Russia has always been a place that I have wanted to go to ever since I was a young child. I was fascinated by how large the country was, not to mention the rich history and famous story of the Russian Revolution. I used to spend hours googling conspiracy theories about Anastasia Romanova, the Russian princess who was supposedly assassinated in the revolution and this summer my family and I finally had the chance to visit St. Petersburg, the cultural capital of the country.

Unlike the other destinations on our Baltic cruise, we actually got two whole days here. Here's what we got up to and 7 things that you can do if you're lucky enough to be able to visit St. Petersburg - enjoy!

1) Visit the State Hermitage Museum

This was our first stop on our trip and it did not disappoint. It's a culture and art museum and is the largest in the world. It was founded in the 18th Century when Empress Catherine the Great acquired many items for her personal collection and it now has over 3 million items - pretty impressive right? It was originally a palace and many events took place in these buildings including balls for the nobility and ceremonies for officials but after the 1917 Revolution was turned into a museum and there are now 5 buildings which make up the 'Hermitage'.

The 'White Hall' in the Winter Palace (pictured below) is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. It's all white (as the name would suggest), and is full of chandeliers and gold details.

2) Drink some Vodka!

What would a trip to Russia be without drinking a little bit of this famous drink? We had our shots with our lunch in between visiting palaces and the jolly Irish man next to me had a biiiiit too much to drink. Fun fact: apparently when the Nazi's surrendered in 1945, the Russians celebrated and partied so hard that the entire country ran out of vodka and Peter the Great (whose palace is listed at number 4) is rumoured to have drunk around 2 litres of the stuff a day... if that's not dedication and a high alcohol tolerance I'm not sure what is!

3) Stroll the halls of Catherines Palace

Our second palace of the trip was Catherine's palace, the royal family's summer residence which has the most beautiful blue exterior the city is famous for. It is absolutely stunning and definitely has more of a palace feel than the Hermitage because that's been converted into a museum.

Think of lavish interiors adorned with gold and an amber room like nothing you've ever seen before. Unfortunately, pictures were prohibited in the amber room, but if you click here you can have a look at it. As with many beautiful places around Europe, the Nazi's destroyed a lot of the palace during WW2, including the amber room, but it was reconstructed in 2003 and is as beautiful as ever.

p.s. This palace isn't technically in the city center, it's around 50 minutes south by car so it's best to book a guided tour.

4) Then go onto Peterhov's Palace

This was our third and final palace of the trip and the exteriors were definitely the most impressive. The palace was built for Peter the Great (the guy who supposedly drank 2 litres of vodka a day) and it has a total of 64 fountains, most or all of which are golden and is known as the 'Russian Versailles' (the historic royal residence in Paris, which is so beautiful if you haven't been you definitely need to go).

p.s. This palace isn't technically in the city center, it's around 50 minutes west by car so it's best to book a guided tour.

5) Eat some Russian food!

There are so many different Russian foods to try, and when you're there you should definitely try some. It can be a little bit of a nightmare for vegetarians or vegans, but I found this soup which had a tomato vegetable base and wheat berries (farro? barley?) which are super popular in Russia - try it! Other stereotypical Russian foods include:

• Borsch / Borscht - a beet and cabbage soup 
• Blini - like a crepe, it's normally made with buckwheat with savory fillings or white flour for sweet fillings
• Pelmeni - Russian dumplings, usually with a meat filling (lamb, pork, beef etc.) 
• Pirozhki - similar to the pelmeni but they're covered in a pastry and even have some sweet fillings
• Beef stroganoff - sautéed beef stew normally with pasta

6) Buy a Matryoshka doll

'Matryoshka', Russian nesting doll or Russian doll are all names given to that famous wooden doll which houses mini versions of it inside itself. The history of the dolls is really interesting - they were originally created (if I remember correctly) to have educational scenes on them, about farm life etc. or fairytales and it wasn't until much later when they became world-famous and highly sought after items with all sorts of images on them. You can get cheaper, machine-made versions for around $5 or they literally go up to hundreds or even thousands like the ones below which are handmade and hand painted.

7) Take a look at the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood

In the typical Russian Orthodox style, this church is absolutely beautiful and filled with mosaics in its interior. The streets towards it are lined with tourist shops and it is a tourist trap however, if you walk a little further you can walk by the canal which is really pretty.

A couple of Travel Tips for Russia

• When I was there I found that not many people spoke English so either learn a bit of Russian before you go or get good old Google Translate out. Don't be an ignorant tourist!
• Russia isn't in the EU so visas are important
• Russia doesn't use euros (see point above), they use rubles (try to find a trustworthy ATM machine before you go)

Other Stops on our Baltic Cruise:

Estonia is a small country in Eastern Europe, along the Baltic coast. Tallinn, its capital, is extremely rich in history and its first settlements date back to over 5,000 years ago. Although we didn't see anything that was 5,000 years old, Tallinn is one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe, full of winding cobblestone streets and beautiful buildings, including a medieval pharmacy! It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as being dubbed the 'European Silicon Valley' - it has the most startups per person in Europe and is where Skype was born... bet you didn't know that!

This was another one of our stops on our Baltic cruise so once again we only had around 6 hours to explore... luckily for us the city isn't that big so we got to see quite a lot of it. Here are 8 things that you should do if you're lucky enough to go to Tallinn, Estonia - enjoy!

1) Visit the Raekoja plats, Tallinn's Town Square

This beautiful square is the perfect place to start your visit to Tallinn. Bordered with little houses, the town square dates back to at least the 14th Century and is often home to the cutest little market stalls.

2) Find Tallinn's Old City Walls

Tallinn used to be a medieval fort. The city walls were originally 2.4km long and it's so well preserved that there is still 1.9km of it, complete with 20 observation towers.
They're pretty easy to find and will pop up when you're walking around the city... some of them even have some interesting names such as Fat Margaret and Kiek in de Kök, which is where you can learn all about Tallinn's defence history.

The picture of the statue of the soldier with the Danish flag is supposedly where the Danish flag was born.
Legend has it that the Danish were almost about to lose during battle (in 1219) when a flag dropped from the skies which the King then used it as a sign from heaven to lift his troops and lead them to victory.

3) Visit Saint Nicholas' Church

4) and then head to the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

5) Get carried away with the Medieval things that Tallinn has to offer

In case you haven't already read, Tallinn is a medieval city and it is full of little stalls, shops and cafés etc. which play on this. These are most likely mainly for tourists, however it is charming, interesting and very different from what I have seen.

6) Buy some Powdered Unicorn horn at Raeapteek, Tallinn's Medieval Pharmacy

Continuing on with the medieval theme you will find all sorts of quirkiness at Tallinn's medieval pharmacy, powdered unicorn horn being one of them. The pharmacy is one of Europe's oldest and is definitely worth a visit.

The pharmacy sells not only mementos of the past, but also modern medicine in case you need to pick anything up on your trip there.

Make sure to walk all the way through to the room at the back where you will find lots of different little bottles and vials containing everything and anything you could imagine (which all comes from the 17th to 20th centuries).

7) Go up to the Toompea Loss, Toompea Castle

8) Take in the Beauty of the City from Toompea Hill

From Toompea Hill you can look over at pretty much the whole of Tallinn, from the old city walls and the medieval churches complete with red roofs and spires to the newer parts of Tallinn also known as the 'European Silicon Valley'.



Whatever your reason for visiting Tallinn, I hope that you have a wonderful time. And remember, if you come across any chimney sweeps dressed in the traditional dress, make sure to touch their brass buttons... it brings good luck!

Other stops on our Baltic cruise:

• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Stockholm, Sweden