St Petersburg, Russia

We awoke to find 5 other cruise ships docked beside us and we were told there were more docked in the city. So this time we will be battling with about 15,000 tourists in the city! It is the biggest port city in Europe and can cater for more than seven cruise ships at any one time.

Our balcony was facing the other ships, so we went up to the top deck to get a better overview of the port area.

We had an overnight stay in St Petersburg like we did in Edinburgh. There were lots of whole day and 2 day tours advertised but we took it easy and did the Panoramic 4 hour tour of the city on the first afternoon. I had also booked the St Petersburg by Night tour that goes from 11.15 pm to 2.45 am but decided to cancel as my asthma has been really bad.

The ship’s tours are managed quite differently in Russia as you need to go through a passport check at the terminal, then meet the ship’s team outside the terminal near the bus stop. It’s hard to gauge how long the passport check will take so we left the ship at 12.45 pm as we had to meet outside the terminal at 1.30 pm for a 1.45 pm tour.  Luckily there were souvenir shops in the terminal as it didn’t take long at all. The people who toured in the morning had long delays, some taking over an hour to get through the queues.

The tour left on time and the tour guide (Anna) spoke fairly clear English and had a good knowledge of the local history and the buildings. As we travelled along it was sometimes difficult to determine which building was which, so I have named the ones I am certain about, and just put ‘Architecture’ for the ones I didn’t catch the name of. Paul also thought she said St Isis, when she actually said St Isaacs, so forgive his commentary on the movie.

The River Neva flows through the city and there are many canals as the city was originally built on swamps. There have been catastrophic floods in 1724, 1824 and less disastrous floods in 1824. The locals are superstitious about what might happen in 2024! There are over 100 bridges over the canals.

The population is over 5 million and the city was founded on 27 May 1703. In the 16^th Century it was under the protection of Sweden, then after the 21 year war with Sweden, Russia got the land back. It is an important port for Russia on the Gulf of Finland at the entrance to the Baltic Sea and gives access to Europe.

It was named after St Peter. Peter the Great was also named after St Peter. Draw the lines!

In 1912 the name was changed to Petrograd. Then it was changed to Leningrad in 1924 (after Vladimir Lenin’s death). Then in the 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, a referendum had 54% of the vote to change the name back to St Petersburg.

We had several stops for photos. The first was at the Spit of Basil’s Island on the River Neva. We were warned on board the Celebrity Eclipse about pick pockets and again by the tour guide. You can see how this would be a booming industry in their summer with so many strangers in town, all with passports, wallets and cash to spend. We are always much happier when the immigration process happens on board and we can leave our passports locked in our safe. Anna also warned the Americans that if they lost their passport, there is no US consulate anymore so they would be jailed and then sent to Siberia. Not sure how true all of that is, but you wouldn’t want to test it out!

The city is beautiful, but because there is very little high rise, it is very spread out. I am so glad we didn’t do a walking tour as the sights are all so far apart.

We saw many weddings, The first one at the Spit area.  Paul and I commented that it looked just like an Aussie wedding in the way the bridal party and guests were dressed. I guess the wedding food may be a bit different and there would definitely be more vodka involved than beer! The guide told us that weddings take place any day here rather than our more traditional weekend affairs. We were touring on a Thursday.

I could not tell who would possibly be a pick pocket, and I guess that is their skill. I kept my bag close to me and the strap under my coat for the first stop. But the weather warmed up and the coat was no longer necessary. So I had to hold my bag tighter. Luckily we were not accosted and had a great afternoon.

When we reached the Church of the Spilled Blood there must have been at least 30 buses at the same time, all vying for parking spaces. Our bus parked the furthest away and we had 20 minutes to walk back, take photos and return to the bus. I am so glad we were not queuing to go inside! The building is beautiful from the outside and is currently undergoing restoration. Our guide told us that no matter when you visit St Petersburg there will always be a major landmark undergoing restoration.

The same crowding was occurring at the Hermitage Museum, The line went the length of 2 city blocks with a wait time of over 45 minutes. These are very dedicated tourists. The weather had heated considerably and every time the bus stopped it heated up until he restarted it 20 minutes later. Hence my asthma!

We had a souvenir shop stop and although it seems like a monopoly, (we think it is owned by Celebrity). the joy was, no crowds, no lines for toilets, and we have 40 minutes in a huge shop.

We had taken some roubles with us. Guess what Paul bought with his share! A sim card and a chocolate! Guess what I bought – some jewellery and a fridge magnet!

We were surprised they were also happy to take euros, US dollars and credit cards. I am unsure if local supermarket type shops would take euros and US dollars as the rouble is the official currency.

We had one more stop at St Isaac’s Cathedral before returning to the ship.

I found the stories about Peter the Great, Catherine and the history fascinating.

Overall we both really enjoyed the tour. At dinner we spoke to four American ladies who had paid for a private tour for both days, and they were not happy. The hated their tour because they were delayed leaving the ship in the morning at the passport check which shortened their time frames. And every place they were going to see had long queues. They said after queueing for 50 minutes to get into the Hermitage they had less than one hour to look around. Then they queued for 30 minutes to use a bathroom. They were sitting at dinner debating about whether to even

go on their second day of touring. This made out US$59 per person tour of the city very good value.

The Stars of St Petersburg performed in the ship’s theatre and they were fabulous. I was amazed at the instruments they played and their costumes were beautiful.

The buffet on the ship also had Russian food over the two days. Paul was more adventurous than me. I tried the beef stroganoff and it was much more spicy than I would ever make at home.

And today we found out we have a new Prime Minister!