St. Petersburg: Peter and Paul Fortress

It was finally time for us to see and experience more of Russia by heading to St. Petersburg. We booked a first class cabin in the overnight train so that we could get a decent night's sleep and have enough energy for touring. We were lucky and thankful that when we arrived at our hotel at around 8:30 AM, the receptionist actually agreed to check us in, about 5 1/2 hours earlier than our official check-in time. Cool! This allowed us to get a bit more rest and cleaned up before heading out. Our first (and only stop) on our first day in St. Petersburg was the Peter and Paul Fortress.

We took the Ioannovsky Bridge into the Peter and Paul Fortress where you have pretty good views of the Neva river and the important and historic buildings on the opposite bank.

We noticed a lot of people converging on one side of the bridge and looking down. Here we spotted a statue of a rabbit that everyone was taking photos of and tossing coins at. I took a picture of it but didn't know its significance until the next day when our tour guide explained the significance of this statue. Unfortunately, I can't quite recall what it was LOL. I think that the rabbit represents Peter the Great and managing to land a coin on the piling is supposed to bring you luck or something good.

Within the fortress walls, you can find several areas of interest. Arguably the most important of these is the Peter and Paul Cathedral, whose towering gilded spire is a defining landmark in the city.

While the cathedral exterior is noteworthy, it's what you can find inside that is of great historical significance. Apart from the lavish gilded iconostasis, you can find the graves of most of Russia's prerevolutionary rulers, including Peter the Great (Peter I)...

...and Catherine the Great (Catherine II).

We quickly passed by the strange bronze statue of Peter the Great with its disproportionately small head. My mom actually managed to inadvertently catch a flying bird in the shot when she took my picture. Can you see it?

We skipped the climb to the top of the 122.5 m high bell tower despite the promise of a breathtaking panoramic view of the city from the top. We also got the combination entrance ticket that I thought included access to the Neva Panorama, a walking route along the fortress walls. Unfortunately, it didn't, and we didn't feel like paying extra. However, it was next to the entrance to the Neva Panorama that we spotted an opportunity to have photos taken while dressed as Russian royalty. Depending on the outfit, you pay 500 to 700 rubles and you are allowed to put on a dress and take photos with your own camera for 15 minutes. That seemed like a better use of our time and money so my mom went for it.

It started to rain so we decided to head indoors to the places that were included in our ticket. This included the Neva Curtain Wall where you can see "The History of Peter and Paul Fortress" display as well as a bronze replica of the gilded angel at the tip of the cathedral spire.

We then headed towards the Commandant's House where you will find a fascinating exhibit of the history of St. Petersburg. It includes several marvellous displays that depict how life in St. Petersburg was from 1703 to 1918.

Our final stop was the Trubetskoy Bastion. You can see the different cells of political prisoners from the 18th to the early 20th century.

It started raining a bit more heavily as we were about to leave so we stopped by one of the cafes in the fortress to have a late afternoon snack and some coffee. (The food here was actually pretty good.) By the time we stepped out, the sun was thankfully up again. We had nothing else planned that evening so we headed back to the hotel quite early to get some rest. After all, we had an 8-hour walking tour of St. Petersburg the next day. More on that in my next post.