Tag: st. Catherine’s palace

St. Petersburg, Russia provides an excellent home base for exploring more of the splendor of Russian culture outside of an urban setting. Pushkin and Peterhof are both nearby towns that can be visited on the same day (albeit in rushed fashion) in an excursion from the city. The highlight of both of these towns is that each is home to a spectacular rococo palace that will leave you both gasping for breath and awe-inspired!

Pushkin is home to Catherine’s Palace, summer palace of Russian royalty about 18 miles outside of St. Petersburg. With grand staircases, larger-than-life halls, and abundant with masterpieces of art, it is lavish and luxurious on a scale impossible to contemplate without witnessing it first hand. Unfortunately, many people seek to do just that – and the crowds here are suffocating. But the experience of being able to witness the surreal spectacle of this place is worth the effort.

The incredible exterior is a mere sample of the rococo majesty that you will find when you enter its sumptuous interior. You progress through rooms, each one so rich and indulgent in detail, size, and extravagant materials it gives you a feeling like a sinfully sweet dessert buffet with no end would give. I felt spoiled rotten and stuffed full indulging in so much eye candy.

While the gilded trim may be the most eye-catching decoration, I found my favorite rooms to be the complexly detailed and highly colorful rooms like the one pictured below. I was reminded of Wedgwood and cameo style of interior decor objects and jewelry pondering the majestic qualities of rooms like this.

Peterhof Palace, as pictured below, and about 24 miles from St. Petersburg, is best known for it’s grand gardens and fanciful fountains. For very quickly apparent reasons, it is often referred to as the “Russian Versailles.” Like Catherine’s Palace, the crowds are unbearable – but well worth bearing.

Here gilded statues gaze as whimsical waters perform a delightful dance. To have a sense of the size and scope of these fountains, compare the size of the people processing along the paths that surround it. These fountains are larger than life, and still only a small part of the immensity of the meticulously manicured gardens in your midst.

But the beauty doesn’t stop there. Venture inside to complete the spectacle, feasting your eyes on interior details and rococo extravagance only rivaled by Catherine’s Palace in Pushkin.

Whether the room is a pastel paradise (above) or gloriously gilded (below), each room is different yet equally as flamboyant and fanciful as the last. It is a maze of wonder that will leave you flabbergasted.

You can find your paradise in Pushkin and Peterhof, soaking in their ornate opulence and imagining what life would be like to live within these gilded walls. The visit is well worth the side-trip from St. Petersburg!

You can view my full tour of Pushkin and Peterhof here!: