At the conclusion of our riverboat ride along the Neva, Moyka, and Fontanka rivers in Saint Petersburg we headed off for a photo opportunity at the Griboyedov Canal. First, though, we had to walk back to our coach along Nevsky Prospect so I did what I always do and took advantage of the chance to snap some pictures along the way, many just shot from the hip; the results can sometimes be good, sometimes awful, but it’s nice to mix up picture-taking sometimes.
I’ve mentioned before that I don’t particularly like posting photos taken through windows on trains or coaches; they’re often dirty, they throw up horrible reflections or distortions, and if they’re tinted then the colours are all off. However, I do tend to take pictures anyway and sometimes they’re good to show off something from a different angle or have a connection with something else I’ve posted as in this case.
We first drove past Palace Square. You can see more pictures from our visit there here: Palace Square.
Our coach then took us past the famous State Hermitage Museum where we were treated to an enormous queue of people waiting to get in. This is certainly something you need to be aware of if you’re ever planning to do your own thing in Saint Petersburg rather than use an organised tour operator who can ensure you get in early without much of a delay. You can see photos from our trip to the museum here: State Hermitage Museum.
The last photo of interest was us crossing over the Hermitage Bridge. This was where we’d noticed the local boy running ahead of and alongside us during our riverboat excursion earlier that day.
Our coach found a parking spot a short distance from the Griboyedov Canal in order to allow everyone ten minutes or so to take a look at the Church Of The Saviour On Spilled Blood. From the reactions of many people taking the excursion with us this was their first close-up visit to the impressive-looking building but we had seen it the day before. As a result I contented myself with some more distant shots of the church using the canal as an additional point of interest in the pictures.
It was quite nice to see other people taking photos of the area and the bridge over the Moyka was another way to look down on part of the route we’d taken on our riverboat.
Padlocks were present on the bridge railings; I’ve no idea when that custom first started but we’ve spotted them on several continents now when travelling.
It just then remained for us to make our way back to the coach with some final shots of the area.
We had one last stop – at a large shop selling typically tourist things (vodka, chocolates, caviar, glassware, dolls, hats, clothes, etc.) and handing our free drinks as we entered (lovely) – but we were quite pressed for time here and were almost late getting back to the coach as we were trying to spend the last of our roubles. Subsequently, no photos but some lovely memories of our last moments on Russian soil.