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2-Day History And Architecture Tour Of Saint Petersburg
  • Tour Category

    Group Tour

  • Tour Types

    Architecture, History, Museum

  • Duration

    2 Days

  • Activity Level

    Easy

  • Language

    English

Description

Sign up on this tour to walk around Peter and Paul fortress and visit Kshessinskaya prima ballerina. Wander around the river Neva's embankments, see the University embankments and explore Peter and Paul's fortress. Head towards the Smolny Convent and Institute, pay your respects at the Smolny Monastery and see the steam train on which Lenin arrived from Germany.

Highlights
  • Admire the architecture of Peter and Paul's Fortress
  • Take a look at Starov's Taurida Palace and Garden 
  • Pay your respects at Peter and Paul Cathedral 
  • See Stalin's bar relief at Ploshad Vosstanya 
  • Explore Smolny Monastery and Kshessinaskaya Prima Ballerina
  • Saint Petersburg Sightseeing and History Tour expand_more
    • Take a walk around Peter and Paul fortress and its surrounding area with your Saint Petersburg tour guide.

    • Visit Kshessinskaya prima ballerina and lover of the last tzar Nicolas II's mansion, which was taken over by Bolshevik's revolutionary committee. From its balcony, Lenin delivered his "All Power to the Soviets" speech. 

    • Stroll along the river Neva's embankments, where every stone remembers the past. Enjoy a breathtaking view from its bridges and stable granite embankments that don't exist anywhere else in the world.

    • See Admiralty, Palace, English, Peter's, and University embankments.

    • Visit Peter and Paul fortress (included) or another museum of your choice, such as the political history museum or Aurora cruiser's museum. You can visit the City History Museum inside the fortress.

    • As a bonus, examine the miniature version of St.Petersburg with all the replicas of iconic buildings presented to scale. 

    • Find out about the history of Peter's creation.  We proceed to places connected with more recent Russian history.

    • Hear the story of a love affair between the young girl, who just graduated from the Imperial ballet academy and a future tzar of all of Russia, when they met at the graduation ceremony and stayed lovers before Nicolas became happily married to his wife. 

    • See the Peter and Paul fortress' maximum security political prison, where the brother of Vladimir Lenin along with other comrades and predecessors such as utopian socialist democratic writer Cherniyshevskyi were incarcerated.

    • Explore Peter and Paul Cathedral with its bell tower rising to the height of 122 mitres.

    • Look at the history of struggles for democracy in Russia in the beautiful surroundings of baroque and classical ensembles of the Smolny convent and institute, which was the headquarters of the Bolshevik revolution and the Taurida Palace, which was a seat of the first Russian democratically elected parliament.  

    • Learn about other events that started with plots to take power through murder and coup d'etat starting from the very foundation of the city to its Soviet past, those that shook the world and changed its history.

    • Take a walk in St.Petersburg's area that is connected with the most infamous murders in Russia's bloody history with your Petersburg tour guide.

    • Learn about the appearance of the first Soviet grass-root movement, which started during strikes, when workers sent their representatives on the eve of the first Russian revolution of 1905.

    • Start from Smolny Monastery, the iconic baroque building built by Rasstrelly during the reign of Elisabeth. 

    • Visit the grounds, where Peter moved his family from Moscow, including his only son prince Alexy whom he later tortured and killed because of his desire to move back to the old Muscovite ways of running Russia.

    • Get to know about the conflict between Westernizers and Slavanofills about the best ways to rule Russia. 

    • Visit Starov's Taurida palace and garden, the seat of the first Russian democratically elected parliament, which was built as a farewell present for prince Potemkin, a famous statesman and one of the favourites of Catherine the Great.

    • See the whole ensemble and ground estate she commissioned and which is the best example of a combination of classical architecture and English "Capability Brown" gardening style, which is possible only seen in St.Petersburg's flat expanses.

    • Find out the struggles that Lenin faced to bring about the revolution.

    • See the steam train on which Lenin arrived from Germany along with his wife and a lover to be greeted by his comrades.

    • See Stalin's bar relief at Ploshad Vosstanya (Insurrection square), named so because it was the place where second February's bourgeois revolution started from the spontaneous movement of angry housewives, who could not get bread in the shops waiting for it the whole night.

What's Included
  • Saint Petersburg tour guide
What's Excluded
  • Transportation
  • Entrance fees for the museums that are not mentioned 
  • Food and drinks
Know before you go
  • Bored with the run of the mill, standard tours, where guides repeat the exact 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.
  • Suppose you want to create a meaningful connection with the place you will visit and open your mind to new experiences. In that case, you are more than welcome to try my lecture tours in a unique infotainment style (mixing history and anecdotal storytelling) delivered with my flair.
  • I offer walking tours around St.Petersburg that are usually off the beaten paths and could be highly detailed. Still, a crash/introductory course on the city's main highlights is also available upon request. I am a pedant raconteur, which means I can be 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 my clients' experience better and more engaging. Groups are 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 excel is Russian history. I usually speak about the country's socio-economic progress during a corresponding period in conjunction with the development of different architecture and art 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 btw it is not a strict term, the walking tours are just up your alley.
  • If you want to go on a group tour then the price will be 200 USD per group.
Cancellation Policy

For cancellations upto 2 days before the tour -

Refund of 80% of the tour price.
Price Details
Standard
1 To 4 USD 100 Per Person

This is a group tour

Starting From

Fromss

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USD 100 / person