Explore More - 2017

108 VIKINGCRUISES.COM |

108 VIKINGCRUISES.COM | EXPLORE MORE 2017

RUSSIA RIVER CRUISE after an extensive breakfast and consisted of a full-day tour of the best of the three million artworks in the Hermitage Museum. These include works by Titian, Matisse, van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin, da Vinci, Picasso, Monet and Rubens. The visit was followed by dinner and a performance of the ballet Swan Lake. It was after WE ENJOYED A LIVELY COSSACK FOLK SONG AND DANCE PERFORMANCE WITH VODKA 11 PM when we arrived back on board, but Viking was ready with a substantial late-night snack, including wine and beer, just as they offer with all normal lunches and dinners. Throughout our stay in St. Petersburg we were dazzled by the opulence of Russia’s rulers and the sheer extravagance of the palaces: the Winter Palace; the Amber Room in the Catherine Palace; the “Royal Village” at Pushkin; and the extraordinary UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Peterhof Palace. After four eye-popping days in St. Petersburg, it felt as if we’d been guided around just about every well-known church, monument and museum there is—including the Peter and Paul Fortress. This is the original epicenter of the city, and many former tsars are now laid to rest in the Peter and Paul Cathedral including the relatively recently reinterred remains of assassinated and last tsar Nicholas II and his family. Another highlight was the private viewing of the Peter Carl Fabergé collection, among which are the nine exquisite Imperial Easter Eggs. To cap off our final day in this remarkable city, we enjoyed a loud and lively Cossack folk song and dance performance with a drop of vodka. Naturally. We were continually informed about every aspect of Russian life, the country’s complex history and detailed facts about all the places we Clockwise from facing page: The Amber Room at the Catherine Palace; the Winter Palace, home to the Hermitage Museum; Church of St. Elijah the Prophet, Yaroslavl; Fabergé eggs; the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg; soldiers in Red Square, Moscow visited. Before dinner each evening there was a full briefing about what to expect the following day, which was very informative. Plus, the ship’s newsletter, the Viking Daily, was delivered to our room. By contrast, the next few days were a tranquil meander along the Neva River, across the 136-milelong Lake Ladoga (Europe’s largest), with its 700 islands, and along the 139-mile Svir River toward Lake Onega. Before we reached this lake we stopped briefly at Mandrogy, a small, restored 18th-century settlement that’s home to artisans creating all manner of crafts using ancient methods and horse-drawn transport. Here you can buy genuine handcrafted souvenirs or even create your own by painting matryoshka nesting dolls. If that’s not for you, there are 2,800 vodkas to try followed by a visit to a banya, a traditional Russian sauna. Back on board we headed to Kizhi, one of Lake Onega’s 1,650 islands, a mere speck measuring four miles by just over half a mile. Several generations of families lived and worked on the island in wooden two-story homes. Their EXPLORE MORE 2017 | VIKINGCRUISES.COM 109