Russia

BARCELONA – MOSCOU.

Presentation at Barcelona airport, from where we fly to Moscow, the capital of the Russian Federation and the largest city in the country, with a population that is close to 10 million inhabitants. The Moskva River crosses the city along 80 km, and with the help of other smaller rivers and canals, it allows Moscow to be accessible by sea from the Baltic, Caffia, Black and White seas. Moscow is currently the epicenter of “New Russia”, with its own culture and trade. Beyond this country, there are no apparent contrasts, where monasteries and ultramodern monoliths are side by side. Dinner and lodging.

(MOSCOW) VISIT FROM THE CITY.

Breakfast. In the morning, we will dedicate ourselves to visit the city, made up of a whole network of neighborhoods, each one with its own flavor. We will walk to the famous Red Square. We will enter the spectacular Cathedral of San Basili , built by Ivan the Terrible, and we will enjoy the imposing cathedral of Christ the Savior, with its enormous golden dome that is observed from all the points of the city. After lunch we will visit the Kremlin, considered the house of Russian political power, the birthplace of the ancient Russian Orthodox Church and the country’s historical heart. In the Kremlin we can explore the intriguing base of the Soviet power and the majestic residence of the Tsars. We will visit two of the three cathedrals. And to complete the day, we will take a stroll through the Arbat street, the most welcoming and lively of Moscow, with an artistic and vibrant air. Dinner and lodging.

(MOSCOU) GALLERY TRETIAKOV, METRO I MONESTIR NOVODEVICHI .

In the morning, after breakfast, we will visit the Tretiakov Gallery . It hosts the best collection of the world of icons with more than two hundred pieces on display and one of the most important Russian paintings of the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries. Later we will descend to the famous metro of Moscow , considered the most beautiful in the world. It is estimated that 70,000 m² of marble, gold, glass, mosaics and precious metals were used to embellish the stations of the subway lines. During the visit, we will appreciate the most outstanding seasons for its decoration, to the point that it will make us feel that we are faced with an authentic underground art museum. After lunch we will continue towards the Novodevichi monastery, the most spectacular and well-preserved of all the fortified monasteries in Moscow. Originally it was a fortress, built between the sixteenth and twelfth centuries and located on the banks of the Moskva River, and years later it became a convent of nuns foreclosure, intended for aristocratic maidens who decided to take the habits. Dinner and lodging.

MOSCOU – SERGIEV POSAD – ROSTOV – YAROSLAV.

Breakfast. We will begin our itinerary for the famous Golden Ring, which unites a whole series of ancient Russian cities located in the northeast of Moscow. These cities have experienced a long history full of fascinating facts and preserve the most relevant chapters in the history of Russia. The Golden Ring is currently considered an “open-air museum”, as the only examples of Russian architecture from the 12th to the 17th centuries are concentrated. The first stop will be to the little Sergiev Posad , considered the “Vatican” of the Russian Orthodox Church. We will visit the walled site of the Trojan Sergiev monastery with the nine churches and cathedrals. We will lunch and continue to the city of Rostov the Great, where we will visit the Kremlin, before reaching Yaroslav, located at the confluence of the Korotols and Volga rivers, founded by the Russian prince Yaroslav el Sabio. Dinner and lodging.

YAROSLAV – KOSTROMÁ – SUZDAL.

Breakfast. In the morning we will take a stroll through Yaroslav , characterized by large churches, numerous domes, picturesque asymmetries, lobbies and porches, which honor the renowned “Russian style”, inimitable and unique. We can contemplate the fantastic paintings in the Church of the Elies prophet and the Transfiguration monastery, which has been the political and economic center of the city since the 12th century. We will lunch and afternoon we will leave towards Kostromá, important shopping center, home of the first tsar of Romanov, Mijail Fiodorovich. Famous for its wonderful architecture, we will see the powerful cathedral of the Trinity, the church of the Resurrection, the galleries Gostini Dvor and, finally, the jewel of this place, the monastery Ipatievsky. We will continue towards Suzdal, considered one of the most splendid cities in the set of cities that make up the Golden Ring. Dinner and lodging.

SUZDAL – VLADIMIR – MOSCOU – SANT PETERSBURG.

After breakfast we will visit Suzdal , the most powerful city in ancient Russia between the 12th and 14th centuries. We will appreciate the architecture so typical of the area, characterized by sophisticated proportions, elegant façade and arches designs as fundamental elements. At the end of the Kremlin visit, we will head for Vladimir . Despite the invasions of the Tatars, he met a great splendor in the seventeenth century. We will visit the Uspenskya and Dmitrievsky cathedrals and see the Golden Gate. We will return to Moscow, from where we will take the fast trainThat will bring us, in less than four hours, to St. Petersburg, a cradle of Russian ballet and writers such as Tolstoi, Dostoevsky or Pushkin, musicians such as Rimski Korsakov or Tchaikovsky, and painters like Kandinsky. Here we will find an unprecedented architecture, a unique street of 4 km, world-renowned museums and numerous canals that cross the heart of “Peter”, as popularly known by its inhabitants. It is the most latitudinal city in the country, and it keeps the sky clear about twenty-four hours during the summer months. Saint Petersburg, with a consummate charm, is a cosmopolitan and modern city. Picnic dinner on board the train. Accommodation at the St. Louis hotel. Petersburg.

(SANT PETERSBURG) VISITS THE CITY.

Breakfast. We will devote the day to discover the main attractions of this magnificent city. We will visit the fortresses of Pere and Pau, which houses an impressive cathedral, burial site of emperors and emperors. We will see the Plaza de Arte, the Russian Museum and the church of El Salvador, we will continue along the spectacular channels that run through the city, we will arrive to the Winter Palace, the Menshikov Palace and the Senate Square, and we will observe the majestic equestrian figure by Peter the Great, the famous bronze knight, icon of the city, the Field of Mars and the Summer Gardens. We will lunch and afternoon we will visit St. Isaac’s Cathedral, a wonderland of architecture. At the end of the visit, we will have free time to walk on the famous Pont Blau, which is 97.30 m wide, the largest bridge in the world. Dinner and lodging.

(SANT PETERSBURG) IMPERIAL RESIDENCES: PALAU DE PETERHOFF AND PALACE OF CATERINA.

We will lunch and leave to Petrodvorec, where is the residence of Pere I , who, impressed by the royal parks he had seen in Europe, wanted to create a similar one, and his work became a beautiful ensemble architectural, often called the Russian “Versailles”. We will walk through the gardens where we used to organize receptions and dances, and we will appreciate the ingenious system of sources fed by a complex system of channels. We will admire the great main façade of the Grand Palace, with golden garlands of rooftops and domes in the form of a bulb, without underestimating the splendor of its interior, with exceptional decorative richness. In the afternoon, after lunch, we will visit the last of the imperial residences built near St. Petersburg, the palacewhich Caterina I built in 1717. It is one of the best examples of the Russian Baroque and impresses by the dimensions and majestic ornamentation. Approximately 100 kg of gold were used to gild the exteriors and interiors of the palace. It was necessary to unfold magnificent chambers and official rooms, which for the wealth in the size of golden woods were called Gold Gallery. The dance hall, one of the masterpieces of Rastrelli, and the Chinese Celestial Room, are two other wonders commissioned by the famous empress. Dinner and lodging.

(SAINT PETERSBURG) THE HERMITAGE AND THE YUSUPOV PALACE – FOLKLORE.

Breakfast at the hotel. In the morning we will visit the Hermitage Museum , magnificently located on the banks of the Neva River. The former winter palace, residence of the Tsars since 1760, is a wonder of Baroque architecture, with 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows and 1,057 richly decorated rooms, most of which are open to the public. The museum was founded by Caterina la Gran and became the largest in the world as a result of the arrival, after the Revolution, of the most valuable works of the imperial palaces and of the great princely and bourgeois families. At present L’Hermitage has almost 3 million works from around the world. We will lunch and we will head to the Yusupov Palace, the most magnificent of the non-imperial palaces, which was the residence of the wealthy Yusupov family and where one of the most famous episodes of Russian history took place: the murder of Grigori Rasputin. We will not leave St. Petersburg without first taking a boat trip on the Moskva River, admiring the magnificent buildings that rise on the banks of the many canals that cross this lively city. In the evening, to dismiss our stay, we will attend a folkloric show in the framework of a renowned palace in the city. Dinner and lodging.

SANT PETERSBURG – BARCELONA.

Breakfast and transfer to the airport to start the return flight to Barcelona. That way we will end this trip to the largest country in the world.