Saint-Petersburg Travel Guide
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Fascinating St. Petersburg, founded in 1703 and named for Peter the Great, had a tough 20th century, with much trauma and bloodshed. The 1917 Rus-sian Revolution that ushered in the Soviet era also ushered in a new name for the city: Leningrad, in honor of Vladimir Lenin. In the early 1940s, Nazi troops seized Leningrad for 900 days during World War II, leaving approximately a million dead and the city badly battered.
In 1991, the city, under the new non-communist Russian government, returned to its original name, and today the one-time capital of Imperial Russia is a cosmopolitan city of five million that's both an industrial and a cultural center. It's the second largest city in Russia and the country's largest port. But the signs of age and warfare are obvious at close range. The walls of many buildings that, seen from afar, seem architecturally appealing, close up look tattered and worn, graffiti-stained, with paint blistered and just, well, sort of tired. Putting this gorgeous city in order is going to take determination -- and lots of cash.
The Neva River cuts through the city, which was once swampland, and there are some 360 bridges crossing the river and canals, a layout that's earned the city the nickname "Venice of the North." The canals are lined with opulent baroque and neoclassical palaces, cathedrals, and monuments. The city's ongoing restoration project requires that all existing facades in the downtown area be retained.
Top sights in St. Petersburg include the Hermitage museum, which has one of the richest art collections in the world; the Peter and Paul fortress, the burial place of the Romanov dynasty; and St. Isaac's Cathedral, the fourth largest cathedral in the world. Outside the city, you can visit the lavish summer homes of the czars.
Cruise lines also typically offer nighttime shore excursions here to see ballet, opera, folk performers, or a circus.
