The trio in question is comprised of Empresses Catherine I, Elizabeth and Catherine the Great. And, the property? Tsarskoe Selo, or Tsars Village, home to Catherine Palace, a massive and opulent structure enveloped by fascinating decorative pieces of architecture that sit among extensive, well-manicured gardens.

Arriving in Pushkin, a charming suburb renamed during the Soviet era to honor Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, the country’s most famous poet and founder of modern Russian literature, our deluxe motor coach, with business class legroom seating, comes to a full stop within a short walk of a gilded entrance gate and the start of our two-hour guided tour of Catherine Palace, inside and out.

Slipping into a mandatory pair of felt footwear covers, I, a guest photojournalist invited by Insight Vacations to sample its Easy Pace Russia journey, get in step with my other 22 travel mates and Gulya, our knowledgeable St. Petersburg guide, and immediately begin buffing the floors to a high gloss as we move out.

Gulya begins her narrative by stating in our earbuds, “If any proof is needed for the extravagance of the Romanov Tsars, then it can be found right here at Catherine Palace.” She adds, “In terms of grandeur and excess, some experts say Tsarskoe Selo surpasses even Versailles.” I swear I can faintly hear a mon dieu being uttered all the way from Île-de-France.

Named after Catherine I, this prime piece of real estate started out as a modest two-story building erected in 1717 named Saarskaya and gifted by Peter the Great to his beloved empress, but its awesome grandeur and name change is credited to Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Catherine I, who chose Tsarskoe Selo as her primary summer residence.

Although reconstructed and expanded upon by a group of prominent architects, Elizabeth’s final statement-of-work required a design that would be on par with Versailles. And, that final blueprint fell to the creativity of Bartholomeo Rastrelli, Chief Architect of the Imperial Court whose building credits in the Baroque style include the Winter Palace and the reconstruction of the palace at Peterhof.

Nearly one kilometer in circumference, Catherine Palace is elaborately decorated with blue-and-white facades highlighted by gilded atlantes, caryatids and pilasters. During Empress Elizabeth’s reign, no less than 100kg of gold was employed to decorate the palace’s exterior.

Inside, Catherine Palace is no less jaw dropping. The Golden Enfilade of state rooms, all designed by Rastrelli, are a main focus on our visit, but not to be overlooked are the State Staircase, the Hall of Light, the White Dining Room, the Portrait Hall and the legendary Amber Room.

With Elizabeth and Rastrelli exiting the scene at Tsarskoe Selo and this earth, Catherine the Great, the third and final empress in our blue-blood design trio, takes over the look and feel of Catherine Palace and enlists her favorite architect, James Cameron, a Scottish designer schooled in the Neoclassical style.

The so-called Cameron Rooms mark the most noteworthy of the palace’s interiors. The Green Dining Room, the Blue Drawing Room and the flamboyant Chinese Blue Drawing Room showcase Cameron’s penchant for classical uniformity and his taste for color.

Felt footwear covers now removed, we step outside Catherine Palace to admire the sprawling Catherine Park with its formal imperial garden complimented by the more informal thematic parks.

Combining examples of French, English and Italian landscape gardening, Catherine Park features a score of exquisite structures, beginning with the Cameron Gallery. Designed by the building’s namesake, it stands perpendicular to Catherine Palace. An elegant Palladian-style colonnade structure — 44 slender Ionic columns in all — it was conceived to encourage strolling and philosophical discussions by Catherine the Great and her invited guests.

Accessible to all visitors are postcard-perfect scenics dotting the landscape, like the Great Pond, the Grotto Pavilion, the Admiralty — a Dutch-style boathouse — the charming Palladian Bridge and the Old (French) Garden’s Upper Bathhouse, just to name a few.

With Gulya back in our earbuds announcing it’s time to depart, I save my last frames for the palace’s Formal Garden. Designed by Rastrelli under Elizabeth’s reign, this well-maintained plot of land is characterized by its rigid symmetry of box-hedged paths that frame the gilded onion-shaped domes of the palace’s church in the background.

Camera batteries now spent, I, too, like Bret Maverick, fold, cash in my chips, call it a day and head for the Insight motor coach. You know, there’s really no competition when you’re dealt a poker hand with less than three queens [empresses] at Tsarskoe Selo.

Go here for complete information on Insight’s six itineraries to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted journeys around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

Join us tomorrow when we’ll shove off from the banks of the Moika and cruise down some of the rivers and canals that wind their way around St. Petersburg’s historic center, and then meet up in a basement bistro for more tasty Russian fare.

Da skorava!

The post Easy Pace Russia: An Afternoon at Tsarskoe Selo (Dispatch #7) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

St. Petersburg is, without a doubt, one of the truly beautiful cities of the world. But this grand metropolis, embraced by water and accented by some 600 palaces, wasn’t always covered in gold. The city, in its infancy, was just a citadel, guarding the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea in the Bay of Finland against would-be invaders from its vantage point on a small island inhabited primarily by rabbits: Zayachy Ostrov (Hare Island).

Together with 23 other guests, I’m being introduced to the largest country (land mass) on the planet via Insight Vacations‘ Easy Pace Russia journey on the very spot where, on May 27, 1703, Tsar Peter I put shovel to earth and began building St. Petersburg from scratch: Peter and Paul Fortress.

“It was here,” intones Gulya, Insight’s local expert, “that Peter the Great’s vision began to take shape culminating in a sprawling imperial city built atop 101 islands, connected by more than 400 bridges and intertwined by some 40 rivers and canals.”

An optional experience on the Easy Pace Russia itinerary, one can’t really come to St. Petersburg and not visit this fortress. Standing proud along the banks of the Neva River Delta, the Peter and Paul Fortress is where the Russian Empire began, a reign that flourished then fell within the space of just 200 years.

Originally built as a military stronghold to fend off invading forces, the ramparts were never battle tested. For this reason, from 1721 onwards, the Peter and Paul Fortress was used, among other things, as a high-security political prison for those that spoke ill of the empire. Among the list of famous Russians who were imprisoned here included Alexi, Peter the Great’s rebellious son, Dostoyevsky, Gorky and Trotsky. Parts of this notorious jail are now open to the public, but our party of 24 — nary one a dissident — have better things to do than explore dark, dingy isolation cells, right?

The main attraction of the fortress is its namesake cathedral where almost all of the emperors and empresses of the Romanov Dynasty have been laid to rest. Designed by Domenico Trezzini, the 18th century Italo-Swiss architect, Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral was the very first stone-built church in St. Petersburg.

Following Gulya’s lead, we pass through the electronic turnstile and into a piece of gilded history. Lens caps off, lets have a look around.

As our time on this former rabbit colony draws to a close, we head back outside to admire the cathedral’s exterior.

Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral boasts the tallest bell tower in the city center at 404 ft capped by an angelic weathervane. Gulya points out that, “During the reign of Peter the Great, the angel on top came loose and a serf climbed all the way up and repaired it.” She continues, “So grateful was Tsar Peter I that he immediately granted the serf his freedom and presented him with a gold cup that entitled the man to free drinks wherever he roamed for the rest of his life.” Pausing for effect, she concludes this historic footnote by telling us, “Unfortunately, the poor man died of alcoholism.”

Making our way to the Insight motor coach, we take our final look around the grounds of this six-sided bastion: the City History Museum, the Mint — the only one in Russia producing coins — the Boat House, the Carriage House, and a monument dedicated to the island’s original inhabitants, who just happen to be in a good mood and ham it up with our tour mascot, one gregarious, ten-year-old Aussie boy from Sydney.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six itineraries to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

Join me right after lunch when we’ll hop aboard a hydrofoil and head to Peterhof, the imperial residence known as The Russian Versailles, located just a few nautical miles outside of St. Petersburg.

The post Easy Pace Russia: Peter and Paul Fortress (Dispatch #3) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

All the world’s great postal codes have one: an iconic grand boulevard that, when mentioned, one knows immediately which destination city it represents. Like, Broadway in Midtown Manhattan; Wangfujing Street in Beijing; Regent Street in jolly old London; and, the Champs-Elysées in Paris, just to name a few.

Here in St. Petersburg, the city built from scratch in the 18th century by Emperor Peter I, the iconic high street is Nevsky Prospekt, the wide thoroughfare that begins and ends along the banks of the Neva River and cuts straight through the heart and soul of the historic center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Armed with a map and guide book from the Crowne Plaza Ligovsky, my Insight Vacation’s (Insight) four-star digs while in the city, I’m taking advantage of some free time before this evening’s Easy Pace Russia welcome dinner by meandering down St. Petersburg’s high street and a few of its side avenues for my first look at this former imperial city.

Just like Porfiry Petrovich, Dostoevsky’s lead detective in Crime and Punishment, I’m taking a long, leisurely stroll down the Nevsky to conduct my own investigation of St. Petersburg. As I look around, dramatic, colorful architecture in varied styles abound; each building and monument represents an important chapter in the growth of the City of the Tsars. Lens caps off, let’s see what we can see.

Midway through my self-guided, photo-shoot stroll, I stop for lunch and enjoy some regional fare at the Soviet Cafe, a retro-looking basement locale along the Nevsky, complete with old Singer sewing machines and a not-so frost-free icebox. Decor aside, which, frankly, adds to the atmosphere, the Soviet Cafe grub — charcoal grilled chicken skewers and a cucumber-cabbage salad — is awfully tasty.

Nikolai Gogol, a 19th century dramatist and novelist, considered to have been the first realist writer in the Russian language, penned a short story titled after the namesake street. In the narrative, he observed about the iconic cobble, “Step into it, and you step into a fairground.”

After logging just over 18,000 steps, about 12 km, I’d have to agree with Gogol; it’s a carnival atmosphere all along the Nevsky.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six itineraries to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

We’ll delve further into the lure of this grand city tomorrow when we meet up with Gennady, Insight’s Moscow-born travel director-concierge, and Gulya, Insight’s local art-history expert, at the very spot where St. Petersburg began: The Peter and Paul Fortress on Hare Island.

Dobroy nochi (Good night).

The post Easy Pace Russia: Navigating Nevsky Prospekt (Dispatch #2) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Just before the “fasten seat belt” sign is lit and the Lufthansa Airbus A320 — en route out of Munich, Germany —  starts its descent through thick clouds and out into the gray, overcast late afternoon, I pinch myself to make sure that I’m not dreaming. OUCH! Yep, this is real as the tires on the craft go SCREECH announcing I’ve touched down at Pulkovo International Airport, the gateway into and out of imperial St. Petersburg, Russia.

For the next eight days I’m a guest photojournalist of Insight Vacations (Insight), invited along to independently document my experience on its Easy Pace Russia journey, a sort of “tale of two cities” to Moscow, the country’s largest city, and St. Petersburg, the country’s cultural and artistic epicenter.

Founded in 1703 by Emperor Peter the Great, the boat-building, visionary tsar, St. Petersburg, today a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was once home to the Romanov Dynasty that ruled for more than 300 years until the Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace during the 1917 Red October uprising, ending forever the Russian Empire and paving the way for the Soviet Union, the world’s first, self-proclaimed socialist state.

Only a short, one-hour flight from the Arctic Circle, St. Petersburg, stretched out along the banks of the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, is in the midst of its seasonal White Nights, those 80 or so evenings between May and July when the high-latitude, luminous northern lights bathe the city in a bright, all-night glow.

Met in the arrivals terminal by Insight’s local car hire service — nary a worry when you book with this upscale travel company — my bags are stowed and away I go, as fast as traffic permits, until I arrive at the Crown Plaza Ligovsky, my four-star, city-center digs for the next five, naturally-lit nights.

Conveniently located right across the way from Moskovsky Railway Station and the Galeria, and just a stone’s throw away from famed Nevsky Prospect — St. Petersburg’s main street and a well-read avenue in several of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic works — the CPL, an InterContinental Group hotel, is within easy reach of many of the city’s major attractions, shopping, dining and nightlife.

With apologies from the front desk — my room is not quite ready — I’m ushered into the Lobby Bar for a complimentary flute of bubbly, make that two, until I’m finally beckoned up to the fourth floor, directed down to the end of the corridor, through a private vestibule, past a double-door entry and into my boutique style deluxe room.

I definitely signed up to take in the iconic sights and absorb as much of the imperial history St. Petersburg can muster, but I’m also here to sample Mother Russia’s cuisine. My craving is easily satisfied just two floors below at Olivetto, the hotel’s elegant, pan-European restaurant with a fine selection of wines from around the globe.

Taking my first sip from a chilled bottle of South African Chenin Blanc-Chardonnay, I scan the Taste of Russia menu and choose the absolute best appetizer one can order while in the Land of the Tsars: red caviar and crepes. Mmm.

This is followed by a hunter’s salad main course: a food magazine-worthy dish of a pan-fried half quail accompanied with a potato, fresh cucumber and mushroom salad bound together in a homemade mayonnaise-mustard dressing. And, for dessert, syrniki: small pan-fried cheese pancakes served with sour cream, fresh strawberries, blueberries and kumquats.

If tonight’s savory taster’s menu is any indication of what lies ahead for me over the next eight days, I’d better pace myself as I ease into this Easy Pace Russia journey.

Go here for detailed information on Insight’s six itineraries to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted routes around Europe, or call toll-free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

See you tomorrow morning when we’ll put our best foot forward and, like Porfiry Petrovich, Dostoevsky’s lead detective in Crime and Punishment, take a long, leisurely stroll down Nevsky Prospect and conduct our own investigation of St. Petersburg.

Dobroy nochi (Good night).

The post Easy Pace Russia: The Journey Begins in St. Petersburg (Dispatch #1) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

I had a ticket, a ticket to ride aboard a deluxe, business class-legroom motor coach, a hydrofoil and a bullet train as a guest photojournalist of Insight Vacations to experience its Easy Pace Russia journey.

This eight-day, premium-escorted itinerary took me to St. Petersburg, residence of the imperial tsars of old, and Moscow, the capital of Russia, where Red Square dazzles the eye.

In between this “tale of two cities,” I attended a ballet; was entertained by a folkloric troupe of musicians, singers and dancers; cruised up and down canals; visited iconic palaces, onion-domed churches and museums; and, spent several nights in one of the “Seven Sisters,” the post-World War II skyscrapers commissioned by Joseph Stalin to impress the West, that’s now a five-star hotel overlooking the Moscow River.

And, I did my fair share of savoring mouthwatering regional cuisine along the way from the kitchens of Georgia, Russia and the Ukraine.

Join me as I re-trace my steps on Insight Vacations’ Easy Pace Russia journey and try and solve, in the words of Winston Churchill, this “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

Do svidaniya!

The post Easy Pace Russia: Prologue appeared first on Traveling Archive.