Free: All time Strolling down the main street of St. Petersburg – Nevsky Prospekt, you’re bound to come across the impressive Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, a.k.a. Kazan Cathedral. It’s constructed in the beginning of the 19th century based on the design of the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome. After the war of...
Free: All time Palace Square is basically the central city square of St. Petersburg and the former Russian Empire. It was the setting of many events of worldwide significance, including the Bloody Sunday of 1905 and the October Revolution of 1917. The earliest and most celebrated building on the square is the baroque white-and-azure Winter...
Free: All time Piskariovskoye Cemetery serves as a reminder and memorial for the tragedy the city lived through during World War II – specifically during the 900-day Siege of Leningrad. More than a million people perished during the period, of which some 420 thousands of inhabitants of the city died from hunger, bombing and shelling....
Free: All time Located in the sailor quarter of St. Petersburg, this impressive baroque Cathedral was named after Nicholas – the patron saint of seamen. It was built under the order of Empress Elizabeth between 1753 was finished during the reign of Catherine the Great in 1762. St. St. Nicholas Cathedral had kept functioning as...
Free: All time The Bronze Horseman is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great – the founder of St. Petersburg immortalized in the poem of the same name by Aleksander Pushkin. Commissioned by the Empress Catherine the Great, it was created by the French sculptor Etienne Maurice Falconet. Being originally a German princess by birth,...
Free: All time Strelka, literally translated to “arrow”, is the eastern tip of Vasilyevsky Island and is one of the oldest parts of St. Petersburg. Strelka is a mere short walk across Palace Bridge. Visit this area to get a breathtaking view of St. Petersburg. It is easily the best photo op site. Come during...
Free: All time When Catherine the Great was delivered the news about Russian victory over the Turks in 1770, the Empress decided that a church was to be built at the very spot she was standing. Thus the Chesme Church came to be. This striking red-and-white pseudo-Gothic styled building is considered by some to be...
Free: All time The Potseluev Most, literally Bridge of Kisses, is a bridge across the Moyka River in Saint Petersburg. The name of the bridge spurred numerous urban legends. The panoramic view of Saint Isaac’s Cathedral that opens from the bridge makes it a popular subject of artists paintings. The bridge was originally erected in...
Free: All time Unofficially named “The Big House” (Bolshoy Dom), this great Soviet Constructivsm-styled building was where once the headquarter of Soviet secret police OGPU. The Big House gained notoriety during the Stalin period. Most people who were taken to this building would mostly likely not be heard from again. Vladimir Putin during his KGB...
Free: All time Alexander Nevsky Monastery or Lavra is St. Petersburg’s most ancient and prominent monastery. In fact, the word “lavra” in Russian is reserved only for a monastery of the highest order, of which there are just found in all of Russia and Ukraine. The monastery was first built in 1710 – seven years...
Free: All time The House of Books (Dom Knigi) is located in the middle of Nevsky Prospekt (the main street in St. Petersburg). It is housed in a landmark building known as Singer House. The building is an art-nouveau architectural masterpiece. Founded in 1919, the House of Books was the first bookstore in Soviet Russia....
Free: All time Even if you’re templed-out in Thailand, do still visit Wat Srisuphan when in Chiang Mai. Built in 1502, what is also known as the Silver Temple is like what its name suggests, covered in silverwork. Wat Srisuphan is located in the south of Chiang Mai’s walled Old Town. It lies in the...
