A Day in the Life of Peter the Great

Not really. I'm not sure what a day in the life of Peter the Great would be like, but I did recently visit his favorite home, Peterhof. It's about 30 km from St. Petersburg, on the edge of the Gulf of Finland. I took a suburban train from St. Petersburg and spent several hours wandering around the gardens with what seemed like every other person from St. Petersburg. It was a beautiful day and the people were out in force.

The palace is built on top of a bluff, so the area is divided into the upper gardens (partially shown above), the palace, and the lower gardens. Leading from the palace to the lower gardens is the Grand Cascade, the most famous part of the complex. Apparently Peter the Great himself helped in the design.


One of the coolest things about the fountains, I think, is that they operate without any pumps. The pools in the upper garden are spring fed and serve to collect the water, and the elevation difference from the upper to the lower garden provides the pressure for the fountains to work. The highest of the fountains (visible above) shoots 20 meters into the air and is fed by a 4 km long underground aqueduct. Pretty cool and ingenious, I think.

The gardens were very nice, though I didn't enjoy them as much as the gardens at Tsarskoye Selo. I did appreciate that it was right by the water, though, and there were actually several smaller palaces and buildings scattered around in the gardens that were very nice, including a pretty awesome looking bath house. There were also some trick fountains, which soak unsuspecting visitors.

View of part of the garden

An aviary in the gardens

Last view of Peterhof

I didn't spend the money to go inside, as I've seen a few palaces at this point and read that this was not one of the most interesting interiors, but I enjoyed about four hours of park time. I took a bus back to the city and it dropped me off at this metro station (Avtovo), which I though was especially impressive.

It was a nice way to spend a Saturday, and I think the other 10,000 people who were there would agree. I even got a little bit of a sunburn.