St. Petersburg – Breathtaking
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I am always interested and engaged in the places that I visit as I travel around the world, but rarely surprised. I was seriously surprised by St. Petersburg. My visit to St. Petersburg made me wish that I had moved it up on my list of “must see” places much earlier. It is breathtaking.
I found St. Petersburg to be an immensely captivating city, second possibly only to Venice in my personal inventory of favorite cities. There is obviously a commonality between the cities, with St. Petersburg being known as the Venice of the North. St. Petersburg had been on my “must see” list for several reasons: the Hermitage, the city’s role in the October Revolution, the Aurora, an early exposure to the films of Eisenstein. But those attributes just scratch the surface of this amazing city.
The first thing that struck me was the obviously planned nature of the city. Each building has its particular charm yet fit into a pattern that is reassuring and aesthetically pleasing. No building of the core city can exceed the height of the Winter Palace which avoids the ramshackle look of many cities.
Exploring the reasons for the beautifully planned nature of the city brought me a history lesson. Originally the land on which St. Petersburg now stands was a province of Sweden. Czar Peter I, Peter the Great, coveted the area for development as a Baltic seaport for Russia. During one of the territorial wars between the two countries he seized the area and in 1704 founded St. Petersburg. The cottage where he first lived is still in existence near the Naval Academy.
Peter’s heavy hand and that of his successors is felt everywhere in the city. He mandated an order and symmetry to the city that gives it its amazing charm today. St. Petersburg is made up of hundreds of islands (the exact number varies depending on the teller). Peter forbid roads and mandated that waterborne travel be the main means of transportation between the various parts of the city. Like most of Venice, you either took a boat or you walked. During the 18th century there were no bridges in St. Petersburg. While the 19th and sprinkling of 20th century bridges are today part of the charm of the city, it must have been a very special site to see the aristocracy of the city flitting about on the waterways and using the boat landings that front every major building in the city.
Peter and his successors clearly drew on the best and brightest of Europe’s architects, artists and artisans in building his beautiful city. Many of the buildings would be equally at home in Paris. I was also struck by the elegant similarity of many of the mansions or palaces, depending on your perspective. While the elite of St. Petersburg certainly indulged in aristocratic one-ups-manship, this was constrained in the presentation of their homes. There seemed to be a refined competition between elite, not the gaudy showmanship that marks so many cities.
The waterways are a wonder. I am always drawn to cities on the water and I have to reluctantly admit that St. Petersburg surpasses Venice in its panorama of open ocean, large navigable rivers, major and minor canals. A canal trip is a must when visiting St. Petersburg.
I was puzzled by the seemingly pristine condition of St. Petersburg after experiencing the revolution, the siege of then Leningrad in World War II. The explanations seemed to be that the 1917 revolutionaries were not focused on destruction of the city and, of course, quickly abandoned it for Moscow. During WWII, around 30 percent of the city was destroyed but the German advance was stopped far enough outside the city to prevent greater damage. The city’s current condition owes much to a government effort to restore the city for its 300th anniversary in 2004. The restoration work done on the city is marvelous.
Then there is the Hermitage. I definitely consider myself a museum snob and the Hermitage immediately went into my top 5 list. It is my kind of collection: eclectic. Catherine the Great was the driving force between much of the collection and she clearly is only rivaled by the Chinese Emperor Chien Lung in the depth and breadth of her collecting interests. The collection is augmented by the frequent gift giving with which the European royalty validated each other’s legitimacy. At the same time there is a clear theme to the museum of covering a very broad spectrum of the arts and history throughout the museum. A beautiful stele of Horemheb. Who would have thought it? I visited the museum twice during my stay and still did not get to see all that I wanted, most notably the Byzantine collection. But then again, I often leave a reason to return to a place that I fall in love with. The depth of the collection means that much of the collection is rotated and the prospect of the opening of a Faberge room in the fall of 2010 insures a future visit.
St. Petersburg, now that it has sidewalks and bridges is a walking city. So much of its architectural fine points would be missed from a tram or a tour bus. Necessity dictates that transport has to be used sometime, but I urge visitors to walk. We walked six hours on one of the hottest days on record and did not regret it all. If you are planning a visit to St. Petersburg, a word of advice on transportation; while walking the city is very straightforward, using public transport is less so. Possibly because it was such an afterthought to a city that was not planned for it, nothing seemed to connect well and public transit maps are scarce. After feeling quite proud of getting around Moscow without too much difficulty and not knowing a word of Russian, we were humbled by St. Petersburg. Before my next trip I intend to do some serious investigation of the tram and underground system.
Other quick travel tips:
I am usually averse to guides, but I found that a knowledgeable guide was a big help. There are so many stories and each structure seems to have its own that you can miss so much. This is also similar to Venice. I intend to return this year to Venice with “City of Falling Angels+” under my arm. I found that in my walking from major monument to major monument in Venice I missed so many interesting buildings with great stories.
Don’t worry about preplanning eating unless you are eating in a really high end restaurant. Weather permitting St. Petersburg is a café society and good eating places abound.
Book the treasury rooms at the Hermitage way in advance if you want an English tour.
Leave lots of time for simply browsing through the city. Rushing from major site to major site does such a disservice to the city.
Whether it is a hostel or a five star hotel, get a place as close to Nevskiy Prospekt as you can.
The opening of the bridges is worth staying up for. We did a bus tour; I would do a boat the next time.
And enjoy St. Petersburg.
Posted on: August 10, 2010 | Categories: Russia, Travel Tips
Doug, I thoroughly enjoyed your Blog. I will have to put St. Petersburg on my list of places to visit.
On the home front.I finally got the guts to cut into one of my sailboards to put a slot in front of the winglet. Test results were fairly good.
John
Doug,
You have captivated us all by your description of the charm of this great city. Thank you. I loved Venice also. I never knew the similarity.