Hello! My name is Angelina Stefanidi (@salut.angelina), and in September I flew to St. Petersburg with the Kudablin project.
St. Petersburg is a city of which I only had childhood memories. I love to travel and have already traveled to 20 countries, but I haven’t been to the cultural capital of Russia since I was 8 years old. I spent two days in St. Petersburg with OneTwoTrip and I want to tell you about my impressions of the city.
The northern capital greeted us with cloudy and rainy weather, but this did not spoil the impressions of the trip at all: the city seemed to be even more beautiful. Immediately after a six-hour flight, I went to lunch. It seems to me that St. Petersburg is a gastronomic paradise, because all the establishments that I managed to visit were incredibly tasty and atmospheric. I especially liked the restaurant “Happiness”: a cozy place with the most delicious chocolate and toffee.
After lunch, I headed to my Horizon Bonvita apartment, located next to the Champs de Mars, to leave my things. The window offers a beautiful view of the roofs of St. Petersburg, and the inside is so beautiful that I, as a great connoisseur of aesthetics, simply rejoiced.
Over many years of travel, I realized one thing: it is better to spend the first days of the trip slowly. I always prefer long, measured walks to visiting a dozen places in a day and having a clear plan in my head. It seems to me that this is how the city reveals itself.
As part of the project, I had to not only get to know a new city, but also complete an interesting task from my subscribers. Choosing from three options, the majority voted for the one that really helped me pay more attention to details on this trip. I had to create my own photo collection of 10 doors and share the addresses. Of course, in the end I got a lot more pictures, and now I’m even thinking about making photo hunting my tradition.
I will definitely leave the rest of the tasks (watch the sunrise on the roof and ask a street artist to draw my portrait) for next time.
On the first day I walked around Nevsky Prospekt and nearby streets, walked along the embankments, gardens and parks, visited the Kazan Cathedral, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood and St. Isaac’s Cathedral cathedral.
Entrance to the Kazan Cathedral is free, but to visit the Savior on Spilled Blood and St. Isaac’s Cathedral you need to purchase tickets (this can be done both on the spot and in advance on the website).
Most of all I was struck by St. Isaac’s Cathedral, where I went and cried from what I saw. This place surprised me with its beauty, majesty, scale, which cannot be described in words. I was lucky and went into the cathedral right before the start of the free tour, where we were told about the artistic decoration of the interior and the history of the creation of its paintings. I advise you to climb the colonnade: from there you have a beautiful view of the entire city.
The cost of an entrance ticket to St. Isaac’s Cathedral is 450 rubles*, to the Colonnade—300 rubles*.
The day ended with a walk through the evening city and the “Subscription Editions” coffee shop: here you can find books for every taste and topic and read them right on the spot with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.
The second day I completely devoted myself to exploring the city and walked more than 30 kilometers. During the trip, I walked through almost all the central districts of St. Petersburg, but most of all I liked two places.
Petrogradsky district reminded me very much of little Paris inside Russia: stunning architecture, a mixture of styles and trends that merge so harmoniously in one place. This is where the history of the city began.
New Holland is an amazing place in the very center of St. Petersburg, the only island in the city created by people. Here you can admire the herb garden, go to the Bottle for shopping or a snack, or just relax on the green lawn. And of course, various exhibitions, installations, and lectures are constantly held on the island.
We get used to fast and dynamic travel, we want to see everything at once, but often in this rush we miss the main thing: to stop and feel the atmosphere of the city. Don’t rush anywhere, just look around and notice.
I’m glad that my trip turned out this way: St. Petersburg was calm, inspiring, full of art, creativity and charming details. A little gloomy, but golden-beautiful – autumn in this city is amazing.
I would like to especially note the metro: it is very easy to navigate, and some stations are a whole work of art, and each has its own mood. If possible, visit Avtovo, Narvskaya, Pushkinskaya, Mayakovskaya and Admiralteyskaya.
And a little tip: be sure to go to one of the most beautiful front doors in St. Petersburg at Lomonosova, building 14. You will need to pay 100-130 rubles for entry (the money goes to maintaining order and cleaning).
I am very grateful to OneTwoTrip for the trip to St. Petersburg, which also turned out to be very symbolic for me. Why? Because I was already planning to move to this city. And it was after the trip that I was finally convinced that I was making the right decision.
*Prices valid at time of publication
