Peterhof

Understand

Peterhof is a Dutch and German word meaning "Peter's Court". The emperor Peter was fascinated by the West and took on many of its customs in his court, switched to the Julian calendar, and so on. Western European influence is abound in the Peterhof, called the Russian Versailles. Peter played an active role in the layout and design of the Peterhof ensemble that he started in 1714, although it continued to be developed after his death.

In 1721 Peter the Great founded next to his palace the Peterhof Fabric that later became the "Petrodvorets Watch Factory - Raketa" producing since 1962 the famous Russian watches under the brand "Raketa" in honor of Yuri Gagarin.

Get in

Visitors on a tour package are likely to have Peterhof on their itinerary. There are several methods also to visit Peterhof independently.

Get around

Walking is the practical way to get around Peterhof.

There is a gas station in Novy Peterhof (near the old watch factory, which called Petrodvortsovy Chasovoi Zavod).

See

The Peterhof historic ensemble offers the visitor a suburban atmosphere with plenty of parks, gardens, fountains, and palaces to see.

Do

Walk up and down the street to Saint Petersburg and see the palace, gardens, and fountains for which Peterhof is known.

Buy

A "Russian Watch": most "Russian Watches" sold in tourist shops in Russia are fake and most probably made in China. So use the opportunity to be in the city of the Famous Russian Watch Factory "Raketa", to buy a real one. The souvenir shop of the palace sells real ones.

Eat

Двойка, Санкт-Петербургский проспект, д. 49/9, +7 812 450 6093. A small cafe and bar with a strange name (dvoika, which is a fairly low mark in Russian schools). Menu has English, but some of the translations are strange. Dvoika is on the road to Saint Petersburg. The word "dvoika" implies a not-so-sharp person, someone who scored "2" in lots of classes. In this case, the word "dvoika" comes from the Soviet time, when all shops in every city had their unique numbers. Cafe Dvoika is located on the premises of the old groceries store no.2, that is where the name comes from.