Imperial Russian Waterways & St. Petersburg with Vantage Deluxe World Travel
My husband, Don, and I and another couple took the “Imperial Russian Waterways & St. Petersburg” cruise-tour, and an optional extension to Kiev, Ukraine, with Vantage Deluxe World Travel (Boston, MA; 866/786-1989), July 13-Aug. 1, 2008.
The tour, including air from Chicago and our upgraded cabin on the ship, cost $6,115 each. The Kiev extension cost $749 each.
After arriving in St. Petersburg, we were driven directly to our ship, M/S Nikolay Chernyshevsky, and shown to our cabins. We had five days in St. Petersburg. On one evening we enjoyed the ballet “Giselle” in a small, intimate theater at the Hermitage.
Our first stop on the cruise was Mandrogi, a small, colorful town with many craftsmen, where we lunched on shashlik (a kebab-type dish). Our stop on Kishi Island included a visit to the Open Air Museum of Wooden Architecture and the striking, 22-dome Cathedral of the Transfiguration.
The scenery changes constantly on a river cruise. Beautiful onion-domed churches and small towns would suddenly appear. There were stops at towns and villages every day, including Goritsky, Kirilov, Yaroslavl and Uglich. At the latter we had breakfast in a country house.
On the ship there were talks and classes on Russian history, life today, Russian fairy tales, the Russian language, vodka, blini making and crafts.
Shopping along the way was interesting. Beautiful shawls, matrushka and other dolls, lacquer boxes (and less expensive ones in decoupage), jewelry and embroidered blouses were among the many selections available.
In Moscow we stayed four nights at the Marriott Grand on Tverskaya Street, a good choice for its proximity to cafés, Red Square, GUM Department Store, etc.
Our last dinner was a festive one in a woodland park, with music, singing and dancing to entertain us as we enjoyed good food.
Our prime reason for this trip was seeing the striking architecture everywhere. It did not disappoint. Also, the crew and staff of the ship were unfailingly helpful and courteous. We enjoyed ourselves immensely.
MADGE CHESNUT
London, KY