Peterhof or Petrodvorets, St Petersburg

This is truly a wonderful place. It was built by Peter the Great overlooking the Gulf of Finland on land he had captured from `Sweden inn the Northern War. It was neglected after his death but expanded significantly by Elizabeth in the early eighteenth century.

It was originally called Peterhof but it sounded too Germanic when Russia was fighting Germany i the First World Wart so the same was changed to the are Russian sounding Petrodvorets, just like St Petersburg was changed to Petrograd before being changed agin to Leningrad on Lenin's death.

We were taken on a guided tour of the inside of the palace but photos are not allowed inside...allegedly in order to let people move through more quickly but as it is a very popular place and quite small, I would have had plenty of tie to snap away without holding any one up.

The outside of the palace.

 A view from the landward side.

 A fountain in the formal gardens.

 This is what people remember most, the gold statues and the fountains. When the sun shines, the statue really do glint. I have seen this at the end of the season with fewer people about but today it was heaving. It has about six million foreign visitors between May and September.

 Some details of the fountains.

 A long view of the palace looking back up the fountains.

 More fountains in the gardens...this one is of Adam with the eve fountain on the opposite side.

 A view over the Gulf of Finland of thGazprom building that will be 842 metres high when completed.

 The Monplaisir palace overlooking the gulf.

 And more gold statues in the gardens.

 A chess board fountain, significant as Peter the Great thought chess was a noble pursuit and looked down on cards as a fools game.

 A detail of the roof of the main building.

 Guess what? Another fountain.

 A last look at the main fountains as we left.

And then it was a drive back to St Petersburg and to pack for my transfer by train tomorrow to Moscow.