Russia – White Nights in the North

June 20-22

Hello everyone!

A four-hour, high-speed train takes you northwest from the current capital of Russia, Moscow, to its previous capital: St Petersburg.

Matryoshka: Russian dolls

The Sapsan train hits speeds of 250 km/h

A city built on a swamp, St Petersburg was capital of Imperial Russia in two stages, most recently from 1732 until the Russian Revolution (the capital was moved to Moscow a year later, in 1918). It may not be that far as the crow flies, particularly in a land the size of Russia, but can feel like a different world.

St Petersburg has many canals, leading many to call it 'Venice of the North'

A beautiful pink building near the Alexandrinsky Theatre

The location is part of that. St Petersburg is quite far north: 60° north of the Equator, and quite close to the Arctic Circle. Winter is tough up here, with only five or six hours of daylight being common in December and January. In summer, however, it’s a different story.

These hats would have a more practical use in winter, when
temperatures plummet below zero

Pharaoh hat - not practical in winter. Or summer. Fun though!

This is the land of the ‘White Nights’, where it is twilight at best throughout the night. They have a big celebration of it near the summer solstice, when a large boat with scarlet sails proudly struts along the Vena River. Unfortunately it’s not on the summer solstice, which is what I was hoping, so I missed it by one day.

The Winter Palace: photo taken at 9:30pm

Admiralteyskaya metro station: photo taken at 11pm

The other big celebration in Russia right now is the World Cup, and the country’s second city is hosting many matches. Brazil were playing the day I left so there was a certain samba feel to St Petersburg’s main street, Nevsky Prospekt.

I didn't know sombreros were also a Brazilian thing...

Samba on the streets of St Petersburg

This long, straight boulevard finishes close to the Vena, which meets the Gulf of Finland. With the wind whipping by in exposed areas, St Petersburg certainly possesses a coastal feel.

Evening cruises on the river are a popular activity

The city itself is quite young, only being created in 1703 by a Russian Tsar called Peter the Great. Much of St Petersburg was designed and built by him and his granddaughter, Catherine the Great. One of the first major buildings was a fortress built on the northern Vasilievsky Island, one of the main islands which constitute much of St Petersburg. Most of the Tsars are buried in the church within the Peter and Paul Fortress.

This used to be a working lighthouse which
had a fire on top each night

Peter and Paul Fortress. Most Tsars are buried in the church.

Peter the Great, whom the city is named after, had a taste for the eccentric. This is most obviously seen in the Kunstkamera, a museum he set up and one which is one of the oldest – and most disturbing – in the world.

A common theme in St Petersburg is statues of heroes
standing on snakes, which represent the enemy

The Kunstkamera building

The outside is stunning. The inside includes a collection of malformed foetuses which are described in the museum as ‘monsters’. The idea behind the exhibition was to open people’s minds and ‘combat prejudice’. Locals apparently weren’t convinced until Peter offered a free shot of vodka for people who entered. This practice stopped when there were some ‘accidents’. I could have done with one to settle me looking at some of the exhibits.

The items have been preserved in jars

One of the exhibits - the protrusion is a hernia

St Petersburg has some lovely architecture, which reminds me of central European cities such as Prague and Vienna. There is a strong Italian presence here, too, most notably at St Isaac’s Cathedral. Apparently the building of the cathedral was delayed as the architect had been predicted to die when it was finished – it thus took forty years to complete. He died a month after it was opened…

St Isaac's Cathedral has a lovely park in front of it

By volume under the cupola, this is the 4th largest basilica
in the world, behind those in Rome, London and Florence

Another important religious building in St Petersburg is the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. An infamous place in royal Russian history, it is a memorial to Tsar Alexander II, who was assassinated at this spot in 1881. The church was built to commemorate him in the following decade. In terms of design, it is similar to, and in my opinion not quite as impressive as, St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. The scaffolding at the top may have played a part in my judgement, which is sure to annoy the people of Russia’s second city.

The FIFA Fan Fest was situated behind the
building, making it very busy

I'm sure it will be beautiful once renovations are finished

There is certainly an element of rivalry with Moscow, as you would expect from a country’s two major cities which have swapped power between them. Stereotyping a bit, I think St Petersburg is seen as more cultured and European. The amount of music on display certainly suggested that. Personally, I preferred Moscow; I can’t really put my finger on why. It might be as simple as the weather, as it rained and was quite cold in St Petersburg.

St Petersburg is currently building the Lakhta Tower, which will
be the tallest in Europe - Moscow currently has the biggest

Other prefer St Petersburg. One such person was Hitler, who refused to let his forces bomb the Astoria Hotel as the Nazi Party wanted to use it for their celebration of conquering Russia. Apparently they’d even created the invitations. Wonder what happened to them…

Relations have obviously recovered somewhat,
judging from the German flag at the entrance

Hotel Astoria is next to St Isaac's Cathedral

St Petersburg was Russia’s capital and called Leningrad in those days. It was under siege, surrounded by German and Finnish forces, for 872 days during World War Two. I was surprised it wasn’t mentioned on my walking tour, painting St Petersburg in a relatively jolly light when you consider that millions of people died in this city at that time.

Once again, a very large walking tour!

Russian military might...or a Transformer?

St Petersburg has a fascinating history, and one of the twentieth century’s most important events took place here in a building often seen as the crown jewel of the city – that place deserves a whole blog to itself.

Pelmeni, a popular Russian dish

Love you all,

Matt