ST. PETERSBURG [Paperback]

Rose Baring (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1999 | Series: Cadogan Guide St. Petersburg

This guide reveals the glowing art museums, historic churches, and hunts out the best street markets, vodka shots, opera houses and jazz clubs that make St. Petersburg one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Promenading has been a pastime in St. Petersburg since the 18th century, and Cadogan's city walks show you entertainingly around its waterways and chilly pastel facades. Bumping into Russia's turbulent history and characteristic obsessions at every turn, the guide explores glowing churches, impressive metro stations and monumental graveyards, leads you by the hand through labyrinthine art museums, and hunts out the best street markets, vodka shots, opera houses and jazz clubs. This guide contains intelligent, lively insights into Rasputin and the Mafia, Faberge and Pushking. It provides discerning, informative listings: where to eat and stay, shop and play and includes practical, reliable advice for a hassle-free trip. (5 x 7, 320 pages, maps)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Cadogan Guides; 1st edition (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860119220
• ISBN-13: 978-1860119224
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,992,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > Travel > Asia > Russia > St. Petersburg

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed full of information and insight, July 7, 2001

By 

voraciousreader1 "voraciousreader1" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ST. PETERSBURG (Paperback)

Besides plenty of practical information (hotels, restaurants, etc), this book contains seven suggested walks in St. Petersburg. They range throughout the center of the city, Vasilievsky Island, the Smolny area and the outlying palaces (and full attention is given to five of them rather than just Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo as in most guidebooks). It also includes a walk in the Hermitage. These walks include good maps. Additionally, this book has excellent sections on the history of the city, customs and various subjects (the "mafia", icons, vodka, etc.) that provide context for your visit. The author is an excellent writer who, although she obviously loves the subject, presents a thorough picture.

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing, sharply written, impeccably edited - a gem, November 6, 2002

By 

Andrius Uzkalnis (Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ST. PETERSBURG (Paperback)

St Petersburg is, generally, better covered than any other Northern European city in terms of travel writing: spectacular canals and buildings, relatively compact size, obvious highlights (including out-of-town estates) all make it a dream for any guidebook writer.

Cadogan made a better job than most. The first thing you notice that the sheer quality of writing. You feel you a reading A BOOK, not an anonymous travel guide. In this sense, I felt that Cadogan beat the spectacularly good DK Eyewitness Guide (my other obvious recommendation for the city): where Eyewitness can be predictable and kind of flat, this book feels more in tune with subtle northern charms of St Petersburg.

In fact, peculiarly romantic cities, where so much of the charm is difficult to capture and perceive logically, such as Venice or St Petersburg or Krakow, always present a challenge for any well-oiled travel publishing house. You cannot "crack" such a city using your standard procedures, you have to have a skilled writer and then - only then - build practicalities around the core understanding and feeling of the place. That is why there are so many guides to Venice and so few good ones.

I think Cadogan managed to deal with this task in St Petersburg - hats off to Rose Baring who researched the subject well and gained a good insight into this least Russian of all Russian cities. The guide avoids generalizations and cheap jokes at the expense of the locals, at the same time it is honest and detailed and relevant.

If you need more info on practicalities (although frankly I thought Cadogan was sufficient for that too), try Rough Guide (no inspired writing there I am afraid), who put all their effort into practical research.