St Petersburg: A truly 'hostile' city

Russia San Pietroburo o Pitersburg

A city not quite as many imagine it to be. In the collective imagination, when it comes to St. Petersburg and Russia in general, I have heard different opinions, those who like it, those who say there is better, those who even say it is a waste of time, those who see it as a city only for meeting women. Not at all, it is all this and much more. Russia has always been my biggest dream and I have realised it. I have been there twice for two years in a row and I can tell you I would go back…

Travel is about crossing borders, not just geographical ones, but also the borders of the mind.

SALMAN RUSHDIE

St Petersburg or just Pitersburg, as the locals call it. Immense, chaotic, traffic from hell but rich in history.

St. Petersburg is not very well connected with Italy, despite having booked almost a month in advance and leaving Saturday morning at 06:00 I arrived in St. Petersburg after lunch.

In the hotel, right in the centre on nevskij prospekt, the Piter House, I arrived with a girl I met on CouchSurfing who immediately made herself available to help me: Yana.

She, very kindly, picked me up from the airport to take me to the hotel and vice versa on the day of my departure. As a welcome Yana brought me a very good classic Russian soft drink, Mors.

Photo sent me by Yana when the drink was ready

Like I did the year before, when I went to Moscow also for St. Petersburg, I relied on an agency to obtain the visa, considering that we are a little far from the Italian embassy, it is good to have all the documentation in order to avoid problems. After the accommodation, a quick tour around the city.

On leaving I find myself already on Nevsky Prospekt, an immense street.

There are various shops. I walked all the way from one side and the other, from there you can go in different directions but walking along it from the side of the hotel, you will find the Kazan Cathedral, the only religious building to be built by architects. Continuing on, you arrive at the Bol’shoy Gostinyy Dvor shopping centre, the oldest in the city and one of the oldest in the world. Going forward, you arrive at the municipal tower. In the second photo, you can see it in the distance.

Crossing to the other side, I headed behind Nevsky Prospect and from there I arrived at the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, part of which was under renovation at the time. Near the church, there are three bridges the Teatralny, Konyushenny and Novokonyushenny at the confluence of the Moika River and the Griboyedov Canal. The sign there says: if a couple comes here on their wedding day right after the registry office, they will be happy for life. To do this, you must walk over all three bridges, after which you must bow to the Cathedral of the Saviour on Spilled Blood.

***The Church as seen from Griboyedova***

From the church, you get to the Palace Square designed by Italian architect Carlo Rossi, who also designed the famous ‘Ulica Rossi’. A 22 metre wide street with buildings on either side of the street, both 220 metres high. An entire city block was demolished to build it. The square is bordered to the north by the Hermitage buildings to the south by the General Staff Building and to the west by the Admiralty complex. In the centre of the square is the Alexander Column dedicated to Tsar Alexander I. The tower was erected in his honour after his victory over Napoleon.

Palace Square and the Tower of Alexander I

Exploring the city, I arrived at the Cathedral of the Transfiguration. Neoclassical in style, one had been built around 1754 but after a fire there was nothing left but the walls, so after the victory of the Russians over the Ottomans in 1829 the exsisting one was built. Also interesting is the monument to Catherine II the Great that stands in Ostrovsky Square. The Peter and Paul Fortress built around 1700 on the orders of Peter the Great, where the cathedrals of Saints Peter and Paul are located inside. The fortress was built as a strategic citadel during the Northern War. Continuing on, we could not miss a walk along the Neva River, where the Hermitage Museum is better admired from the opposite bank. With Yana we also went to Kronstadt about an hour from St Petersburg on the island of Kotlin. In the Neva Bay, part of the Gulf of Finland, it is a remote suburb of St Petersburg and can be reached by land, but only a few years ago.

(I don’t know exactly how many years ago they built the road connecting the city to the suburb, even my friend didn’t know about it) as previously it was only accessible by sea, then the construction of the dam began in 1979 to protect the citadel from flooding. The dam itself was used as a road to reach the city all at a cost of 109 billion roubles. Just think that as a fortress protecting St Petersburg until 1996. Access to Kronstadt could only be gained with a special permit.

A trip out of town: Peterhof

Another out-of-town excursion was to Peterhof, but I arrived there by bus about 40 minutes from the city centre. In summer it becomes a purely touristic place, with the various fountains that work. The Peterhof complex is large, let’s say in 20 minutes you can visit everything. It is open to the public, so no ticket to pay.

Yana told me that the water that fills the ponds and pools arrives by gravity from the coastal elevation through various canals, a truly unique supply system. Also worth seeing are the places near the complex, taking a stroll around on foot we visit very interesting alleys. Return to the city centre in the evening.

To eat, of course only Russian cuisine, in Nevsky Prospect there are many nice places, where you can taste many local dishes. A must try certainly are the “blini”, flatbreads similar to crepes but unlike them they need to rise. The Russian salad also particular. The Solyanka a typical Russian soup (pickled cucumbers potatoes sour cream with the addition of meat) and the Khachapuri, a fried bread with cheese.

These I have tasted personally and they are delicious, and can be found anywhere all over the city.

St. Petersburg is not just the two lines described above. Perhaps a little disjointed, Piter is much more, it is a city to be seen at least twice to appreciate it a little better. Definitely one to explore every single metro stop as each stop I can tell has its own story to tell. It is certainly a different city from Moscow, less rich, less expensive, but at the same time it tickled my fancy so I couldn’t fail to visit it. Having found this city a bit ‘cumbersome’ I can say that St Petersburg won this time, but I am not giving up.