Kronstadt's gold dome is visible from a long way off, and it belongs to the Naval Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, a great Byzantine-style church that was finished in 1913 for the sailors of the Baltic Fleet. The Soviets turned it into a cinema and then a sports hall, and a long restoration returned it to its original purpose in 2013. It now stands in the centre of a town that looks like an eighteenth-century naval base surrounded by sea.
The town was founded in 1704, as the fortress of Kronshlot's partner on the island of Kotlin, and its name means Crown Town. For most of the following three centuries it was the home of the Russian Baltic Fleet, and its harbours, canals and parade grounds still bear the marks of that history. Peter the Great's dry dock, an enormous stone basin dug in the early eighteenth century, is among the oldest in the world, and the Italian Palace, built for Prince Menshikov, is among the first buildings erected on the island. The historic centre was included in the UNESCO listing of Saint Petersburg in 1990.
In March 1921, Kronstadt's sailors rose against the Bolshevik government, demanding free elections and an end to grain requisitions. They were crushed after a brutal assault across the ice, and the episode marked a turning point in the revolution. During the Soviet era the town was closed to outsiders, and it is only in recent decades that it has been open to visitors again.
Today Kronstadt is a quiet, rather melancholy place, with wide streets, peeling plaster and the sound of gulls. The ride from the mainland, across the Dam, takes you into a flat, windy landscape with the sea always in view, and the town itself is small enough to explore on foot after parking the bike. The best time to come is on a clear day in summer, when the dome shines.
With forty-three thousand people, Kronstadt has fuel, supermarkets, cafés and basic accommodation. Wear a windproof layer, as the breeze from the gulf is often cold, and carry a photo ID, since some parts of the island remain military.