General information
| Destination |
|---|
| Saint Petersburg, Russia |
Program details
This tour is ideal for getting the feel of the city, and in particular its historical center and major monuments. Participants will enjoy Nevsky Prospect along with its most prestigious buildings: the Anichkov, Stroganov, and Belozersky Palaces; Lutheran, Catholic, and Armenian churches; the orthodox Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, the Eliseev, Singer, and Mertens buildings, and many others.
We will cross the Fontanka, the river that, along with the Moika River and Griboedov Canal, formed the border of the city center. The banks of Griboedov Canal are home to the well-known Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, built in the so typically Russian style with its multicolored cupolas and gold onion domes. The former Winter Palace, once a residence of the tsars and now the Hermitage Museum, dominates the northern bank of the Neva River, while on the opposite bank the silhouette of the Peter and Paul Fortress and its high spire command the skyline.
We will stop by the House of Peter the Great - it was from this modest residence that the Tsar personally kept an eye on the construction of "his" city between 1703 and 1708. On Vasilievsky Island we will see the Strelka, the Menchikov palace and a historical building which is part of the State University.
We will pass by the Admiralty with its imposing gold broach, a symbol of the Russian navy on which Peter the Great wanted to base his empire. His equestrian statue is erected in front of the Senate building and St. Isaac’s Cathedral with its impressive columns made from Finnish red granite. Then there are the buildings of the Conservatory and Mariinsky Theatre on Theater Square, after which the tour will conclude with a visit to the St. Nicolas Naval Cathedral, surrounded by canals.
Erected in 1882 by order of Alexander III, it was designed and named to memorialize his father Alexander II, killed in a terrorist attack on pavement preserved inside. It was built in the traditional Russian style and influenced by churches from the Yaroslavl region and Saint Basil’s cathedral in Moscow, and is therefore very different from the rest of the churches in St. Petersburg. Its facade is made from red bricks decorated with mosaics, and its onion domes are covered with brightly-colored ceramics and gilded painting. However, it is the magnificent interior where the décor achieves its greatest splendour: more than 7500 square meters of mosaics, unlike any other church in the world. Its silhouette rising from the waters of Griboedov canal is undoubtedly one of the symbols of the city.
Meeting/pick-up point: Pick up at the hotel.
Duration: 4 hours.
Start/opening time: At 10am. Please, be at the meeting point 20 minutes in advance.
End/closing time: At 2pm.
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Русский