Purplelake: Day 4-6 – Jul 23-25, 2019 St. Petersburg, Russia

We took an evening direct flight from Berlin to St. Petersburg, Russia on their flagship airline, Aeroflot. Having heard so much about the danger of flying with Russian airlines, I was very apprehensive about booking with them. However, flying with other airlines was not a good option since none of them flies direct to Russia from Berlin. All required a lengthy transfer in other cities like Frankfurt, Munich, or other European hubs. All is good at the end as It turned out that flying Aeroflot or other top-tier Russian airlines is fine as long as they do not use Russian-made aircrafts.

Our flight arrived in St. Petersburg at 9:30p. Since St. Petersburg is so far north, there was still good day light left this late at night. We took a local bus to the nearest subway station and got to our hotel after transferring once in their subway system. The only problem we encountered was the unwillingness of shopkeepers to break our large rouble bills. The distance between subway stations in St. Petersburg is extremely long. By the time we checked in, it was already past 11p. Looking for a restaurant at that hour was difficult since only a few fast food eateries located in street basement were still open. We got a donair style delicious chicken wrap for dinner.

St. Petersburg's summer evening sky

Subway stations are all buried very deep in Russia - over 3 mins ride!

Chicken donair wrap & Russian beer for dinner

Next morning, we took a local bus to visit one of the biggest and best museums in the world, the Hermitage. It was fortunate that I already made advance booking for our admission tickets. Otherwise, we would have to endure long lines around the blocks. From early morning to closing, there were endless throngs of tour groups jamming the exhibits inside Hermitage. We were still amazed by the busyness of the place even we had been forewarned many times over by every single guidebook we have read. However, the reason for these many tourists is simple – Hermitage is the second largest museum in the world with an impressive collection of art that can rival any museum in the world today. Catherine the Great did a very fine job amassing all these paintings and precious art objects during her reign starting in 1764. The museum comprises of six buildings all linked together. There is no way anyone can finish the whole museum in one day, let alone several hours. Even then, you would need a map and painting locations in order to navigate through the crowds and hit all the important pieces you are interested in.

Palace Square outside Hermitage Museum (Winter Palace)

Palace Square in front of Hermitage Museum (General Staff Building)

Hermitage Museum (General Staff Building)

Palace Square

Opulent decorations inside Hermitage

Throngs of tour groups inside Hermitage

Nowhere to stand to appreciate all the masterpieces

Finally, a break in the crowd. Here is the famous Prodigal Son from Rembrandt

Young Woman with Earrings by Rembrandt

Kiss of Cupid by Canova

Lute Player by Caravaggio

Madonna & Child by Leonardo DaVinci

Peacock Clock

Cupid by Falconet

Portrait of Catherine the Great

St. Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia founded by Tsar Peter the Great. For almost 200 years from 1713-1918, it had served as the capital of the Russian Empire. It’s only after the Bolshevik Revolution that the capital was moved to Moscow. This is the reason why you can see numerous historic monumental buildings all over the city. There are countless palaces and cathedrals scattered around the city core. The busy street, Nevsky Ave, is the artery through the city core. As the city is built at the mouth of the Neva River, there are also numerous canals cutting across the city center, offering scenic backdrop for photographs, and earning the city name, Venice of the North.

River view of Hermitage

Neva River

Peter and Paul Fortress across Neva River

Catherine the Great statue

Actress in period costume posing for a fee

St. Isaac's Cathedral

Lookout spots available outside the dome

Gigantic doors at St. Isaac's Cathedral

Kazan Cathedral

Canals are everywhere in St. Petersburg

Feels like Venice, isn't it?

On the third day, we visited the Peter and Paul Fortress across the river from Hermitage. This is the original fortress that Peter the Great established when he founded the city. It was used as a garrison and prison. Today, it houses several museums and exhibitions. The main building is the Peter and Paul Cathedral with the iconic bell tower topped by an angel perched on the cupola. It is the burial place of all the Tsars.

Entrance gate to Peter and Paul Fortress

Cosmonaut Museum inside Peter and Paul Fortress

Tile Museum inside Peter and Paul Fortress

Side gate of Peter and Paul Fortress

Peter and Paul Cathedral

A copy of the angel perching on top of Peter and Paul Cathedral

Peter and Paul Cathedral

Inside Peter and Paul Cathedral

Icon inside Peter and Paul Cathedral

Walking back across the Neva River, we came across one of the most beautifully decorated churches we have ever seen, the Church of Saviour on Spilled Blood. This unusual name came from the fact that the church was commissioned by the imperial family in 1883 and erected on the site where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. It wasn’t finished until 1907. Having no expectation of what’s inside, we were both dumbfounded by the beautiful and ornamental decorations inside. All its walls and ceilings are covered by fine intricate shinny mosaics depicting biblical scenes and figures. Turned out that we were very lucky in our visit timing as we had entered the church one hour before the daytime visit hours ended and before the evening visit hours started. As the daytime visit crowds thinned out, we had the whole place to ourselves for an hour before the evening visitors showed up.

Tall ship on Neva River

Church of Saviour on Spilled Blood

Beautiful decorations inside the church

Tourists everywhere initially

The whole ceiling and every wall are covered in colorful mosaics

The crowd thinned out later allowing for leisure appreciation

Collection of Faberge eggs for sale inside the church

We also found a delicious Russian restaurant to try famous dishes such as borsch (soup) and beef tongue before heading to Moskovsky Station to catch our overnight sleeper train to Moscow. This is quite popular among tourists to travel between St. Petersburg and Moscow by night train. Although there are high-speed trains available that could make the journey in 4 hours, many prefer the old mode of overnight train that takes 8 hours to save on hotel costs plus nostalgia.