There are times when it is sensible to follow the path of least resistance and make life easy even if it goes against our typical down and dirty rough-style of travel. I’m talking about taking a tour. Our destination: St. Petersburg, Russia. After a lot of research both online and anecdotal from other visitors, we realized that taking an overnight ferry and booking a tour through them provides a 72-hour visa free visit along with all the entry and departure cards provided. Best of all the tour guide waits to collect you the other side of the rather intimidating customs. This sounded good for a first foray.
We booked our trip via Moby/St. Peter Line on on the SS Anastasia, a jauntily painted ferry that boasts 8 decks, entertainment, a great breakfast and dinner buffet with self-serve beer and wine, duty free shop and movies. There was even a wonderful sauna/gym/pool area on the lowest deck. There were many different nationalities represented on board and we were not surprised that many of them have very different expectations regarding waiting in line for tickets or buffets, etc. By this I mean they won’t. Still, Finland has taught me patience and this won through in the end (along with strategic body positioning). We all enjoyed the buffet food and liked to taste local delicacies such as caviar and a multitude of fish dishes.
Entering any country by water is a real treat for me, and I was struck by the amount of lush green foliage that adorned the breakwater of St. Petersburg harbor. This soon gave way to a huge and rather grim industrial area that was impressive in part because of its extent, but also because of the diversity of the vessels being loaded or unloaded in the many broad channels. We’d traded our tour cards for actual tickets on board and were shepherded down several corridors cutting ahead of the rest of the passengers waiting to disembark eventually finding ourselves almost first in line for customs. Although I was expecting stern visages and probing questions as many others have experienced, including a man in front of a friend of mine being suddenly taken away on their visit, my customs officers were quite friendly.
Our tour guide was a teacher and part time employee of the Hermitage Museum and gave us a very good tour of the city on a comfortable, modern coach. She warned us about pickpockets at every stop, but none of us had any difficulties. We did witness a three person hand off of something while returning to the bus at the square in front of Isaac’s Cathedral. The whole situation was a little dodgy and as I was with my family and did not see any police officers anywhere, I decided to keep quiet. Other stops included St. Andrews Church, the Church of the Bloodletting, the good luck sphinxes and griffons by the river, and a tourist trap that sold chachkis after giving out free vodka (it was actually tasty). By far the best part though was the huge Hermitage Museum which is part of and adjacent to Catherine the Great’s Winter Palace. With around 3 million art exhibits, it is a true wonder and a major stop in the city. Get there early though as it is always busy. The city itself was surprising as architecturally it could have been Copenhagen or even Stockholm, not the grim communist block decor I was naively expecting.
Exhausted by the long day, back on board Robyn and I had a celebratory vodka. Later we returned the waves of excited children leaning out of the tall run-down tenement buildings that huddle near the harbor entrance and to the folks fishing along the breakwater as our floating behemoth slid past. It was a strangely moving experience as it provided a human aspect counterpoint to our day filled with the overbearing luxurious indulgence of monarchs. Our guide had told us that there are thousands of communal apartments in St. Petersburg; places where up to half a dozen families share a single kitchen and bathroom. Yet even though the people waving to us appeared happy and content, I wondered what life must be like in this modern Russia.
Note: St. Petersburg has the reputation of being ground zero for identity theft, as well as having a pickpocket problem. It is advisable to take a tour or if out touring alone, to make sure of sticking to main streets. Customs can be a challenge, even without a visa because of the tour, we still needed a landing and departure card as well as another permit. Restaurants and stores take credit cards, but it is advisable to use cash (rubles are the main currency, although fellow passengers said that they used euros and even dollars). One ruble equals about 14 U.S. cents. Cell phones should be on airplane mode and have cellular and data turned off to prevent identity theft.
