Day 1: Alicante – Saint Petersburg
Arrive at Alicante airport at the scheduled time to take a scheduled flight with Aeroflot to St Petersburg. Arrival and transfer to the hotel. Check in to the hotel. Picnic dinner at the hotel and overnight.
Day 2: St. Petersburg
Breakfast at the hotel. In the morning we will have an extensive panoramic tour of St. Petersburg. Fully guided tour in English, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is called the “Venice of the North”. During the sightseeing tour we will pass Nevsky Avenue, Anichkov Palace, Belozersky Palace, Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, Eliseev, the famous Church of St. Saviour on the Spilled Blood, Hermitage Museum, Peter and Paul Fortress on Vassilievsky Island, Strelka, Menchikov Palace and the historic University building, we will pass the Admiralty. We will see the statue of Peter “The Great” in front of the Senate building and St. Isaac’s Cathedral. Teatrálnaya Square is home to the Conservatory buildings and the famous Mariinsky Theatre. We will finish in front of the beautiful Cathedral of St. Nicholas of Seamen, surrounded by canals and the view outside near the Battleship “Aurora”. Lunch in a local restaurant. In the afternoon we will visit the Peter and Paul Fortress, which was intended to protect the city from raids by sea. In the Cathedral inside we will find the tomb of the founder of the city, Tsar Peter the Great, as well as the tombs of the Tsars of the Romanov dynasty and their families, including Nicholas II and his wife and children, killed during the revolution in 1918. We will also visit St. Isaac’s Cathedral, one of the largest in Europe, designed and built by prestigious architects, including the Spaniard Agustin de Betancourt and the Frenchman Auguste de Montferrand. The dome is covered with 100 kg of gold.transfer to the hotel. Dinner on your own and overnight at the hotel.
Day 3: St. Petersburg
Breakfast at the hotel. Morning excursion to Pushkin and visit of the Catherine Palace, named after the wife of Peter the Great, Catherine I. Its incomparable succession of halls includes the Amber Chamber, hidden from visitors for almost a century, which was entirely restored in 2003, on the occasion of the Tercentenary of St. Petersburg. The Palace impresses with its size and majestic decoration. The north wing was crowned by the 5-domed gilded chapel and the south wing containing the formal rooms was crowned with a gilded dome of a star on the spire. Approximately 100 kilos of sterling gold was used to gild the exteriors and interiors of the building Lunch at a local restaurant. Transfer to our hotel. Dinner on your own and overnight at the hotel.
Day 4: St. Petersburg – Peterghof – St. Petersburg
Breakfast at the hotel. We will spend the day visiting the Peterhof Palace, which together with the Versailles Palace in France are the most incredible and ostentatious palaces in the world. But in the case of Peterhof and thanks to the time of the Tsars during their stay in St. Petersburg. It was mainly used as a summer palace until the end of the Tsarist era. This architectural ensemble offers a beautiful panorama of its gardens on the Baltic Sea coast. Particularly famous are the whimsical fountains built according to the most modern techniques of the 18th century. Return by Hydrofoil. Lunch in a local restaurant. Transfer to the hotel. Dinner at leisure on the group’s own and overnight at the hotel.
Day 5: St. Petersburg
Breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast transfer to the Hermitage Museum, located in the former Winter Palace, residence of the Tsars. It is currently one of the top three art galleries in the world, along with the Louvre in Paris and the Prado in Madrid . The Hermitage is the largest museum in Russia, and owes its international renown in particular to its collections of paintings from the Italian, Flemish, French and Spanish schools. In particular, works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Rembrandt; French Impressionists, Gauguin, Matisse; Van Gogh, Picasso… Its sumptuous interiors are the ideal setting for such a vast collection of masterpieces. Lunch in a local restaurant. In the evening transfer to Nikolaesvsky Palace where we will enjoy a dinner and show. Transfer to the hotel. Overnight at the hotel.
Day 6: St. Petersburg – Moscow
Breakfast at the hotel. At the indicated time transfer to the railway station to take the AVE Sapsan high speed train Economy Class Arrival in Moscow, transfer to the hotel, room distribution and lunch in a local restaurant.
In the afternoon we will have a panoramic tour of Moscow, fully guided in English. Through wide avenues such as the famous Tverskaya, we will arrive at the Red Square, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, where the Lenin Mausoleum, the Museum of History, the Kremlin Walls and St. Basil’s Cathedral are located. Nearby are the famous Bolshoi Theatre, St. Saviour’s Cathedral, the imposing Lubyanka building, seat of the former KGB, and the small churches of the old “Kitai Gorod” quarter. We will walk along the avenues along the Moskova River, with views of the Parliament (“the Duma”) and the Government (the “White House”); the Olympic Stadium, the “Sparrow Hill”, crowned by the famous skyscraper of the Lomonosov University and stop at the Victory Park, built after World War II. We will also stop outside the Novodeyevichi Convent, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and its lake that inspired Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”. Transfer to the hotel. Overnight at the hotel.
Day 7: Moscow
Breakfast at the hotel. We will start the day with a visit to the walled enclosure of the Kremlin, the nucleus of the city’s origins. Here you will see the Council of Ministers, the huge Tsar’s Cannon, the monumental Tsar Bell, as well as the Cathedrals of the Assumption, Annunciation and St. Michael the Archangel. Afterwards we will visit the Borodino Panorama Museum, where the battle between the Napoleonic army and the Russian troops in the vicinity of Borodino village in 1812 is reproduced. Lunch in a local restaurant. In the afternoon we will visit the Tretyakov National Art Gallery. This incomparable art gallery was named after its founder, the famous businessman Pavel Tretyakov (1832-1898), a great Russian patron of the 19th century, whose dream was always to create a museum accessible to all visitors, with a large collection of objects that would allow them to understand and admire the history of Russian art, both sacred and secular. It houses more than 130,000 works created by Russian artists, in addition to its magnificent collection of icons. Highlights include the Byzantine-style “Vladimir’s Madonna”, which tradition attributes to St. Luke, and the masterpiece of the great Andrei Rublev, “The Trinity”. We will end the day with a boat trip on the river from where you can enjoy magnificent views of the Kremlin, the golden domes of its cathedrals and the rich architectural heritage of the city. Transfer to the hotel and accommodation.
Day 8: Moscow – Sergiev Posad – Moscow
Breakfast at the hotel. In the morning departure to the town of Serguei Posad, located 80 km from Moscow, nowadays it is considered the Vatican of the Russian Orthodox Church and belongs to the imperial route of the Golden Ring. Its monastery became one of the most important in the country. We will see military architecture from the 15th to the 18th century. Lunch in a local restaurant. In the afternoon we will visit the Moscow Metro. Inaugurated on May 15, 1935 by the Soviet power as a symbol of the technological and industrial progress of the political system, the Moscow Metro was the “People’s Palace”. Even today it is the main means of transport in the city and one of the main in the world, with 200 km of lines and 145 stations. . Farewell dinner by boat on the Moskva River. Transfer to the hotel and overnight at the hotel.
Day 9: Moscow – Alicante
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to the airport for departure to Alicante. Arrival, check-in formalities and boarding of our flight to the place of origin. Arrival in Alicante, baggage collection and… End of our services.
