Patriarshy Dom Tours offers individual
private tours in St.Petersburg catered to fit better into your schedule.
We also arrange visa support,
accommodations, transfers from/to airports/train stations/hotels, tickets
for overnight and day trains and airfares inside Russia,tickets to various
performances.
Here is a sample 3 day tour
program in St.Petersburg:
Day 1 - pick up at the train
station (if necessary); City Sightseeing tour ( 3 hours) which includes
driving by the Palace Square, Winter Palace, Vasilievsky Island, Nevsky
Prospect, Canals, Kazan Cathedral,Anchikov Palace, Smolny.
The Peter-&-Paul Fortress
( 2 hours)
Hermitage (3 hours)
Day 2 - tour of Peterhof
( around 5 hours); 1 hour roundtrip by Hydrofoil , 2-3 hours tour
Tour of the Russian Museum
(2-3 hours);
Day 3 - walk in the historic
downtown - 2-3 hours;
Tour St.Isaac Cathedral
(1.5-2 hours);
We can make reservation for
the folk concert at the former czar palace or book tickets for you to see
opera and ballet at the world-renowned Marijinsky theatre.
Additional tours inside St.Petersburg:
Russian Art museum (around
2 hours),
Jusupov Palace,
Repino (around 4 hours),
boat crusie along the channels
(1 hour),
any literary tours (Pushkin,
Dostoevsky, Blok,others).
Peter's House (1,5 -2 hours)
Our Saviour on Blood (1
hours).
Mikhailovsky Castle (1,5-2hrs)
Here is the brief description
of some of the most popular cites of the magnificent St.Petersburg, to
make it easier for you to choose from when requesting your private tour
program:
Church on Blood (closed
on Wednesdays)
The name arises from the
spot on which it was built, site of the assassination of Tsar Alexander
II (1 March 1881). It's an extraordinary feast of patterned and colored
domes echoing St.Basil's in Moscow and reviving forms of 17th century Moscow
and Yaroslavl architecture.
Hermitage Museum -
(closed on Mondays)
With its 3 million exhibits,
the Hermitage represents Roman and Greek sections, galleries with Rembrandts,
da Vincis, Impressionists and many other masterpieces. Its architecture
and interiors are so splendid that they claim an attention equal to that
bestowed on the exhibits.
Peter and Paul Fortress
(closed on Wednesdays)
In 1793 Peter the Great
declared that a city would be built on Zayachy Island. The Fortress was
supposed to guard the approaches from three branches of the Neva delta
and became famous for its Cathedral, with its 122m spire belfry, a notorious
political prison, Botny Dom, the pavilion once housed Peter the Great's
boat and one of the newest and the most peculiar monument of Peter the
Great created by the unofficial artist Mikhail Shemyakin.
Russian Museum (closed
on Tuesdays)
The Mikhailovsky Palace
shelters the oldest and largest public collection of Russian art. Of the
300,000 works kept here, the fraction on display provides unforgettable
insights into the national consciousness.
St.Isaac Cathedral (closed
on Wednesdays)
St.Isaac Cathedral is surmounted
by an immense cupola with the observation deck providing the best view
of the city. Among other fineries, note the mosaic iconostasis with malachite
columns and Orthodoxy's only stained glass window, depicting Christ shimmering
mysteriously under gas light.
Yusupov Palace (min
3 people)
It's a classical building
owned by eccentric and conspicuously wealthy Prince Felix Yusupov. Here
on 17 December 1916 Yusupov and friends killed the Tsar's favorite, the
mystic monk Grigory Rasputin. Today guided tours take visitors round the
luxurious white-columned hall and the private theater upstairs.
ENVIRONS:
1) Petrodvorets (Peterhof)
By the order of Peter the
Great a number of palaces were built along the shore of the Gulf of Finland
to the west of St. Petersburg, the ensemble known as Petrodvorets. The
Grand Palace sits atop a hill separating the entire ensemble in two parts
- the Upper Garden and the Lower Park. Best know for its fountains, Petrodvorets
is often compared to France's Versailles.
Among other attractions
of this complex are Monplaisir, Peter's original villa, Marli, the ultimate
in private dining-rooms, with the ubiquitous fountains, charming pavillions
and summer houses scattered around the whole area of the ensemble.
The estate is open from
09:00-20:00 daily during the season, the fountains operate from 11:00-20:00
(until 21:00 on Sunday) from the last Sunday in May to the end of September.
All museums are open from 10:30-18:00 The Grand Palace is closed Mondays
and the last Tuesday of the month; Chateau de Marly is closed Mondays;
Monplaisir and the Hermitage Pavilion are closed Wednesdays and the last
Thursday of each month; the Cottage is closed Mondays and the last Tuesday
of the month. Outside high season (June1- October 5) all museums operate
10:30-17:00 Sat-Sun.
Additional attraction: Hydrofoil
transfer from St.Pete. sailing from May 7th-October.
2)Catherine's Palace in
Pushkin (Tsarskoe Selo).
The town of Pushkin is situated
12 miles (20 kilometers) from Saint Petersburg. Formerly Tsar's Village(Tsarskoe
Selo), it used to be the parade imperial residence. Pushkin, Karamzin,
Lermontov, Tolstoy and Akhmatova once resided in this town.
In the early XVIII
century Peter the Great granted this small country estate to his favorite
Alexander Menshikov. Sometime later it was bequeathed to the tsar's wife
Ekaterina Alekseevna.
Catherine's Palace and the
Catherine's Park are among Russia's top museums visited by hundreds of
thousands tourists every year. The yellow-and-blue facade of the Palace
decorated with snow-white columns is the most famous example of the Russian
baroque style, designed by Bartholomeo Rastrelli for the Empress Elizabeth,
daughter of Peter the Great.
The famous Amber Room looted
by fascists and lost somewhere at the German border almost 60 years ago
has been restored and is now open to the public!
Park open 09:30-17:30 daily
(May 1- October 14). Catherine's Palace open10:00-17:00, closed Tuesdays
and last Monday of each month.
3)The Pavlovsk Palace.
The Pavlovsk Palace is located
southeast of St. Petersburg, a few miles away from the town of Pushkin.
This palace was a gift of Catherine the Great,Paul's mother , commemorating
the birth of Alexander, son of Paul, in 1777. Most of the furniture, statues,
paintings and porcelain were brought by Paul and his German wife Maria
from their European travels. Unlike the other state palaces of the Russian
monarchs, the Pavlovsk Palace is unique due to its homely atmosphere and
non-garish choice of colors. The gorgeous Pavlovsk Park is one of the largest
man-made parks in Europe.
Park open 09:00-20:00 daily.
Grand Palace open 10:00-17:00, closed Fridays and the first Monday of the
month; on Thursdays only the State Rooms are open. Pavilions open 10:00-17:00
daily June to October.
4) Gatchina
45 kilometers southwest
of St. Petersburg, Gatchina was first built by Count Grigory Orlov, one
of Catherine the Great's lovers. After his death it became an imperial
residence and the favorite of Paul I, who spent most of his life there.
The huge park ensemble,
originally designed in the English style, is less formal than Pushkin and
Petrodvorets.
Open 11:00-17:00 daily,
closed Mondays and the first Tuesday of the month.
5) Lomonosov
10 kilometers west of Petrodvorets,
this estate was founded by Alexander Menshikov, but was completed later
by the order further developed by Peter III and Catherine the Great. The
estate was originally called Orienbaum (German for orange tree) as Menshikov
had a hot-house orange orchard.
Museums 11:00-17:00 (until
16:00 on Mondays), closed Tuesdays and the last Monday of the month.
|