Alexander Palace and park and The Park «Dubki»

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Alexander Palace and park

   Few Russian palaces have a story as heavy as the Alexander Palace in Pushkin, the town that grew around the imperial estate of Tsarskoye Selo, south of St Petersburg. Catherine the Great had it built for her grandson Alexander, the future Alexander I, by the Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi in the 1790s, a restrained neoclassical building with a long colonnade facing the park. Its fame, though, comes from the last family to live in it. Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra preferred it to the grand Winter Palace, and they raised their five children here until the revolution of 1917, when the family was placed under house arrest in the palace before being sent east.

   Read the complete Alexander Palace and park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Alexander Palace and park is where the day begins. Next is Ligovsky prospect.

2. 2. Ligovsky prospect

   Ligovsky Prospect is one of Saint Petersburg's long avenues, running south from Nevsky Prospect near Moscow Station, through old tenements, markets and railway yards toward the edge of the city. Its name comes from Ligovo, and the avenue follows the line of the old Ligovsky Canal, dug in the early eighteenth century under Peter the Great to bring water from the southern springs to the fountains of the Summer Garden. The canal has been covered or filled over most of its route, but the street still traces it, a straight line through the city's grid.

   Read the complete Ligovsky prospect write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ligovsky prospect comes up 27 km in. Next is The Shuvalov's.

3. 3. The Shuvalov's

   The Shuvalovs were one of the great families of eighteenth-century Russia, and a member of the clan, Ivan Shuvalov, was the favourite of Empress Elizabeth and the patron who helped found Moscow University and the Academy of Arts in the 1750s. Another branch of the family later owned the estate at Pargolovo, on the northern edge of Saint Petersburg, where a palace and landscaped park were laid out with ponds, avenues and pavilions in the nineteenth century. The park is now a public space, with lakes that freeze in winter and a canopy of old trees, and it is a favourite for walks.

   Read the complete The Shuvalov's write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   54 km in you reach The Shuvalov's. Next is The Park «Dubki».

4. 4. The Park «Dubki»

   Peter the Great loved oak, because oak meant ships, and the little park of Dubki, whose name means little oaks, is said to date back to the trees he ordered planted near his arms-making settlement at Sestroretsk. Whatever the truth of the exact planting, the park is a pleasant tract of old trees on sandy soil, with paths, ponds and the slow rhythm of a town that has long been a seaside resort. Sestroretsk, on the Gulf of Finland, became a fashionable spa at the end of the nineteenth century, and its shore of shallow water and fine sand still draws crowds in summer.

   Read the complete The Park «Dubki» write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The Park «Dubki», about halfway. Next is back through The Shuvalov's.

5. 5. back through The Shuvalov's

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete The Shuvalov's write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through The Shuvalov's sits at 109 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ligovsky prospect.

6. 6. back through Ligovsky prospect

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ligovsky prospect write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Ligovsky prospect comes up 136 km in. Next is Alexander Palace and park.

7. 7. Alexander Palace and park

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Alexander Palace and park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Alexander Palace and park closes the day.