Menu Decoder
Word stress falls on the syllables in italics. 6jinHbi bli-ny - pancakes crepes also eaten as an appetiser or dessert 6jihhihkh Wm-chi-ki - bliny rolled around meat or cheese and browned rama fai-sha - Russian-style buckwheat porridge Kei np ki-ftff - buttermilk, served as a drink OMJieT ahm- yef - omelette TBopor tva-rok - cottage cheese aiiito yai-fro - egg aniHnita ya- i j ni tsa fried egg BTopbie 6jiiofla ffo-ryye blyuda -second courses or'main' dishes ropaiiie niofla gar-yc-chi-ye blyu-da...
Train
St Petersburg is well connected to cities throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltics, Finland and European Russia. Sample fares and schedules are listed in the boxed texts unless otherwise noted, prices are for a kupe 2nd-class in a four-seat couchette ticket on a skory fast train. A lux ticket is generally twice as much. Keep in mind that the whole Russian rail network runs on Moscow time. St Petersburg is on Moscow time anyway, but even in other time zones the timetables and station clocks are...
Pio On Mokhovaya
273 3585 www.hotelpio.ru Mokhovaya ul 39, apt 10 amp 12 s d tr q R2200 2800 3200 3600 Mayakovskaya B This lovely lodging is the sister property to the Pioon Griboedov opposite . While this place lacks the canal views, the two apartments are midway between the Fontanka River and the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Saviour. Prices are slightly higher here because each of the 11 rooms has a bathroom. Bonus there is also a Finnish sauna on site. HOTEL NEVA Map p84 Soviet Hotel 578 0504...
Mariinsky
Decidedly quiet, the Mariinsky district does nevertheless have a few excellent restaurants clustered around the theatre. Look out for the expatriate mainstay The Idiot and the Mariinsky's fashionable restaurant, Backstage Za Stsenoy . NOBLE NEST Map p102 Russian-French SSS Dvoryanskoye Gnezdo s 312 0911 ul Dekabristov 21 meals R1000-1500 M Sennaya Pl Sadovaya This is the doyenne of the St Petersburg I haute cuisine world, housed in the Trianon of the Yusupov Palace p102 . It's exceptionally...
PETERHOF nETEPHHD
This most stunning of the tsarist palaces around St Petersburg was first built by Peter the Great it is also known as Petrodvorets Peter's Palace . Over the years his successors continued to build and expand - pretty much constantly - to create the astounding ensemble seen today. Comparisons to Versailles abound and it's easy to see why the sheer scale of the main palace and its incredible garden were heavily influenced by Louis XIV's own summer residence. That said, the centrepiece at...
Winter Palace Rd Floor
Although the rooms are not numbered chronologically, the artwork is actually arranged in approximate chronological order. Start at Room 314 near the stairs and lift in the northeast corner, continue from 332 to 328, then 325 to 315, ending with 343 to 350. The rest of the rooms on this floor house the Oriental and Middle Eastern collection. Rooms 316-320 Impressionists amp Postimpressionists Inspired by Romanticism, a group of painters in the 1860s began experimenting with painting modern life...
Vladimirskaya Vosstaniya
Plenty of places to eat are clustered around the metro stations at pi Vosstaniya and Vladimirskaya, as well as along Nevsky pr. Zagorodny pr is also becoming something of an 'eat street', with plenty of restaurants to suit all price ranges. 764 4413 ul Marata 54 34 meals R600-800 M Ligovsky Pr Generally accepted by all to be the city's finest seafood restaurant, this place is often completely full. The curious metallic maritime design complements the excellent menu of grilled, baked and fried...
Theatre 1
While it may not be completely accessible to most travellers due to language barriers, theatre plays a major role in St Petersburg performing arts. At least a dozen drama and comedy theatres dot the city streets, not to mention puppet theatres and musical theatres see p190 for a list of venues . As in all areas of the performing arts, contemporary playwrights do not receive as much attention as well-known greats and adaptations of famous literature. Nonetheless, drama has a long history in...
SMOLNY INSTITUTE Map P
2761461 pi Proletarskoy Diktatury 3 S by appointment only 10am-6pm Mon-Fri Chernyshevskaya Built by Giacomo Quarenghi between 1806 and 1808 as a school for aristocratic girls, the Smolny Institute was thrust into the limelight in 1917 when it became the headquarters for the Bolshevik Central Committee and the Petrograd Soviet. From here, Trotsky and Lenin directed the October Revolution, and in the Hall of Acts Aktovy zal on 25 October, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets conferred power on a...
World Of Water Museum
MirVody 275 4325 Shpalernaya ul 56 adult student R40 15 S 9.30am-6pm Wed-Sun Chernyshevskaya The handsomely restored complex of 19th-century brick buildings between Tauride Gardens and the Neva River house St Petersburg's water treatment company Vodokanal and its museum. The 1st floor has an interesting multimedia exhibition about what goes on underneath St Petersburg. The upper floors of the water tower contain historical exhibitions, including the construction of waterways in the city and the...
MARIINSKY THEATRE Map P 1
326 4141, fax 3141744 www.mariinsky.ru Teatralnaya pi S box office 11 am-7pm, tours by arrangement M Sadovaya The pretty green and white Mariinsky Theatre has played a pivotal role in Russian ballet ever since it was built in 1859. Outside performance times you can usually wander into the theatre's foyer and maybe peep into its lovely auditorium. To organise a full tour, fax a request to Dr Yury Schwartzkopf and call for an answer. For more information about attending performances at the...
Graveyard To The Greats
The Alexander Nevsky Monastery - named forthe patron saint of St Petersburg - is the city's most ancient and eminent monastery. So it is appropriate that the attached Tikhvin Cemetery should be the final resting place for so many cultural icons. Like Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, this is where visitors pay their respects to the most illustrious individuals in Russian music, literature, art and theatre. It was in St Petersburg that the 'Group of Five' - Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai...
Anichkov Pension
314 7059 www.anichkov.com Nevsky pr 64, apt 4 s d from R4680 5860 Gostiny Dvor In the best tradition of exclusive European pensions, the unsignposted Anichkov is a place for those in the know. On the 3rd floor of a handsome apartment building with an antique lift, this self-styled pension has just six rooms. All are decorated in soft shades of beige and cream with walnut veneer furniture and antique-themed wallpaper. The delightful lounge offers balcony views of the bridge from which the...
Marshrutka
The marshrutka a Russian diminutive form of marshrutnoye taxi is a crucial form of transport in St Petersburg. These minibuses function like buses, only passengers are free to request a stop anywhere along the route and because of their size they zip through the traffic far faster than normal city buses. The sheer number of routes is staggering -they connect the city to the suburbs, and far-flung residential neighbourhoods to metro stations, and are often the only public transport serving some...
PETER PAUL FORTRESS Map PP
Petropavlovskaya krepost 230 0329 www .spbmuseum.ru grounds free S grounds 6am-10pm daily, exhibitions 11am-6pm Thu-Tue Gorkovskaya Founded in 1703, the Peter amp Paul Fortress is the oldest major building in St Petersburg. It was built as a defence against the Swedes, but they were defeated before the fortress was finished. In fact, it has never been utilised in the city's defence - unless you count incarceration of political 'criminals' as national defence. Up until 1917, the main use of the...
Index
Academy of Arts 47, 78, 110-11 Academy of Arts Museum 110-11, 112 accommodation 202-12, see also Sleeping subindex airport, near to 212 costs 202-3 Historic Heart 203-6 Liteyny 206-8 Mariinsky 210-11 Petrograd Side 211-12 rental agencies 202 room reservations 202 Sennaya 209-10 Smolny 206-8 Southern St Petersburg 212 types of 202 Vasilevsky Island 211 Vladimirskaya 208-9 Vosstaniya 208-9 Vyborg Side 212 activities 198-9 Admiralty 67, 9 air travel 233-4 airlines 233-4 airports 234 to from St...