winter place!






This is the building that most people would possibly associate with St. Petersburg it is very beautiful, but is not typical of buildings in St Petersburg it is officially called 'The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood' (there is some different ways to translate the Russian to English) and was built by Tsar Alexander III near the spot where his father Alexander II was assassinated.




As it was Holidays a number of people were dressed as Peter the Great and Catherine the I, they charged a 100 rubles ($3.33) a picture for some photos with them after four photos that was enough. A little bit of fun on our first day in St Petersburg.








One of many Cathedrals in St Petersburg, this commemorate victory of Napoleon (I think). I can't recall its name.













This is a typical St Petersburg street scape.



This is a shop indulgence in the background are chocolate fountains.




Brass band.



More buildings.






At night the buildings are all beautifully lit.















Amongst the spectacular things we looked at was the church where the Tsars where buried.






Lots of restoration going on inside and lots of Gold leaf.





And I particularly enjoyed the Cosmonautics museum nearby.









It documented much of the early work of the Russian Space program, right up the more recent stuff.

We took around 400 photos in the three days that we were there. So many more than I have posted.

But it would be reticent of me not to include some of Valentina's wonderful food.







Borscht!






Mmm it was very good and we will definitely return to St. Petersburg we have only just scratched the surface.

A special thanks to Valentina for having us at her house, it was a great having a Russian speaker for those first days when SIM cards were required and CTP insurance needed for the bike.

Location:St Petersburg, Russia