** Due to the size of my blog from our St. Petersburg visit I am splitting it in two: Day 1 and Day 2 and individual posts therein. I am sending Day 1 from Stockholm. Day 2 I will post from Copenhagen. Good reading! It's long … but there’s a lot to tell you. Ciao Keri **

Our two-day visit to St. Petersburg represented the pinnacle of our Western Mediterranean and Baltic cruises. We had visited the city in May 2003 in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of its founding by Czar Peter the Great in 1703. We were so enthralled by the city then we vowed to return. It took us 14-years, but returned we had.

We docked early and proceeded through the Russian immigration process – with amazingly little hassle – to meet our guide. We had booked a private two-day tour with our own guide, car and driver. We did not want to do a group tour with several others – we wanted up close and personal attention. And man, did we get it. Absolutely superb service. We’d agreed our itinerary some time ago with the agency. This included revisiting some of the highlights/ sights we visited last time, and adding a few we’d previously missed out on. Two days is not a lot in a city like St. Petersburg – ideally you’d want a week or so to see and do everything, but we were more than happy with our itinerary.

Much had changed since our 2003 visit. The city has spread and new apartment blocks and office buildings have sprung up in a huge urban sprawl. The little street kiosks selling alcohol, cigarettes, newspapers and essential grocery items have disappeared, and been replaced by western style supermarkets and convenience stores. There are a lot more cars on the streets, and a lot more tourists. Sometimes during the peak season (June through August) there are up to eight cruise ships docked at the new cruise terminals located about 30-minutes from down town.

The charm and historic aura of the old city remains unchanged though. For the 300th anniversary celebrations the government spent USD$1 billion to give St. Petersburg a face lift. The principal historic buildings and sites were spruced up, and the city looked a 'billion bucks’. We didn’t realise then how lucky we were to see it in that pristine state. While still spectacular, there are visible signs that more investment is required to maintain some of the sites in and around the city.

St. Petersburg Background

The ‘old’ historic city of St. Petersburg was built over a period of about 50 years from 1703 onwards. Peter the Great did not like Moscow so he moved the capital to be in a new city – St. Petersburg- he intended building. The city built by Peter the Great covers something like 12 to 15 square kilometres. The site was originally swamplands. This was drained and the city built on the reclaimed land, by hundreds of thousands of serfs i.e. peasant workers – or more pointedly – slaves.

To assist with the draining process and ongoing water management a network of canals was built, along which beautiful buildings and houses were constructed. The Neva river, a major shipping channel then (as it still is today) cuts through the city – and its embankments formed the most prestigious sites upon which the nobility and imperial families built magnificent palaces. Tens of bridges connect the various islands created by the rivers and canals. The city is also crisscrossed by a series of wide boulevards called Prospekts, along which grand houses and establishments were built. Linking everything together are hundreds of cobblestoned streets and laneways.

Peter the Great was a man of huge vision. He borrowed liberally from the architecture and design of the great cities of Europe in creating St. Petersburg. Thus everywhere there are huge baroque and neo classic buildings, built in the grandest styles possible, massive cathedrals, splendid squares, huge fountains and so on. Many of the buildings were originally glorious palaces – the grandeur of which was breath taking. Also dotted across the cityscape are the quintessentially Russian styled ‘onion domed’ churches. These make a spectacular sight – as many of them are gilded. The most stunning example is the Church of the Spilled Blood – the domes of which are coloured ceramic.

Successive rulers of Russia and the city authorities through the 19th and early 20th centuries maintained the practice of constructing amazing buildings. There are many fine examples of Art Nouveau and Art Deco architecture across the city as well. Beautiful! St. Petersburg is often referred to as one of the most beautiful cities in the world – it is also referred to as the Venice of the North, or Paris of the East. I entirely endorse these descriptions.

Our visit started with a 2-hour drive around the city, interspersed with photo stops and short walks with our guide Elena who talked us through the details of what we were looking at, at the time. The camera got a good work out that day.