➤ Breakfast
➤ Visit Pushkin and Tsarskoye Selo, with a guided tour of Catherine’s Palace and the Amber Room
Pushkin, or Tsarskoye Selo - one of the most famous suburbs of St Petersburg - is home to Catherine’s Palace, an extravagant display of Rococo-era opulence. Commissioned in 1717, the Palace has had many a transformation since its original imaginings. It’s most well known for being the summer palace of Peter the Great and Catherine I in the late 1700s; now, it’s a must-see display of Russian architecture.
The highlight of Catherine’s Palace, the Amber Room is a reconstructed chamber decorated in amber panels, backed with gold leaf and mirrors. The original Amber Room has an estimated value of $500 million. It’s sometimes referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World, thanks to its lavish display of precious gold and craftsmanship. Sadly, the paneling of the original Amber Room was lost during WWII, but the reconstruction is still a sight to behold.