Mother Russia – part 3 of our Baltic cruise

The Baltic region has become one of the hottest cruising destinations largely because of huge, unabated interest in visiting St. Petersburg (formerly known as Leningrad), the glorious capital of Imperial Russia from 1712 until 1914.  No other port city in the region can match this proud city’s array of dazzling sights: the Hermitage State Museum, Palace Square, Peterhof Palace, St. Isaac’s Cathedral and at least a half dozen more unique “must see” attractions, all cloaked in that unmistakable aura of Russian grandeur.

Since Baltic cruisers rightly want to maximize their enjoyment of the St. Petersburg port of call (either two or three nights, depending on the length of the cruise) and most have never been to Russia (with its own strict regulations on visitors and unique visa requirements), most opt to sign up for the standard shore excursions offered by the ship.

This was the only official tour we took on our Baltic cruise and we had two little helpers with us.

St. Petersburg’s weather can be brutal in the winter, since the city is located on about the same latitude as Oslo, Stockholm, and Helsinki, it has wonderfully long daylight hours from May to September.  It’s also as far north as Alaska and we had glorious sunny days.  However, our guide told us that we were extremely lucky, since often the weather is cloudy and gloomy for many days in a row, even in the summer.