St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, 06.09.2017

By the time we finally cross the border, it is already early evening. There are still about 150 kilometers to St. Petersburg... Russian kilometers. The travel guide warned us about the worst car tour of our lives, but first we refuel at dreamy fuel prices of around 70 cents and gas prices of 20 cents. The way to St. Petersburg is quite relaxed. The roads are almost like new and there are no problems. However, we do lose a hubcap because of a nasty hole in the road, but it's not a big deal. However, all of the campsites mentioned in the travel guide no longer exist. To find that out, we have to drive through the entire city. An insane experience at night. The houses on the Neva riverbank are beautifully illuminated and make you want more. In the end, we spend the night near Peterhof in a quiet corner in the Polomobile.

In no case do we want to drive into St. Petersburg by car, so we decide to leave the car at the end stop of one of the metro lines 5. On the way there, Hanna has her biggest car adventure at a roundabout. The Russian city planners seem not to have understood the advantage of a roundabout correctly, so there are often one or two entrances to the roundabout that have priority. This not only destroys the concept of the roundabout, but also causes a hellish chaos. We are in the middle of a two-lane roundabout, cars are jammed on four lanes. In front of us, a gray loader squeezes in sideways to the direction of travel and gets stuck in traffic. Honking... After 20 minutes, Hanna has managed to get us out of the chaos, pulse racing. The end stop of line 5 is in the middle of a high-rise housing estate that doesn't look particularly trustworthy. People look at us with great interest, as foreign license plates are not often seen here. First, I want to buy a Russian SIM card so that we have internet. We try our luck in a small shop, in vain. He doesn't speak English and really doesn't want to deal with us. In the neighboring shop things look better. Two young salesmen explain the prepaid card rates to us with hand gestures and 15 minutes later we have reached our goal. 10 GB of internet data volume cost only 4 euros in Russia. Next point: food. We order pastries at a bakery, of course in Russian! And lo and behold, it works great. Now we're going into the city. In St. Petersburg, you buy metro coins, with which you can then travel a distance, regardless of how long it is. At each station, you have to go through metal detectors and your luggage is screened once. We get off in the center and look for a hostel. Then it's time for our first exploration of the surroundings. The city is absolutely worth seeing, the old buildings and streets are huge. Thousands of cafes, small shops, and restaurants line up. And the city is big. Our hostel is right in the center, but it's a half world trip to get to the Neva riverbank. Today, we are satisfied with a visit to an Italian restaurant. Highlight: A customer takes the bill booklet with him, the boss laughs his head off and when the guest returns it sheepishly, the boss just can't hold himself anymore and runs through the restaurant laughing out loud.

The next day, it is time for the Peter and Paul Fortress. The fortress is located in the middle of the city and was built by Peter the Great to permanently drive the Swedes out of the Neva estuary. There is a large church in the fortress where all the tsars of the former tsarist empire are buried. Together with the numerous museums in the fortress, it is a complete day trip. In the evening, Hana and I try out some of the excellent cocktail bars in the city. An example: a cherry cocktail with a blue cheese ice cream. Sounds strange, but it was delicious!

Our last day in St. Petersburg is reserved for Peterhof. Peter the Great built a gigantic palace here with countless fountains. Not a single one of these fountains is operated by a pump. An elaborate system of pipelines is fed by underground sources and operates the fountains.

In the afternoon, we set off for Moscow.