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Two Capitals
This program is similar to the first, simply in reverse. Your journey will start in St. Petersburg and take you through Onega Lake, Kizhi Island, Goritsy, Yaroslavl, Uglich and finally Moscow.
Itinerary| Day 1 | Arrival  Your driver will pick you up at the airport. He will be standing with your name sign at the exit gate. He will take you to the ship for the embarkation. Dinner will be served on the ship and after it, you can relax and rest in your cabin, the ship's lounge or bar. We recommend going to bed early to overcome your jet lag as we have an eventful program planned for tomorrow. |
| Day 2 | St. Petersburg  St. Petersburg is one of the top 10 destinations on our planet. Peter the Great built the city borrowing the best features of the greatest European capitals of the day, like canals from the Venice, palaces and parks from Versailles, monuments from London and churches from Romes and Moscow. No one, even the skeptics, leaves the city unimpressed. It is as much a crown jewel of Russia as it is of the whole Europe.
In the afternoon we are heading to the very heart of St. Petersburg and its most important sight - the Winter Palace. On one side, the palace is faced by the Palace Square with the Alexander Column in the middle of it. The column was erected to celebrate the victory over Napoleon (what is called in Russia, the First Patriotic War). |
| Day 3 | St. Petersburg  Today you will have a free day. You can go on an optiona tour to Tsarskoe Selo - to the outskirts of St. Petersburg to the former summer residence of Catherina the Great. The Palace was a gift by Peter the Great to his wife Catherine and is known for its legendary Amber Room that was looted during the World War II by Germans and later recovered by the American troops. The Amber Room was reconstructed in 2003. Or you can vote to keep this day free and spend it at your leisure in this amazing Russian city. At night you will depart from St. Petersburg.
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| Day 4 | Mandrogi  Mandrogi is a small village that has no architectural wonders, gigantic castles or impressive churches. These lands and people seem to be immune to the flow of time. We will stop in the village for a traditional Russian picnic with the meal called "shashlik." |
| Day 5 | Kizhi Island  Kizhi Island is located on the Lake Onega. The island is home to the amazing Transfiguration Church. The church and its 22 domes are build without a single nail. Interestingly, the church was not always on this island. It was closer to the people. The Bolsheviks, for all their hatred of the religion, wanted to destroy the church, but did not dare to do so. They decided to transport the church to a deserted island where no one would be able to see it. That's why today it can only be reached by river cruise. |
| Day 6 | Goritsy  The town of Goritsy is home to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery (1397). During the Time of Trouble, Polish invaders were trying to put their puppet on the Russian throne and stormed the monastery in attempt to purge the remaining Russian nobles. They never succeeded and while they were occupied, the Russians raise their forces and to repel the invaders. |
| Day 7 | Uglich  Uglich is a small town on the Volga River. The best-defended fortress of Moscovy Kingdom, it was frequently attacked by the Lithuanians, the Tatars, and even the grand prince of Tver city-state that rivaled the Moscovy. In 1951 a 10-year old prince Dimitry, the last heir to the throne of the ancient Ruyrik dynasty, was murdered here in Uglich by Boris Godunov. Godunov proclaimed himself as the tsar of Russia, but was soon murdered himself. These events plunged Russia into three decades of political turmoil known as "Time of Trouble" that left the lands devastated and opened up a way for the new dynasty - the Romanovs. We will visit a small, but historically significant church of St. Dmitry-on-Blood, which is standing on the spot where Dimitry had been murdered. |
| Day 8 | Moscow  Moscow is Russia's largest city, its political and economic capital. The town of Moscow was the center of Moscovy - a small principality that unified the Russian lands against the Mongols in the late 14th century and has ruled Russia ever since. As the Mongols burnt major cities across Russia, refugees fled to smaller principalities like Moscow, Tver and Nizhny Novgorod. Through bribes, diplomacy and coercion, Moscow overcame its two rivals to become "Russia's first city." Moscow's role was briefly challenged when Tsar Peter the Great moved Russia's capital to his new city, St Petersburg, on the shores of the Baltic Sea.
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| Day 9 | Moscow  This day we will go inside of the Kremlin. This ancient citadel of Russian tsars was originally built fend of the Mongol hordes. Ever since, the Kremlin has been the center of political power in Russia and it continues to play such role today. Russian presidents do not actually live there, but they do conduct their official ceremonies in Kremlin's palaces. The Kremlin, the living museum of Russian history, of every dynasty and ruler that Russia has had in the course of last 400 years. This UNESCO treasure has been so well preserved that it will seem to you that you are traveling in time as you follow the same corridors as Ivan the Terrible and the Napoleon, as Nikolai II and Lenin, Stalin and Eltsin.
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| Day 10 | Departure  Your voyage is coming to an end. It is time to say goodbye to this beautiful country, the crew and your fellow passengers. It is time to pack up and to go home bringing unforgettable memories with you. The airport transfer service is arranged for you. |
