I, obviously, borrowed the title from James Bond or better said Ian Fleming, who wrote the book during the cold war. The life in SSSR, the largest country in the world, was much different than that it is now, but the history left its mark: Soviet history as well as the Car.
Russia, still the largest country in the world, is way too big to start discovering if you haven’t years ahead of you, so I just thought which part I’d like to see in the limitied time I had.
I’ve decided to visit the state capital (always a safe bet anywhere you go), Sank Peterburg (once Petrograd and later Leningrad) and the cities on the golden rim around Moscow.
Sankt Peterburg is not even 300 year old city, but it feels like it has millennia of history. The city is the capital of the Leningrad region (no, it’s not a mistake). It was decided on two separate referendums that the name of the city (so did the residents of the city decide) should be renamed into Sankt Peterburg, but on the other one (where people from the whole region voted) it was decided the region should still be named after Leningrad.
After landing at Pulkovo airport (which still looks much like it did in the seventies) you can take a minibus (or maršrutka as the locals call it) to the
youth hostel All world. The fair is purely symbolic and the exploration of the city already begins. You notice right away it’s a proud, clean, well-organized and rich city.
The Petropavlov fortress on the walled in island with the view of the Erimitaž (also known as the winter palace) with its museum collection rivalled only by the Louvre in Paris, is one of the things you shouldn’t miss. The island alone will take up hours of your time and if you go and see the military exhibition, the famous battleship Aurora that ignited the October revolution (in November 1917), the museum of political history of Russia and the Ermitaž itself… it will take a few days.
The city does have a very well-organized subway network, which is cheap to use, but you won’t really need it, for the
All world hostel isn’t located far from the Nevsky – the largest avenue of the city.
But there are also sights you will need transport too and than you hop on maršrutka again to visit Puškin, the royal village with the imperial palace of Katarina I (the wife of car Peter the Great) in Peterhof, known for the many fountains and parks – which can also be reached in half an hour by a speed boat from the centre of Sankt Peterburg.
One of special features of the city are also the draw bridges, which open the water route to the city on water, to ships in the early morning hours – but cut the road connections between both shores of the river. Cruising the Neva River is also a very fascinating thing to experience.
The city of Sankt Peterburg has so much to offer a month would hardly do it justice, but the essentials can be seen within a week’s stay.
If you stay an extra day you should visit the lake Ladoga, which was the life line of the besieged Leningrad during the horrific German siege in the Second World War. The lake0s the size of half Slovenia and during the summer there were boats and during winter trucks supplying the city – with even a railway line built on the thick layer of ice. It allowed the city to survive the German attack.
The nearby Finish border and its capital Helsinki (only 370 kilometres or two and a half hours by the Allegro fast train) make it a nice daily trip as well, or you can visit the once Finish town of Viborg on the way.
Viborg is a town with a very beautiful natural park and neat town centre, which has a history a whole lot different from Sankt Peterburg. It can be a very pleasant getaway from the hussle of the huge city.
Sankt Peterburg is worth a visit any time of year, but it’s especially magical during the polar winter – the time of bright nights between May and June.
For those, who are reconsidering due to the prices, the
Youth Hostle All world and some other hostels of the
Russian Youth Hostel Association make it possible to spend a night in a dormitory room for about 10€, or around 40€ in a two-edged room (the price is for two people).
More in the next issue of Globetroter!
