Peterhof

Our destination is Peterhof.  After a drive through the city, however, the metro is our first introduction to St.  Petersburg and even from the very beginning it is unlike any other metro station.  Narvskaya metro is bustling with commuters and we push our tokens into the machine to pass through the gates and are funneled onto a long escalator, perhaps the longest I have ever seen.

During the escalator ride there is time enough to pause and contemplate the dizzying length of the ride, peppered with sumptuous lamps on the way down.  I notice the wooden steps as we arrive on the platform and realise this is something special, just as has been promised.

After admiring the chandeliers and a short two-stop ride later, we emerge onto an even more grand platform at Abtobo.  The columns are marble or glass, mosaics decorate the walls and chandeliers hang from the ceiling as if it were the grand hall of a palace, rather than the city’s underground network.  Trains and commuters alike pass through seemingly unaware of their extraordinary surroundings.  The tour group collectively gape as our guide, Maria, explains the significance of the ornate metro stations, created so that the people could all experience the grandeur of St. Petersburg.

Peterhof is about a 50 minute drive from St. Petersburg proper, however, given that we have taken a metro ride in between, we spend maybe another half hour driving before we arrive.  Peterhof is one of a string of imperial summer residences that stretch around the outer suburbs of the northern capital.  As St. Petersburg was essentially created by Peter I (Peter the Great), rather than growing organically as a city, the menu of palace and park phenomenons on the outskirt of town were primarily brought about at the same time.

Of the numerous summer palaces, Peterhof is a favorite as it was also a favourite residence of Peter I, after whom it is named.  Created in the early 18th Century it officially opened on 15 August 1723.  The grounds and gardens here are a draw card as much as the palace itself.  The grounds are conceived and fountains designed to be able to run continuously, fed by natural springs that collects in reservoirs in the Upper Gardens.

It has been compared to Versailles, however, Versailles can only have certain fountains running at one and only for short periods of time, due to the lack of water pressure.

We are dropped off on the outskirts of the grounds and shepherded by our guide, Maria, through the entrance and along the top of the gardens at palace level to take in some of the enormity and magnificence of the scene before us.  For surely this is a scene.  We gape and marvel at suitable intervals and just in general as Maria unfurls the history and significance pertaining to each fact.

For example, the Great Palace, as the main building includes staterooms and drawing rooms on the first floor, a throne room (with an area of 300 sq meters), a ballroom, portrait hall and rather magnificent staircase.  Unfortunately we haven’t the time today to explore the inside and we turn instead, towards the fountains and walk down a perhaps even more magnificent staircase which flanks this marvel of the Grand Cascade.

The Palace

The Palace itself looks considerably imposing from where I stand admiring it.  However, we are assured that it is in fact, quite small, only 30 rooms (only – I figure this is relative) and narrow.

A Picture Hall contains 368 portraits, most of women, with the room being almost entirely covered by the paintings.  The Chesma Hall contains paintings of the Battle of Chesma (1768-1774).  The ballroom is lavishly gilded and there are two Chinese studies which house and display fashionable Oriental acquisitions.

The queue to enter the palace itself suggests that it is worth the wait but I satisfy myself with tidbits of information and a mental picture, for now.

The Fountains

We turn from the palace and the Grand Cascade is before us.  The main fountain in the Grand Cascade is the Samson Fountain which depicts the moment when Samson (from the Biblical account) tears open the jaws of a lion.  This is representational of Russia’s victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War and with the lion being an element of the Swedish coat of arms, it is doubly symbolic.  The highest fountain at Peterhof shoots 20m from the lion’s mouth and I find it impossible close up to get the whole thing into one frame.  The Samson Fountain is supplied by its own aqueduct which draws water from a high-elevation source over 4km away.  This builds the pressure required to drive the fountain. The elevation difference, a drop of around 8m from the height of the palace, creates the pressure that drives most of the remaining (around 64 fountains) of the Grand Cascade and Lower Gardens.

The remainder of the fountains are wide and varied.  There are smaller fountains on bath like pedestals (see the Ital’yanskiy fountain above), the Sun Fountain, the Adam Fountain and the Chess Cascade is particularly interesting.  Amusingly there are several ‘trick’ fountains.  One that is in the shape of a large mushroom (or umbrella) – those out for a stroll may seek shelter from the sun or perhaps rain and find themselves equally soaked as the fountain turns on.  There is another that is activated when sitting on benches for a rest or simply walking along the path to the Chess Cascade may find you drenched under the “fountain-cracker” water road (as opposed to fire-cracker).  It seems the Emperor had a sense of humor.

The Grounds

The fountains are only a small part of the 1000 square hectares of the palace and grounds, and there are parks, around 30 pavilions (aside from the main Palace building) and one hundred sculptures to explore.

We’re expertly guided through the grounds.  I’m in awe at Maria’s encyclopedic knowledge of both the facts of Peterhof and the history that goes with it.  Her ease of recalling the stories and circumstances as we’re ushered along paths, down steps, past fountains, statues and pavilions, all with historical significance and a new tale attached.

My favorite is the one where Adam (from the Adam Fountain) and Eve (from the Eve Fountain some half a kilometer away) meet in the middle on the bridge over the canal at night time.

Pavilions

The Monplezir (or Monplaisir) Pavilion was Peter I’s favorite.  Indeed it’s name translates to ‘my delight’.  It was designed by Peter I himself and became his preferred retreat where he would invite his closes friends to dine and party.

With its location right on the shore within Neva Bay at the eastern most point of the Gulf of Finland, it was designed as a cosy, yet still splendid, residence.  With a large State Hall – a reception room for banquets and gatherings, it also had a study, a kitchen where Peter’s wife might cook dinner herself for their guests and out to each side of the State Hall, two glass walled galleries from which both the sea and the park can be viewed.

The Orangery was the greenhouse of the Palace and would have been the epicenter of garden and grounds management.  Today it houses a restaurant and is another wonderful site as we circle back around to the Palace and all of a sudden we have popped out at the Upper Gardens and at the front of Palace.

A quick walk through the Upper Gardens with its classical landscaping and arbors that are like avenues and alas, we’re done.  I long to go inside and explore the interiors and wander some more through the delightful green park but today our tour does not allow the time.  Not only this, but we’re getting hungry.

Thankfully lunch is just around the corner and we’re treated to the recommendation of Russian pancakes.  This is a savory version and both the chicken and the pork varieties are delicious, delicately spiced and reminiscent of Chinese dumplings or khinkhali.  We also have a Russian soup and a much needed espresso before we’re ushered out and back onto the tour bus for Catherine Palace, our next adventure.

Would I Return?

Yes.  Peterhof is most certainly worth a visit and really deserves to be treated as a day trip.  The palace is situated 50 minutes from central St. Petersburg.  Allow at least a couple of hours to explore the grounds and take in the fountains.  Another couple of hours for the palace interiors and extra for the queues in summer (at least an hour, perhaps more).

Also leave time enough to sit and try some Russian pancakes at Brynza, a local cafe catering to the hoards of tourists right next door to the palace complex.