Friday 29th March 2013
Catherine Palace : Church on the Spilled Blood
Once again, we are greeted by a beautiful clear blue sky when we wake. The temperature is a little warmer too, only minus two degrees centigrade!
Today we hope to visit Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo and the Church on the Spilled Blood. Our guidebook gave directions to Tsarkoe Selo; we need to take two trolley buses, catch a train and then take another trolley bus to the palace. During breakfast, Dave searched the Internet and found different directions. This route instructs us to go to Moskovsky Railway Station which is the station where we first arrived in St. Petersburg. Outside the station we must find a ‘K’ bus. The ‘K’ buses are apparently private minibuses that have many different routes within the city and also cover the surrounding areas. This bus will take us directly to the palace gates. As this appears to be a more straight forward route, we decide on this option.
We caught the trolley bus to the railway station but unfortunately we could not find any ‘K’ buses. After walking around the station a couple of times we asked a man for help. As he had no English, we showed him a picture of the palace and pointed at a bus but unfortunately we couldn’t make ourselves understood. ‘If you are lost, ask a policeman’, is advice I remember receiving when I was a kid so that is what we tried next. Just inside the entrance to the huge railway station, there were three policemen dressed in their thick winter uniforms sheltering from the bitter cold. We asked them the same question, by again pointing at a picture of the palace. One of the policemen questioned ‘Pushkin?’ raising his eyebrows and we nodded, confirming that this was where we wanted to go. Tsarkoe Selo translates as the ‘Tsars Village’, the palace estate is still referred to as this. In 1937 the small town was renamed ‘Pushkin’ to honour the Russian Poet – Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (100 years after his death). With the policeman’s very little English (for which we were so grateful) he managed to tell us that the buses leave from outside the Moskovskaya Metro Station, not the Moskovsky Railway Station. We were at the wrong station! Two letter ‘A’s’ caused us quite a bit of confusion.
Half an hour or so later we were outside the correct railway station. Glancing around we saw only one ‘K’ bus, I approached the bus driver’s window and showed him a piece of paper with the bus numbers on that travel the route we required. For a split second from the look on his face I wondered if he thought it was a begging note or something similar but he soon smiled and pointed to the square where we needed to be. We immediately spotted three buses but none of the numbers we needed, I said ‘Tsarkoe Selo?’ to another driver and we were amazed at his reply. ‘Now you listen to me’ he commanded in excellent English, ‘You walk straight ahead, then you turn left, then you will find the bus’. We were extremely relieved to find that he was right!
The 40-minute bus journey cost the equivalent of 80cents/70p.
The beautiful golden cupolas rise above the palace church at one end of the long Baroque façade. We walked towards them marvelling at the awe-inspiring architecture. Catherine Palace was the summer residence of the Romanov Tsars.
A man stood playing a flute, in front of the palace; the music enhanced the atmosphere of the place.
As we had intended, we arrived just after 12pm. While organised groups could gain admittance at any time throughout the day, individuals were only admitted between 12pm and 2pm and then again between the hours of 4pm and 5pm. The doors were opened but only a small number of people were allowed entry before they were firmly closed again.
We chatted with a couple of people; a Russian lady told us that in the summer months, it was usual to queue for 2-3 hours. The lady had visited Moscow for a few days and she commented on how empty the city was, she thought this was due to the severe cold weather. A Russian man spoke with us and enquired where our translator was. He was amazed to learn that we did not have one and remarked that we were brave for visiting Russia alone. We think he was referring to the lack of English spoken in the two cities which we had visited.
Forty-five minutes later, the doors were opened again and a few more people were allowed in before once more the doors were closed. We were finally allowed entry after a further 20 minutes. We then queued to purchase tickets before joining yet another queue for the cloakroom. Dave wouldn’t let me have the cloakroom token – I have no idea why! We were handed paper overshoes to cover our own shoes, these would apparently protect the imperial palace’s floors or perhaps they were to help to polish them?
We meandered through the opulent rooms. The great hall is almost 1000 square metres; its walls are decorated in gilded stucco. Rays of sunlight shine into the hall through its many tall windows, they reflect off the room’s many mirrors and illuminate the ballroom. One can easily visualise a Grand Ball taking place here.
From one of the windows you can view the rest of the palace buildings, the enclosed courtyard and the gold decorated gates. One can easily imagine the horse drawn carriages arriving with the guests dressed in their grandeur for the ball.
Perhaps the most famous room in Catherine Palace is the Amber Room. Reports differ as to what happened to the room’s original amber panels. Some say no one knows what happened to them and other reports state that the Nazis stole them during World War 2. However, the reports do agree that the panels have never been found. Russian craftsmen spent decades recreating the room from old photographs.
The Amber Room opened its doors to the public in 2003. I confess to surreptitiously taking a few photographs of this remarkable room although there is a notice stating that it is forbidden. But why is it forbidden I wonder? I did not use a flash, as I understand that continued flash photography can have an adverse effect on some materials. Is it because they want to sell postcards? Well we also purchased some postcards. We do, however, always comply with photography regulations in places of worship.
Unfortunately the Agate Rooms which are within the Roman styled baths were closed for major renovation work.
It was nearly 4pm and we realised that we had not eaten since breakfast. There was a small café in the palace and we stopped for a quick coffee and sandwich.
We then wandered around the beautiful grounds. They cover an area of 1400 acres and contain numerous architecturally interesting buildings and follies.
One of these buildings, designed as a small mosque, houses a Turkish bath.
There were a few locals walking their dogs in the vast park. The pond was frozen and everywhere we looked resembled a winter wonderland.
We returned to the outskirts of the city centre using the ‘K’ bus. The bus dropped us outside a McDonalds, which beckoned us in for much needed hot drinks before we continued our journey using the metro back to Nevskiy Prospekt. On reaching the main artery of the city, we decided that it was too late and we were too weary to do justice to a visit to the Church on the Spilled Blood. So we jumped on yet another tram and returned to our hotel. After flopping for an hour or so we got ready and went out again.
We were in search of a meal but we agreed that we didn’t want to walk too far. We walked in a different direction to previous evenings and soon came across a couple of restaurants. We chose one named ‘Akter’ which we later learnt translates to ‘actor’. It was a cosy place filled with books, photographs and sketches, which were mainly caricatures of actors and actresses. A piano stood against one wall. We ordered a dish of veal in a tomato sauce, and a chicken fillet stuffed with pineapple & cheese served with a sweet & sour sauce. We chose baked cauliflower and ‘homemade’ potatoes as side dishes. The potatoes were thinly sliced, fried and stacked with layers of onion. Just before our meal was served, a female pianist arrived and played for about an hour or so. The restaurant had a great atmosphere, delicious food and it was a treat to listen to the music.
lindaruddstravels.com 