24/02/2018
📌 TOP 5 PLACES TO VISIT IN ST PETERSBURG
1️⃣ The State Hermitage museum - Winter palace
Undoubtedly St. Petersburg's most famous visitor attraction, and universally acknowledged as one of the world's greatest treasuries of art and antiquities. The Hermitage museum now spans several sites, but for most visitors it is the main collection in the Winter Palace that is an essential component of any St. Petersburg itinerary.
http://hermitage--www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage?lng=en
2️⃣ Rivers and canals of St Petersburg on boat
There are a number of ways to explore the city by boat, from taking the hydrofoil to the suburban palace and park at Peterhof to enjoying dinner and live jazz on an evening cruise along the Neva. All routes through the centre take in some portion of the Fontanka and Moyka Rivers and the Griboedov and Kryukov Canals. Some also head out onto the River Neva. Whatever route you end up taking, a boat trip is a fantastic way to see St. Petersburg from a different angle, and perhaps the best possible means of getting an impression of the sheer scope of the city's architectural beauty and romance.
3️⃣ Opening bridges
The Neva River connects Lake Ladoga to the Baltic Sea, and during the summer navigation season tens of cargo ships per day follow this important route, making it necessary to open the bascule bridges across the Neva in central St. Petersburg. This is done after midnight, and during the White Nights especially it has long been a tradition for crowds to gather along the embankments to watch the raising of the bridges. The raised arches of Palace Bridge make for one of St. Petersburg's most famous views, but its as much the atmosphere of lazy revelry and contentment inspired by the eternal twilight that makes this such an unmissable St. Petersburg experience.
4️⃣ The Peter & Paul Fortress
The place where the city of St. Petersburg began, the Peter and Paul Fortress never actually saw military action, but has fulfilled a variety of functions over its three-century history, from burial place for nearly all of the Romanov Emperors and Empresses to notorious political prison to the site of key experiments in the development of Soviet rocket technology. All of these aspects of the fortresses history are celebrated in diverse exhibitions across various buildings, and it is the ramshackle charms of these various museums and collections as much as the grandeur of the spectacular Ss. Petersburg and Paul Cathedral that make the fortress an essential visitor attraction.
http://www.spbmuseum.ru/themuseum/museum_complex/peterpaul_fortress/
5️⃣ The church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is one of St. Petersburg's most instantly recognizable landmarks, its riotously colorful Russian Revival architecture making a stark contrast to the elegant neoclassicism of the State Russian Museum next door. This is part of the church's charm, in that it serves to constantly remind the visitor to St. Petersburg that, despite the Italianate elegance of most of the "Golden Triangle", you are still definitely in Russia. It's extraordinary also that a monument to mark such a tragic event (the assassination of Alexander II) should be so exuberantly colorful.
http://eng.cathedral.ru/spasa_na_krovi/
