From Russia with love - St. Petersburg, Russia
St. Petersburg, Russia
We flew out of Paris on Thursday 5th September and arrived in Helsinki, Finland early afternoon. We made our way through the centre of Helsinki to the ferry terminal which was only about a 10 minute tram ride from the city centre. It was a really beautiful sunny day in Helsinki so we were really lucky to be able to walk with our luggage without any prospect of being rained on. By the time we made it to the St Peters Line ferry terminal we were already allowed to check in to our overnight ferry ride to St Petersburg, Russia. As we were boarding they x-rayed all of our luggage that we were bringing on to the ship. Erin placed a couple of her bags on to the luggage scanner and then for some reason with her biggest piece of luggage remaining thought it might be okay to just waltz on through without scanning her final piece. The Russian staff thought this was a bit strange and assured Erin that yes the scanner was for all items being brought on the ship. After that minor hiccup we were onboard our ferry the 'Princess Maria' safe and sound. Kev thought it was funny that the old dodgy looking Russian scanners were obviously more advanced than the high tech international airport scanners as you didn't have to remove your laptop from your bag or take off your belt.
We had done quite a bit of research leading up to this trip as to what the easiest way to access Russia was. We read about being able to take advantage of a free 72 hour visa that Russia offers tourists under the conditions of pre-booking a bus tour and accommodation before arrival. The ferry line St Peters Line has a cruise option where you can pay for a return ticket, with a cabin to sleep in both ways, that drops you in St Petersburg for 72 hours and they have a "tour bus" waiting on arrival that takes you from the ferry terminal to central St Petersburg. This seemed like the easiest way to access a country that is normally very difficult and expensive to gain entry to and for only 280€ ($415aud) for the ferry return trip for 2 we thought it was fairly affordable. We didn't know what to expect from the ferry but were excited to see it was a flash looking cruise ship with 7 floors. There were 3 floors with bars and restaurants, including a karaoke bar, sushi restaurant, Italian restaurant and duty free store. It was a pleasant surprise to see how comfortable our room was, including some of the most relaxing beds we had stayed in for the whole trip, even if it was only two single beds. Perhaps our view of accomodation had become skewed though after having maybe too many nights at Ibis budget where the 'bathroom' is a tiny sink, a toilet and a shower only just big enough to stand up in. Also we had got used to some smaller beds where Erin's rug stealing and encroaching had become an issue. Perhaps this was one of the main reasons Kev found the single bed fairly relaxing.
We grew quite accustomed to our ferry and were even a bit sad to have to leave the following morning when we arrived at St. Petersburg. In fact one of the staff members had to come and knock on our door at 10am and say in a heavy Russian accent, whilst looking at her watch "errrr St Petersburg?" We quickly disembarked and made our way through the Russian customs officials. Their pleasantries were few and far between, however they gave us the stamp of approval and we were officially in Russia! We boarded our pre booked "tour" bus, by tour it was a direct route in a small old van to a central location called St Isaaks square. There was only us and the driver in the van and there was barely a word spoken so 'tour' was embellishing a little. The fact the old Russian chap appeared to have been drinking and didn't speak a lick of English probably impacted on his ability to be a 'tour guide'. About 2 minutes after we set off, after pointing to the central city stop on a map our driver stopped in an alley lined with barbed wire and got out of his drivers seat to enter the passenger area where we were. We were a tad worried until he pointed to his little map again just querying where we wanted to be dropped. We had been pretty clear about the drop off location only a minute earlier but double checking can't hurt I spose. Especially if you've already made a start on the vodka for the day as he appeared to have. Once dropped off by our Russian friend we then had to catch a taxi. It was only about 1.5km to our hotel however we didn't know what to expect from Russia or how safe our neighbourhood was, especially with all of our cases. So we chose the safe option of taxi to the front door. $40 later (or 1200 Russian ruble) we were at our hotel door. Like Istanbul we had once again been 'taken for a ride' literally and metaphorically, however we had very little recourse. Luckily Erin had no idea how much we had actually spent on such a short taxi ride as the exchange rate seemed to baffle her on numerous occasions during our stay, despite being a self proclaimed mathematician.
After setting our bags down in our hotel room we headed out to explore. First stop was something we had both been looking forward to seeing since we first started talking about travelling to Russia. It was the Church of our saviour of spilled blood (the church with the cool coloured domes on the roof). To our surprise it was just around the corner from our hotel, we decided on a short walk this time rather than a taxi, haha. As much as the church was a picture perfect view from outside it was even better on the inside. The whole interior was filled with beautiful mosaics, including the roof. The church was completed in 1907 and was built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assasinated, hence the name. After admiring the beautiful church that is quite often what comes to mind when St. Petersburg is mentioned, we wandered through a local park next to the Church of our saviour. It was really amusing because it was a beautiful sunny day for St Petersburg and the park was filled with lush green grass, only true to the Russian government there was a sign with rules about park usage. Some of these rules were no walking on the grass and no sports. We both joked that they might have just put under the rules "no having fun" considering all the things you weren't allowed to do. On our way back from this area we noticed heaps of bride and grooms walking around getting photos. It was really funny because there was literally about two brides in sight at any given moment. Kev joked that the guys went to a lot of trouble to get a Russian bride considering how easily they can be ordered on the internet, apparently. After exploring this area we made our way along to the Nevsky Prospekt. Nevsky Propekt is one of the main streets with retail, eateries and also historical buildings. We had a brief coffee stop here and the most affordable latte option was $8 Aud. Given the price, we decided to share a large between us. We now understand why Russians choose vodka before coffee. Vodka is literally everywhere and affordable whereas coffee is not only difficult to get but you almost have to sell your kidney to afford one. Our second church visit was at one of the historical buildings along Nevsky Prospekt called Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral. This is the main Orthodox Church in St Petersburg and despite its spectacular street view, the interior is much less impressive. After touring around a bit we bought some Russian beers and had a drink before our dinner at Jamie's Italian (Jamie Oliver's) restaurant. It was strange to have Jamie's Italian in Russia, but we figured that the new Jamie's Italian that has opened in Perth since we have left will probably be so busy we won't be able to get a reservation so why not in Russia! It was delicious and of course we stole the napkins (this has been publicised as something customers do whenever dining at Jamie's Italian because the napkins are linen and say (you guessed it) "Jamie's Italian". After having a delicious dinner we watched the Friday night AFL final on Kev's laptop to wind down after a great first day exploring St Petersburg.
On Saturday morning we were up early to watch the Dockers play Geelong in the AFL qualifying final. At the last minute the venue was changed to Simmonds stadium (Geelong's home ground) where Geelong have won 48 of their last 50 games. Safe to say we needed a minor miracle for the Dockers to get the win. We were watching and hoping from thousands of kilometres away but they must have heard because they won! Kev was so happy his beloved Fremantle dockers had won that we went for a walk around St Petersburg with football in hand and Dockers t-shirt on. We even sent a photo of Kev in to the Dockers fan online page. After such an exciting start to the day it was going to be ***********tinue on such a positive note, however we chose to see what was ranked number one on the tripadvisor (travel site) website, The Hermitage. This was originally a residence of the Russian Tsars and Emperors, when St. Petersburg was the capital of Russia. Once Russia's civil war ended in 1922 and there were no more emperors or Tsars the Hermitage was given to the state as a museum which now houses over three million pieces of art and artefacts. The grounds of the Hermitage are impressive from the outside as you approach from Palace square, which is double the size of the Red square in Moscow. Once inside the grounds the beauty of the former palace unfolds with stately rooms decorated in gold and ornate facades. The paintings, sculptures and other art pieces on display are amazing. We spent three hours walking around and discovered rooms filled with pieces by Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh and Da Vinci. It is said that if you spend two minutes looking at every piece in the Hermitage it would take you more than 10 years to see it all. A lot of the famous European paintings were 'acquired' by Catherine II in 1764 and this layed the foundation for the future museum. We were both really blown away by the amazing collection of art and artefacts they had, particularly by artists that even Kev had heard of. Kev's verdict on the better known pieces of art was; 'Picasso was cool, Monet was rubbish and Da Vinci was great'. It was quite late by the time we finished our art education so we left it there for the night.
On our final day in St. Petersburg we had booked a free walking tour. We have done a few of these at various cities on our travels and found them to be informative and well organised. Most of the sites we visited on our St Petersburg tour were places we had already been to and explored in the past few days, however it was interesting to hear a bit more detail about some places from our guide Lydia. It was especially interesting to hear a lot about Peter the Great. Peter the Great was the first official emperor (not Tsar) of Russia. He also moved the capital of Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg. At the time St. Petersburg didn't really exist so he encouraged stone masons and other labourers to move to the area to build what we now know as St. Petersburg. The city was designed by Peter the Great based on many European cities as Peter had been schooled in Europe. He admired the beauty of European cities and wanted St. Petersburg to be equally beautiful. It's strange because before we arrived in St. Petersburg we had expectations that it would be quite different from most of Europe (probably based on action movies where the hero has to go to Russia to sort out some kind of spy issue). It surprised us that the safety and beauty of St. Petersburg is of such a high standard. We really felt that we were still in Europe. The tour continued past most monuments near to where we stayed but our tour guide pointed out to us some damages from World War Two, when Germany had taken over St. Petersburg for most of the war. It's strange because being from Australia you assume that because Russia wasn't on "the allies" side in World War Two that they must have been on Germany's side when in fact this wasn't the case. It seems nobody was friends with Germany during World War Two. Most of St Petersburg's residential area was destroyed during this time. The only reason such amazing iconic buildings remain, such as the Hermitage, is because Hitler wanted to keep them for himself should he win the war. After the walking tour we had to make it back to our hotel, collect our luggage and then walk (no taxis this time) across town to where the St Peters Line "tour bus" picked us up to take us to the ferry. Luckily this time we had a different driver so slightly more English was involved and a lot less empty vodka bottles on the ground. We made it safely through customs and onto the Princess Maria ship again where we made the most of cocktail hour. We ordered two drinks each, Erin had a Mojito and a Cosmopolitan and Kevin had a Long Island iced tea and a White Russian. We both agreed the White Russian was the most tasty concoction and decided we should have more of these once we are home, partly because of their deliciousness and partly because "the Dude" from the classic movie 'The Big Lebowski' drinks them.
We had a fantastic time in St Petersburg and definitely count it as a highlight of our trip. The safety, cleanliness, beauty and Eurpoean feel of the city was a pleasant surprise. We're glad we were able to see so much while still bypassing the crazy Russian visa laws. The only problem now is that because we enjoyed it so much we'll have to start looking into getting a proper visa so we can come back and explore Russia further sometime in the future.