The garden at Alexandria is a nineteenth-century romantic dream laid out at Peterhof for Tsar Nicholas I and his wife, Alexandra, a place of Gothic towers, winding paths and a small cottage palace by the sea. It lies a little to the west of the great fountains of the lower park, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, and its mood is quite different: quiet, wooded and slightly melancholy. The Gothic Chapel, designed in the style of an English country church, stands among the trees, and the Cottage Palace beside it was a family retreat where the emperor could escape the formality of court life.
Peterhof is a town of over seventy thousand people, and everything a rider needs is there: fuel, cafes, parking and a supermarket or two. The road from Saint Petersburg runs along the coast through a string of old palace towns, past the Sergievka estate and the Strelna palace, and in summer it is busy, with tour coaches and queues at the junctions. The corners are gentle and the surface is mostly in good order, but traffic makes the going slow. Leave early in the morning if you want to ride at speed, or come in the evening when the crowds have gone.
The fountains of the Great Cascade, a short way east, run from May to early autumn, and their water comes from springs on the high ground to the south by gravity alone, with no pumps. The system was designed in the time of Peter the Great and still works as it did. The cooling air by the water is welcome on a hot day.
Alexandria itself is a park for strolling. Pine and oak shade the paths, and the gulf glints through the trees. The ground can be damp, and mosquitoes are a nuisance in June. The best months are May and September, when the park is green or golden and the crowds are thinner.
Bring a lock for the bike helmet and gloves, since many places in the park require you to carry your gear, and leave plenty of time, because the park is larger than it first appears.