Hello,
my best friend convinced me to join him and his family on a cruise of the Baltic Sea. One of the stop along the way was Saint Petersburg. Due to visa restrictions we could not walk around town on our own, but had to stay with our tour guide. So I could not explore as much rail stuff as I would have liked to do, but I managed to get some tram and metro snapshots nonetheless.
Metro
As we did not use the tours offered by the cruise ship, but had booked our own program with a local tour operator, we had some influence on the program (and we had the advantage of being just a group of six in a minibus instead of the usual bigger groups. The minibus had tinted windows, so we felt like celebrities
).
Per our request to have some metro included we rode two stations on the red line (from "Narvskaya" to "Avtovo") on our way to the "Petergof".
Outside "Narvskaya" station
A little token opened the gates
A long and quite escalator took us down unto the platform (due to the muddy ground below the city, the tunnels are very deep below the ground, making the metro one of the deepest metro systems in the world).
"Narvskaya" is decorated with marble and bronze inlays that celebrate the soviet work force
In "Avtovo" lots of pillars and chandeliers
We used one of these older trains
Newer rolling stock on the opposite side of the platform
The vestibule with its dome looked more like a temple then a subway station
Outside view of "Avtovo"
The park of Petergof is worth a visit. It has fountains of different styles and sizes
Trolleybus and Tram
In addition to the metro Petersburg has trolleybuses
and different types of trams. When the bus dropped us off at "Narvskaya" metro station I managed to take this snapshot of a little tram
On the way to Petergof I snapped some more tram pictures from the bus
Tram on the move
As Petersburg has a lot of water a boat trip along the Newa river and the canals is a must. While we cruise the water a tram passes by on a bridge
Sightseeing
That's all in terms of rail. Unfortunately, we passed the railway stations without stopping, so I could not grab pictures of Russian trains. As there are so many sights to see in Petersburg, I want to share some pictures of these too.
The church in the "Peter and Paul Fortress". This was the last place we visited during our two day sightseeing marathon
The Eremitage - a huge art museum. View of the front
and view from across the river.
We did not visit it, as we wanted to see as much of the city as we could, instead of wandering around pictures and stuff.
This hydrofoil connect Petergof and the Eremitage
If you like visiting churches, the "Church of the Savior on Blood" might be the place for you
The mosaics are just breathtaking
As the "Church of the Savior on Blood" is still a church were services are held every once in a while the door to the altar is closed
Whereas in "Saint Isaac's Cathedral" is was open. Because the cathedral is not a church any more. It is classified as a museum
The interior is a fantastic mix of architecture, gold and mosaics
Outside the city in the town of Puschkin is "Catherine Palace"
For me the ballroom with its glass and gold was a lot more impressive than the "Amber Room"
The masonry heaters like this one were for decoration only and not used heating
Adjacent to the place: A wonderful park
Quite a contrast to the delicate architecture in the city centre: This administration building from the soviet era
A bit unusual: A toilet bus
And finally, some impressions taken at sun set. Unfortunately, not from the city centre, as we could not leave the boat in the evening and the cruise terminal is outside of the city
The new stadium
Cooling tower in the sun set
The cruise terminal in the evening
Lifeboat in sunlight
Two days are no enough for a city like this, but they were enough to make appetite to come back some day (my dream would be to a week in Petersburg followed by a week in Moscow).
I think this is what cruises are best at: Give you the chance to take a look at a place for a day to see if it is worth to come back for a more detailed look. Apart from Tallin all the other stops of the trip (Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen) are places that I want to go back to.
This wraps-up my little Petersburg report. I hope you liked it. Looking forward to your feedback.
Cheers
Charly
my best friend convinced me to join him and his family on a cruise of the Baltic Sea. One of the stop along the way was Saint Petersburg. Due to visa restrictions we could not walk around town on our own, but had to stay with our tour guide. So I could not explore as much rail stuff as I would have liked to do, but I managed to get some tram and metro snapshots nonetheless.
Metro
As we did not use the tours offered by the cruise ship, but had booked our own program with a local tour operator, we had some influence on the program (and we had the advantage of being just a group of six in a minibus instead of the usual bigger groups. The minibus had tinted windows, so we felt like celebrities
).Per our request to have some metro included we rode two stations on the red line (from "Narvskaya" to "Avtovo") on our way to the "Petergof".
Outside "Narvskaya" station
A little token opened the gates
A long and quite escalator took us down unto the platform (due to the muddy ground below the city, the tunnels are very deep below the ground, making the metro one of the deepest metro systems in the world).
"Narvskaya" is decorated with marble and bronze inlays that celebrate the soviet work force
In "Avtovo" lots of pillars and chandeliers
We used one of these older trains
Newer rolling stock on the opposite side of the platform
The vestibule with its dome looked more like a temple then a subway station
Outside view of "Avtovo"
The park of Petergof is worth a visit. It has fountains of different styles and sizes
Trolleybus and Tram
In addition to the metro Petersburg has trolleybuses
and different types of trams. When the bus dropped us off at "Narvskaya" metro station I managed to take this snapshot of a little tram
On the way to Petergof I snapped some more tram pictures from the bus
Tram on the move
As Petersburg has a lot of water a boat trip along the Newa river and the canals is a must. While we cruise the water a tram passes by on a bridge
Sightseeing
That's all in terms of rail. Unfortunately, we passed the railway stations without stopping, so I could not grab pictures of Russian trains. As there are so many sights to see in Petersburg, I want to share some pictures of these too.
The church in the "Peter and Paul Fortress". This was the last place we visited during our two day sightseeing marathon
The Eremitage - a huge art museum. View of the front
and view from across the river.
We did not visit it, as we wanted to see as much of the city as we could, instead of wandering around pictures and stuff.
This hydrofoil connect Petergof and the Eremitage
If you like visiting churches, the "Church of the Savior on Blood" might be the place for you
The mosaics are just breathtaking
As the "Church of the Savior on Blood" is still a church were services are held every once in a while the door to the altar is closed
Whereas in "Saint Isaac's Cathedral" is was open. Because the cathedral is not a church any more. It is classified as a museum
The interior is a fantastic mix of architecture, gold and mosaics
Outside the city in the town of Puschkin is "Catherine Palace"
For me the ballroom with its glass and gold was a lot more impressive than the "Amber Room"
The masonry heaters like this one were for decoration only and not used heating
Adjacent to the place: A wonderful park
Quite a contrast to the delicate architecture in the city centre: This administration building from the soviet era
A bit unusual: A toilet bus
And finally, some impressions taken at sun set. Unfortunately, not from the city centre, as we could not leave the boat in the evening and the cruise terminal is outside of the city
The new stadium
Cooling tower in the sun set
The cruise terminal in the evening
Lifeboat in sunlight
Two days are no enough for a city like this, but they were enough to make appetite to come back some day (my dream would be to a week in Petersburg followed by a week in Moscow).
I think this is what cruises are best at: Give you the chance to take a look at a place for a day to see if it is worth to come back for a more detailed look. Apart from Tallin all the other stops of the trip (Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen) are places that I want to go back to.
This wraps-up my little Petersburg report. I hope you liked it. Looking forward to your feedback.
Cheers
Charly
