Tallinn and St Petersburg

Photo 1: Tallinn – the old town.

Photo 2: Tallinn: Estonian Parliament.

Photo 3: St Petersburg – Winter Palace.

Photo 4: Spilt Blood Cathedral.

Photo 5: Mosaics in Spilt Blood Cathedral.

Photo 6: Town Hall.

Photo 7: Tall ship floating restaurant. In the background are typical buildings on the Neva embankments'

Tallinn

On Friday we docked in Tallinn, capital of Estonia. This is a city where the contrast between the old and the new is quite stark. As in so many other places we have been the city suffered severe damage during the Second World War and much has been lost. The old town has been well restored but virtually all the old gothic buildings have gone and most of the genuinely old buildings date from the 19^th century. The most impressive one we saw was the Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral which dates from 1900. It is opposite the Estonian Parliament, another very fine building. The placement of a Russian Orthodox cathedral at the centre of government is a legacy of the Russian Czars and is a strange anomaly in a predominantly Lutheran country.

The new city has a very modern business district with skyscrapers most of which were built in the last 15 years. The new suburbs are also very modern with attractive houses and gardens. By way of contrast a large part of the suburban area is taken up with blocks of flats built for Russian factory workers during the Soviet era. The locals have done a fair job of prettying them up so they don’t look too bad.  Tallinn was the one venue most people raved about before we left, so we had great expectations. Unfortunately we had an older lady as a tour guide and she was really difficult to understand, so much info was lost in the translation.  On the other hand, we have been amazed by the beauty of St Petersburg, and had very well spoken tour guides.  I think this may have helped us reach this decision.

Tallinn has an open air concert stage similar in concept to Melbourne’s Myer Music Bowl and which hosts major musical events. Every five years they have a choral festival which includes singing by a choir of about 30,000 choristers! They love their music here.

Tallinn hosted the sailing events for the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the facilities are still in use. The athletes’ accommodation is now a hotel and the old media centre is now used by local sporting organisations for meetings and administration.

That night we enjoyed a great show in the ship’s Stardust Theatre then bravely sallied forth to the karaoke at one of the main bars. We got into it with the younger ones and showed them how it is done (surprised are you?). We actually won a prize for dancing!! It just goes to show that age and arthritis don’t have to hold you back :)

St Petersburg

We thought Europe held no more surprises – but then we saw St Petersburg. On Saturday we left the ship on a lovely sunny morning and encountered the day’s only negative experience – Russian immigration! After 35 minutes waiting in line we finally boarded our coach for a trip around the city.

The port area is very new. We docked with six other cruise ships in an area of reclaimed land only opened a few years ago. We then drove to the centre of town and the embankments along the Neva River with their beautiful mansions and other large buildings mostly dating from the 19^th century. Among other things we saw St Isaac’s Cathedral which is one of many having undergone restoration to its former glory in recent years. Its gold dome is made of 100 kg of pure gold!

We also took a boat ride on the river and the many canals which explain why St Petersburg has been called ‘the Venice of the north’. We saw the wonderful Winter Palace of the Czars – now part of the Hermitage Museum – and then visited the most stunning building we have seen on our whole trip – the Spilt Blood Cathedral.

The Cathedral’s gory name derives from the fact that it was built on the spot where Czar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. It was the seventh assassination attempt, so I guess seven wasn’t his lucky number. The Cathedral was built in the traditional Orthodox style and is beautiful enough from the outside. But the entire inside is covered in seven thousand square metres of Romanesque mosaics and is truly stunning.

On Saturday night we attended a performance of Swan Lake by the Russian Ballet at the Palace Theatre in Arts Square. As you might expect it was brilliant! Definitely a major highlight of our holiday.

Our second day in St Petersburg was dramatically different to our first.  On Saturday the temp climbed to a balmy 24C and bright sunshine.  Today we woke to rain and the temp stayed closer to 16C.  It was difficult taking photos as the bus windows were streaked with rain.  I took a picture of an Egyptian sphinx through the bus window, and all the ladies thought it was a rabbit statue.  That is how distorted things are through the rain.  This afternoon we are off to a Russian Military band concert, then smoozing with Nathan.  He sings in the bars, and we have become his favourites.  When he sees us he breaks into John Denver for dad!!!  He even asked us to sing the second verse of something as he didn’t have all the words on his Ipad!!!!!  Technology eh??