Cruise trip from St. Petersburg to Moscow 2017 (Part 1)

Cruise trip from St. Petersburg to Moscow 2017 (Part 1) - St. Petersburg with Hermitage, Peterhof, Katharinenpalast, Karelien, Mandrogi, Kizhi Island, Viking River Cruises
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Travel Videos, World Travel Guide
1- Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петерб́ург Sankt-Peterburg;) is a world-class destination and Russia's second largest city, with a population of more than 5 million perched at the eastern tip of of the Baltic Sea and the Neva River.
The city was formerly known as Petrograd (Петрогр́ад), and later Leningrad (Ленингр́ад).
This is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places on earth and virtually any building in the large historic centre, threaded with canals dotted with baroque bridges, can be considered an attraction—and indeed, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. This is a magical city, with a long list of major attractions. Its Hermitage Museum, housed in the Winter Palace of the Romanov Dynasty, is both one of the world's greatest and oldest collections of art, treasure, and antiquities, and one of its most beautiful buildings.
2- Peterhof (in Russian: Петерго́ф) or Petergof (Dutch/German for "Peter's Court"), known as Petrodvorets (Russian: Петродворец) from 1944 to 1992, is a municipal town within Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of Saint Petersburg, on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland.
The town is famous for its a series of palaces and gardens known as the Peterhof Palace, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great, and sometimes called the "Russian Versailles", but also for the "Petrodvorets Watch Factory - Raketa", a 300 years old Russian watch manufacture. The palace-ensemble along with the city center is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The area was extensively damaged during World War II during occupation by Nazi Germany. Reconstruction efforts began almost immediately following the war, and they are still underway. Peterhof also hosts one of two campuses of Saint Petersburg State University.
3- Der Katharinenpark (russisch Екатерининский парк) befindet sich in Puschkin (früher Zarskoje Selo), etwa 25 Kilometer südlich von Sankt Petersburg. Er ist einer der fünf Landschaftsparks der Stadt und beherbergt auf seinem Territorium den Großen Katharinenpalast (Большой Екатерининский дворец). Dieser war einst russische Zarenresidenz, wurde nach schwersten Zerstörungen im Zweiten Weltkrieg möglichst originalgetreu wieder aufgebaut und enthält als besondere Attraktion die Rekonstruktion des Bernsteinzimmers.
4- Karelia (Karelian, Finnish and Estonian: Karjala; Russian: Карелия, Kareliya; Swedish: Karelen), the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden. It is currently divided between the Russian Republic of Karelia, the Russian Leningrad Oblast, and Finland (the regions of South Karelia and North Karelia).
5- About Mandrogy
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Verkhnie Mandrogi, or “Upper Falls,” was once a small village on the banks of the Svir between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. The town was ruined during World War II and disappeared from maps for many years. But in 1996 an enterprising Russian, Sergei Gutzeit, got the idea of reconstructing it as a sort of open air museum about traditional Russian villages for the benefit of travelers taking river cruises between St. Petersburg and Kizhi. It has a small hotel and several houses built of brightly painted pine logs, windmills, vodka and bread museums, craftspeople (potters, weavers, jewelers, etc.), a moose farm, a stable, an archery range, trout and carp fishing, and a small zoo featuring bears, raccoon dogs and other animals.
6- Kizhi (Russian: Ки́жи; IPA: [ˈkʲiʐɨ], Karelian: Kiži) is an island near the geometrical center of the Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia (Medvezhyegorsky District), Russia. It is elongated from north to south and is about 6 km long, 1 km wide and is about 68 km away from the capital of Karelia, Petrozavodsk.
Settlements and churches on the island were known from at least the 15th century. The population was rural, but was forced by the government to assist development of the ore mining and iron plants in the area that resulted in a major Kizhi Uprising in 1769–1771. Most villages had disappeared from the island by the 1950s and now only a small rural settlement remains. In the 18th century, two major churches and a bell tower were built on the island, which are now known as Kizhi Pogost. In the 1950s, dozens of historical wooden buildings were moved to the island from various parts of Karelia for preservation purposes. Nowadays, the entire island and the nearby area form a national open-air museum with more than 80 historical wooden structures. The most famous is the Kizhi Pogost, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.