A full day of sightseeing includes a visit to the Hermitage – the world's famous art treasury along with lunch and shopping.
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WHAT YOU VISIT
Hermitage - The Tsar's former Winter Palace and four other buildings house one of the world's premier art collections. Your guided tour visits the display rooms, which contain over three million art works, including paintings by Da Vinci, Rafael, Monet, Rembrandt, Renoir - to name a few. Designed by Rastrelli, the Baroque Winter Palace boasts patterned parquet floors, ornate staircases, molded and decorated ceilings and gilded appointments. |
PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES
Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood - This recently restored church sports an ornate and exaggerated "Russian-style" exterior and is built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated. |
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St. Isaac's Cathedral - The cathedral's massive central gold dome - one of the largest in the world - dominates the city skyline. |
| Cruiser Aurora - Now a museum on the west bank of the Neva, the armored cruiser Aurora fired her guns to signal the beginning of the Bolshevik Revolution. |
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SHOPPING
Browse for souvenirs and gifts and bargain with local vendors at the various stops during your excursion. |
| LUNCH A traditional Russian lunch is served at one of the best restaurants in St. Petersburg and includes champagne, vodka, red caviar and entertainment. |
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| WHAT YOU SEE ALONG THE WAY Board your motorcoach for a narrated drive through St. Petersburg. Your route takes you past the central part of the city. Pass the Palace Square, the main square of the city, beautifully balanced and proportioned around the Alexander Column. Drive across the Neva River and view the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, flanked by two Rostral Columns originally lighthouses, in olden days guiding ships through the busy port of St. Petersburg. Reach the Nevsky Prospect – not just St. Petersburg's but Russia's most famous street. It is lined with magnificent palaces, churches and theatrical buildings. On the way back to the ship you pass the Decembrists Square that is animated by a superb work of sculpture – the magnificent equestrian statue of Peter the Great. |
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WHAT YOU SEE ALONG THE WAY Board your motorcoach for a narrated drive through St. Petersburg. Your route takes you past the central part of the city. Pass the Palace Square, the main square of the city, beautifully balanced and proportioned around the Alexander Column. Drive across the Neva River and view the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, flanked by two Rostral Columns originally lighthouses, in olden days guiding ships through the busy port of St. Petersburg. Reach the Nevsky Prospect – not just St. Petersburg's but Russia's most famous street. It is lined with magnificent palaces, churches and theatrical buildings. On the way back to the ship you pass the Decembrists Square that is animated by a superb work of sculpture – the magnificent equestrian statue of Peter the Great. |
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