St.+Petersburg travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

The one-time capital of Russia, founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, is like a living museum where white is recurring theme. To live out those Dr. Zhivago fantasies, visit in winter when a dusting of snow covers the city’s golden cupolas, whereas in summer, the sun shines all night during the ‘‘White Nights”. Magical, full of history and charm, the Venice of the North‘s highlights include the Winter Palace, home to the Hermitage Museum‘s amazing three million pieces of art. Spoil Yourself and book into the Kempinski Moika 22 overlooking the Hermitage. Located in a traditional St. Petersburg mansion, it dates back to 1853, during the reign of Czar Nicholas I. Photo by: heini-pdm

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The island of Stolnby is one of some 160 islands on Lake Seliger in western Russia, about 360 km from Moscow. The lake is a complex system of 212 sq km of interconnected lakes, channels and islands, a protected nature reserve surrounded by spectacular wild countryside of hills, fens, pine forest inhabited by moose, brown bears, lynxes and wolves. Photo by: Dmitry Chastikov

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Kizhi Island is one of over 1650 islands of Lake Onega, in the Karelia Republic in Russia. Located approximately 300 km from St. Petersburg, Onega Lake is the second largest lake in Europe after Lake Ladoga. Kizhi is one of the largest open air museums in Russia, features a beautiful ensemble of 83 wooden structures, most of which date back to the 16th.

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St. Petersburg, Russia is a spectacular city but the winter nights are long, which means there’s more time for night life. St. Petersburg is a city with broad boulevards, graceful bridges, glittering palaces, winding canals and beautiful, snow-blanketed parks illuminated throughout the long, dark nights.

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Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city’s other names were Petrograd and Leningrad. Founded by Emperor Peter the Great on May 27, 1703, it was the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years. Saint Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is Russia’s second largest and Europe’s fourth largest city (by city limit) after Moscow, London and Paris. 4.6 million people live in the city, and over 6 million people live in the city’s vicinity. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural center, and important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is often described as the most Western European styled city of Russia.

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The State Hermitage occupies six magnificent buildings situated along the embankment of the River Neva, right in the heart of St Petersburg. The leading role in this unique architectural ensemble is played by the Winter Palace, the residence of the Russian tsars that was built to the design of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1754-62. The basic display areas of the State Hermitage occupy 365 rooms in the Main Museum Complex located in the historic centre of St Petersburg.

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Sankt Petersburg is located on the delta of the Neva River and the southern edge of Greenland, the bank of Finiiskian gulf. He is most north from the large cities on the planet. The nature of the city is unusual and mysterious, the winter is crude in the spring as well and for the summer- Quixotic. The city center is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Russia’s political and cultural center for 200 years, the city is impressive. It in 1703 year Peter I resolves to frame a capital of Russia that will be amazing on the whole world. This is the “St. Peter and St. Pavel” cathedral to gilded Angel in the flower that is 122 м. Framed up on a swamp near a river, Peter great call – The new city Sankt Petersburg.

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The Hermitage Museum is Russia’s best gallery of world art, one of the most prominent art museums in the world and definitely the main tourist attraction of St. Petersburg. The museum was founded in 1764 when Catherine the Great purchased a collection of 255 paintings from the German city of Berlin. Today, the Hermitage boasts over 2.7 million exhibits and displays a diverse range of art and artifacts from all over the world and from throughout history (from Ancient Egypt to the early 20th century Europe).

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The Kremlin is Russia’s mythic refuge, a self contained city with a multitude of palaces, armories, and churches, a medieval fortress that links the modern nation to its legendary past in the ancient state of Kievan Rus’. As the dominance of Kiev faded and its empire fragmented under the weight of foreign invasion and internecine strife in the 11th and 12th centuries, regional princes gained power. In 1147, as Kievan Rus was experiencing its final death throes, a chronicler recorded that a feast was held at the hunting lodge of Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy, ruling prince of Rostov and Suzdal. The lodge was perfectly situated atop a hill overlooking the Moskva and Neglina rivers, prompting its development (in such troubled times) as a fortified town, or Kremlin.

Within a century, the town had risen to become an independent principality within the Mongol empire. By the middle of the 14th century, its princes had gained such pre-eminence that Moscow was made the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church. With Ivan the Great (1462-1505) at its helm, Muscovite rule extended over all of Russia, and the Kremlin became more magnificent, befitting its role as the seat of Russian power. By 1480 the once modest hunting lodge had become an imposing fortress city. Its stone walls were graced by the magnificent Cathedral of the Assumption, where Ivan defiantly tore up the charter binding Moscow to Mongol rule. Over the next two centuries, until Peter the Great transferred the capital of Russia to St. Petersburg, the Kremlin served as the central stage for the magnificent and occasionally horrific history of the Tsars.

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Moscow is the capital of the Russian Federation and the largest city in the country, with a population of some 10 million people. The city covers an area of almost 900 square kilometers within the confines of the 109 kilometer-long Moscow Ring Road. The Moskva River meanders through the city for approximately 80 kilometers and with the help of various other rivers and canals, the Russian capital is accessible by water from the Baltic, Caspian, White and Black seas, which lie hundreds of miles away.

The city’s general layout is reasonably easy to grasp and consists of a serious of concentric circles radiating from the Kremlin, Moscow’s geographical, historical and political nucleus. The city was constructed on a massive scale and its buildings and streets appear menacingly imposing at first glance. The streets are typically broad four to six lane boulevards, lined with enormous buildings constructed in monumental Stalin-gothic style.

Within three days of your arrival in Russia your Visa must be registered with the local authorities, the OVIR. This is usually arranged by the party that issued your visa invitation, usually the hotel where you are staying, and may incur an extra charge.

Continue reading There are several points of arrival into the Russian capital