Tag Archives: Saint Petersburg

22-24 June 2014: Saint Petersburg, Russia

Looking for New Things in an Old Place

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We returned to glorious Saint Petersburg, this time greeted with near-summer-like weather. You can read more about an earlier visit this month in my blog entry for 15-17 June 2014.

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The spectacular Kronstadt Naval Cathedral is the central gathering place of the island. The old church, which suffered the indignity of being converted to a cinema during Soviet times, has been beautifully restored. All photos by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

 

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The interior of the church is one of the most spectacular we have seen, mixing ornate Russian Orthodox elements with ring lighting that reminded us somewhat of Agia Sophia and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. All photos by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

 

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Kronstadt island was first developed by Peter the Great, and many of the naval elements includng canals, locks, and stone quays remain. All photos by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

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You must see the Hermitage, Catherine the Great’s fabulously decorated palace. The problem, though–especially in the summer months–is that it can be almost impossibly crowded. It sometimes feels as if the entire population of small towns–or countries–stands between you and the treasures.

On this cruise, though, we took advantage of a special evening tour after hours. We had a brief tour of some of the great halls and then a  performance by a talented Russian orchestra in one of the halls. As is perfectly appropriate for Russia’s European window on the world, most of the music was European: Mozart, Brahms, Mascagni. In a nod to one of Petersburg’s greats, we also heard from Mikhail Glinka.

All test and photos copyright 2014 by Corey Sandler. If you would like to purchase a copy, please contact me.

 

15-17 June 2014: Saint Petersburg, Russia

Cradle of Revolution, Capital of Culture

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Trick question: from the 9th century until the 19th century, which country was the big fish in the Baltic?

Not Russia.

Not Germany/Prussia/Austria.

It was Sweden.

In 1240, Prince of Novgorod Alexander Yaroslavich led the Russians to victory over the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva.

He changed his name to Alexander Nevsky, meaning “of the Neva.”

The victory became symbolic of Russia’s fight for independence.

And Nevsky became a Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.

A Photo Album of Saint Petersburg. Photos by Corey Sandler, June 15-17, 2014

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The view from our ship of the Church of the Dormition, one of the lesser-known beauties of Petersburg. It includes ancient icons and fabulous frescoes; it is only now emerging from decades of Soviet abuse includeing a period of time when it was used for an indoor ice skating rink.

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Saint Isaac’s Cathedral,  left, and Kazan Cathedral (modeled after Saint Paul’s at the Vatican, an unusual adaptation of a Roman Catholic design for a Russian Orthodox Church.)

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The newly reopened Central Naval Museum, moved from the former Stock Exchange to a handsomely rebuilt old structure on the other bank of the Neva, includes artifacts dating back to Peter the Great himself.

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The Singer Sewing Machine building on Nevsky Prospect, a handsome shopping mall, and one of the many canals in what some call the Venice of the North.

Below Saint Petersburg: The Metro

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The Saint Petersburg Metro was actuall begun during World War II, but not completed until the 1950s. Because of the many canals and rivers, it is one of the deepest Metro systems in the world, and its stations amongst the most ornate. Photos by Corey Sandler

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Constantine Palace was already a burned-out shell when the Germans occupied the suburbs of Petersburg. It was only rebuilt and reopened in 2003, as a personal project promoted by Vladimir Putin as a showcase for international summits including the G20 and the G8 when Russia was still welcome as a member. We went out to make a visit and saw Putin’s empty pride. All photos by Corey Sandler

ALEXANDER NEVSKY MONASTERY

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The grave of Piotr Tchaikovsky, upper left.  All photos by Corey Sandler

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Not on the usual tourist path: The Russian Museum, with a fabulous collection of homegrown art. At right, a work by Ilya Repin. Photos by Corey Sandler

In 1613, the second and final Russian imperial dynasty began when the Romanovs took power.

In 1682, Peter the Great was crowned at the age of ten in an arrangement brokered by Sophia, one of Tsar Alexei’s daughters from his first marriage.

Peter cared little for intrigues of court.

He was much more interested in playing with his toy soldiers, and later his real soldiers.

Peter’s goal was to open trade with Europe. At that time Russia’s only outlet to the sea was at Arkhangelsk on the cold White Sea.

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Menchikov Palace, along the River Neva across from the Hermitage. Photos by Corey Sandler

The Swedes held the Baltic Sea ports to the north. The Ottomans controlled the Black Sea to the south.

Peter visited Europe, sometimes in disguise, which is hard to imagine, since he stood about six-foot-eight-inches tall and sometimes included dwarves in his traveling court.

In 1695, Peter tried to capture Azov on the Black Sea from the Ottomans. After several attempts, he succeeded in 1698—but the port was useless because the Ottomans still controlled the exit from the Black Sea at Constantinople.

And so Peter launched the Northern War with Sweden in 1700.

On May 27, 1703 the Peter and Paul Fortress was begun on an island in the Neva. Several days later Peter built a wooden cabin, the first residence.

By 1712 Saint Petersburg was Russia’s capital.

After Peter the Great died in 1725, his wife Catherine briefly took the throne but not much power. Peter’s daughter Elizabeth became Empress in 1741, leaving most affairs of state to her advisors. She concentrated on art and architecture and Saint Petersburg blossomed.

Elizabeth ordered Peter’s estate at Peterhof remodeled, combining Italian and Muscovite Baroque styles. The Grand Palace and fountains at Peterhof were covered with gold and precious stones, a great expense for an impoverished nation.

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Yusupov Palace, along the Moika Canal, was owned by a fabulously rich noble–not a member of the royalty. It was here that Rasputin’s extended murder took place. The home includes a private theater, today used for small recitals. Photos by Corey Sandler

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Pavlovsk Palace out in the country, and the Stock Exchange (pre-Communist, of course) and the Rostral Columns on the Strelka across from the Hermitage. Photos by Corey Sandler

In 1744, princess Sophia Augusta Frederica arrived from the German principality of Anhalt-Zerbst (today’s Szczecin in Poland).

She came to meet her future husband, Grand Duke Piotr Fiodorovich. 14-year-old Sophia converted to Russian Orthodox and changed her name to Yekaterina.

They married in 1745; in 1762, her husband assumed the throne as Peter III.

Didn’t work out that well.

Six months into his reign, with Catherine’s consent or knowledge, he was overthrown by the Imperial Guard and killed.

That’s a cold marriage.

Empress Catherine II (Catherine the Great) set about turning Saint Petersburg into one of the grand cities of Europe. She decided to decorate the walls of the Winter Palace.

Thus was born the Hermitage, and the development of the handsome, European-oriented city of Saint Petersburg was well underway.

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Another less-visited gem: The Museum of Ethnography, begun by Nicholas II. It was completed after he was killed, but somehow managed to hold on to its fabulous collection through the Soviet years. Photo by Corey Sandler

Okay, that was just enough history.

In the Venice of the North there are something like 300 bridges, many of them works of art.

Our handsome, smaller ship Silver Whisper is able to sail almost right into town: along the Angliyskaya Nabererzhnaya, the English Embankment just downriver from The Hermitage.

Those monster cruise ships? They have to dock miles away, not quite in Finland but you just might be able to see Helsinki from their upper decks.

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Two means of transport: the Petersburg Metro, not quite as opulent as the Moscow subway but still an amazing system. At right, a display the Museum of Cosmonautics at the Peter and Paul Fortress. Photos by Corey Sandler

Here are some more photos from Saint Petersburg; some are ones quite familiar to visitors. Others are off the beaten track; most foreign visitors to Russia require a visa for any independent touring.

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The Big Three of Petersburg for most visitors: The Hermitage, the Church on Spilled Blood, and Catherine’s Palace. Photos by Corey Sandler

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Inside and outside the Hermitage. At times I have waited hours to be able to grab a shot without hundreds or thousands of tourists in the frame. Photos by Corey Sandler

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Outside and on top of Saint Isaac’s. The shaky climb is worth the effort but not for those with fear of heights. Photos by Corey Sandler

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Within Peter and Paul Fortress. Photos by Corey Sandler

All text and photos copyright 2014 by Corey Sandler. If you would like to purchase a copy of a photo, please contact me.

September 2013: Out to Sea Again to Tallinn, Saint Petersburg, and Helsinki

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

First of all, apologies to all for the delay in posting. We’ve been experiencing some technical difficulties in the Baltic (I blame Vladimir Putin. Why not? . . . our satellite uplink got bollixed while we were in Saint Petersburg during the G20 meetings.)

We are now aboard Silversea Silver Whisper, on a two-month journey from the Baltic through the North Sea to England and Ireland and across the pond to Canada and America.

Tallinn, Estonia: 3 September 2013

The Answer is Blowing in the Winds of Change

There’s change in the air in Tallinn, Estonia.

But that’s hardly news.

Estonia has been through more changes than just about any other country. An ancient tribe (the Aesti), the Swedes, the Livonians, the Germans, a brief sniff of freedom, the Russians, the Germans, an even shorter breath of liberty, the Soviets, and then finally the Baltic Way.

Estonia is still a place apart, though. The architecture is wonderfully quirky and the folk tales are even quirkier. But the principal barrier to widespread integration is Estikel, the almost-singular language of Estonia.

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Tallinn Old and Reborn

Estikel is one of the Finno-Ugric languages, which include Finnish, Estikel, and Hungarian. It actually is said to have its roots in the Indian subcontinent.

But things change. Estonia is one of the technological hubs of the Internet; Skype and several other elements of the computer lingua franca were developed here.

And there has also been a burgeoning invasion of tourists. At first from Europe, and now from around the world.

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We arrived on Silver Whisper in early September and there was a whiff of fall and a promise of winter in the air. We also found that the billboards are becoming more and more oriented to the outside world: Europeanized and (increasingly) Americanized.

We could have gone to see the latest Jennifer Anniston movie, dubbed into Estikel (probably would have been every bit as intelligible as the American version.) Or we could have ordered a hamborger at the new Striptiis joint along the waterfront.

It’s still a fascinating country, populated by mostly lovely people who all seem to be ready to burst into song at any time to declare, “We’re free, we’re free!”

I’ve decided to cut them a bit of slack for that reason. I just hope the Estonians will hold on to much of their character and culture along the way.

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Saint Petersburg, Russia: 4 September 2013

The Long Haul to Nicholas’ Last Stand

Saint Petersburg and all of Russia is never an easy place.

Russia is one of the bastions of bureaucracy. This one country (all right, it is the largest country on the planet, but still) is probably the principal reason that the rubber stamp industry still survives.

Silver Whisper arrived this morning for a two-day visit. The lovely, smaller vessels of Silversea usually get the best parking space in town—right on the River Neva at the English Embankment—but today we had to settle for circling the block and tying up at the somewhat further-out Sea Passenger Terminal at Ploschad Morskoy Slavy.

Why were we denied our view of ancient Petersburg?

Because the town has been taken over by the muck-a-mucks and the minions of the G-20 global economic summit.

River traffic has been curtailed, roads are closed, some museums are subject to sudden and unexpected and never explained lockdowns.

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Views of Alexander Palace in Saint Petersburg, the final home of the Romanovs

I covered some of these sort of political events when I was a reporter, and I know this: nothing gets accomplished at the meeting itself. Everything has been pre-wrangled, pre-edited, and scripted. All that remains is the grip-and-grin photo session of world leaders.

Putin is here, of course: it’s his country (at least that’s the way he thinks of it.) So too is Obama and 18 or so other world leaders.

We wish them well, and expect little. (Okay, maybe not too much for Putin; he’s a scary dude.)

In any case, our goal was to stay out of their way.

And so this morning we headed from the ship to the Primorskaya Metro station about a mile away and zipped beneath the traffic jams and the police checkpoints to Vitebsky station to catch a train to Detskoye Selo (also known as Pushkin.)

We went not to see Catherine’s Palace (been there, done that, very nice but way too crowded) but instead Alexander Palace.

We were sitting pretty when we got to the ticket counter at a few minutes after 10 in the morning. . . until the agent told us in Russian and sign language that all trains had been cancelled until after noon. Why? Just because. (G-20…)

We finally made it out to Pushkin and walked through the town and out to Alexander Palace, which has been on our list of should-sees for some time.

The palace was designed in 1792 for Catherine the Great as a gift for her grandson, the future Alexander I. It is a relatively simple palace, some say austere, but it certainly has more than a bit of grandeur about it.

The reason it is of interest is that it was the final personal residence of Nicholas II and his family from 1904 until their arrest in 1917. They went from there to a lockdown 850 miles east of Moscow and eventually to their mass execution.

Like nearly all of the treasures of this part of Russia, the palace was severely damaged by the Germans who encircled Petersburg for 900 days during the blockade of World War II. It has not been fully restored, but a dozen or so rooms are open and they are grand…and a bit poignant.

Nicholas and Alexandra were, by the standards of their peers, not really party people. They kept to themselves most of the time, even choosing not to live in the spectactular Catherine’s Palace just down the road.

At Alexander Palace, we were taken by some of the portraits and toys and riding uniforms of the Tsarevich Alexei and some of the clothing and dolls of his sisters.

Not to defend the Czars particularly, but Alexander Palace is one place to go for a sense of the last of the Romanovs as a family. Catherine’s Palace and Peterhof are spectacular but hard to relate to. Alexander Palace was a home.

If you would like a copy of any of my photographs, please contact me through the tab on this page.

 

Helsinki, Finland: 6 September 2013

A Glorious End of Summer in Finland

There must be a Finnish word that is the equivalent of the American expression: “Indian Summer.”

And Indian Summer is a short but very sweet reappearance of warm temperatures and blue skies while autumn and winter are preparing to arrive.

That was certainly our experience in Helsinki this time. On previous visits in the heart of the summer we have experienced winter-like weather; today we could have gone to the beach.

Which is pretty much what we did. We took the public ferry from the city market to Suomenlinna Island in the middle of the harbor.

Suomenlinna was first built up by the Swedes, who held Finland for seven centuries from about 1200; they called it Sveaborg, as in the fortress (borg) of Mother Sweden (Svea).

Finland, which for nearly all of its existence has lived in a very rough neighborhood, has been occupied and assaulted by just about all of the powers of the Baltic: Sweden, Germany, Napoleon, and Russia amongst them.

Suomenlinna (renamed by the Finns when they gained their independence), is a sprawling complex of fortresses, barracks, armories, and dozens upon dozens of very large guns aimed out to sea to protect the entrance to Helsinki.

We spent a few hours strolling in the Indian Summer sun, storing up some warmth for the coming months as we head to northern Scotland, Greenland, Iceland, and Atlantic Canada on the next few cruises.

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Helsinki and Suomenlinna, Helsinki. Photos copyright 2013, Corey Sandler

10 July 2013: Saint Petersburg, Russia: A Boy and His Mother

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We took the Metro way out of town to a beautiful part of Saint Petersburg, well off the tourist path. It was so far off the usual route that there were no shore excursion buses within miles.

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Riding the Saint Petersburg Metro

We went to visit Yelaginoostrovsky Dvorets or Yelagin Palace. The buses don’t go there; you’ll need a visa or a private tour and a bit of time, but it is very much worth the visit.

Completed in 1822 on Yelagin Island in one of the branches of the Neva River, it was yet another of the royal summer palaces.

This is a much more intimate, more human-scale place but still very much a reminder of the vast wealth and resources of the Czars.

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Yelagin Palace

The villa was designed for Alexander I’s mother, Maria Fyodorovna. It’s nice when a boy takes care of his mother.

Alexander employed the Italian architect Carlo Rossi, and he produced a lovely Italianate mansion with columns and porticos.

When my wife and I arrived, we had the same thought: this reminded us more than a little of the “cottages” of Newport, Rhode Island in the United States that were built during the American Gilded Age.

Yelagin Island was named after its original wealthy owner: Ivan Yelagin, a close ally of Catherine II from her early days as Grand Duchess.

Like many of the very idle, very rich of the time, Yelagin had his own peculiarities. He was fascinated by the thought or dream of alchemy: producing gold from ordinary materials. He made his experiments at his house there, without success.

After the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna decided she was too old to make daily trips from Petersburg to the outlying royal residences, including Pavlovsk Palace and Gatchina Castle, her son Alexander I bought the estate from Yelagin’s heirs and asked Carlo Rossi to redesign the villa.

The Bolsheviks turned the palace compound into “a museum to the old way of life”. In the Siege of Leningrad during World War II it was damaged by a shell and burned to the ground.

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Inside Yelagin Palace

It was rebuilt in the 1950s and now houses a collection of furniture and art from the 18th and 19th centuries.The entrance is guarded by two lion sculptures, inspired by the Medici Lions in Florence.

The entire island is now a lovely park, with music and theater pavillions, playgrounds, and views of the branches of the Neva.

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When we left Petersburg at the end of the day we had a lovely salute from our sister ship Silver Whisper, which was also departing. We waved to friends we know on the ship as the two captains exercised their greatest perk of office: the ship’s whistle.

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Silver Whisper in the foreground, our ship Silver Cloud to the aft.

I mentioned that no tourists were in sight. For a while, no Russians either. Janice and I strolled through lovely Yelagin Palace completely alone and pretended it was ours.Next time we visit–this coming September–we’ll bring our luggage.

All text and photos copyright 2013 by Corey Sandler. If you would like a copy of a photo, please contact me.

 

9 July 2013 Saint Petersburg, Russia: Diversity and Politics

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world, nearly twice the size of Canada, China, or the United States.

It’s a wonder that it has held together as a country at all: it has one of the most diverse set of cultures on the planet. [whohit]-Petersburg 9July-[/whohit]

It does strain the mind very much to realize that Russia—ancient, Czarist, Soviet, and modern—has more-or-less held together because of tight central political control.

Some leaders have been more autocratic than others. History will judge where Vladimir Putin fits on the scale. In my opinion, he sees his model not in Soviet leaders but in Czarist times. Peter the Great reborn, at least by his own measure.

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The Church of the Dormition, alongside our ship in the River Neva. This beautiful ancient cnurch was used by the Soviets as an ice skating rink. Work is still underway on its restoration.

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That was very much on our mind as we spent a glorious day wandering Petersburg. We arrived in early morning, sailing up the Neva River almost to the heart of the city, something only small ships like ours can arrange. We met up with one of our sister ships, Silver Whisper. Five other monster ships from other cruise lines were docked miles out of town. It’s not the same experience.

Otur goal—almost always—is to find a place where we are not surrounded by tourists. And we certainly found it when we paid a visit to the Russian Museum of Ethnography. And so we used our visa to take a long walk across Petersburg for an extended visit.

This huge museum was completed in 1915, near the end of Czarist rule, by decree of the last of the Romanoffs: Nicholas II.

The museum itself is a jaw-dropping work of art.

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Museum of Ethnography

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The Main Hall of the museum

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An exhibit hall

On display are some of the 500,000 pieces from 158 different nations of the former Russian Empire.

We saw costumes and artifacts of European, Asian, Baltic, and Black Sea Russia.

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Decorations from a chimney piece. That is one fat cat.

Some were somewhat familiar, some were (speaking with all due respect) quite bizarre.

To their credit, at least in modern post-Soviet Russia, there is some acknowledgement of cultures that were nearly wiped out by the commissars including Jewish rites of Eastern Europe, pre-Christian beliefs including Buddhist and pagan Russia.

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Scrimshaw from Asian Russia

 

Ancient artifacts from pre-Christian and Christian Shrove Tide rites

Almost unmentioned: Muslim Russia. That was probably not an accident.

In a modern coda—perhaps a hint from Vladimir Putin—an introductory video tells visitors that the museum aims to “realize its role in preserving social stability” in this diverse, fractious, and still uncertain nation.

Veiled Threats

One rite that has grown greatly in modern Russia is the Wedding March.

Modern Petersburg is right up there with Las Vegas as one of the wedding capitals of the world.

The Russians have a tradition of touring the town with their wedding party.

Nowadays they bring a camera crew.

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All text and photos Copyright 2013 by Corey Sandler. If you would like a copy of a photo, please contact me.