Full-Day Saint Petersburg City Excursion

Bronze Horseman Statue

Palace Square

Saint Isaac Cathedral

Boat Ride

St. Petersburg

Highlights

Admire the architecture of the Palace Square

Marvel at the famous Hermitage Museum

Offer your prayers at the Saint Isaac Cathedral

Sightsee the famous Bronze Horseman statue

Ride a boat along the channels of Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

boating, museums, sightseeing

Group Tour

Easy

English

Description

Sign up for an exciting walking tour of Saint Petersburg city, capturing all the major historical sites such as Alexandr's column in the middle of Palace Square, the largest art museum in the world, and the iconic Bronze Horseman statue. Also, pay a respectful visit to the Saint Isaac Cathedral at Saint Isaac square and ride a boat along the city channels.

Itinerary

Saint Petersburg City Tour
- Connect with your tour representative to start the program.
- Begin with a walk in Palace square, created by Carlo Rossi.
- See the Winter Palace with all the surrounding ministries, such as the military General Staff and Horse guards buildings, foreign affairs and ministry of finance which are now part of the Hermitage museum complex.
- Proceed to the Senate and Synod buildings, connected by the arch, which symbolises the unity of religious and secular powers.
- Visit the Saint Isaac Cathedral at Saint Isaac square, and learn the stories of their construction. By peeling off different layers of each historic building, see how they were gradually constructed to play their unique part in perfect harmony with a complete ensemble.
- Explore the famous landmarks and monuments such as the enormous 700 tons solid piece of granite, Alexandr's column in the middle of Palace Square, Bronze Horseman, which is an equestrian sculpture of Peter the Great on Senate square and Peter's creation across the river Neva including the monolith pedestal and monument to Nicolas I sitting on a horse.
- Look at bar reliefs on monuments and buildings depicting different events from the lives of those who ruled Russia and speak of values and ideas that they tried to convey, such as orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality.
- Enjoy a boat ride along the channels to see it all from an incredible viewpoint, or climb up the colonnade of the third biggest cathedral in Europe, Saint Isaac's, to have a bird's eye view.
Tour ends.

What's Included

English-speaking Saint Petersburg tour guide services

What's Excluded

Transportation

Entrance fee for the tickets if you want to go inside any other museums

Food and drinks

Know Before You Go

Are you bored with the run of the mill, standard tours, where guides just repeat the same old memorised text? I offer walking tours around St.Petersburg and its environs, which are incredibly detailed and where you would be able to find out not only the facts, such as who, what, for how long and for how much, using how many kilos etc., but learn both iconographies, namely what allegories are used in that particular object of art or architecture, along with iconology, meaning what values were its owners and creators trying to convey

If you want to create a meaningful connection with the place, you are going to visit and open your mind to new experiences you are more than welcome to try my lecture tours in a unique style of infotainment (mixing history and anecdotal storytelling) delivered with my own flair. I offer walking tours around St.Petersburg that are usually off the beaten paths and could be extremely detailed, but a crash/introductory course of the main highlights of the city is also available upon request.

I am a pedant raconteur, which means I can be both academic and entertaining, yet I promise not to overload you with unnecessary details. I'm choosing breathtaking views all over the city, so you would be able to see the sites, that awe and educate

Every day I work hard to make the experience of my clients better and more engaging. Groups are extremely small (four people maximum), personal, and informative about the real nitty-gritty of the city and usually, the fine details are not overlooked for the more popular highlights. Of course, the main highlights are available for anyone who asks

My area of expertise is in architecture and art history. But where I really exceed, is Russian history

St. Petersburg is full of surprises, and without a doubt, exploring it is an incredible experience on foot. You've probably already heard that it is often called an open-air museum. Each building is an exhibit with its unique history surrounded by mystery, intrigue and even murder. There is no better way to see it than to take a guided walking tour around the historical center of the city and learn the history of Peter's creation. You will not only see beautiful ensembles and royal palaces but would be able to find out about its former creators and owners. Was it a curse or a blessing for its inhabitants? You'll learn this and much more

I usually speak about the socio-economic progress of the country, during a corresponding period in conjunction with the development of different architecture's and art's styles

Along this route, we talk about the history of each building and its famous former owners so you'll get a crash course in Russian history as well. So if you are intellectually curious and it is not a strict term, the walking tours are just up your alley

Only Rossi could create such huge, but strictly controlled spatial perspectives, the length of which comprises more than 1300 feet in each direction. It was possible because of the large empty spot in front of former shipyard/fortresses, which were supposed to be surrounded by glacis as extra protection from approaching enemy sneak attack. It is hardly surprising that the present Admiralty building, which occupies the footprint of the former fortified wharf, the word for which came from Dutch, along with other nautical terms, such as macros-ship's hand, skipper-helmsman, Gavan-harbour, farvater-fairway and even float-fleet was first mentioned in Peter's personal diary on November 5, 1704, shortly after city's foundation. Though rebuilt several times in the 18th and 19th centuries, the original design was sketched by Peter himself, who had seen a significant number of wharves in the Netherlands and understood them well

It was built in Palladian grandiose Empire style and having the length of the facade extended for 400 meters by Adrian Zacharov, European trained architect, who managed it to look not so monotonous in spite of its length, using perfect proportions of protruding parts and central tower with soaring golden spire tipped with the model of the first ship, built in Russia, which also serves as a weathervane, designed by Dutchman Harman de Boles, is still one of the most recognizable symbols of St.Petersburg

The Senate and Synod were governmental bodies introduced by Peter the Great. Synod replaced Patriarchate as the supreme governing body of the Orthodox Church, a kind of ministry, presided over by a secular Procurator, reporting to the Tzar directly thus putting Church under the State control, a new system, which replaced Patriarchy and abolished equality of power of Tzar and Patriarch, which existed in Moscow