Great Petersburg

Advantages: A wonderful, beautiful city with a rich history
Disadvantages: None

...Introduction Stepping off the train from Moscow (and not without some relief in having finally arrived) into St Petersburg the change in atmosphere hit us as quickly as the icy Baltic breeze. Visited in succession it is hard to believe that these cities, the two largest in Russia, are even in the same country, let alone only 5 hours apart by train. St Petersburg, dubbed the Venice of the North thanks to its network of canals, has experienced a turbulent history. Foundered by Peter the Great in 1703 to provide access to the Baltic, St Petersburg was raised from the inhospitable Neva marshland. The strongest legacy of the city's 300 year history is the magnificence bequeathed to the city by the Russian Tsars. In the 20th century St Petersburg has endured more mixed fortunes. Renamed Petrograd in 1914 it was the scene of the 1917...

Tricia24 31.05.2006 (02.06.2006) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of St Petersburg (Russia)

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

Advantages: City of such beauty
Disadvantages: Locals tend not to be overly friendly

...I took Paul to St Petersburg, Russia in November 2003. It was his birthday/Christmas present. It had been a destination we both always fancied, and whilst looking through the Sunday Telegraph travel section, we saw a tour company advertising trips. After looking into that deal and then independent travel, we decided to go it alone!! So we booked our flights out of Heathrow, direct to Pulkovo airport with BA. Traveling from Belfast meant connections but we are well used to that now! Another web search along with the aid of a guide book (TIME OUT ST PETERSBURG) found us our hotel – a reasonably priced local hotel Pulkovoskaya. Also required for trips to Russia are a visa – we had to send our passports along with forms and photos off to the Russian embassy in Edinburgh – something l was not too happy about...

purdy 02.01.2004 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of St Petersburg (Russia)

How to survive in St Petersburg

Advantages: Cheap, Beautiful, Culture galore
Disadvantages: Dirty water, Freezing in winter(!)

.... Of course, being such a tiny place you can probably walk anywhere you want ? remember that the bridges close in the winter at about 3am (ish ? check local timetables) ? so don?t be stuck clubbing on one of the islands? The flea-markets are also worth a visit or two. SIGHTS Ultimately the must-sees are as follows: the Hermitage (state museum), Pushkin (Catherine's Palace and the Lycee), Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Church of the Spilt Blood, Nevsky Prospect (worth walking down and checking out some of the shops ? slowly being taken over by Western big names? and Macdonald?s). There are hundreds of museums, as well as theatres and lovely little cafes, especially away from the tourist centres - buy yourself a city guide, and try some of the little restaurants (e.g. "U tyoscha na blinah" on Zagorodni Prospect), or stick to...

Cheesefather 23.12.2000 (18.06.2003) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of St. Petersburg (Russia)

A CITY OF CONTRASTS

Advantages: so much to see and do, fabulous architecture, the Hermitage, boat tours round the city
Disadvantages: need to purify your water - apart from that, NONE!

...; so you can skip bits if you are just browsing, and not specifically intending to travel here. St Petersburg was of course once the capital city of Russia, founded by Peter the Great. It remained the capital of Imperial Russia for 200 years, until the Russian Revolution. It was renamed Petrograd during the first world war, and then Leningrad in 1924, after the death of Lenin. Now of course, it’s back to St Petersburg since the fall of the communist system…wonder how long it will keep its name for this time! 1) First of all, where to go and what to see – I have highlighted only a few of the main ‘must sees’ here – if I mentioned everywhere that I had been, you would be here all day just reading about it! a) The Hermitage ~~~~~~~~~~~ This is one of the most famous galleries in the whole...

weebagpuss 29.04.2001 (04.05.2001) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of St. Petersburg (Russia)

From Russia With Love!

Advantages: Strong, tasty and very classy.
Disadvantages: Too easy to drink!

...festivals around the country (hopefully they will be making an appearance at the Great British Beer Festival in August). Their range includes several core beers (they started at four but this is changing all the time and currently rests at six) and a range of special and seasonal creations. The regulars include Wild Swan (a light lemony beer at 3.5% ABV), Brock (a lower gravity dark stout at 4.1% ABV) and Jaipur (a strong IPA at 5.9% ABV). ~~~THE BEER. ***A Bit of Background*** It seems a little odd for a beer brewed in deepest Derbyshire to be named after a place in Russia. Granted it IS a beer brewed in the style of a Russian Imperial Stout (more about that later), but WHY St. Petersburg in particular? The answer for that comes from the history of Thornbridge Hall itself. A man called John Morewood purchased Thornbridge Hall in...

tange 10.04.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of St. Petersburg Imperial Russian Stout

The Writer, The President, Al Capone & and me

Advantages: Beautiful and clean beach, lots to do snd see
Disadvantages: None

...Indians were relocated to Cuba. All that remembers today that they did once exist in the area of Tampa Bay is a burial mount that can be visited in Philippe Park, which is situated in Tampa's Safety Harbour. In 1876 John C. Williams bought the land where St Petersburg can be found, with the vision to establish a new town here. In 1888 Peter Demens, a Russian noble aristocrat, came to his help by, bringing the railway there. I have been told that the two men flipped a coin to decide who could name the new town and Peter Demens won. His place of birth was St Petersburg in Russia, hence the name of the town. I cannot guarantee for the accuracy of this little anecdote, but I quite like it. In the meantime St Petersburg has grown to be the fourth largest city in Florida with around 250.000 inhabitants. The Beaches & Weather...

fritzthecat 31.03.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of St. Petersburg

MOSCOW AND ST PETERSBURGH GUIDEBOOK.

Advantages: Help you to find your bearings and plan your day.
Disadvantages: I found it useful as a guide, but tended to put it away during the day.

...Several years ago, I went for a trip to Moscow and St Petersburgh, and went prepared with my Guide book, hoping not to miss a lot of the sites that I would not have otherwise known about. The Cadogan Guides to different Cities have always been concise and this one is no different, although to me, visiting a country or a new town is not so much about reading a guidebook, as exploring and finding out for yourself what a city has on offer. The guide is detailed and gives you details of transportation, details of walks which was fascinating, and of course full details of the historic buildings that make up cities of the world, their background, and information that perhaps you may miss on a guided tour. MOSCOW I followed the map the first day, and took myself into Red Square. I wanted to see it. I wanted to feel the ambiance...

thingywhatsit 05.06.2004 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Cadogan Guide to Moscow & St Petersburg - Cadogan

Fantastic experience

Advantages: Astonishingly beautiful, cheap
Disadvantages: Crime, depressing poverty

...and ornate building. The Winter Palace is located on the Nevsky Prospekt, essentially the high street of St Petersburg. You will probably spend ALL your time here - we certainly did. Despite its beauty, it also rubs in the fact that Russia is very much a country of rich and poor. In the underpasses, peasant women would beg for you to buy, say, one odd shoe, or 3 year old torn back issues of Time magazine. Meanwhile, BMWs would drive by, with Russia's new elite on board. You must have a hard heart to experience this - because we saw one kindly tourist have her handbag snatched when she attempted to give some money to a beggar. We stayed in the Hotel Moskva, located at the other end of the (long) Prospekt. It's what might generously be called a 2 star hotel, but wasn't too bad. The main thing to worry about is random people off the street...

seizer 13.11.2000 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of St. Petersburg (Russia)

Russia: a journey to the heart of the country and its people

Advantages: informative, well reported historical facts and interesting encounters with locals
Disadvantages: too much personal life of the journalist in the book (not inherent to the context)

...Russia (A Journey to the Heart of a Land and its People) is a report about a journey through Russia, by a distinguished broadcaster and author Jonathan Dimbleby. The journey starts in Murmansk, in the Article Circle and ends in Vladivostock, in the Far East Asia, 10,000 miles and eight times zone away. Dimbleby travels by road, plane, boat and train covering the major cities of Russia such as Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Ekaterinburg, as well as less known cities and realities in the country. During the trip, there are many encounters with Russian people of all class and creed and this is, in my opinion, the backbone of the book. It is by talking with the local people that Dimbleby and the reader can understand about Russia, a country that is still, as Churchill once famously put it, ?A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma...

Lelo 13.09.2009 (14.09.2009) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Russia - Jonathan Dimbleby

From Russia with Pfeiffer and Connery

Advantages: Cast, premise...
Disadvantages: ... just too long for its own good.

...The Russia House is an international espionage thriller which, according to the blurb, is "A filmmaking tour de force and incredibly sophisticated, suspenseful and sexy entertainment". Don't believe the blurb - but don't necessarily be put off watching this film, either. Sean Connery stars as British publisher Barley Blair, who is sent a manuscript by Katya (Michelle Pfeiffer). This manuscript was written by a Soviet scientist and contains details of an extremely sensitive nature. British and American intelligence get wind of this potentially earth-shattering document and rope Blair in to work for them. When Blair eventually meets Katya, he realises that he wants to protect her more than anything else - or is he bluffing - or even double-bluffing?? With an excellent cast including not only Connery and Pfeiffer but also Roy...

CaptainDisaster 17.08.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of The Russia House (DVD)