Mini-holiday in St. Petersburg

I visited St. Petersburg, Russia with my friend (later ”we”) in 2014 for a 3-days mini-holiday (Monday – Wednesday). I have visited that city already seven times since 2007 so at the end I’ll give you some tips about what to do and see in the city if you are staying there for a weekend or 4-5 days. Of course the city is so big that it is impossible to see everything during one trip!

Do you know which cathedral this is? Answer in the end of the text;)

In the first evening we met with my friend’s Russian friend and together we visited Loft Project Etazhi. I had visited that place in 2009 when it was a hostel, but now it was a big building full of modern art: we saw photo galleries on many floors and besides a gallery of cat drawings. Some young people were offering tea for free for the visitors at the gallery. After seeing what the art gallery had to offer we decided to take a look at the view on the roof top; the entry was free if we tagged ourselves on Instagram/vKontakte. 

On the roof top

There’s always something interesting going on in Loft Project Etazhi, maybe you could check it out the next time you visit St. Petersburg. Later we discovered a close-by super market where we could buy souvenir candies etc. and after saying goodbye to our Russian friend we went back to our hotel to get ready for our next day in the city.

Loft Project Etazhi

The next day we visited Russkij Musei, frankly I was assuming that I knew more paintings presented in that art museum but unfortunately I didn’t recognize them. After spending some time at the museum we headed to take photographs of some of our favorite buildings, and of course we also went shopping in Dom Knigi, which is a huge book store and a must-see place every time we visit St. Peters, though it’s usually quite crowded during weekends.

Dom Knigi from distance

In the afternoon we met for the first time with my Russian e-mail friend. We had so much fun talking a lot about everything! After meeting her we met with my other Russian friend who I got to know in 2010 when she was an exchange student at my university and I found her through a program called “Each one teach one”. We met with her for a cup of coffee and we had such great conversations, it's always nice to see her and hear how she's doing. She also surprised me with a birthday gift because I had my bday a few days earlier. I’m glad to meet with both of my Russian friends, despite they’re busy they had time to meet us.

The next day we decided to go to our favorite shopping center Galerija. After some serious shopping we met with my Finnish friend who was doing her internship in St. Petersburg at that time. After catching up how she was doing there we needed to go back to our hotel to fetch our luggage before leaving. On our way back we had a little stressful situation while heading back to the hotel because our taxi got stuck in a big traffic jam and we were almost late for our other taxi that was called beforehand to our hotel to pick us up to the railway station… Luckily we made it on time to our train to home.

The Bank Bridge

My friend and I had busy time on our mini-holiday in St. Petersburg in October 2014 because we had booked quite many meetings with our friends, also for the same day, but you know – one has to be efficient if you are visiting the city only for a few days. As you may have noticed while reading this that our mini-holiday consisted mostly of meeting with friends and casual chilling in the city, enjoying the atmosphere, eating and going to cafes – not anymore so much of running from sightseeing A to B because the city is already familiar to us.

Walking towards the Church on spilled blood

Here are some of my tips for St. Petersburg:

• Shopping centers are big so if you are busy just choose one and consume time there. If you want to buy traditional Russian souvenirs, it’s more exciting (and cheaper) to buy them at a local market place where you can bargain.

•  Learn some Russian phrases. If you are lost, ask people for help, they are helpful when asked for help, but remember they might tell you the direction even though they don’t actually know it, for saving their face.

• Spring and summer are nice seasons to visit St. Petersburg and early autumn as well, but be prepared for that the weather might be rainy and foggy.

• There are so many nice tourist places to see, many museums and things to do, different restaurants and cafes. So here’s a list of some of my favorite places to visit (which are one of the most well-known places there) for:

• Wandering in the historic city center (UNESCO world heritage site)
• Admiring the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
• Eating ice cream in Summer Park / making a maple leaf wreath
• Climbing up to the colonnade of St. Isaac’s Cathedral
• Enjoying the beauty of light-blue Smolny Cathedral
• Watching beautiful fountains in Peterhof (UNESCO world heritage site)
• Sunbathing at Peter and Paul Fortress
• Canal cruising in the river Neva

The right answer is: Kazan Cathedral

Thanks for reading!