Saint Petersburg General Tips by Audrey118

Favorite Thing: There are so many churches, cathderals, and there is even a mosque and a Tibetan Buddhist temple. The mosque is much more interesting than the temple.

The churches are terribly awesome; many have just been restored and some only open as a 'museum' to the public.

Foreigners have to pay for entrance to most churches, it cost around 100 -250 rubles and extra between 50-100 rubles to take photos in the churches.

Russian churches are mostly Russian Orthodox (the parish priests must be married so that to understand the life of family people but not the head of the Orthodoz church). Also all Russian orthodox churches has a East--West direction, with the main entrance of the building at the west end.

This symbolizes the entrance of the worshipper from the darkness of sin which is the west into the light of truth which is the east.

Also special to the Russian churches, are the beautiful onion shaped domes, not one but many many domes. These domes are colourful, and also some of them have a Cross on top, symblosing salvation.

So when you enter from the west, the extreme end is the east, is the Holy Altar.
Also you will notice the importance of icons. If the church is say Church of St Basil, you will see the picture of the icon on the right side of the altar. Russian Orthodox churches have lots of icons all over the church, be it on the wall, ceiling every where.


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Favorite Thing: Another feature to note in Russian Orthodox churches are the many many rows of icosn.

When you look at the altar at the east end of the church, you will see 4 rows or 4 tiers of icons. The top row contains the Old Testament Prophets and at th top is the Holy Cross.


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Favorite Thing: You can get around by train, metro or buses - even small mini bus in SPburg.

We took the metro to move around; it costs a mere 8 rubles per ride, does not matter how far as it is based on per entrance. They uses a token for the ride, and you can buy a bagful to avoid having to queue for tokens.

SPb metro system is much smaller, and less touristy s in Moscow. It has only 4 lines opposed to 11 in Moscow.

Of the 4 lines, the red line, Line 1 is the most impressive and interesting to look at. There are nice stained glass decoration, or mosaics murals, sculptures that reflects the area...say it is near the se, you will see boat patterns etc

Whatever it is one thing for sure you will notice how deep underground the Russians metro are. And how decorative they are. It is a good place to keep warm during the harsh winter as well.

The trains arrive every 2 odd minutes.
When you are waiting for the train, you can see two digital clocks , one to show the time and the other tells you when did the last train just left.


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