After a culture packed first day in St. Petersburg we slept like logs – and were onshore at 8.00 am the next morning to meet our guide and driver for Day Two of our visit to this glorious city.

Local Produce Market

We took a wander through the central produce market in the old city where the locals do their fruit, vegetable, meat and produce shopping. For reasons of the weather it is housed indoors, and not unlike similar markets one would encounter elsewhere in Europe. At this time of the year much of the produce is imported – however the local Russian harvests are coming on stream now. Honey forms a large part of the local diet and there was a stall selling a huge range of different honeys – derived from different flower species the bees draw pollen from.

Our guide told us that none of the meat or dairy products (Russians are huge consumers of sour cream, yoghurt and cottage cheese) have prices on them. When you enquire about a price the vendor takes a look at your shoes, and watch – and depending on the quality of these, they quote a price befitting your perceived socio economic status.

St. Petersburg Metro System

The underground train system – the Metro – in St. Petersburg is famed for the depth at which it’s built. As the city is erected on a swamp the Metro had to be constructed 80 to 100 meters below ground level. The other thing the Metro is famous for is the grandeur of many of its stations. We took a ride on the system to experience this. Actually we had ridden it briefly in 2003 but at the time we were unaware of its true significance.

Our guide took us to one of the more impressive stations. The Metro was built in the mid-1950s at the height of the Soviet era. Stalin decreed the Metro would be a sign of the Soviet Union’s supremacy – hence the grandiosity of its construction. The escalators to the platforms are incredibly steep and long. The format of the platforms is like other systems around the world, but the way they are decorated is not. The St. Petersburg metro stations are adorned with magnificent chandeliers in Art Deco and other modernist styles, huge brass grates (concealing heating and cooling systems), massive moulded glass pillars, decorative ceilings and large wall mosaics depicting soviet propaganda themes.

The whole affect is quite surreal, made even more so by the thousands of commuters hurrying by, and the rush of arriving and departing trains every couple of minutes. The St. Petersburg Metro is truly unique and definitely one for the memory bank