Люблю тебя, Петра творенье*

St. Petersburg was established in year 1703 thanks to emperor Peter the Great. It was built by the best Dutch, Italian, French and Russian architects. Divided by rivers and brooks on few  islands, town is connected with 22 bridges over river Neva and 342 over the canal. Thanks to many well preserved palaces in baroque and neoclassical style the town was entered into UNESCO’s protection. North Venice , second Russian capital, Leningrad, Petrograd, Piter, St. Petersburg ,or any other names you like to call it, is the town that is difficult to describe. With its rich history, culture and many other beauties, attracts many tourists from different parts of the world. Peter the Great imagined it as a town similar to European towns and he succeeded in  that. But the things that give the town its uniqueness are Russian elements, Russian people, customs and culture. Walking along the streets you will not know which feature to look at first, what to admire first ,what to take photo off  first. The town is amazing in every way. One of the most beautiful features that you can see while staying in St. Petersburg are “white nights”- at the end of May and the beginning of June complete darkness almost totally disappears, and street lights are not turned on at all. Picturesque, little bit unreal, Petersburg deserves at least 7 of your days, but with our help you can discover it in shorter period.

The name Petersburg was changed few times. Still today there are some who are not sure when it comes to terms of its name so we bring you the view through years:

1703 – 1914 Saint Petersburg
1914 – 1924 Petrograd
1924 – 1991 Leningrad
from1991 St. Petersburg

FIGURES ABOUT ST. PETERSBURG

Number of inhabitants in St. Petersburg

4 953 219 (year 2012.)

Area of  St. Petersburg

1439  km2

Call number

+7 812

Time zone:

UTC + 3

Average temperatures:

average annual  temperature around 5,4 °C

 January -8 | February -8 | March -4 | April +4 |May +9 | June +15 | July +17 | August +16 | September +11 | October +5 | November -1 | December -5

„Water“ figures about St. Petersburg:

Number of water roads: 40
Total length of water roads: 217.5 km
Number of bridges in town: 580
Number of mobile bridges : 20
Number of floods: 288

*a line from Pushkin’s poem Bronze Horseman: I love you, Peter’s great creation.

Airports in Saint Petersburg

Saint  Petersburg , inspite its size and tourist popularity, at the moment has only one airport Pulkovo with two terminals: Pulkovo 1 and Pulkovo 2. Tickets for flights you can find and reserve on our site http://www.e-aviokarte.hr/.

Pulkovo 1 is about 20 km from town centre and mostly is for domestic flights to and from countries of former SSSR.

Metro: Moskovskaya
Bus № 39
Mini bus taxi: K-39
Phone: (+7812) 104-3822
http://www.pulkovoairport.ru/eng/

Pulkovo 2 is about17 km from town centre and is mostly for international flights. It is renewed in year 2003. In Petersburg, like in Moscow, it is not the best idea to go by taxi if you want to spend less. Minimum price for drive to town centre which you will be offered is 60 USD.You can always arrange a transfer from agency and be safe or go by public transport which is cheapest-drive by underground railway costs less than 1 USD. You can take mini bus taxi (maršrutka) and pay only around 2 USD,go by bus or so called gipsy taxi – unofficial taxi which will probably offer you for the drive to town centre the price of around 10 USD. More information on public transportation you can find in this chapter.

Metro: Moskovskaya
Bus № 13 
Mini bus taxi: K-13 
Metro: Trg Sennaya
Tel.: (+7812) 104-3444, 3457
http://www.pulkovoairport.ru/eng/ 

How and by what to travel in St. Petersburg

On roads of St. Petersburg there are not huge traffic jams like in Moscow, but here is also, the underground railway the fastest and the cheapest way of transportation. Even St. Petersburg’s stations are not as impressive as the one in Moscow, it is worthwhile to go out and stop on some of them to see small architectural wonders. Be prepared for very long mobile stairs because metro in St Petersburg is on lower level than any other world metros. Metro is opened from 6 am  to 12 pm.The trains drive in average every 3 minutes. It is good to have the map with Cyrilic and Latin names because the names are written in Cyrilic. The ticket for one entrance in metro is about 60 cents. You can buy it at the ticket office or ticket machines which are placed on the entrances to the station. It is best to take the ticket for few drives –entrances to metro. One ticket can be used for any destination  and numerous drives all the time until you leave the underground complex.

Detailed information about metro in Sankt Petersburg

Metro ticket

The ticket for bus ,trolleybus or tram you can buy from the driver and it is also around 60 cents. Very few people know that St. Petersburg has the world biggest tram system in the world  with more than 2000 vehicles. The taxi drivers will probably offer you high price so be persistent in bargaining and be careful not to be defrauded. You can always stop private cars, because her is like in Moscow, common to give a ride and charge, but for less than taxi drivers. You can always take mini bus taxi for the price of 60 cents to 2 USD for town drive. Of course for all transfer services you can call us on : http://www.atlantis-travel.eu/

Trains

There are five bigger railway stations in St. Petersburg:

Moskovsky railway station – in the town centre, right on Nevsky Prospect. Almost all trains arrive here from Moscow and depart to Moscow but also for Crimea, middle Asia and Caucasus.
Ploshad Vosstanya, 2, M: Ploshad Vosstanya/Mayakovskaya
Phone: (+7812) 768-0111, 055, 768-4597

Vitebsky railway station– trains for Europe, Baltic countries and Ukraine.
Zagorodny Prospekt, 52, M: Pushkinskaya
Phone: + 7812 768-0111, 055, 768-2859

Ladozhsky railway station– trains for Finland and North destinations.The railway station was opened in year 2003.

Zanevsky Prospect 73, M: Ladozhskaya

Phone: (+7812) 768-79-00, 055

Baltiysky railway station– trains for suburbs and surrounding places. 
Nab. Obovodnogo Kanala, 120, M: Baltiyskaya
Phone: +8 (800) 775-00-00

Finlandsky railway station– trains for suburbs and surrounding places.
Lenin Square, 6, M:  Lenina Square
Phone: +8 (812) 436-67-46

Railway time table

There are 3 railway stations in Sankt Petersburg that are closed: Primorsky, Ohtinsky and Warsaw.

Important telephone numbers 

01 – Firefighters

02 – Police; + 812 278-3018 number for foreigners

03 – Emergency ambulance service

Emergency service: +7812 275-0810

Lost property service: +812 578-3690

Hospitals

American health clinic
Moyka Nab., 78, M: Sennaya ploshad
Phone: (+7812) 740-2090

Euromed
Suvorovsky pr., 60, M: M.: Ploshad Vosstaniya
Phone: (+7812) 327-0301

Medem
Marata street. 6, M: Mayakovskaya
Phone: (+7812) 336-3333

Pharmacies

If you need medicine, and we hope that you will not need it, you can easily find the pharmacy. It is bigger problem that you will not get medicine in Russia if you don’t have a prescription. Some pharmacies in St. Petersburg work 24 hours a day so we bring you some addresses where you can find them: Nevsky Prospect, 22 (M: Nevsky Prospect), Nevsky Prospect, 98 (M: Mayakovskaya), Vladimirsky Prospect, 16,  Vostaniya street, 19 (M: Ploshad vosstaniya).

Calls and Internet communication

To start a call on numbers outside Russia it is needed to dial 8 and then 10 and call number for country ,town and number of person/institution you call.If you call from some towns in Russia on the number in St. Petersburg you need to dial 8, call number for Petersburg:812 and the number you call. To make the call from Saint Petersburg on number in other town in Russia you need to dial 8, call number of that town and then the number you need.For calls inside  St. Petersburg numbers are connected without call number. The exception are your mobile phones on which you need to always dial call number for country you call, call number for town and then the rest of the number (Russia +7 or 007)

In St. Petersburg there is excellent solution for calls. If you go to one of coffee places  from chain Ideal Cup (Идеальная чашка), which you can find everywhere, you can make calls for free from the telephone in that coffee place or someone can call you on that number. The conversation might last for up to 3 minutes.

Saint Petersburg offers many internet cafes.Here are some if you want to relax with the use Internet:

Quo Vadis?
Nevsky Prospect, 76, M: Nevsky Prospect
Zebra
Nevsky Prospect, 85, M: Ploshad Vosstaniya
F.M. club
Dostoevskogo street, 6, M: Vladimirskaya
Arktika
Street Beringa, 38, M: Primorskaya
World With Cup
Gorokhovaya street, 41, M: Sennaya Ploshad
DownTown
Majakovskogo street, 10, M: Mayakovskaya
Shangrila
Nevsky Prospect, 98, M: Mayakovskaya

Exchange offices in Saint Petersburg

In Saint Petersburg it is not hard to find exchange offices ,even those working 24 hours a day or the one opened during the night. It is recommended to have the money in a good condition otherwise it will not be accepted. Most of them will ask you for your passport or copy of your passport. Amount limit does not exist. Better exchange rate you can get if changing more than 5000 USD, but at previous notice.

Working time

Grocery shops or similar to them most often work from 8 am till 8 pm (On Sundays till 6 pm), but in Saint Petersburg and in other Russian towns, it is not hard to find shops which work 24 hours a day. Shopping centres, bigger shops and supermarkets are opened most often from 8 am or 9 am till 10 pm.Most of them work at the weekends and on holidays.Bigger banks work on Saturdays as well from 10 am till 2 pm, the longest till 6 pm. Museums are mostly closed on Monday, and we recommend to check working time for weekends for each museum.

Free working days (holidays) in Russia:

• 1^st and 2^nd January (New Year )
• 7^th January (Christmas)
• 13^th January (New Year according to Gregorian calendar)
• 23^rd February (Motherland defenders day)
• 8^th March (Women’s day)
• 1^st May (Labour day)
• 9^th May (Victory day)
• 12^th June (Independence day)
• 4^th November (Day of solidarity and reconciliation)
• 12^th December (Constitution day)

Bridges in Saint Petersburg

Shipping season in Saint Petersburg last from April till October.
Time table of lifting for some big bridges:

Tuchkov 2:10—3:05, 3:35 – 4:45
Aleksander Nevsky 1:30—5:05
Birzhevoy 2:10—4:50
Bolsheohtinsky 2:00—5:00
Bolshoy Krestovsky 2:05—2:35, 4:45—5:20
Volodarsky 2:00—3:45, 4:15—5:45
Grenadersky 2:45—3:45, 4:20—4:50
Dvorcovy 1:35—2:55, 3:15—4:50
Kamennoostrovsky 2:15—3:00, 4:05—4:50
Kantemirovskyi 2:45—3:45, 4:20—4:50
Lieutenant Schmidt 1:40—4:55
Liteiny 1:50—4:40
Troitsky 1:50—4:50
Sampsonievsky: 2:10—2:45, 3:20—4:25

Embassies in St. Petersburg

The list of embassies in Saint Petersburg you can find on page: http://www.spbconsulate.ru/

Saint Petersburg offers numerous architectural,cultural,artistic and natural beauties.It would be hard to put all that it worths in one book so we bring you the list of Petersburg’s beauties:

ALEXANDER NEVSKI MONASTERY

Alexander Nevski monastery is the biggest monastery in Russia. It is built near the place where Alexander Nevski ,one of the most important persons in Russian history , won against Sweden. The name Nevski got because of that battle which took place near the river Neva. Body of Alexander Nevski is placed inside the monastery .The church and monastery represent the centre of Russian Orthodox doctrine. Well known cemetery ,next to the monastery, is place where Dostojevski, Musorgski, Glinka, Lomonosov and other famous Russian persons were buried.

More details : http://lavra.spb.ru/information.html

CHURCH ON SPILLED BLOOD 

Church on Spilled blood is one of the most famous buildings in Russia. Because of its beauty, different colours and story itself is inevitable spot when visiting Petersburg. The church was built on the place where emperor Alexander  II was killed in year 1881.The assassin threw the bomb under the Alexander’s carriage and killed Russians great emperor who freed bondsmen. Different colour cupolas, window lines with attentively  carved arches, beautiful icons and mosaics are just some of the reasons why you should visit Church on spilled blood.

More details on: http://www.spas-na-krovi.ru/

HERMITAGE

Hermitage is one of the most famous world museums. It is established in 18th century when Katarina the Great bought off  225 paintings. Today in museum you can see over 3 million of art exhibition from different periods and from different parts of the world. The exhibits are displayed in few buildings of which the most famous is Winter castle-the art of Bartolomea Rastrell. The exhibition lay out includes masterpieces of famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinchi,Michelangelo,Raphaelo,Tiziano,Rembrant,Renoir,Cezanne,Manet,Monet and Pissarro,Van Gogh,Matisse,Gaugin,Rodin….

More deatils on: http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_Ru/index.html

NEVSKY PROSPECT

Nevsky prospect,according to the plan by Peter the Great, something that the traveller should see when arriving or departing from Petersburg. Today it is long central Petersburg’s street full of sights, coffee bars, restaurants, libraries…Main sights in street are Stroganov castle, Kazan cathedral, Katarina the Great statue, National library, huge bridge Aničkova with horse sculptures. The part of street with odd numbers is called shady ,and the side of street with even numbers sunny. When you visit Petersburg , you will know why it is called like that.

More deatils on: http://nevsky-prospekt.com/

SAINT ISAAC’S CATHEDRAL

Cathedral of Saint Isaac is delightful and the biggest cathedral in Saint Petersburg. Once on that place it used to be only small church dedicated to Saint Isaac Dalmatski. Aleksandar I ordered to build on that place big cathedral since he was born on the day of Saint Isaac. For architecture  Auguste Montferrand was chosen. The building lasted for 40 years. The cupola is covered with granit and gold plated, and today offers the best place for beautiful view on Saint Petersburg. Except delightful cupola, the interior is full of beautiful and delightful sculptures, paintings and mosaics. It is amazing fact that the cathedral can accommodate 10 000 people.

More details on : http://www.cathedral.ru/

PETER AND PAUL FORTRESS

One more building set up thanks to Petar the Great. It was built in 18th century to help in defence of Petersburg and Russia from Sweden.Inside the fortress it used to be notorious prison for political enemies ,once included Dostojevski and Gorki.Apart from fortress , beautiful cathedral of Saint Petar and Pavao is here.You will recognize it from far for its high elegant tower which is total opposition to baroque flamboyance inside,from carved marble decorated with gold and glaring crystals.In cathedral there are tombs of Petar the Great and other Russian emperors.

More details on: sshttp://spbmuseum.ru/themuseum/museum_complex/peterpaul_fortress/

KAZAN CATHEDRAL

Kazan cathedral is dedicated to Lady of Kazan whose miraculous icon is kept there. Cathedral building started in year 1801 and lasted for 10 years. It belongs to period of high classicism. The interior of cathedral is imagined as a copy of cathedral of Saint Peter in Rome,and it is decorated with sculptures and icons of the best Russian artists.One of the biggest Russian leaders ,Mihail Kutuzov,is buried in cathedral since Kazan Virgin heard his prayer for victory over Napoleon.Kazan cathedral will be easily recognized among beautiful building  on Nevsky Prospekt-front part is surrounded with colonnade long 100 m, and in the middle is porch with six pillars.

More details on: http://kazansky-spb.ru/texts/slovo

RUSSIAN MUSEUM

Russian museum has one of the biggest collections of Russian art since old days till now. Museum developed by nationalization of private collection after the revolution and by collecting 40 000 icons from churches which were closed during the Soviet rule. It was opened in year 1898.The collection of Russian museum consists of 400 000 art pieces and it is comparable only to the one in Moscow’s Tretjakovska gallery. If you want to acquaint with and explore development of culture and art in Russia,Russian museum should not be missed.

More details on: http://www.rusmuseum.ru/eng/home/

SUMMER GARDEN

Summer garden was made as an emperor residency according to the order of emperor Peter the Great and to his concept the decoration was done. It is Petersburg’s oldest arranged park-the arranging started  in year 1704.Different flowers and trees were planted, marbled sculptures, fountains, arranged labyrinths and beautiful pavilions so small heaven on earth was created for emperor Peter. In summer garden Peter the Great held ceremonies and different parties. Unfortunately, during the time large number of sculptures was damaged why originals were taken to Russian museum in whose composition is whole Summer garden ,and it the garden the copies were placed. Last reconstruction was finished recently –in May 2012.Today the garden is opened for all visitors (not every day) and it is real oasis of peace in the middle of town.

More details on: http://www.rusmuseum.ru/eng/home/

MEMORIAL MUSEUM OF F. M. DOSTOYEVSKY

Dostoyevsky was born in Moscow ,but it is one of the most famous inhibitors of Saint Petersburg. His apartment is on the corner of street of his name, in year 1971 converted into museum for those who would like to fulfill their picture and story about one of the biggest writers ever. In that apartment Dostoyevsky lived  with his wife and children. One of his daughters ,Ljubov, wrote that their father specially loved to read Puškin’s “Sad face knight” to them-the piece from where Aglaja recited to duke Miškin (Idiot). In this apartment Dostoyevsky wrote Crime and Punishement and The Brothers Karamazov. All fans of Dostoyevsky figure  will enjoy on the view to subjects which he used, room where he wrote ,his favourite  painting Sistine Madonna, even the sofa where he spend his last moments.

More details on: http://www.md.spb.ru/museum/apartment2/?more

MEMORIAL MUSEUM OF A. S. PUSHKIN

On the coast of river Mojka it is apartment where famous Puškin spend part of his life-from October 1836 till January 1837 when he was killed in duel. The apartment is turned into museum in year 1925, but only in year 1987 was turned ,according to details of Puškin’s coevals and other historical facts in order to be as similar as possible to the look when Puškin lived there. In front of the apartment there is Puškin’s sculpture made by N.Didkin.Every year on 10th February  in the garden of apartment ,the representatives of cultural activities in Russia, gather in honour to Puškin and his creation. At exact time of Puškin’s death -14:45 the minute of silence is held.

More details on: http://www.museumpushkin.ru/info/apartment-museum-pushkin.html

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THEATRE AND MUSIC

National museum of theatre and music in Saint Petersburg is in building of former management of Empire Theatre built in 19th century. In museum setup there is also Museum of  N.A.Rimski-Korsakova, Museum of F.I.Šaljapin, Museum of acting family Samojlovi, Museum of music. In all museums there are exhibits by famous artists, different documents ,theatre props, breadboard and everything that can help you to bring Russia theatre art closer to you. There are exhibited some personal things from some artists in order to create the picture of their life. In every museum there are halls for different performances of modern artists so theatres in that way connect the culture of present and past.

More details on: http://theatremuseum.ru/eng/index_eng.html

BRONZE HORSEMAN

Bronze horseman is the most famous monument of Peter the Great and one of the symbols of Saint Petersburg. Thanks to Puškin’s the same name poem ,very few people haven’t heard of it. It was built thanks to Katarina the Great, and the building lasted for more than 12 years. The author is great French artist Etienne Falconet. The figure of Peter the Great on horse was put on pedestal in the shape of big stone which is the symbol of difficulty Peter the Great overcame.

RUSSIAN CRUISER AURORA

On Neva ,Aurora is anchored ,official cruiser built for service on Pacific At the end of year 1916 it was transferred in Saint Petersburg due to reparation. During that time revolutionary riots started in the town. Major part of crew joined the Bolsheviks, who prepared communist revolution, and on the boat revolutionary committee was established. On day 25th October  1917,by refusing the order for Aurora to sail off, the October revolution started. At 21:45 of the same day , volley from the boat was fired, which was the signal to start the attack on Winter palace and start of October revolution. Today Aurora is boat-museum visited by million of tourists .It is interesting to mention that on Aurora the film was made “for adults” in presence of army personal.

More details on: http://www.aurora.org.ru/

PETERHOF (PETER THE GREAT CASTLE)

Peterhof is small town of parks, palaces and museums situated on the coast of Finnish bay. It was set up as a royal palace of Peter the Great in year 1711.  Around that building other buildings and arranged parks. It represents real gem of Russian art. Parks around former emperor chambers is decorated with many fountains and sculptures and they spread on 607 hectars. The most famous sculpture represents  Samson opening lion’s mouth, from where the high flush of water comes out. The sculpture  symbolises Russian victory over Sweden in battle at Poltava. It is interesting that Nazis in World war II occupied Peterhof and destroyed it in great part, but right after the liberation, the restoration started and the primary look was returned and it is still ,thanks to its delightful and beautifully arranged gardens, called Russian “Versaillaes”. Peterhof is entered into UNESCO’s list of world heritage in year 1990.

More details on: http://peterhofmuseum.ru/

IMPERIAL VILLAGE  (PUSHKIN)

Puškin is the name of former summer imperial residence, and from year 1918 is museum. It is also called Imperial village. Around 25 km from Petersburg, Peter the Great bought the estate and gave it to his wife as a gift, but only Katarina the Great decided to turn it into delightful summer residence. The place reminds of palaces from fairytales-beautifully arranged gardens, delightful pavilions and lakes. The palace of empress Katarina the Great itself is big and elegant building with frontals decorated in delightful baroque style. It is surrounded with arranged gardens, canals and pavilions and other buildings. The empress loved to spend time here and it is clear why. One of the most beautiful and most interesting rooms is Amber room-the hall whose walls are decorated with amber. This room was in year 1945 ruined by Nazis ,but the room was successfully renovated in year 2003.

More details on: http://eng.tzar.ru/

PAVLOVSK

Pavlovsk is situated on about 26 km from Saint Petersburg and 5 km from Imperial village.The small town developed around imperial palace. Katarina the Great gave Pavlovsk as a gift to her son Pavao I and his wife who had rest there from official duties and prepared different events. In palace building many European architects took part such as  Quarenghia and Rossia. It was built in classicist style, and around it, there is arranged big garden. During the World war II is was damaged in a big amount. The restoration was long and difficult but successful .Today it is museum  where you can see art paintings, delightful furniture, silk fabrics, antic sculptures and other works of art and enjoy in combination of delightful and natural beauties.

More details on: http://www.pavlovskmuseum.ru/

WHAT YOU CAN NOT MISS IN SAINT PETERSBURG-TOP 10!

1. Enjoy in the sight of lifting up the bridges on river Neva.

2.Take photo of yourself next to war ship Aurora

3. Visit Church on spilled blood  and souvenir market in close vicinity.

4. Visit at least one of the beautiful places in close vicinity of  Saint  Petersburg: Peterhof,Pavlovsk,Pushkin,Gacina.

5.Visit memorial museum of at least one Russian literature splendors.

6.Climb up the lookout in cathedral St. Isaac and enjoy in the view to  Saint  Petersburg

7. Visit Hermitage, one of the most famous world museums.

8.Take photo of yourself next to the statue of  Bronze horseman.

9. Try the beetroot soup, Russian pancakes or some other Russian national meal and taste just a few sips of Russian vodka.

10. Sit on the coast of river Neva and enjoy in magnificent  Saint  Petersburg and if you want to indulge yourself more –cruise on Neva.