Sunshine, Love & Grandeur

‘On the ground and on the ball’, ‘Ala Russe’ sorted us out an excellent end of summer trip to St Petersburg in the second week of September. Our (inadvertent) timing proved perfect: we had three hot, bright days (sunbathers were spread eagled all along the Peter and Paul Fortress ‘basting wall’) and fireworks and marching bands to mark the 70th anniversary of the Siege.

Here, completely at random, are my highlights:

The golden dome of St. Isaac’s, a gift for photographers from any angle, and, as it was right opposite our hotel (and all you could see from the Angleterre pool: glorious) a beacon to guide us home on vodka-fuelled nights.

Teplo Restaurant with its fairy-lit courtyard, Wendy house and soft orange blankets (enabling you to keep extremities warm as necessary: infinitely preferable to indiscriminate, hair-igniting patio heaters). Their pumpkin soup, roast veal with kasha, and mulled white wine with rum-soaked raisins aren’t bad either. All served with kindness and verve.

The theatrical decor, ‘gentlemanly’ downstairs quarters (rooms for billiards, smoking, carousing and male grooming) and phonetic signage of the Yusupov Palace. Oh, and the wholly flammable ‘paper masher’ gilt chandelier in the ballroom.

On that ‘innovative use of materials’ note, I also loved Bartolomeo ‘Baroque purveyor to the Tsars’ Rastrelli’s tinfoil panels at the Catherine Palace, the meat jasper sash and Lego figurine-style contrasting marble hair of Auguste Montferrand’s bust at St. Isaac’s, the blue marble dust pillars at the Hermitage and the plump, wobbly, flesh-pressed plaster pillars of the Admiralty.

Who needs quarries and mines when you have such amazing ingenuity? Built on a marsh, this city of stucco is like a giant Alka Seltzer perched at the edge of the Baltic and shouldn’t really have survived as long as it has. But the valiant St. Petersburgers have preserved it through fire, flood and famine for as long as it took us to get there. Bless them.

Inspired by the sweep, grandeur and beauty of the place, romance pervades St. P.; everyone was getting married on the weekend we visited, and no doubt leaving commemorative ‘loveheart locks’ on the Postuluev Bridge.

There’s so much more but only space here to mention three outstanding extras: the Pyramid Fountain at the Peterhof (our day there was beautiful) our 4pm liquid lunch at the Idiot Cafe, with some the best Bloody Marys we’ve ever encountered, and my ‘scuro-scuro’ breakfast in a stylish booth at the Angleterre: chyornie xleb (black bread), cherry jam, prunes and black coffee.

1,000 thanks to Ala and Irina, our smart and determined guide, for making it all possible at such incredibly short notice. Spontaneity has never been such trouble-free fun.

Fiona Bacon, September 2011.

For more on holidays to St Petersburg, contact us on 020 89562756 or email us at enquiries@exeterinternational.co.uk