Private tours with car and driver

below you find an itinerary we've done from clients

St. Petersburg, Suggested 2 day Jewish Heritage sightseeing for cruise clients

Good news! In St. Petersburg we now arrange visa-free program for cruise clients

History of Jews in St. Petersburg

St.Petersburg, the Northern Capital of Russia, is the most European-like city in the country and one of the world’s largest cultural centers. The city is well-known for its unique historical monuments, unmatched as architectural ensembles. St.Petersburg’s exceptionally rich past is inseparably linked with the heritage of Jewish people.  

The late 18^th century marks a significant turning point in Russian Jewish history, when many Jews left their small towns, known as shtetls, and came to St. Petersburg, the Czarist capital. As Russia’s  Jews became better educated, attained greater prosperity, and moved closer to the to highest Russian authorities in their socioeconomic status, their influence was felt even among their brethren who still lived in the poor shtetls along Imperial Russia’s Western border.. St. Petersburg became the center for Jewish publications, organizations, and social services that had an impact far beyond the boundaries of the city. This was an era of great flourishing in the cultural life of St. Petersburg’s Jews, in Hebrew writing, in Jewish ethnography and history, in drama, art and music. Out of this community came such creative luminaries as S. Y. Ansky, Simon Dubnov, Marc Chagall, Yasha Heifetz, Osip Mandelstam, and Isaak Babel.

By the late 19^th- and early 20^th centuries, the small community of Jews, once temporarily living in St. Petersburg, had transformed into a permanent culture enriched by political and social traditions.  Not only was St. Petersburg the nucleus of Jewish life in Russia, a dauntingly large country, but it had become an internationally significant center of Jewish life.  St. Petersburg saw the creation of international Jewish organizations and the organization of Zionist congresses attended by the most famous Jewish political figures.  Chabad-Lubavitch, an important movement in Orthodox Judaism, has many of its roots in St. Petersburg’s spirited and socially-active turn-of-the-century atmosphere.

August 01, Monday .
08:30 Pick up at the ship

City sightseeing tour including Squares of St. Petersburg, Monument to Peter the Great, The Admiralty, Nevsky Prospect, Palace Bridge, The Spit of Vasilievsky Island, Trinity Bridge, Church on Spilled Blood, etc. (all the sights are from outside, no entries).

11:00  Depart for Peterhof tour, including visit to Grand Palace and park with fountain , 6 hrs. Petrodvorets (Peter's Palace), formerly called Peterhof, one of the major palace-and-park complexes in the suburbs of St.-Petersburg, was founded by Peter the Great in the suburbs of the "new capital" of Russia in the early 18th century. The stately parks, innumerable fountains, beautiful cascades, guilt and marble statues of gods and heroes, exuberant decoration of the palaces in Peterhof were meant to symbolize the grandeur of Russia, which "having cut a window on Europe" consolidated itself on the shores of the Baltic Sea.

14:30 Time for lunch (lunch not included) or in case it's too late you can have it on the way to Peterhof

15:30 Drive to Pushkin. Visit to Catherine's Palace & park.  The town of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoye Selo) lies just outside St. Petersburg and has a marvelous ensemble of palaces and parks. It is particularly famous for its impressive baroque Catherine Palace, where Empress Catherine the Great lived and died. The palace was almost totally destroyed during World War II, but has risen like a phoenix from the ashes due to an extensive restoration program undertaken since the war.

The palace we see today was designed by the Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Most of the restored interiors date back to the time of Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, though there are some early 19^th century interiors too. Catherine the Great chose to live in a separate wing of the palace, and even at the age of 60 she quite happily walked the length of the palace to reach the building’s private church every day.

19:00 Return to cruise ship

August 2, Tuesday

Jewish St. Petersburg tour and Hermitage

08:30 depart for to Kolomna Quarter, center of Jewish life in the 19^th century where you will learn the development of the community  and get to know everyday life of the unofficial part of St. Petersburg.

Continue to YESOD building, which is a Jewish Community center, offering shabbat services, holiday celebrations, and an inside look at Jewish life in the city and you will take a tour of this award-winning Jewish Center.

Your next stop is Choral Synagogue, sometimes called the St. Petersburg Synagogue - is the second largest synagogue in Europe. It was built between 1880 and 1888, and consecrated in 1893. After the 5 million dollar donation by the Safra family in 1999, the reconstruction of the Grand Choral Synagogue of St. Petersburg was made between 2000 and 2005. Upon conditions of the donation the St. Petersburg Synagogue was renamed The Edmond J Safra Grand Choral Synagogue, although the community still calls it in Russian Bolshaya Sinagoga.In 2005 a new Mikvah was built from a design by Israeli architect M. Gorelik. The new Mikvah in the Grand Choral Synagogue was inaugurated on April 19, 2005. Today the Great Choral Synagogue of St. Petersburg is a registered landmark and an architectural monument of federal importance

12:00 Time for lunch at the restaurant of Synagogue - kosher (lunch not included, we'll make table reservation)

13:00 Hermitage Tour.

The Hermitage Museum ranks among the world’s major museums. Its collection consists of nearly 3 million art objects including West European art, the Antique world, Primitive culture, Oriental culture and art, the history of Russian Culture and coin and currency collections. Exhibits are displayed in the Winter Palace, as well as the Small, Old and New Hermitages.

17:00 Return to cruise ship

Your 2 day tour in St. Petersburg Package includes:

·         Transportation by private car

·         English speaking guide specializing in Jewish Heritage

·         Entrance fees

·         Visa free service

·         Tax

Extra:

·         Meals

·         Gratuities

·         Theater tickets (please inquire)

This is a suggested itinerary, other sightseeing is available.  please email number of people, dates and we will provide you a quote.

Oceania Marina, July 9-10, Sat-Sun, 2 people

Index

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