Murmansk is a little baby city, only 103 years old, built for industry. That means pretty much everything is functional and built cheaply. There are no decorative survivors of the Imperial era hiding up here. Murmansk is a city for work. But if you walk half an hour or so uphill away from the port … More Up by the lake in Murmansk

Moscow and St Petersburg were pretty straightforward. They’re major world cities with good tourist infrastructure, I’d been to both of them before and I was staying in boring but predictable and safe international chain hotels. Murmansk was a little different. The first sign was that about 80% of the passengers on my plane were men. … More Finding options in Murmansk

I’m not a big museums fan. I’m not a high art or culture sort of person. At the risk of sounding like a brat, I’ve been to the Louvre, I’ve been to the Hermitage before. It’s not my thing. But in St Petersburg, I felt like I really should make the effort to go to … More A day at the Hermitage

There are two main churches to visit in St Petersburg, once you’re done with all the other delights like the Peter & Paul Fortress, the Hermitage labyrinth and more palaces than you can imagine, many of them now home to the sort of staples a big city like this needs more in the twenty-first century … More Great churches in St Petersburg

I love a boat trip. I nearly froze to death out on the river in Rīga in November two years ago, I went on three different boats in Malta earlier in the year, I did the canal boat in Amsterdam last year (another case of nearly freezing to death) and by the time you read … More A boat trip around St Petersburg

My first morning in St Petersburg was too hot by far and I got off to a bad start by having a pitched battle with a first a metro machine that refused to sell me a smartcard and then a metro machine that was extremely reluctant to sell me tokens. Add to that my local … More Peter & Paul Fortress: my first day in St Petersburg