Saint Petersburg -

Girl on a Trail – Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo

Gosia — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 07:58:25 +0000

To Be in Sankt Petersburg without visiting the famous Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo, it’s like the New Year’s Eve without Rossijskoje Igristoje. So, even though I was there on a tour for just 72 hours (visa requirements, you can read about it here), I had to see both places. I started my sightseeing from Peterhof which is better accessible. The complex is located approximately 30 km from St. Petersburg downtown. You can get here by hydrofoil which leaves the dock located close to the Winter Palace. Peterhof was built in the first half of the eighteenth century, at the request of the tsar Peter the Great. Inspiration for its creation was French Versailles. Tsar built this palace to commemorate his victory over Sweden in III Northern War (also known as the Great Northern War). Initially he built here one palace called Monoplasir which means My Pleasure. But with the time, the area of the palace has turned into a huge complex of several palaces surrounded by gardens and fountains. Currently you can find here over 40 fountains decorated with the characters from Greek mythology. The architecture of this place is the quintessence of Russian affinity for gold. Total opposite of minimalism and simplicity that I like, but quietly I can confess that I enjoyed this imperial style 😀 The Complex is divided by Morskoy Channel, which ends on spectacular fountain – Grand Cascade. It consists of 64 fountains and approximately 200 gold figures. In the center, there’s fountain which presents Samson opening the lion’s mouth. This is a symbol of victory over Swedish. What’s more interesting, all the fountains situated in Peterhof, work without pumps. The fountains located in the so-called Lower Gardens are supplied with water form tanks which are in higher elevations of the complex (so called – Upper Gardens). Height difference makes adequate pressure of the water in order to keep the fountains. The Samson’s Fountain is supplied with a special aqueduct with the length of about 4 km, thus it squirts water at the height of 20m without pumps. Second place which I had to see during my visit in st. Petersburg was Tsarskoye Selo. It’s located approximately 20 km from Petersburg in the village of Pushkin. Complex was built in the early eighteenth century, at the initiative of the empress Catherine. It is said that approximately 100 kg of gold was used to decorate it, but this quantity should not be surprising, looking at the Peter’s mansion. The main residence here is blue Catherine’s Palace, which is surrounded by a huge garden, with the big pond in the center. In addition to Catherine Palace, there are also numerous buildings typical to Turkish or Chinese architecture. The best way to get to Tsarskoe Selo is taking minibus called Marshrutka (no. K-286 K-287 K-299 K-342) which runs form Moskovskaya Ploshchad, located next to Moskovskaya metro station. Travel time is approximately 30 minutes. The other option is to travel by train from station Vitebsk to Pushkin, then you should take a bus no 371 or 382. More info you can find here. ” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]

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Russia – Sankt Petersburg

Gosia — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 18:36:10 +0000

Famous Sankt Petersburg is an exceptional city. It’s a mix of everything what’s the most beautiful in Russian and European architecture. This city was tsar Peter’s the Great dreams. During his voyages through Europe he wanted to build from scratch a city – the symbol of modern Russian empire. One thing we’ve to hand to Peter, he did quite a good job! The most important historic events for the Russian empire took place in Sankt Petersburg: Bloody Sunday, the Russian Revolution or 900-day siege during WWII, when almost 640 thou. people died of starvation Sankt Petersburg is a city located on the area of at least 40 islets connected by 300 bridges and innumerous amount of canals. For this reason, it’s also called “the Venice of the North”. But in our opinion it’s very hard to find similarities between these two cities, starting with architecture and ending with totally different culture. Venice is Venice and Petersburg is Petersburg. Here you can see more than 20 drawbridges, which are lifted up in the middle of the night. This procedure is an additional tourist attraction and poses a really big problem for those who want go back home after a party. Unfortunately we didn’t see this spectacle as we were totally exhausted. Intensive 72-hour itinerary and white nights worn us out. Before our trip, we’re wondering how Petersburg residents deal with the lack of nights and days which last even 19 hours. It seems that they apparently don’t need to sleep! During sightseeing, the time seemed to stop and the day dragged mercilessly. Since all the time was brightly, we could see a LOT. We decided to finish our sightseeing with the rest on the Field of Mars. It was used for a lot of purposes. There were organized parades or even it was used as a farmland during the siege of Leningrad. In the center you can see the Monument of the Fighters of the February Revolution who were buried there. Across the canal is Saint Michael’s Castle which resembles more a fortress rather than the tsar’s palace. By the way, it was the idea of the originator of this building – Tsar Paul I. Unfortunately solid walls, underground tunnels or secret passages didn’t save this emperor from death. After 2 months after moving to this new residence, Tsar Paul I was murdered. Nowadays the Field of Mars is a popular place to spend free time. The square was really crowded. Some people were lying on the blankets, some were playing guitars or riding a bike and mothers with children were strolling. Day as usual, nothing special… apart from the one detail – it was 1.30 am! It’s better not to check the time because you can feel really faintly, especially when you have a prospect of a long sightseeing plan for the next day (but actually the same day). So what else one can visit in Petersburg in only 72 hours? Of course, Winter Palace with the famous Hermitage is a must. Hermitage is one of the biggest museums in the world. In short, here are located more than 3 million pieces of art in over 1 500 chambers, decorated with gold, precious stones and unique fabrics! To see everything one can devote several days! Unfortunately we had only a couple hours. In front of the Palace, there’s an enormous Palace Square with the Alexander Column. It was the place of the most important historic events such as Bloody Sunday or the Russian Revolution. One of the most interesting museums is Kunstakamera. It’s an ethnographic museum which is famous for great collection of souvenirs, gathered by Peter the Great. Inside you won’t find typical holiday souvenirs like shells or postcards but deformed human remains! Peter the Great was fascinated with the genetic anomalies, so much so that he established Kunstkamera, The he displayed not only “scary souvenirs” from his voyages but also exhibits collected on the basis of decree, which imposed to deliver all deformed fetuses from the whole Russian territory. Kunstkamera became famous in view of unusual exposition and free wine which was served there. Alcohol was used to encourage anachronistic Russian society to visit this place. One of the visitors apparently suffered from the shortage of wine and decided to steal one of the exhibits – head dipped in alcohol! Who knows maybe it was the first step towards interactive museum J Unfortunately we don’t have any photo from Kunstkamera, because taking pictures is forbidden there but it’s one of the Petersburg attractions which is well worth visiting. Petersburg is also the city of amazing sacral builings. The most splendid is Kazan Cathedral known also as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan. This shrine is the place of worship of Lady of Kazan who saved Russians from the Poles (in 1612) and Napoleon. For sure you won’t miss Saint Isaac’s Cathedral – the most characteristic cathedral in Sankt Petersburg. It outshines famous Winter Palace in view of its cupola covered with 100 kg of gold. Additionally it’s one of the biggest in the world just behind the St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican and Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence. But in our opinion the most beautiful shrine is the Church of the Savior patterned on the famous Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, located in a Red Square in Moscow. The Church of the Savior is also called Church on Spilled Blood because tsar Alexander II was murdered there in a bomb attack. At the end of the trip, there’s also another must- see attraction – Cruiser Aurora. To tell the truth, this questionable symbol of the Russian Revolution is famous for being famous. Contrary to Bolsheviks propaganda, famous missile shot wasn’t the signal of the revolution. Nevertheless to our mind it’s well worth seeing this legend. ” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]

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Tallinn, Helsinki and Petersburg without visa – budget travel

Gosia — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 19:45:55 +0000

We weren’t planning the trip to Tallinn, Helsinki and Petersburg. Actually everything started from LOT special offer for the flights: Warsaw – Tallinn and Helsinki – Warsaw. From Tallinn to Helsinki we traveled by Tallink ferry, but it’s possible to go with other companies such as Viking Line or Eckero Line. You need to check in at least 30 minutes before the departure of the ferry. Check-in desk is located at the Terminal D. Tallink shuttles 6 times a day and the voyage takes around 2 hours and definitely it isn’t boring (you can read about it here). The ferry arrives at the West Harbor. To the city center you can go by tram no. 9 (in the direction of Pasila) and get off at Kaisaniemi stop. Ticket costs 2,5 euro if you buy it from the ticket machine or 3 euro from the driver. Every needed information you can find here. Definitely Helsinki is not a cheap city, so in order to minimize the costs we arrived there early in the morning and departed to Petersburg in the evening. We had all day to visit the capital of Finland and we didn’t have to book expensive hotel/hostel. We went from Helsinki to Petersburg by Princess Maria ferry operated by St. Peter Line. We had chosen the cheapest accommodation option, in a cabin below the deck and without any meals. The cabin was just right for two people and it was equipped with a bathroom. There was no window, but it was a good news for us, as we finally could have a good night’s sleep during the white nights. During an overnight voyage you can’t be bored there for sure. On Princess Maria you can spend your time in numerous bars, restaurants, duty – free shops, casino or even a swimming pool (for everything you must pay additionally). According to the Russian law, passengers who arrive to Russian harbors and stay there up to 72 hours don’t need to have a visa on condition that they are part of an organized trip. In view of the fact that Russian visa is expensive and obtaining it is connected with many formalities, we decided to take advantage of visa – free travel. Which conditions should be met to stay in Russian territory without visa? Firstly you have to book an accommodation and organize a tourist guide. Tourist guides are expensive but it’s possible to take advantage of a cheaper option. St. Peter Line organizes a bus transport which is regarded as an organized trip. It costs 25 euro and it shuttles from ferry terminal to the city center. You have to buy it during booking a ferry to Petersburg if you don’t have a tourist guide. Additionally passengers have to stay on the area marked by the route of the bus. As you can see on the map, it isn’t big thus we decided to take a risk and get lost 😉 During our trip, we visited Tsarskoye Selo and Peterhof without any problems (details soon on the blog). Ferry to Petersburg departs from West Terminal (at the same terminal as ferry from Tallinn arrives). After arriving to the terminal you need to go to check – in desk to get boarding card and Arrival and Departure Card. Documents needed at the border: passport, hotel/hostel booking confirmation, Arrival/Departure Card and Migration Card. You must remember that Departure Card is also the ticket for the bus. You are entitled to go by it unlimited times on the way: Sea Station Terminal, V.O. – Morskoy Slavy square – Sokos Vasilievsky – Sokos Palace Bridge – Saint Isaac’s Square, but it’s available within days of ships’ stay only. At the border, immigration officer checks passport, hotel/hostel booking confirmation and keeps Arrival Card and part A of the Migration Card. The rest documents you need to submit during departure. Bus stop is located in front of the entrance to the terminal, buses are marked with St. Peter Line logo. The departure is not so complicated. Additional check – in isn’t needed. Immigration officer checks passport and keeps Departure Card and part B of the Migration Card. More details you can find here. You must be wondering if trip to Petersburg is safe, especially in the current political situation. We had been really anxious about going there because our trip started just after the Ukraine crisis. We didn’t have any problems at the border. Petersburg turned out to be one of our biggest surprises. This city is famous for its European, cosmopolitan character. We haven’t met such welcoming and outgoing people anywhere else (maybe apart from Hawaii).Soldiers posed for the camera and people always helped us out, even when they couldn’t speak English. (more about trip to Petersburg you will find on our blog soon). How much does 9-day trip cost? Flight Warsaw – Tallinn, Helsinki – Warsaw – 38 euro Tallinn 3 nights – 38 euro Helsinki 1 night – 27 euro Petersburg 2 nights – 34 euro St. Peter Line return ticket (with 2 overnight stays included) – 145 euro Ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki by Tallink – 22 euro Total cost per person: 304 euro + personal expenses ” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]

Artykuł Tallinn, Helsinki and Petersburg without visa – budget travel pochodzi z serwisu .