Russia is famous for it’s expensive and bureaucratic tourist visa process but luckily there is a work around if you plan to visit St Petersburg (or other Russian port) for up to 72 hours on a cruise ship or via ferry run by specific companies including St Peter Line.
For more details about the Russian visa cruise and ferry visa free rules read this guide.
In our case we visited St Petersburg on a St Peter Line ferry from Helsinki, Finland.
Part of the visa free 72 hour St Petersburg rules was that we had to have a guided tour all the time while we were in the city.
In my view the most memorable thing in St Petersburg was the Fabergé Museum. Located in the Shuvalov Palace on the Fontanka River, The museum’s collection contains the world’s largest collection of works by Carl Fabergé, including nine of the famous Imperial Easter Eggs, regarded not only as the finest jeweled works of art, but also as unique historical artifacts.
St Isaacs Cathedral “Savior on the Spilled Blood” is covered inside and out with amazing mosaics.
Another highlight of our short visit to St Petersburg was the opulent Catherine “Summer” Palace of the Russian Tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo, 30 km drive south of St. Petersburg.
The State Hermitage Museum is one of the largest artistic, cultural and historical museums in Russia and one of the largest in the world so therefore it’s impossible to see all of it. We would have loved to spend more time at the Hermitage Museum but thankfully our guide showed us many interesting aspects during our time there.
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