We were given a short-ish city tour before heading to the dock to begin our cruise along the Neva River. We stopped at a seemingly random spot along the river. This is supposed to be a river cruise, right? So where is the terminal building? Where is the signage? Once we got off the bus and walked toward the edge of the canal, we saw a set of stairs leading down to the water. A boat awaited us there. Ok. Yet another reminder to remove my American lens…and expectations.
St. Petersburg lies at the confluence of the Gulf of Finland and the Neva River. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It also goes by the nickname of “Venice of the North”. Once you’re out cruising the rivers and canals, you can easily see how St. Petersburg got that name.
Our boat had a galley downstairs. There was also a glass-covered observation area. Up on the main deck were plastic outdoor chairs for passengers to sit on. My first impression was this would not be very safe if we hit turbulent water. But we are in a river protected by granite embankments, some distance from the open gulf. Little chance of rough water here. In reality, it was very calm. The only time we hit anything close to unsettled water was when we got out onto the Neva River itself, and even then it was very mild.
One of the first things I noticed as we got underway was the low clearances of the bridges as we passed under. And there are a lot of bridges. Many of them are quite ornate with sculptures, streetlamps, ironwork, and gilding. The Hermitage Bridge and the covered walkway spanning the Winter Canal (Zimnyaya Kanavka), linking the Winter Palace of Peter I to the rest of the Hermitage Museum complex, got a lot of attention from our group.
Again, Natasha shined. She gave us so much information about the buildings we were passing, some of the bridges, and the statues on the bridges. It wasn’t long before my brain became full once again. At this point I just tried to absorb everything we saw instead of trying to remember all of the details. I was photographing as we went. I knew I would be able to look up things I thought were interesting after we returned home, and be able to attach the info to the photos. Thank goodness for the Internet! That actually allowed me to relax a bit.
A duck’s-eye view
Out onto the Neva River itself we picked up speed. Here our boat joined some of the other boats plying these waters. From the middle of the river we had a good view of the State Hermitage Museum and its river-facing buildings. From here we also had a duck’s-eye view of Peter and Paul Fortress and the steeple of the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. From the back of the boat we got a wide view of the entire front of Vasilyevsky Island where we were earlier. The full span of the Palace Bridge became visible. Fregat Blagodat, the floating restaurant inside a moored ship, was ahead of us. I took the opportunity to stand up and take a series of photos in a 360-degree circle. The huge Sberbank of Russia sign and the Saint Petersburg Hotel loomed large in the sequence.
I had to look up most of the following after we got home, but let’s see if I can relate to you some of the other things we saw: We cruised roughly northwest along the Neva River for a couple of minutes before turning onto the Fontanka River. It was strange to me seeing rivers and canals intersecting like streets. On our left was the Leningrad Regional Court (Leningradskiy Oblastnoy Sud). Next was St, Michael’s Castle. The onion domes of the Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ came into view through a space between buildings. Sheremetev Palace – Museum of Music (Sheremetevskiy Dvorets – Muzey Muzyki) floated past.
We cruised under the Anichkov Bridge (Anichkov Most), the oldest bridge crossing the Fontanka River, famous for the four horse statues called “The Horse Tamers” at the corners of the bridge.
Further along, appearing in the distance were the iconic four blue domes of the Trinity (Troitsky) Cathedral, which Natasha pointed out to us. The beautiful stone 
Starokalinkin Bridge (Starokalinkin Most) with its four pavilions soon greeted us. Right after that, we passed by the Treasury Building. A sign for a Pink Floyd concert appeared along the embankment street. I was surprised but happy to see that. Because we were moving and the rest of the sign was obscured by street traffic, I couldn’t see the entire sign. I’m guessing it was promoting a Pink Floyd revue. And finally, the Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPSUACE). Then it was back to the dock, back to the bus.
I would like to take another cruise through the Venice of the North, maybe along some different rivers and canals next time.
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