St. Petersburg Travel Guide

thank you to our friends at the Corinthia Hotel st. Petersburg for helping us make this episode we couldn't have done it without their help and support to book your stay at the incomparable Corinthian st. Petersburg easily one of the most luxurious hotels that I've ever stayed in click on the link in the show notes below or visit Corinthian comm for more information this is a city which to put it bluntly has seen some the former home of the czars in the center of Imperial Russian culture in its prime st. Petersburg was known as the Venice of the north but the 20th century was unbelievably cruel - the city bombed besieged and starved during World War two st. Petersburg was neglected during the Soviet era and large parts of it fell under the control of organized crime but as Russia began a new chapter in the 1990s what was once Petrograd and then Leningrad became st. Petersburg again and the city wasted no time in returning to its former glory once again the most cosmopolitan city in the country st. Petersburg is the perfect ambassador for Russia's past present and future [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the Petersburg is served by Pulkovo Airport which is located about 20 kilometers south served by a variety of regional and international airports they're currently you know that serve the airports are becoming from the US you would have been transiting it's a reasonably modern airport effect some of the terminals are almost brand new there's two layers of security when you come into the airport you have to go through an initial screening and then you have to go through a secondary screening after outbound integration so leave time you cleared immigration and I sincerely hope you had your visa in order grabbed her bags and her ready to go you have some choices to make there is no direct train or metro service to move from the airport but there are a number of buses and is 39 that's your magic number because for the city bus the ninth and the minibus service from this Airport into San Petersburg the 35 minute journey will cost 145 rubles alternatively uber is available from the airport and will cost between 500 and 900 rubles depending on which part of the city you're heading to taxis can be booked from the service booth in the arrival hall and fares are fixed depending on the area of the city you're traveling to but you'll pay between 1000 and 1500 rubles including a booking fee we all have our favorite forms of transport every traveler days mine is the simple elegance of a mid-century Metropolitan tram while Greg likes to float around cities on a chrome Segway however I'd like to submit for your consideration your new favorite former transport the st. Petersburg Metro where amongst all the cities I have ever visited is a Republican transport system a destination in and of itself the second largest metro system in Russia the Saint Petersburg Metro is quite literally a work of art but this isn't just a looker the system is efficient achieved and a great way to get around the city any trip on the Metro regardless of the distance your traveling costs 45 rubles you'll get one of these nifty little brass tokens that you can slot into the turnstile and you're on your way alternatively you can and I recommend this get a 10 trip pass for 355 roubles you can grab one of the ticket machines in this station or for one of the ticket kiosks one final negative at the metro system due to the city's unique geology it's actually the deepest metro system in the world on average the stations are 85 meters below the surface and once you set aside the factor it makes for some long walks from turnstile to train so plan for that they're not kidding about the deepness quick we're on taxis if I make in Russia every single car is a potential taxi flagging down a private vehicle paying for a ride somewhere it's perfectly normal in Russia but I don't recommend it for a couple of reasons firstly language while more people speak English that in any other city in Russia it's still not universally adopted so you may be able to get a taxi or telling the person where you want to go that's a different story the second thing of course is safety it's never a good idea to get into a random person's car in any city in the world so if you want to take a taxi take an official taxi but a couple of tips for that as well negotiate your fare before you begin your journey and although it may go against everything we've ever told you in every other city that we've covered if a driver insists on using the meter find another driver always negotiate your fare before you start your journey perhaps a safer and frankly easier alternative is uber which has extensive service throughout the city now your driver may not speak English and you may not speak a lick of Russian but the app will pick up the slack and get you from point A to point B without any problems [Music] Russian food just like Russia itself has a rich and storied history but it is a rare treat among all the cities that we've been to to be able to experience the hospitality of another time another era I feel like we've gone back in in time a little bit what is this place nice to hear it that's the emotion that we're supposed to have from our guests because yeah really it's a place of Soviet times there is no politics here it's just things and artifacts that should remind you about the Soviet times and all the good things and good feelings that you have that times and the food and the atmosphere and the interior everything is just like you get back in time the restaurant serves up healthy portions of Russian nostalgia classic soup dishes like borscht and the incomparable Salonga were followed by dishes that were frankly entirely new experiences for me this one is hearing is on the fur coat quite strange name yeah I wonder fur coat on the fur yeah on the bottom there is a herring and then where's my layers you have vegetables and mayonnaise and egg on the top dish after dish discovery after discovery we transition from savory to sweet with the help of some traditional tea served in a beautiful Russian samovar that was amazing but now I need a very but dear viewer we are just beginning our saint-petersburg food adventure so I decided to ask our friend Anna Chernova from the outstanding Corinthia Hotel team for some guidance we don't always have the opportunity to talk to a local when we do this episode so whenever we do I grab the opportunity which is why I'm very excited that we have Anna who was born and raised in st. Petersburg and has basically making sure that Craig and I don't get into trouble while we've been here and has pointed us in every single direction that we need to go it's been wonderful but I always have one question for you what is that one food that you must eat in st. Petersburg one food one so difficult actually because the Russian cuisine has very long history and it was changing through the whole history and it's difficult to pick up one but I probably would hardly recommend smelt fish it's very small fish we will try it later it's very small fish and it swims on the in the river neva which is in the st. Petersburg so it's a very very unique fish it has a bit strange smell it smells like a cocoon bird when it's fresh and it's absolutely amazing when it's fried everything is amazing when it's bright yes if you're coming to st. Petersburg you have to try smelt fish and if you're gonna try smelt fish you have to try it here ginza project on the banks of the bullsháá and nebka river so good it's like giant white bait you've eaten a hundred tiny fish and you're still hungry fear not like the rest of the world street food is all over st. Petersburg and what better way to experience a city street food culture than with that global Street food staple schwa there is something wonderful about the universality of shwarma it has gone to every corner of the earth the core ingredients remain the same pretty much which is meat some kind of sauce maybe a vegetable in a wrap no matter where you go in the world the ingredients to stay the same but there is a different take on it and it has adopted into local street food culture this is a russians form of burrito as far as i'm concerned right no it is good but there remains a russian staple that we have yet to experience the classics so intertwined with russia's identity that it's impossible to imagine one without the other vodka the Russian vodka museum tells the story of this quintessentially Russian libation from its humble beginnings as the spoils of a botched religious mission to its curious and ancient and sometimes a little sadistic rituals and once you have learned about vodka it's time to drink vodka although as we discovered it's a little more complicated than that three different types of vodka and I'm I'm to inhale out and Hill out Boosh probably the pronunciation it and then eat something you said don't go slowly otherwise it hurts being the pragmatic people they are Russians encourage a little lining of the stomach while you enjoy their national drink things like lard with mustard or herring served on rye bread usually do the trick that's good I love mustard perfecting a smooth vodka requires unlikely but effective ingredients smooth water from the north mountains and deer antlers to purify them this is the most vodka I have drunk in my entire life wrap the museum is housed in the stroganoff buildings yes that stroganoff I'm eating beef stroganoff where it was invented we're actually in this stroganoff complex and here it is onions sour cream could there be a more beautiful combination our waiter Leonid suggested that perhaps there was when the when they were forbidden for drinking vodka they would order this dish there was no bottles no shot glasses no sign that of drinking the vodka of course the vodka was there and it was mixed in and it would have the desired effects if you will and they would order it again and again I am very sure we learned a lot about vodka about stroganoff about Russia that night if only we could remember it another day dawns in st. Petersburg and our trusted Sherpa Anna suggests she might know something that could cure what ails us on this the day after the night before I'm a fan of just about every fried batter product there is I'm on a mission and like to try every single one of them but I think this is my new favorite the beautiful fish can I say that right Anna all right good seems a lot harder there should be it's a really light fluffy dough that's in deep fried and extremely hot oil it's not for very long and then sprinkled with powdered sugar it is a wonderfully st. Petersburg treat you try and get these anywhere outside of st. Petersburg the recipe changes the topping changes the technique changes so this is really something you can only get here and they are wonderful I'm going to eat one and it's regularly six apparently six seems unhealthy but I can see why they are wonderful before we get into the specifics on money a quick general note on currency and exchange rates in the first few episodes of this show we would talk in specifics about exchange rates and currencies and say something cost X and then convert that into another kind of currency we stopped doing that ever since exid and trump and general financial market instability exchange rates have been all over the place so even just days after filming the stuff we put in an episode was out a date and we get the inevitable YouTube comments of one pound isn't a dollar seventy you absolute numpty and that hurts hurts me and it hurts Greg we stopped doing it instead you can use one of the many wonderful currency conversion tools that are out there or try this new thing called Google I've heard it's very good [Music] the longest time Russia has used the ruble or various incarnations thereof as its currency the current version is from 1998 onwards any coin or note before that is no longer legal tender now a ruble is made up of a hundred Co pecks but because of the value of the ruble as it is today it is extremely rare to see prices reference kopeck everything is rounded up to the nearest ruble and even one and five and now even ten ruble coins are such little value that you rarely see them everything is moving to notes now five and ten ruble notes are slowly going out of production as well and while you can have a huge stack of notes in your pocket it's not actually that much money but st. Petersburg like a lot of Russia is a pretty cheap City yes luxury goods and high-end food like caviar will cost a lot of money no matter where you are but you can eat and drink and get around in this city incredibly cheaply and it's all of excellent quality if you're looking in the right places very quick chat about tipping in the past it was generally frowned upon it's actually coming into fashion in the last few years but it's very very simple ten percent is more than enough in a satisfactory restaurant or bar experience and you can round up the change in a taxi or either a service environment Visa and MasterCard debit and credit cards are widely accepted even in the smallest of shops American Express not so much I saw a sign that fitted my a card Woodworking it did not so your mileage may vary but Visa and MasterCard accepted everywhere there are ATMs everywhere some will charge a fee and someone so make sure you check that before you begin your transaction and with that in mind let's do the rundown cup of coffee cost around two hundred roubles fine Abril costs three one hundred and seventy five rubles and for the most reliable indicator of a nation's cost a good ol Big Mac you're gonna pay about 137 roubles it's in Petersburg a safe city absolutely Russian cities are saddled with this inaccurate and unfair reputation as being generally unsafe that is an unfair characterization yes there was a terror attack on the Metro here earlier this year there's no denying that but that was an isolated incident and should in no way put you off coming to the city or any other Russian city or even more importantly exploring on your own at no point during our stay here have we felt unsafe wandering and exploring the city during the day or during the night this is a safe city this was my first experience of Russia and I will admit I arrived with more than a few preconceptions but after spending time here I can say that every illusion I had of what this place might be like was shattered and I have come away with limitless appreciation for the city and for this country yes st. Petersburg has history and culture in abundance of this it is and should be proud but behind the ornate facades there's real depth real people real Russia I will I have no doubt be back you

Channel: Attaché

Views: 606,947

Rating: 4.8025522 out of 5

Keywords: st petersburg, russia, st petersburg travel, st petersburg travel guide, guide, city, visit, trip, sightseeing, tourism, architecture, slideshow, destination, culture, vodka, stroganoff, pishki, russian food, smelt fish, russia travel, Destination, travel

Id: 4ADQtmkfYJ0

Length: 17min 6sec (1026 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 27 2017