CIUDAD PUSHKIN, COSSACKS AND PETERHOF

THE CATHERINE PALACE IN PUCHKIN CITY

Our tour of the beautiful and in some way remote cities of the immense Russia continued, leaving in our minds and souls a halo of fascination for their culture, for their art and for their History which is full of intrigues, heroism, treason and mystery.
On May 9 we were going to visit Pushkin City, another place where we would see more classical architecture, art and History. We left St Petersburg at nine in the morning enjoying another day of great weather. St Petersburg was showing to us the best of the best of its faces. We could see and feel that people in the streets were not only enjoying the weather, but getting ready for another holiday. Young girls in the streets, by the hundreds, were showing not only their rhythmic and elegant walking, their beautiful faces and contagious smiling, but their high heels and light mini skirts which revealed their long and perfectly shaped legs and their wonderfully built bodies. We, all the men in the group, rated them among the most beautiful girls in the whole wide world, something to which our wives had no choice but to agree upon.


THE GARDENS AT THE ENTRANCE OF
THE PALACES AT PUSHKIN CITY

Pushkin City is a small but very historical city located only about 20 miles South of St Petersburg, our bus departed from the hotel, went through the downtown area and suddenly we were on Moscow Highway and in our way to our destination. A series of artistic and historical monuments on both sides of the streets showed us that St Petersburg is, per se, a museum of Russian History. Pushkin City was, during the XVII to the XX centuries a residence of the almighty Russian tsars, starting with Catherine I, the widow of Peter the Great and ending with Nicholas II the last of the Russian tsars, who was brutally assassinated by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

THE ALEXANDER PALACE IN PUSHKIN CITY

More tan the city itself, its palaces and its churches, what impressed me the most was the History of the city as it was told to us in our way to Pushkin City by our special Guide, especially when it relates to the siege of St Petersburg during WWII.

Breaking the Peace and Non Aggression Treaty signed by Stalin and Molotov (to split Europe in their benefit), which was signed only three months before, in September of 1941, hundreds of German armoured divisions followed by more than half a million infantry men, established a 900 day siege of Leningrad (that was the name of St Petersburg in those days) until January 1944, with the intention of annihilating it and letting no survivors to feed. Hitler’s orders were clear; “we want no prisoners, no survivors, period”. The siege of Leningrad is one of the most heroic and dramatic episodes of WWII. The German Army and Air Force bombarded the city at an average of four hours a day between 8 AM and 10PM while at the same time subjecting its population to extreme hunger and thirst. This gave way to thousands of cases of cannibalism of which the Russian History prefers not to talk much about. One year after the beginning of the siege, the city was left without water and electricity making darkness and freezing cold weather the worst enemies of a population which suffered hardships of apocalyptic proportions. The incredibly heroic resistance of the people in the city prevented the German military to enter the city, but at the cost of the lives of more than a million people, fifty percent of which were young children.

The worst bombardments to the city came from behind the hills located nearby Pushkin City, at about 15 miles from Leningrad; therefore, they never reached the historical center which after the war was almost intact. This was the reason why those hills were defended so vehemently by the tens of thousands of heroes who left their lives on these grounds. There, in the outskirts of Pushkin City, a large Cemetery, always adorned with flowers, is a monument to the anonymous heroes who gave their lives to defend their homeland from the barbarian forces of the Nazi Germany.

Contrary to what happened with Leningrad, Pushkin city was in fact taken over by the Nazis. There, in the palaces where the tsars and the tsarinas of historical Russia lived in full splendour, the Germans established their military headquarters. The building where Pushkin, the most famous of the Russian poets went to school between 1811 and 1817, was used by the Germans as a stable for their horses. As it was told to us by our Guide, the Red Army was never up to the task of defending Leningrad, as it was publicly known of Stalin’s aversion to Leningradians for their “free thinking” attitudes, which was considered almost a “crime” in Stalin’s times.

Free thinking and freedom of expression has always been a crime for dictators who believe their will and their methods are the supreme law of the land and who are convinced that discrepancies are “a crime against the State”.

After about one hour on the road and being lectured about Pushkin City and the siege of Leningrad, we finally made it to our destination. Pushkin City came to its maximum splendour during the reign of Elizabeth I. The main palaces of the city were built between 1740 and 1750, many years after the death of Peter the Great and under the reign of Catherine I, his widow.

THE INTERIOR OF THE PALACES EXCEEDED

THE LUXURY OF THEIR EXTERIORS

The Catherine Palace, the Winter Palace, the Alexander Palace and the Sophie’s Cathedral are the most famous buildings of the city. As we entered these buildings, we could feel that their magnificent architecture was almost completely shadowed by the luxury of their interiors and the hundreds of works of art in exhibit therein, where one can feel as vividly as it can be the wealth of the Russian tsars and their courts taken to extremes of extravagance.

After visiting and seeing all these luxuries, one can’t help but wonder how was it that the tsars lived in so much luxury and abundance while their people lived in extreme poverty and ignorance. The seeds of popular discontent, of course, had been sown in those days and it was only a question of time for this time bomb to explode. The explosion occurred in 1917.

MAIN ACCESS TO PUSHKIN CITY

Visiting these treasures of architecture and art is like going back three hundred years and being a life witness of the splendour of the Russian Courts in the XVIII and XIX centuries. The restoration and preservation of those treasures of history, especially after the devastation caused by the Bolshevik Revolution and WWII are, in their magnitude, almost as admirable as their original design and construction.

THE COSSACK SHOW

On the night of May 9, we attended a Folk dancing show by a group of Cossack dancers. Cossacks have been an essential part of the history and the folklore of Russia since the times of Ivan “The Terrible” when they became the guards of ten large Royal Garrisons along the banks of the Volga River. Since then, they have always been important contributors to the personal guards of all the Russian rulers.

A COSSACK FAMILY DRESSED
UP FOR A FESTIVAL IN THE 90'S

During the years of the Bolshevik Revolution, the Cossacks, brave warring people of Slavic origin from South Western Russia were in the forefront of the resistance to the communists; however, after many years of brutal crushing of their resistance by the Red Army, they were finally forced into submission and were sent into exile to many far away places within the immense Russia. These days, wherever they are, they are more than ever before, keen to preserve their ancestral culture, their customs, their folklore and their impressive dances intact. The Cossacks show we watched, in St Petersburg left in our retinas the colourful and sweet impression of an authentic cultural treasure we had been very lucky to witness.

THIS WAS THE STAR OF THE COSSACK SHOW

By mid show, the Cossack performers sang and danced the classical Cossack love song KALINKA (which we had been taught to sing during our navigation through the Volga Waterways), at the sound of which, all the singers and dancers in the Cossack’s show entered into a frenetic celebration of dancing and extremely fast but very rhythmic body movements which took the audience to the highest level of emotion when we all sang along with the performers.

COSSACK FEMALE PERFORMERS
DOING WHAT THEY KNOW BEST

We all love to feel the vibrations of the hearts and souls of a people through their folk songs. These Cossack dancers sing their ancestral songs and perform their dancing as if it was the last thing they will do before they pass away, and they transmit to their audience their emotions making it their allied and companion. The body movements of some of these artists are so fast and rhythmic, which make them look like machines, putting the audience into a frenzy

FANNY DANCING WITH THE
COSSACK SHOW STAR

It was the dancing and singing of the brave, happy and sentimental Cossacks that we watched that night. My wife Fanny was invited to the stage and actually danced along with the performers. We all enjoyed the Cossack show featured by these legitimate Cossacks in St, Petersburg.

COSSACK DANCERS IN THEIR SHOW

The artful singing and dancing of the Cossacks performers, which we had just watched and enjoyed was one of the outstanding points of our visit to Russia and will remain in our memories for a long time. The Cossacks are a typical example of people who can be brave warriors and still be very happy. Long live the Cossacks!

PETERHOF

THE GREAT PALACE IN PETERHOF

On May 11, our tour took us to Peterhof (better known as the Russian Versailles), a complex of palaces and parks of the most exquisite classic architecture, built by the order of /and for Peter the Great who used it as his Summer residence and continued to be so for the Russian tsars until 1917

EIGHT ECUADORIANS VISITING PETERHOF

Peterhof is located only about 22 miles from St Petersburg at the Gulf of Finland. The focal point in this historical place is the Grand Palace which was built between 1714 and 1725 and was remodelled between 1745 and 1755 to its current baroque style by the famous Italian architect Bartolommeo Rastrelli, the same architect who built the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. Just the same as it has happened with the palaces in Pushkin City, despite the damage done to the Grand Palace in WWII, its exteriors and interiors have been restored to their original grandeur.

RAFAEL AND HIS LIONESS STANDING IN

FRONT OF THE THE FOUNTAIN OF

SAMSON AND THE LION

Peterhof, with its magnificent parks, fountains and cascades (the most beautiful of which is the Samson and the Lion) is a historical center which is a part of St. Petersburg’s and has been elevated by the United Nations to the category of Monument of the Human Kind.

The palaces and the whole architectural complex of Peterhof were converted into National Museums since 1917, and here is where a great part of the art treasures of the Great Russia are kept.

THE GARDENS AT PETERHOF, CALLED

THE VERSAILLES OF THE EAST

In 1941, before the German Army took over this complex of palaces, more than eight thousand works of art and about 50 statues were removed and hidden until after the end of the siege of St Petersburg in January 1944, so making it possible to preserve for the future generations of Russians, what could have been stolen and/or vandalized by the German invaders who destroyed everything they could in their way out of this area after their futile siege of 900 days.

The restoration works which had started in the early 1950’s and were completed in the mid 60’s, have made a magnificent job, so nowadays the Russians can proudly show this monumental complex to the whole world. We are among the many tourists from all continents that have enjoyed visiting this great historical and architectural jewel of human kind.

ONE OF THE PETERHOF FOUNTAINS

STOLEN BY THE GERMANS IN WWII

Just as in most of the Historical places we have visited in Russia, a multitude of small gift's and artisan’s shops are located before the main entrance to the palaces, parks and gardens in Peterhof. They offer to the tourists all kinds of small stuff, from the classical Russian matrushkas that are offered everywhere in Russia, to Russian Navy’s Captains' hats. This showed us that Russians in the XXI century and after the fall of the communism, have kept their trading and entrepreneur instincts intact

ST. PETERSBURG

OUR GOOD BYE DINNER AT THE LEO TOLSTOY WAS REALLY SPECIAL

The night of May 7 we had a very special dinner; the ship’s chef did her best to show her dining room like one in the Tsars ‘palace. Her food was exceptionally presented and deliciously nutritive and included a green salad, fresh and exquisite salmon from the Russian Northern Rivers with delicious upper class caviar, all accompanied by the bet Russian wine. Afterwards, there was a deliciously sweet desert. It was a great farewell dining party, just to make this an unforgettable journey in the Leo Tolstoy. We promised to our young and beautiful waitresses as well as to our not less young and good looking waiters, that we were not going to forget them, and we shall not!

ST PETERSBURG, THE ROYAL, THE BEAUTIFUL, THE VENICE OF THE NORTH

May 8, 2011

ST PETERSBURG THE BEAUTIFULL, THE GREAT, THE JEWEL OF HUMAN KIND

After the rescue by the Russian Navy’s big Icebreaker ship on the night of May 6, we continued our way toward St Petersburg on the ice cold but not frozen waters of the Ladoga Lake, the largest sweet water lake in the whole European continent, and, finally, on Sunday May 8^th, at nine in the morning, we arrived in our destination. We were all ready to disembark, we were anxious to see the City of the Emperors. The night before we had packed everything and by 10:30 AM, there were over three hundred bags sitting in front of the four large and modern buses that would take us to our hotel. It was a shiny day with no trace of a cloud in the sky, with a temperature of about 70 degrees which was the prelude of what was coming for the next four and a half days that we would spend in this famous city. It had been only two days while sailing on the Volga River Ways when my friends Celso and Carol had bet two bottles of Champaign with me about the weather. Influenced by the weather forecasters they bet that we would have a rainy and cold weather whereas my bet was for a sunny and warm weather. Evidently I had won. They have not paid the bet so far, but I know they will, sometime in the very near future.

It was pure and absolute good luck, something that has always accompanied us, wherever Fanny I had gone around the world.

VIEW OF ST PETERSBURG FROM THE NEVA RIVER AS WE CAME IN FROM LAKE LADOGA

From our vessel’s deck we could see an impressive and modern bridge over the Neva River as well as a series of brick colored, modern and large apartment buildings in the outskirts of the city.

MODERN APARTMENT BUILDINGS IN ST PETERSBURG AS SEEN FROM THE DOCK

Not far From the dock where we disembarked, four modern and large buses were waiting to take all of us (156 passengers) to our hotel, the five-star Radisson Royal Hotel located right on the main avenue of St Petersburg, at 49 Nevskiy Prospect.

Upon our arrival, four young and good looking Russian girls wearing the blue and white uniforms of the hotel were waiting for us with glasses full of blistering champaign, which we happily drank while delivering our passports to the front desk. Some of us obliged to the second and even the third glass of that delicious champaign. In a matter of minutes, we were given the card-keys to our rooms and we were in our way to our hotel accommodations for the next four days.

NEVSKIY PROSPECT, PREPARED TO CELEBRATE VICTORY DAY ON MAY 10

As our buses approached the hotel entering Nevskiy Prospect, we could see that the whole avenue was decorated with all kinds of banners and garlands, because in two days the city would be celebrating, just as much as the whole country of Russia, what Russians call THE VICTORY DAY, that is the day when Germany signed the unconditional surrender to the Soviet Military which had taken over Berlin, two days after Hitler committed suicide, once he saw he had no way out alive of his madness that caused almost six years of war and the lives of almost 60 million people.

Russians celebrate their victory on May 10, even though the Germans’ surrender was signed in Berlin on May 9, at eleven O’clock, because in Russia it was already May 10 due to the two hour difference with Moscow time.

One hour after our arrival, the same buses that brought us to the hotel, were waiting for us to take a city tour, a prologue of what was going to be one of the most exciting tours we have ever had in our lives. It was just like the tip of the iceberg. The buses took us down Nevskiy Prospect passing by the bridges crossing the Neva River canals, some of which are , per se, the real master pieces of architecture and sculpture that have made St Petersburg one of the most beautiful cities on earth. We passed by the Hermitage Museum and stopped right in front of it, as we passed a bridge over the Neva River, so we could admire and take photos of the immense buildings’ complex where the Winter Palace (the palace where the Tsars lived) is the largest and most important of the museum’s buildings complex.

Two hours later we were brought back to the hotel to take a break and get ready to attend a show by the Royal Ballet of St. Petersburg, presenting the Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet composition “Swan Lake”, something we were all looking forward to see at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow but were unable to, because the theatre was closed for refurbishing. In a way, our dreams came true in St Petersburg, watching this wonderful work of ballet art featured by some of the more outstanding figures of the worldwide famous Russian Ballet.

A GREAT VIEW OF ONE OF THE CANALS IN ST PETERSBURG

THE CATHEDRAL OF THE SAVIOR ON THE BLOOD

In our way back to the hotel we were able to see and take photos of many of the architectural wonders of this city, among them, the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood, the cathedrals of Our Lady of Kasan, St Isaac and St. Peter and Paul, all of them built during the late XVII and early XVIII centuries, along with the most important sites of the city of the Tsars.

ST ISAAC CATHEDRAL WITH 50 LBS OF GOLD IN ITS DOME

CATHEDRAL AND FORT OF ST PETER AND PAUL, THE FIRTS BUILDINGS IN ST PETERSBURG

The history of the City Of St. Petersburg starts in 1703, when Peter the Great decides to build it as the Russian window to the Western World, of which Russia and Russians had been essentially separated geographically and culturally. Ever since, the city became the capital of the Russian Empire and remained so for more than 200 years until the Bolshevik revolution returned the Russian government to Moscow.

St. Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia with a population of over 4.8 million, with a metropolitan area population of over 6 million. The city is located at the mouth of the Neva River into the Golf of Helsinki, at the North Eastern end of the Baltic Sea, right in front of Finland and not far from the North Pole. Throughout its history, the city has had several names; St. Petersburg (1703-914); Petrograd (1914-1924); Leningrad (1924-1991), and again St, Petersburg since 1991, after a plebiscite when its population massively voted to return to its original name.

In the construction of the city participated many famous French, German and Russian architects which had given to Russia and the world, one of the most splendid, harmonious and beautiful urban centers of the world, so much so, that the United Nations had given to its historical area the title of “Legacy of the Human Kind”. St. Petersburg is home to the Hermitage Museum, one of the largest and most complete cultural and artistic centers of its kind in the world, keeping around three million works of art inside its walls.

The speed at which the city was built and the extremely hard climatic conditions under which hundreds of thousands of people worked in its construction, caused the death of about 50% of all the workers, most of whom were servants forcefully brought in from far away places from all over the Russian Empire.

ST PETERSBURG, THE VENICE OF THE NORTH AT ITS BEST

Since the construction of the city started in war times, the first Building to be constructed was a military fort in the Zaiachiy island on the right bank of the Neva River and can still be seen From across the Hermitage Museum. The Neva River connects the Ladoga Lake with the Baltic Sea, whereas, this Nordic Sea is connected through the Volga River Waterways, a cyclopean project built in Soviet times, to the Caspian Sea in South Eastern Europe, in front of Turkey.

The ecological damage and the loss of lives caused by the Volga River waterways were enormous and have never been sufficiently quantified. The Soviet Press never disclosed things that would damage the image of the “government of the proletariat”.

PETER THE GREAT THE CREATOR OF ST PETERSBURG (1678-1732)

The tsar Peter the Great gave to the construction of St. Petersburg a vertiginous rhythm thanks to the volume of human and financial resources that were placed under his control. Monumental palaces were built, as well as cathedrals and churches, many of which testify to the great power the Orthodox Church had in the government and the history of Russia. One of them is the Kasan Cathedral, with its semicircle Roman like frontal columns which, located in the most famous avenue of the city, the Nevskiy Prospect (where our hotel was located), made it possible that this Avenue be considered as one of the greatest avenues of the world. The Cathedral of St Isaac, not far away from Nevskiy Prospect, and also featuring a Roman-like front, has about 220 pounds of pure gold in its dome.

HUNDREDS OF BRIDGES AND MANY CANALS ARE PART OF ST PETERSBURG

Within the city, hundreds of bridges of artistic architecture connect the sides of many channels flowing from or toward the Neva River and its many branches, adding to the beauty of the city, for which it has been given the name of The Venice of the North.

Our bus stopped right across the Winter Palace, the most important building of the Hermitage Museum, and one of the architectural jewels of the city. The construction of this building started in 1754, during the times of the Tsarina Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, but she died before the construction was over. It was Catherine the Great, her successor, famous, among other things for her 55 lovers, who completed the construction of this palace, and made it her main “love nest” and the official residence of the Russian Tsars until 1919.

Many of the presents given to her (at her request) by her many and famous lovers, are still in exhibit in the Hermitage Museum. One of them is a “one of a kind” clock made of pure gold and weighting more than 50 pounds, which was given to her as a “love present” by the then British Ambassador to Russia, a lord of the London nobility.

50 LBS PURE GOLD CLOCK- A PRESENT TO CATHERINE FROM ONE OF HER LOVERS

CATHERINE THE GREAT, FAMOUS FOR HER GREAT LOVE TO LOVE

The four hours of our tour around the City left us with the sensation of having lived through a very important part of the Russian History, especially the history of St Petersburg and its construction, the history of its creator and the Tsars and Tsarinas which completed Peter’s Grand Dream. We were also left with a profound admiration for those men and women who, over the past two decades, have contributed to the preservation and restoration of this monumental work, and have made it possible for us and many other generations to admire the grandeur of what was done almost four hundred years ago and has been given the title of Legacy of the Human Kind.

SWAN LAKE, TCHAIKOVSKY'S MASTERPIECE AT THE ROYAL BALLET IN ST PETERSBURG

Most of us were tired, but very satisfied for what we had done, seen and heard during this day. We were back at the hotel at about 5PM. Talking about works of art, we had a bit more than two hours to rest and get ready to go watch the life presentation of the greatest Tchaikovsky Ballet Show “The Swan Lake”, performed by The Royal Ballet of St. Petersburg. At 7:30 PM we were sitting in the Theatre where the ballet show would commence at 8PM.

The Swan Lake, tells the story of Prince Sigfrid who falls in love with Odette, a beautiful young lady who has been transformed into a swan by Rothbart, an evil magician. The spell could only be broken by whom she falls in love with, and promises her eternal love. Sigfrid, who is the heir to the throne, mistakenly falls in love with Odile, the daughter of the magician who looks just like Odette, and promises her eternal love, but, timely, the Prince realizes that he has been tricked by the magician, and decides to fight together with Odette until he finally brakes the spell and Odette recovers her humanly personal appearance. This was the classic and famous Russian ballet in it max expression. No photos were allowed into the theatre; however I was able to take a couple of photos (obviously without a flash), which I share with you herewith.

We watched, life, a masterpiece of Russian Classic Ballet, in which the star of the show was Irina Kolesnikova, who played Odette. Her perfect, sometimes slow and sometimes fast but always perfectly artistic movements left in our eyes the impact of ballet taken to the extremes of perfection. More than twenty other ballerinas and two male ballet performers on the stage were not far from the perfection shown by Kolesnikova. This was a night that could only be in our dreams before coming to St. Petersburg, and will remain in our memories for as long as we live.

After the Ballet show was over, we came out of it hungry and tired; we gave the first priority to the former and went looking for a place to eat around the hotel. We found a Chinese Restaurant just across the street, on Nevskiy Prospect. We ordered a variety of meals as shown in their menu, however, neither the quantity nor the quality of the food was to our best taste, however, someone in the group accused me of having eaten more than my share of the food, a sin I can’t deny I committed (without fear of being wrong). Let’s face it!

The day after we were scheduled to visit Pushkin City, a historical place full of Russian history, located only about 30 miles from St. Petersburg, but I will tell you about it in my next chapter.

In my next posting: PUSHKIN CITY AND PETERHOFF