Tag: St Petersburg

Disappointed that we didn’t see the Russian Museum yesterday, we decided to make it our first stop today, stopping en route to get a picture of the Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood with blue sky for the top of the post! Focusing solely on Russian art, the collection begins with icons from C10th and here are a couple we liked best like including the Life of St George. Icons were first painted as a spiritual exercise for monks and to aid the veneration of the holy subjects they depict. Some believe they can bring luck or grant wishes. The latter icons have been influenced by European art and gain a naturalistic look and perspective like The Trinity.

There are 94 rooms in the museum arranged chronologically, so we had to prioritise, focusing on works that either showed Russian life or a distinct Russian style.

Moving forward in time, we noticed Malevich had more in his repertoire than just a Black Square … he could run to a circle and cross as well, and some colour!

Another jump forward and these caught our eye …

… and having said we’d seen little sign of Soviet times, here is some china from the Soviet era.

With an afternoon ahead of us we then took the 30 minute hydrofoil to Peterhof. Originally, Peter the Great built a cabin here to oversee the construction of the naval base, but he liked the place so much he built a villa called Monplaisir, then a whole series of palaces. Today, much is a reconstruction following damage in WWII, partly by the Germans, but also Soviet raids by Stalin to prevent Hitler hosting a New Years party here.

We entered through the Lower Gardens and followed the Water Avenue to the magnificent Grand Cascade, partly engineered by Peter himself. The statue of Samson tearing open a lions jaws celebrates Peter’s victory over the Swedes at Poltava and the central fountain shoots water up 62m. The Grand Palace stands as a backdrop to the jets of water and we would have liked to look round but individuals cannot prebook tickets, the queue was long and we have already seen several palaces.

Instead we wandered happily in the sunshine, seeking out a number of smaller fountains in the grounds. We considered icecreams but thought capitalism was doing rather too well to be charging £4 each.

We came across Monplaisir, Peter’s favourite retreat and took a look inside. It was far more modest – snug and wood-panelled and we had a look round before heading back to the city.

We went to the Cat Cafe for dinner run by a husband and wife team and only with about 30 covers so it’s lucky we booked. Georgian restaurants became popular, influenced in part by Stalin’s Georgian ethnicity and the food has a Middle Eastern influence with as many vegetable dishes as meat dishes.  We began with a selection of phkali – made with various chopped vegetables combined with ground walnuts and dressing into a patty, lobiani or red bean pie, chakapuly or lamb with tarragon and aubergine with cheese. Chris tried a couple of Georgian beers and I had a very good Georgian dry red wine.

One last thing to see in St Petersburg, but before that, breakfast.  There has been porridge every day, which I tried and found a little sweet, as were the blini filled with sweet cheese. There have also been fried eggs and today we had fat buttermilk pancakes called oladyi which were great – not to mention the huge spread of juice, cereal, fruit, cheese, salad, toast … One other thing to mention was the wonderful carrot and pepper pickle to eat with cheese … I’ve taken a picture of the label and will hope to bring some home!

And last, but certainly not least, the Faberge Museum where the highlight was the imperial Easter eggs.

This tradition began when Alexander III commissioned Faberge to make an Easter egg with a surprise inside for his wife after seeing something in an international exhibition while travelling.  Here is the first quite modest egg with a white enamel egg, gold yolk and golden chicken …

From then on, they got more elaborate but were also closely researched with meaning behind every detail of decoration. The Renaissance Egg takes inspiration from an Italian Renaissance casket …

… the Coronation Egg, containing a perfect replica of their coach …

… and the celebratory Fifteenth Anniversary egg.

My favourites though were the Lilies of The Valley Egg with family miniatures popping out of the egg …

… and the Baytree Egg with a singing bird.

Finally, after these eggs caught on, some were made for other clients like these Egg Clocks – one with a mechanism raising a singing cockerel from the centre …

… and this gorgeous one for the Duchess of Marlborough with a snake’s head marking the time, which was Chris’s favourite.

Then there were cases of gold and silver object, enamelled and painted trinkets and icons set into fabulous frames all displayed in yet another palace with fabulous interiors … all in all a real jewel!

After all that excitement, it’s time to leave St Petersburg for the next stage of our trip.

Having got back late last night, we checked into Anabel at Nevsky 88 and went straight to bed.

Today, we walked down Nevsky Prospekt, the city’s most famous street, taking in the variety of shops. We crossed Anichkov Bridge with horses at either end …

…and headed to Kupetz Eliseevs which was built in 1905 as the flagship store for a wealthy merchant with several grocery stores. It is built in Style Moderne, Russia’s art nouveau offering adding curvaceous flourishes to buildings all over Russia, and it is a stunner, with huge plate glass windows, and a dazzling interior of stained glass and polished brass, as well as automatons in the window and a piano that plays itself.

Passage is a glass-roofed arcade from the C19th …

… and Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor, is one of the worlds first indoor shopping malls and extends 240m along the road, although we didn’t go inside.

The other Style Moderne edifice is the Singer Building, topped by a glass cupola and globe held up by two female sculptures and offers a great view of Kazan cathedral.

While talking Style Moderne, here is Pont Au Rouge, a smart department store …

… and a few other bits I’ve noticed …

Back to our walk, Bankovsky most, billed as the prettiest bridge in town, unfortunately had its golden-winged griffins covered for restoration.

Then we reached a technical hitch as the Russian Museum we thought would be open wasn’t, but we might have time to return tomorrow. A snap of Pushkin in the square had to suffice.

Anyway, some you lose and then some you win as we were surprised to find the Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood open, although it had come over a bit cloudy.  It was built to commemorate the bombing of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, with a canopy inside over the very spot. This is a unique example of Russian Revival architecture with colourful tiling and mosaics on the outside …

… and even more mosaics on the inside – some 7000 sqm in all.

I’d found a treat for lunch, Botanika, a fusion vegetarian restaurant with charm and a fusion menu. Leo Tolstoy said that vegetarianism was the criterion by which one can understand to what degree of seriousness and sincerity a person strives towards moral perfection. Chris says that’s a couple of things to think about but he thought he was there! We picked the Russian dishes and tried pirozhki which were small filled buns one with potato and dill and the other apple and cinnamon, blini which came as rolled pancakes filled with soft cheese and a trio of salads – one with beets and cucumber in vinaigrette, another with grated carrot, nuts and cardamom and the last a Russian diced vegetable salad with mayonnaise. Everything was delicious and we were sorry we weren’t hungry enough to try more!

After lunch we looked round the Museum of Decorative and Applied Art, which not only is a lovely building but contains beautiful objects collected  by Baron Stieglitz to inspire students in his design school which he opened in 1898.

The   Terem Room in the style of the Terem Palace in the Moscow Kremlin was stunning …

.., and then there were floor tiles …

…and ceilings …

… stoves and railings!

We ended our day with a 90 minute sightseeing boat trip round the heart of the city, fortunately snuggled under red blankets as the air had got a little chilly …

spotting all the places we have visited …

and a few that we haven’t like the blue domes of Trinity Cathedral …

… the pink facade of the Stroganov Palace where the chef invented that very famous dish …

… a better view of the Peter and Paul Fortress surrounding the Cathedral where all the Russian Tsars are buried …

… and the statue of a rabbit since this fortress island is nicknamed Rabbit Island, and is meant to bring luck.

So far the only reference to the Soviet era that we have seen in St Petersburg have been a rather dilapidated relief on what used to be the Ministry of Culture.

That is until this evening when we ate at Kvartirka – Soviet Cafe, decorated like a sitting room of the time. The best bits were the Ukha Russian Style fish soup, which came with a little fish pie and a shot of vodka, the aubergine rolls filled with cheese and some delicious cherry filled Ukranian dumplings called vareniki.

We played several games of dominos in between courses and had a lovely time!

Today we are leaving St Petersburg for a trip north, but before we leave Inn Aldebaron, I want to share the engineering and sculptural beauty of the geyser in our bathroom and the delights of our breakfast tray.  We have been beautifully looked after during our stay and communicating  with smiles, laughs and google translate.  The only thing we won’t miss is the 71 steps to the third floor!

 

We had a spare couple of hours in the morning so went metro hopping to visit a few of the stations, nearly all all of which have some decoration or other.

We began with Admiralteyskaya, the city’s deepest station, taking over two minutes on the escalator to reach the platform.

The mosaics tell the story of Peter the Great building the Russian fleet.

And a few more!

Next up Pushkinskaya, celebrating the famous poet …

We also went up to look at the ticket hall …

 

… then Tekhnologichesky Institut with reliefs of famous Russian scientists and details of major scientific achievements.

 

A blank shot from the Aurora signalled the start of the assault on the Winter Palace at the beginning of the October Revolution in 1917 and this is depicted in mosaic at Baltiyskaya as well as a blue wave motif.

Narvskaya features carvings of proletariat workers such as engineers, sailors artists and teachers on the station columns …

 

 

 

… while Kirovsky Zavod takes its inspiration from the oil industry with a bust of a scowling Lenin at the end of the platform.

 

 

Our favourite was last, Avtovo, with stunning marble and cut-glass covered columns, fit for any palace, and a relief of soldiers in the entrance.

 

 

After such a fabulous morning, we wonder what The Moscow metro has in store …!

St Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great in 1703. Its location on the Baltic Sea was chosen so that Russia could develop a seaport as Peter was determined to forge a new Russia by opening the country to Europe. He had to defeat not only Sweden who controlled part of the region, but also the unsuitable land and armies of peasants and prisoners of war were forced to work to convert the swamp into a glittering city with many dying in the process. After Peter’s death, first Empress Elizabeth and then Catherine the Great continued the development of St Petersburg and it grew in splendour to become one of Europe’s grandest capitals.

The Romanovs had ruled for over 200 years and increased the Russian Empire but they still relied on autocracy and when serfdom was finally abolished in 1862, the serfs ended up worse off than before and moved to the cities to work in factories where conditions were terrible. Disillusionment brought revolt, starting with the People’s Will who assassinated Alexander II with a grenade in the street in St Petersburg in 1881.

By 1905, unrest had escalated and St Petersburg had become a hotbed of strikes and political violence and on ‘Bloody Sunday’ strikers marched to petition the tsar in the Winter Palace and were fired on by troops. Maxim Gorky was there that day and wrote that the Tsars prestige has been killed here, that is the meaning of this day.  In 1917 the workers’ protests became a general strike and this led to Lenin’s coup in St Petersburg which made Russia the world’s first communist state.

The capital returned to Moscow in 1918, Stalin came to power and after Lenin’s death in 1924 St Petersburg was renamed Leningrad and it became a hub of Stalin’s industrialisation program.  The defining event of the 20th century for Leningrad was the Nazi blockade of some 900 days during WWII when around a million people died from shelling, starvation and disease as Hitler tried – unsuccessfully – to wipe the city from the earth as the home of Bolshevism.

Once the USSR crumbled in 1991, citizens voted to rename the city St Petersburg, it was spruced up for its 2003 its tercentenary celebrations and local boy Vladimir Putin continues to promote the city of his birth.

 

We entered the immense Palace Square through the triumphal arch and the Winter Palace was before us, begun by Rastrelli for Empress Anna then added to first by Empress Elizabeth and then Catherine the Great until it was a palace fit to be the official residence of the imperial family.

The troops were on parade 1945 style …

We collected our pre-booked tickets, luckily missing the huge queue again and headed inside up the Jordan Staircase, so called as the imperial family used it to descend to the Neva on the 6th January annually to celebrate Christ’s baptisim in the River Jordan. Talk about stunning …!

Next came the Imperial Apartments …

… including the splendid Malachite Hall …

… Gothic Library …

… and Golden Drawing Room

… the Boudoir

Then the state rooms including the Great Church …

… St George’s Hall with a red throne …

… and the amazing Pavilion Hall with its moorish confection of gilt and glass as well as a huge mosaic on the floor and hanging garden outside.

Must also mention with everything else there was to see, the fabulous array of parquet flooring in every room, with every pattern imaginable …

and also the babushkas sitting in every room, keeping an eye on things.

This was only a fraction of what the Hermitage has to offer – we just picked the swankiest staterooms, and barely looked at the art collections, but we had been on our feet for three hours and so headed out to the courtyard.

We found a cosy Russian country restaurant for some lunch and a rest just round the corner.

The afternoon was The Hermitage part two, in other words the newly converted General Staff Building which now contains extensive Impressionist and Post- Impressionist art collections. We really liked the stylish atrium spaces and stairs but the rest of the museum felt a bit strange in its semi-circular building.

As for the paintings … well there were lots of Gauguin and Van Gogh and some Monet but no water lilies. Then there were a couple of Russian avant garde – a Kandinsky and a very Black Square by Malevitch.

Finally, there were loads of Picasso and Matisse. I think it was a case of museum wilt as few of the paintings drew our attention, but I liked this one by Charles Hoffbauer

After we rested our weary feet, we popped in to the Russian Vodka Museum where we were shown round by an engaging guide who explained the exhibits and gave a run down on the history of vodka and some of the customs that have grown up round Russia’s national drink.

It began as bread wine, distilled by monks in Moscow in the C15th and remained fairly low in alcohol.  In Peter the Great’s time, he punished people for lateness by making them drink a tot – about a two pint tot – in penance, but at the same time, devised a badge of shame, weighing some 7kg that had to be worn for round the neck for a week for being drunk.

The first official use of the word vodka (coming from vada meaning water) was when Empress Elizabeth licensed vodka distilleries in 1751 and a century later it was established as the drink of choice for Russians, becoming more popular a few years later as the monopoly was removed and it was affordable by all. The classic recipe for vodka of 40% alcohol to water mixture was patented in 1894 by Mendeleyev, the inventor of the periodic table. Vodka hasn’t always been available however as during  WWI prohibition was introduced by Tsar Nicholas and never have the Russian people required as much medicinal spirit!  Again in the 1980s, Gorbachov carried out an anti-alcohol campaign with posters saying NO to a small glass of vodka. Olga said most Russians said no, make mine a double!

Today, if someone buys and new car or house it is considered good luck to put the keys in a glass of vodka and drinking it, dating from soldiers doing the same with their war medals.  Our tour ended with a tasting and little Russian snacks to soak up the liquor.  I’m pleased I tried,  but I’m not a very discerning spirits drinker, and to me it tasted the same as any clear spirit drunk neat so they won’t be making a convert of me, although the vodka flavoured with chilli and honey was more interesting!

We returned to Gosti for dinner, and found everyone on party mood, celebrating the restaurant’s 6th birthday.  We had another lovely dinner including little herring pate toasts, beef stroganov and aubergine Parmesan.

Another beautiful day and we spent it at the huge imperial estate called Tsarskoye Tselo or the Tsars Village.  We look the metro then the bus for 30 minutes out of the city, passed huge numbers of apartment blocks surrounded by countryside.

We had a walk to Catherine Park, and saw this church on the way.

Our main destination is the beautiful and baroque Catherine Palace, named after Peter the Great’s second wife and designed by Rastrelli for Peter’s daughter Empress Elizabeth. Later, Catherine the Great had many of the interiors remodelled in classical style and it was used as summer residence of the Tsars.

Once we arrived and exchanged our prebooked voucher for tickets, we had a bit of a wait to get in, during which time we took pictures of the rear or the palace and the courtyard.

We entered by a stunning marble staircase …

and followed the route on the audio guide … and the crowds … and entered the grand suit of formal rooms known as the Golden Enfilade which began with the Grand Hall or the Hall of Lights …

Next up were a couple of dining rooms and the large structure that you might spot in the corner of many of the rooms, covered with blue and white Delft tiles is the stove, necessary for heating the palace rooms.

A succession of rooms followed, with beautiful furniture, lots of gilding, and lots of stoves!

The famous Amber Room contained panels made from amber from the Baltic Sea which were originally presented to the Peter the Great by the King of Prussia.  These were plundered during WWII and the present room is a reconstruction opened in 2004, restored largely with German Funds. The room is amazing, the richly coloured panels are surrounded by gilding and make the room feel warm – no wonder Catherine the Great liked spending the evening in here.  We were not allowed to take pictures in the room, but here are a couple of distance shots of the amber!

The lovely Catherine Park surrounds the palace and we spent a couple of hours walking round the lake and looking at the variously strategically placed follies and pavilions.

We we were lucky to have such a beautiful day for our outing. We returned to St Petersburg and chose Zoom for dinner … guess what, a cute fusion cafe where you get to draw pictures … and Chris finally tried borscht …and despite not particularly liking beetroot, I thought it was yummy too!

 

 

 

We slept well and awoke to sunshine and blue skies and a breakfast of oats, toast and excellent coffee served in our room.

We walked along the Moyka canal that runs along behind where we are staying to the Yusupov Palace.

The facade is undergoing restoration and was covered by scaffolding, but inside we went up a stunning white marble staircase to the state rooms.

These were all sumptuously decorated in the C19th and including a very pretty Green Drawing Room with remarkably contemporary looking Karelia birch wood furniture …

… the White Columned Hall …

Turkish Bath and also a theatre.

The palace is notorious for being the place where Rasputin was murdered in 1916 by plotters including Felix Yusupov. Apparently he was tricky to despatch, as he was first poisoned, then shot and finally drowned in the canal outside!

We hoped to see something of the Mariinsky Theatre as it’s history is as glittering as its auditorium, with many famous musicians, dancers and singers performing here but it was not possible without seeing a performance, and at the moment the Mariinsky is performing in London!

A need for some more roubles brought us into this huge skylighted banking hall which seemed to belong to an age gone by. Part bank, part post office, it was filled with people going about their business, with space to sit and write and plenty of tellers … and an ATM tucked away in the foyer!

We stopped for lunch in another cute eatery and Chris had a cheese roll while I had an interesting salad with pickled zucchini, roast beef and radishes.  I really enjoyed my sea blackthorn cold tea with cranberry and honey, but Chris wasn’t so sold on his rather turquoise ginger lemonade!

 

The pretty blue Nikolsky cathedral reaches upwards with baroque spires and golden domes and is surrounded on two sides by canals. It also has a bell tower overlooking the canal.

We crossed Lviny most with regal lions keeping watch …

… then on to St Isaac’s Cathedral, named after St Isaac of Dalmatia on whose feast day Peter the Great was born. 100kg of gold leaf covers the dome alone and the interior is just as lavish with mosaics, marble and malachite.

We climbed the 279 steps to the dome and had a great view in all directions, to the Palace Square and Hermitage …

… across towards Vasilyevsky Island …

… and down into St Isaac’s Square .

Everyone was enjoying the sunshine and in Senate a Square we passed the huge equestrian statue of Peter the Great commissioned by Catherine the Great, which was later named the Bronze Horseman after a poem by Pushkin.  It stands on the Thunder Stone, the largest stone ever moved by humans, using a metal sledge sliding on copper balls along a metal track taking 32 men 9 months.

Across the water is Vasilyevsky Island, which Peter intended as the heart of his city, but instead became the maritime hub. The cream and white building is Menshikov Palace which was the first stone building in the city and built by the first governor of the St Petersburg, which we didn’t visit, but was the setting for many banquets including the reception for Peter’s dwarf wedding at which Peter and his Court sniggered at some 70 dwarfs brought from all over Russia to attend the marriage of Peter ‘s favourite dwarf.

Next along the shore is the Kunstkamera, or Museum of Ethnology and Anthropolgy, billed as a top-sight but one we chose to miss as we didn’t fancy its collection of ghoulish biological malformations including babies in bottles.

Crossing the bridge, we walked to the Strelka where two rostral columns, studded with ships’ prows and sculptures representing Russia’s great rivers stand as landmarks.  They were oil-fired navigation beacons in the 1800s and are still sometimes lit in public holidays.

From here there are views of The Hermitage one way …

and the Peter & Paul Fortress the other.

We took the bus back to the B&B, and picked a bus with a crazy bus driver.  After jolting the lady beside him, Chris said sorry, the driver must be Italian, but the lady replied in perfect English, no he’s a crazy Georgian!’  We chatted with us till we got off, and she was delighted we were going to see so much of Russia and wished us a good trip.

We went to The Clean Plates Society for dinner, another modern Russian/fusion restaurant only a short walk away. I had crepe type pancakes with sour cream and red salmon roe followed by black pelmeni which were like little pasta parcels filled with beef and Chris had spinach and broccoli soup and Georgian lobio, a dish of stewed red beans with walnuts, cheese and coriander, all of which was delicious.

Tomorrow, we are off on a day out!

Our morning flight from London on BA arrived mid afternoon and we moved our watches forward two hours. The weather is much the same as we left in England, around 20 degrees and overcast with the threat of rain.  We took a bus to the nearest metro station and during the drive, we thought at first glance how familiar things looked – dual carriageway, traffic, grey sky, green grass, trees, BP garage with a Wild Bean Cafe … but there are also signs in Cyrillic and the cars drive on the other side! The Metro was easily navigated, with most signs also in English and a short walk brought us to our B&B.

We couldn’t make the bell work, but fortunately someone let us in through the outside door and we walked up a rather shabby staircase in the middle of the building up to the third floor.  Inn Aldebaron is an apartment with several rooms and a friendly receptionist who used google translate to communicate!  She made us coffee and showed us our simple but perfectly comfortable room.

Next job was to register our visa, a procedure over which there is a huge amount of conflicting advise online. The consensus seemed to be that while it isn’t strictly necessary if you do not intend staying more than 7 working days in any one town, which we are not, it was nonetheless advisable. The visa process isn’t difficult, just time-consuming to state every country visited in the last 10 years (that’ll be 45 entries then), provide an invitation letter with details of your itinerary in Russia and go to London to get fingerprints scanned – and at £150 each, more than the flight to get here! We took the bus to the agency office and we were told it really wasn’t necessary but that we should keep all our travel tickets to prove our itinerary if asked, so we’ve taken their advice and hope all will be well. A quick stop at a phone shop for local sims and some roubles from the bank and we were all set.

We went for dinner at Gosti, a Russian bakery and restaurant with cosy rooms filled with comfy chairs, kitchen and trinkets.  We were a little uncertain what the food might be like, but we certainly made an excellent start here.  We began with a mixed platter where the pickled cucumber bruschetta was the star, then a I had confit of duck with cranberries and Chris had a Russian style mushroom cannelloni served on creamed spinach, washed down with a carafe of Russian red wine which was young, but very drinkable.  We might just have to make a return visit here!

Certainly our concerns about language difficulties have proved unfounded as all three people we asked for directions spoke English, and we were presented an English menu for dinner.  We’ve learnt two words – hello which sounds like preeviet and thank-you which is spaseeba so hopefully all will go well tomorrow!