GREAT AND HOLY RUSSIA

• flight to Petersburg

Accommodation: Hotel in Petersburg
 

Arrival in Moscow. Evening walk through Moscow - Old and New Arbat - the
oldest and the newest Moscow street, a street of artists and entertainers, souvenirs,
traditional Russian dinner (borscht, rassolnik, “blinchiky”).

City sightseeing: the Moskva River, overlooking the Kremlin, Christ the Saviour
Cathedral, from there a walk along the embankment to Red Square, GUM - one of
the largest and most expensive shops in the world (shopping or walking along the
embankment is optional , St. Basils Cathedral – a symbol of Russia and Red Square.
You will see amazing architecture and the Moscow metro with its unique décor,
too. Kremlin sightseeing (UNESCO site).

 

Accommodation: Hotel in Moscow
 

Full day trip to an ancient and picturesque city of artists, wood carvers and toy
manufacturers - Sergiev Posad. The city has grown from the villages and hamlets
which surrounded the monastery of the Holy Trinity (The Trinity Lavra of
St. Sergius) - one of the oldest monasteries in Russia. It is the historical centre of
Russian Orthodoxy, the seat of the Moscow Spiritual Academy, holding the relics of
the greatest Russian saints, St. Sergei Radonežsky, St. Maxim Greek, temple and
iconostasis paintings by Andrej Rubľov, a museum and the spiritual heart of Russia.

Accommodation: Hotel in Moscow

Full day bus trip to Suzdal. One of the oldest cities in the Russia, it is home to five
medieval monasteries and nearly thirty churches within an area of just nine square
kilometres. The first written record of Suzdal comes from the early twelfth century,
when a rebellion broke out because of crop failure. The ruler of the Kievan Rus,
Jaroslav the Wise came himself to reconcile the hungry people.
Tour of the Suzdal kremlin (citadel) – the fortress, the monumental Cathedral of the
Nativity of the Mother of God (year 1220), and the beautiful Museum of Wooden
Architecture and Peasant Life, where you can see churches, houses, windmills,
sidewalks and much more ... a place where talent is fully expressed in the beauties
of Russian wooden architecture.

Accommodation:  Hotel in Moskow
 

Orthodox Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour - the most beautiful,
richest and largest church in Russia, seat of the Moscow Patriarch, symbol of the
reborn church in Russia, famous choral singing...
Novodevichy Convent (UNESCO site) is the largest monastery in Moscow and was
built in the 16th century. Although renowned for its beauty, it also functioned as
a prison (for example Peter the Great’s half-sister was jailed there).

Afternoon - transfer to St. Petersburg (also called the Venice of the North)

Accommodation: Hotel in Petersburg
 

Walking through Petersburg: Gostiny Dvor – a department store similar to GUM in
Moscow, Nevsky Prospekt, Kazan Cathedral, Dom Knigy (Book House).
Main Admiralty Building, Peter and Paul Cathedral (here Tsar Peter the Great
is buried and many others ...), Peter and Paul Fortress - space museum, museum
of military history, museum of torture,Trubecky bastion prison. Peter The Great
began construction of a fortress on Zajachy Island in 1703 in order to defend the
area against attacks by the Swedes. You can enter it through the impressive gates.
The fortress buildings and defensive walls gradually filled the whole of the Island.

Accommodation: Petersburg
 

Morning Mass in the catholic Church of St. Catherine. Further we will visit another
beautiful church Spas Na Krovi - a church richly decorated in mosaics, built as a
memorial on the site of the assassination of Tsar Alexander II., St. Isaac’s Cathedral
- the second largest Orthodox church in Russia and the largest in St. Petersburg,
colonnade overlooking the city, the Mariinsky Theatre.

Afternoon departure from St. Peterburg to Belomorsk

Accommodation: Belomorsk

A boat trip, arrival on the Solovetsky Islands at lunch time.
A trip to the Solovetsky Islands is the highlight of the journey. The rough natural
beauty of the Russian north, historical monuments resulting from the rare skills and

ingenious work of monks over the centuries stand in constrast to the horror of the
Stalin’s gulags particularly well known from works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.


The tour to islands will include a full day trip to Sekirna gora - site of mass shooting
of prisoners, Philipps farms, Makarieva hermitage and a boat trip along the
water canals and observation of white whales (Belugas) in the White Sea.

Departure to St. Petersburg in the evening.

Accommodation:  Hotel in Petersburg
 

Arrival in St. Petersburg at lunchtime.
Afternoon visit to the Hermitage. The former residence of the Russian tsars now
houses one of the largest museums and picture galleries in the world: more than 62
324 square meters of exhibition space - about 3 million exhibits in more than four
hundred halls.

Accommodation: Hotel in Petersburg

Peterhof is the summer residence of the Russian Emperors
The Tsar Peter I. personally participated in the construction of his new residence,
which became known as the Russian Versailles.

Night boat trip on the river under the bridges – a fascinating view of the illuminated
St. Petersburg, bridges night opening (after midnight); late transfer to the hotel.

Accommodation: Hotel in Petersburg
 

Free time, departure to the airport.