ST PETERSBURG IN FOUR DAYS, DAY THREE A TRIP TO PETERHOF PALACE

Hello dear friends,

tHE story about our 2019 holidays is slowly unfolding.  So far we visited a countries of Qatar and Oman and then flew to St Petersburg, Russia.  Today is our third day in this amazing city and I would like to share with you our visit to Peterhof (German for Peter's Court) Palace, a series of palaces and gardens located in Peterhof.  It was originally commissioned by Peter the Great as a direct response to Palace of Versailles as his country retreat, but then got expanded after his visit to the French royal court in the beginning of 18th century and later was nicknamed as "Russian Versailles".  

Although legally the Peterhof Palace belongs to the city of St Petersburg, it is over 30 kilometres away from it.  There are a few options available for those who wants to see this magnificent property.   Surely, the simplest but expensive would be by a private car or a taxi.  But if you use the public transport system, which is great, by the way, you have two choices to get there:  either by water or by land.  The land option involves the use of various modes of transportation while hydrofoil, a quick and efficient water taxi, is slightly more expensive but it could take you across the Gulf of Finland straight to the Lower Gardens of Peterhof Palace in twenty minutes.   We opted to use the latter as it sounded more appealing.   Besides the hydrofoil pier was just a short stroll away from our hotel.

It was a nice sunny day and our ride across the water was very smooth.  Once disembarked, we joined other visitors at the ticket office and five minutes later were able to enter the Lower Gardens of the estate.  As we stepped onto the wide path that led from the gates to the Palace, the first thing that we saw the breathtaking vista of  a Grand Palace with the resplendent Grand Cascade, with the sprays of water gushing from its spouts glistening under the bright summer sun.

As I mentioned earlier, apart from the Grand Palace, Peterhof Palace is comprised of many smaller palaces, some of them designed by Peter the Great himself, scattered across the estate in the midst of beautifully planned and maintained parks peppered with the fountains and statues and you need a couple of hours to see them all.  Alternatively, you can jump on a small open cart that will take you around the grounds while you listening to the commentary.  

Sadly, it was only in Russian so I had to translate it to my husband on the go.  It was a good way to get an overview of this magnificent place, take some pictures and learn interesting facts about the Palace.

Once we got off the cart, we walked to the Grand Palace to begin our excursion.  As in the Hermitage museum, we were asked to cover our shoes as we walked into the building.  If you didn't read my post about our visit to this extraordinary museum, here is the link to bring you up to date with my story 

As it was summer, there were so many tourist groups crammed inside that we didn't have much time to linger and slowly take it all in.  As we walked from one stunningly appointed room to the next, we had just enough time to hear what the tour guide has to say about it, have a quick look around, take a picture and move on.  

Similarly to what we experienced inside the Hermitage museum, we were smitten by the opulence and richness of every room that we passed.  There were a lot of architectural and decorative details that we had already seen in the Hermitage but because the Palace was previously occupied by the Russian Tzars and their families, we had an opportunity to have glimpses of their lives in the natural habitat and try to imagine of what the day of a Tzar would be like when he is on "vacation"😊. 

Once our tour was completed, we went outside to take a closer look at the Grand Cascade and Samson Fountain.  The Grand Cascade is the most famous ensemble of fountains comprising over 64 different fountains and over 200 bronze statues and other decorative features.  At the centre stands spectacular statue of Samson wrestling the jaw of a lion.  It was absolutely beautiful and because of its size and composition you can spend hours just admiring its beauty and grandeur.

I hope you enjoy reading my travel narratives and will get inspired by them and in case you missed the beginning of the tale about our 2019 holidays, you can read about it in the previous posts.  If you want to know more about the places you read about in my posts or ask me for an advice, please contact me by using the comment section below or e-mail me directly to annmarcus@optusnet.com.au and I will be only happy to help.

Until then,

Anna 😍

xoxo