St. Petersburg - Part 2

Peterhof is a palace complex on the outskirts of St. Petersburg designed by Peter the Great, the Russian Tsar who founded St. Petersburg.  It is known for elaborate fountains, gardens, & of course it's palace.

There is a fancy speedboat you can take to get you there in 30 minutes for $20 roundtrip or you get take a marshtruka (minibus) from the metro station for just over $2 roundtrip that gets you there in 40 minutes.  I went on the minibus, you just tell the driver "fountains" (your destination) & you pay him the fare.  Not a scenic drive, lots of ugly communist style high rises on the drive to Peterhof.  I am pretty sure I was the only foreign tourist on the bus, all the others were Russians.

The 2nd word on the bus is Peterhof & the 3rd word on the bus is Fountain, both written in Russian.

I skipped going into the palace & just toured the gardens and fountains.  The cost to get in was just under $10.  One thing to note, like many attractions in Europe this is a reproduction of the original complex since most of it was destroyed during World War II by the Germans.  Here are my photos from my visit to Peterhof.

After visiting the grounds, I headed back to St. Petersburg on the mini-bus to catch the Metro back to my apartment.  The Avoto Metro station is the nicest one in St. Petersburg, check out these photos of it.

After a lot of walking at the palace, I took a break at the apartment & then headed to Teremok for dinner.

The next day I have a walking tour planned & some sightseeing after that.