So! After a bumpy and long boat ride we are finally here.
At Peterhof, it is a series of palaces and gardens located in Peterhof, Saint Petersburg, Russia, commissioned by Peter the Great as a direct response to the Palace of Versailles by Louis XIV of France.
The architect between 1714 and 1728 was Domenico Trezzini, and the style he employed became the foundation for the Petrine Baroque style favored throughout Saint Petersburg. Most famous are the fountains, these were intrinsic to Peter the Great’s original plans for Peterhof – it was the impossibility of engineering sufficiently powerful jets of water that prompted him to move his attentions from the Strelna site to Peterhof – and subsequent generations competed with their predecessors to add grander and ever more ingenious water features to the parkland surrounding the Grand Palace.
The most famous ensemble of fountains, the Grand Cascade, which runs from the northern facade of the Grand Palace to the Marine Canal, comprises 64 different fountains, and over 200 bronze statues, bas-reliefs, and other decorations. At the centre stands Rastrelli’s spectacular statue of Samson wrestling the jaws of a lion.
The vista of the Grand Cascade with the Grand Palace behind it, the first sight to great visitors who arrive in Peterhof by sea, is truly breathtaking. The Grotto behind the Grand Cascade, which was once used for small parties, contains the enormous pipes, originally wooden, that feed the fountains.
Very interesting, but a bit too much if you ask me 🤣 We walked around the park and had a fabulous time. The weather was great, sunny and the wind couldn’t be felt through the trees. We spend about 3 hours here so that’s money we’ll spend. Because of the weather the boat didn’t return to the city so we had to take the bus. Well that wasn’t so great. No seats and it took about 1 hour to arrive at the first metro station 😓 But this cost a lot less, about 80 Rubles per person (so €1,-) a lot less 😉 But for that you have to stand in a bus for 1 hour… and then take the metro back to the city. When finally back we decided to visit the church Milene really really want to see. Let’s see how that turned out…
