PUSHKIN

Located twenty-five kilometers south of St. Petersburg, the town of Pushkin, originally called Tsarskoye Selo, came into existence when Catherine I built a little surprise palace here for her husband, Peter the Great. The Empress Elizabeth had the palace (named Yekaterininsky Dvorets, or Catherine's Palace) expanded and renovated in 1752, and work continued through Catherine the Great's reign. After the Revolution the town was renamed Detskoye Selo until 1937 when it was changed to Pushkin to honor the centennary of the poet's death. The estate was completely devastated during the war and restoration is not yet complete; pictures inside Catherine's Palace show its state after the German retreat. The baroque Catherine Palace was left in ruins by the Germans at the end of WWII but today is a masterpiece of restoration. The facade features golden domes and blue and white detailing, while the interior positively gleams and glitters with mirrors, chandeliers and tumescent cherubs. Just north of the Catherine Palace is the classical Alexander Palace. Favourite haunt of Nicholas and Alexandra, it ironically became their prison when they were put under house arrest before being shunted off to Yekaterinburg. It's the least touristy palace, so in some ways the most pleasant, and now open after an eons-long renovation.

Usually people are admitted to Catherine's Palace only as part of a group, though once in it's no problem to abandon the group and poke around on your own; in fact if the tour is in Russian it's recommended, as the guides yell at anyone not listening attentively to every word they say. The palace, a slew of white and gold, looks a lot like all the other palaces - oodles of 18th century paintings; a huge ballroom called the Grand Hall (located just to the south of the main staircase), a candelabra-gold-and-mirror menagerie with an 18th century propaganda fresco entitled Russia's Triumph on the ceiling; ornately decorated drawing rooms, studies, and dining rooms; and of course the ubiquitous Portrait Room. Probably the most famous room in the palace is the Amber Room, the walls of which were covered with huge amber panels given to Peter I by Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, taken back by the Nazis during World War II, and now probably someplace in Paraguay.

Surrounding the palace is a park covering more than 570 hectares (1400 acres) peppered with bridges, terraces, fountains, and small galleries. Of note is the Agate Pavilion, a bathhouse of semi-precious stones just southeast of the palace. Farther south lies the Great Pond. During the summer you can rent rowboats and in the winter it serves as a skating rink (bring your own skates). North of Catherine's Palace is the Alexander Palace, built for the future Alexander I at the end of the 18th century, which is unfortunately closed to the public.

Pushkin is also the sight of the Lyceum where Pushkin himself studied from 1811 to 1817, thus the old school houses the inevitable Pushkin Museum.