russia: shlisselburg and st petersburg

Back in December, the ladies and I spent one weekend in Shlisselburg and St Petersburg. The main reason we went to Shlisselburg was to visit a fortress there. We didn't figure out until after we got to town that the place wasn't open half the year, during the colder months. Needless to say, we were disappointed.

The ladies left Moscow during the third weekend of June, when I still had two more days of meetings for the end of work. Even after my remaining days of work, I had more time until my booked flights to the States, so I planned a series of trips in and around Russia.

One of these trips was back up to St Petersburg and Shlisselburg. I knew that a summer trip would have much longer days, much warmer weather, and a fortress open to visitors.

After coming back to Moscow from Transnistria, I spent the day doing various household chores and changing out the clothes in my backpack. That evening, I made my way to one of the train stations in Moscow, and hopped on a night train to St Petersburg.

Aas expected, my train arrived on time. I knew my hostel wouldn't be willing to check me in quite so early, but I didn't mind. I walked to the hostel, they let me drop my bag so I didn't have to carry it around all day. 

I also spent a couple hours in the common room, charging my phone and figuring out how to get to various places I wanted to see on this trip.

My first sight was a wooden church just outside the city limits of St Petersburg. I had seen pictures of the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin on social media, and wanted to see it for myself. Getting there wasn't very difficult, though it took a little longer than I wanted it to.

I rode the metro a few stops, transferred lines, rode a few more stops, then found a marshrutka to take me the rest of the way.

The bus stop nearest the church was only 30 meters from the church, so it was perfect. The church was actually inside wooden walls, there was also a bell tower inside the walls. The roof of the church was the best part of being there. The onion domes were made of wooden pieces, it was all very intricate and beautiful.

The inside of the church was painted, but not as much as other churches I've seen. My visit happened during a service, so I didn't stay in there for long, and didn't take many photos.

After seeing the church, I walked to the bus stop on the other side of the street; I got lucky that I didn't have to wait long for the next bus to come along. 

When that bus dropped me off at a metro station, I rode more trains, to get to the end of another metro line.

During our visit to Shlisselburg we discovered a public bus that went between Shlisselburg and St Petersburg, the trip was only 40-50 minutes or so. Instead of taking a taxi like we'd done last time, I chose to take this bus again. It left quite regularly from the end of this metro line, yay.

Forty minutes later, I arrived in Shlisselburg. I knew exactly where I was, and where I wanted to go, I knew I wasn't going to be spending too much time in the city. 

I walked straight to the marina, marveling at how different the city looks in summer versus winter.

The next boat to the island on which the fortress sits left in just fifteen minutes. Even though it was quite windy, I stayed on deck during the ride. There was another fee to enter the fortress, and I could've rented an audioguide too if I'd wanted. (I didn't.)

The fortress was originally called Oreshek when it was built by the men of Grand Prince Yury in 1323. The fortress was originally built because of the regular fighting between Sweden (which then included Finland,) and Russia (which was then the Novgorod Republic.) 

The fortress continued to be involved in fighting between the countries for a few more centuries, before the border was completed solidified in 1702.

Peter renamed the fortress Shlisselburg in the early 18^th century.

In later years the fortress was used as a prison, holding political prisoners. I didn't recognize the names of any of the prisoners, but I assume students of Russian history would recognize names. The fortress was used as a museum in the 1920s, with exhibits about the October Revolution. 

During WW2 the fortress was under seige for around 500 days by German soldiers. Somehow a garrison of Red Army soldiers held out, and the siege was lifted in 1943.

Overall, the war was not good for the fortress. Not many of the original towers remain, and the interior was almost completely destroyed. Renovations have rebuilt some of the walkway along the top of one section of wall. What remains of the church has been transformed into a war memorial, though you're only allowed to look at it, not step into the ruined area. I don't think there are any plans to rebuild the church. 

The area that was a museum before is now a museum again, only this time it is about the political prisoners who were held there. I went through the museum, but it wasn't all that interesting.

I also went through one of the former towers, as well as through a gate that let me out onto a small beach area. Everyone and their mother was out there, but I could understand why. It was pretty, and the weather was good.

After enjoying the scene for a while, I made my way back to the dock and took the next boat back to the mainland. 

After looking at the map I realized there was a Lenin statue in town, we'd missed that last time. Not very big, but I'm always happy to see a Lenin statue.

After Lenin, I spedwalked to the supermarket we'd loved so much back in December. I was gutted to find out it wasn't currently carrying any of the Finnish chocolate I'd found last time. Booo. From there it was a quick walk back to the bus station, and a short wait for the next bus back to St Petersburg.

My day of exploring didn't end when I got back to St Petersburg. 

The bus brought me to the same metro station from which it had departed, then I rode a couple more trains before walking for at least thirty minutes to a church.

Smolny Cathedral was pretty. Much prettier from the outside, the inside was relatively boring. The outside is blue, rather eye catching. The inside was nearly all white, with the exception of various icons, and gold iconostases. That probably sounds jaded, but I've seen plenty of gold iconostases previously, this one wasn't memorable.

After the church I walked back to the metro, and I have to admit that by this point my feet were quite sore. I rode the metro to the stop closest to Namaste, a restaurant I will never get tired of visiting.

The next morning it took me a while to get going, but it didn't matter to me. I started with more walking, quite a long walk. I walked from my hostel all the way to Park Pobedy, a bit over seven kilometers. The weather was still nice, so I was quite happy with myself. I was also quite happy when I stopped in a bakery along the way and found brownies and cheesecake.

The park wasn't all that amazing, but I did enjoy watching other people in the park. Plus there were some good photos with reflections from the ponds.

There is a metro station on one side of the park, I went there to catch the trains again. I rode to a stop near a museum, called Museum Erarta. It's a contemporary art museum, in a modern-ish building.

As expected, I liked some of the pieces more than others. I suppose this is how I feel about any museum I visit. Walking around this museum was completely different from what I'd been doing just 24 hours earlier, I love that about Russia.

After leaving the museum, I made my way back to the hostel and picked up my backpack. Then I went back to the metro, for what felt like the 89^th time during this visit. 

Eventually I want to see all the metro stations of St Petersburg, so this time I was on the trains for a bit longer, riding all the way to the southern end of the purple line. I was disappointed that only the very end station was interesting (to me,) aesthetically.

When I felt like I'd seen enough, I rode to the station closest to the train station, arriving about an hour before my night train back to Moscow. I love St Petersburg, I know I'll be back soon.