Maps Events Restaurants Cafés Nightlife Sightseeing Shopping Hotels St. Petersburg December 2014 - January 2015 In search of lost time Glorious Pskov, ancient and modern More than 10 years Treasure Palace in Russia! The State Hermitage turns 250 inyourpocket.com N°98 Contents Where to eat 28 ESSENTIAL Russian, Italian, Caucasian and more CIT Y GUIDES Nightlife 39 Bars and clubs – how to stay out till 6 a.m. Foreword 4 What to see 44 In the News 5 The essentials 44 Arrival & Getting Around 6 Modern art centres 45 Historical outskirts 47 City Basics 8 Where to stay 54 Language 9 Interview with concierge 56 Culture & Events 10 Shopping 57 Concerts and festivals 10 Russian winter souvenirs 58 Exhibitions 14 Expat & Lifestyle 59 Features The expat experience 60 St. Petersburg Theatre Life 17 Winter Holidays in St. Petersburg 20 Maps & Index Grand Hotel Europe 34 Metro map 61 Hermitage 250 years 48 City map 62 Pskov 50 Street index 64 Moscow 65 0+ www.facebook.com/StPetersburgInYourPocket December 2014 - January 2015 3 Foreword In the News Time flies way too fast. I still remember how one year HERMItaGE CELEbratES ago our team was preparing a big party dedicated to RUSSIAN EPIPHANY St. Petersburg In Your Pocket’s 10th anniversary. So 250TH ANNIVERSARY many close friends came to celebrate this day with us While there are many worthy contenders for the title face of An ice bucket? You call that a challenge? Filming your- and wish us their best! And now we are one year older St. Petersburg In YourESSENTIAL Pocket the city, if you ask someone to close their eyes and picture self as you tip a few litres of cold water over your head again and as always have lots of new ideas and exciting founded and publishedCI byT YOOO GUIDES Krasnaya Shapka/In Your Pocket. St. Petersburg, they will probably imagine the Hermitage. on a summer’s day is all very well, but you’ve got some projects. Russia, 196084 St. Petersburg, Ul. Tsvetochnaya 25A, tel: +7 (812) 448 88 65, fax: +7 (812) 448 88 64, Founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great as a private collec- way to go to match the brave souls who line up to 2014 was a great year for all of us at In Your Pocket as General Director Tanya Skvortsova, [email protected] tion (one of the Empress’s first job lots was purchased from take the plunge each year on January 19th, the date of well as for St. Petersburg itself. The city has been grow- [email protected], russia.inyourpocket.com Sir Robert Walpole, Great Britain’s first Prime Minister), the the Epiphany (Kreshcheniye) in the Russian Orthodox ing and changing in all the right ways, especially in both General Manager Chris Gilbert, [email protected] Hermitage only opened its doors to the public just under a calendar. Last year more than 30,000 people in St. Pe- the hospitality and cultural sectors. A ton of new hotels Managing Editor Ksenia Elzes, [email protected] Design Malvina Markina, [email protected] centurey later, during the reign of Nicholas I. Today the col- tersburg alone voluntarily immersed themselves three and restaurants, art centres and museums have opened Sales Managers lection has grown to over 3 million works, or one for every times in a blessed section of freezing water in honour and St. Petersburg hosted more big international festivals Ilya Timshin, [email protected] visitor who crosses its hallowed threshold each year. If you of the baptism of Christ. If you want to watch, or even and concerts than ever before. All of which once again Contributors Olivia Capozzalo, Nils Roskamp weren’t one of them in 2014, shame on you, but check out take part, there are 17 sites in and around St. Petersburg confirms St. Petersburg’s status as the cultural capital of Customer Service Manager Tanya Kharitonova, [email protected] our special feature on pages 48-49 and we’ll overlook it just officially set up to help the faithful and/or foolhardy Russia. Copyright notice this once. test their mettle, the most central being on the banks That’s all to say, you’ve made the right choice in coming to Text and photos copyright OOO Krasnaya Shapka 2003-2015. All of the Neva just by the Peter and Paul Fortress. this incredible city and you can now enjoy the experience rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any of a real Russian winter! Be ready, they say this winter will form, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, without written permission from the publisher and copyright owner. The brand name be one of the coldest in 20 years. Sounds exciting doesn’t In Your Pocket is used under license from UAB In Your Pocket. it? Check out our special feature on pages 20-26, which is Editor’s note filled with things to do during the winter holidays as well The editorial content of In Your Pocket guides is independent from as full details about New Year celebrations. Then wrap up paid-for advertising. We welcome all readers‘ comments and sug- gestions. We have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the warm and hit the town! information at the time of going to press and assume no responsi- You can also go to the theatre (as you probably know it’s bility for changes and errors. an absolute must during your stay in St. Petersburg, check © OOO Krasnaya Shapka/In Your Pocket out pages 17-19 for details) and after that have a fabulous © Maps: J.J. van der Molen, www.jobvandermolen.nl Published 6 times per year with supplements, dinner in one of the best restaurants in town (see pages No 98, 01.12.2014, 90.000 copies. 27-38). Or if you’d like something really special and un- For children aged 16 years and over. Arts’ SQUARE FESTIVAL forgettable, check pages 50-53 and plan your trip to the On December 14th and 15th the St. Petersburg Philhar- THE FORMA BIENNALE ancient town of Pskov. Not far from St. Petersburg and one Санкт-Петербург Отпечатано ООО “Келла Принт”, monia will host the 15th “Arts’ Square” music festival. This OF MUSEUM DESIGN В Твоем Кармане 191024, Санкт-Петербург, of Russia’s oldest, yet least well known cities, Pskov has Учредитель и издатель: ул. Тележная, д. 17. year the event takes on a distinctly English flavour: the pro- Organised by the State Hermitage and the PRO ARTE o lots to offer the curious traveler. ООО «Красная Шапка» Заказ N 26829 gramme includes performances of works by Purcell, Brit- Foundation for Culture and the Arts, with the support of Whatever you decide to do, enjoy every moment of your Адрес редакции и издателя: ten, Elgar and Nyman among others, and renowned tenor Россия, 196084 Санкт-Петербург Свидетельство о регистрации the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Mikhail Prokhorov stay in the city and have a lot of fun! Happy New Year, Ул. Цветочная д. 25, лит. А. средства массовой информации Ian Bostridge and pianist Christian Blackshaw will also be Foundation, the FORMA Biennale is a new initiative setting dear friends! тел. : + 7 (812) 448 88 65 Пи No. 2-6849 от 17.10.03 flying in. To mark the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s факс: + 7 (812) 448 88 64 выдано Северо-Западным out to examine how contemporary museums can optimise Главный редактор: региональным управлением birth, midwinter in St. Petersburg will witness a unique themselves both in terms of visitor attraction and function- Ksenia Elzes, Бонни ван дер Велде комитета РФ по печати. performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and cinema ality. Hosted by a range of venues across the city from No- Russia In Your Pocket Цена свободная. Тираж 90 000 экз. No98. fans young and old will have the opportunity to watch The Для детей старше 16 лет. 01.12.2014 vember 14th to December 14th, the Biennale’s programme Snowman and 2001: A Space Odyssey screened to the live includes lectures by world-renowned architects, as well as accompaniment of a full symphony orchestra. Another fes- a number of feature exhibitions created by both Russian ABOUT IYP tival highlight will be the appearance of one of the most and international designers. For further information, please ESTONIA in-demand tenors of the moment, Jonas Kaufmann, per- visit www.spbmuseumdesign.ru LATVIA RUSSIA Not content with publishing more than 100 forming pieces by Schumann, Wagner and Liszt. www. NORTHERN LITHUANIA philharmonia.spb.ru IRELAND guides to cities across three continents, In Your IRELAND BELARUS NETHERLANDS Pocket is currently preparing a new round of POLAND LONG WINTER HOLIDAYS GERMANY UKRAINE expansion for 2015. New cities due to be po- BELGIUM CZECH The rest of the world may still decide to pop into work for a REPUBLIC cketed include Rotterdam in the Netherlands, AUSTRIA few days between Christmas and New Year, principally to de- HUNGARY SWITZERLAND ROMANIA GEORGIA while some old favourites, such as Budapest in tox from the former and prepare for the latter, but Russia once SLOVENIACROATIA ITALY BOSNIA SERBIA Hungary and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad again cements its reputation as the land of plenty by generous- BULGARIA MONTENEGRO ly bestowing a solid week and a half of rest and recuperation on FYR MACEDONIA will be getting a reboot. And there is a brand ALBANIA new digital platform to look forward to. its mildly hungover citizens. This year, the national holidays run GREECE from New Year’s Day to January 11th, while the particularly de- DUTCH In order to make sure you keep up with all vout might also want to plan a half-day for the 13th to celebrate CARIBBEAN SOUTH that’s new at In Your Pocket, like us on Facebook Old New Year in accordance with the Russian Orthodox Calen- AFRICA (facebook.com/inyourpocket) or follow us on dar.