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Rome to St. Petersburg by land?



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 1st, 2004, 12:18 AM
Doug Clark
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Default Rome to St. Petersburg by land?

?Would it be worth doing or should we just fly?

Time is not a problem as we are retired.

?Can we get a rental car or must we take the train?

The time would be around June 1st.

?Maybe we should just stay around and see Corse & Sardinia & Sicily
rather than taking off up country?

Doug Clark
  #2  
Old March 1st, 2004, 01:10 AM
Helmut Uttenthaler
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Default Rome to St. Petersburg by land?

Doug Clark wrote:
?Would it be worth doing or should we just fly?

Time is not a problem as we are retired.

?Can we get a rental car or must we take the train?


....it might be difficult to take a rental car into Russia.



Rome - Sankt Petersburg is defintely possible by train.

The fastest connetion takes 49:52 (some stopovers might make
sense) and requires 3 changes:

Roma Termini 8:55 - Venezia Mestre 13:16
Mestre Venezia 13:30 - Wien Suedbahnhof 21:02
Wien Suedbahnhof 21:57 - Katowice 4:04
Katowice 5:18 - Sankt Peterburg Vitebskij 12:47 (next day).

- leaving from Roma on Friday or Saturday (more frequent in
summer)


You will usually need a transit visa for Belarus. It's possible to
avoid Belarus via Lithunia - Latvia (no transit visa normally,
depending on your nationality), but this takes more time.




--
Helmut Uttenthaler,
Graz




  #3  
Old March 1st, 2004, 12:20 PM
Sönke Tesch
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Default Rome to St. Petersburg by land?

Doug Clark wrote:

: ?Would it be worth doing or should we just fly?

Depends on what you like. Some people like to see and experience
a bit of the country this way, away from the usual tourist traps,
others think it's boring. However:

: ?Can we get a rental car or must we take the train?

Under absolutely no circumstances use a car. Some parts of Russia
are not the safest areas for tourists and a stolen rental car might
be you smallest problem.
Apart from that: Missing knowledge of Russian is a point to discuss,
but if you cannot read cyrillic letters, you'll be lost if you have
to find your way on your own.

In any case, avoid Belarus if possible, it's close to a dictatorship.
Check with your ministry of foreign affairs, they have detailed
security information for traveling abroad.

: ?Maybe we should just stay around and see Corse & Sardinia & Sicily
: rather than taking off up country?

Maybe. It's closer, so you have more time on location.

The area around the Baltic sea is probably best explored by ship on its
own, there are many cruise ships and of course regular lines, too.
On a cruise ship, you can -in addition to St. Petersburg- visit Finland
(Helsinki), Sweden (e.g. Stockholm), Estland (Tallin), Lettland (Riga),
Poland (Gdansk) and Denmark (e.g. Kopenhagen). Even Norway (Oslo) and
Great Britain (London, Harwich, Dover) may be included. Germany is
usually part of the trip, too (Bremerhaven, Cuxhaven, Hamburg, Kiel
and/or Warnemünde). Some cruises use the Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal),
a small canal that connects the North and the Baltic sea. About 100km
long and built 1887-1895 it's one of the busiest world-wide. Depending
on the size of your cruise ship and day, you might see quite some
spectators along the canal.

See http://www.kreuzfahrt.buchung.de/rei...?region=Ostsee for
some examples (use http://babel.altavista.com for a translation).

This part of Norther Europe is best visited between May and August.

Regards,
soenk.e
  #4  
Old March 1st, 2004, 12:41 PM
Markku Grönroos
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Default Rome to St. Petersburg by land?


"Sönke Tesch" wrote in message
...

: ?Can we get a rental car or must we take the train?

Under absolutely no circumstances use a car. Some parts of Russia
are not the safest areas for tourists and a stolen rental car might
be you smallest problem.


Agree. Even the Baltic countries are problematic in this respect. If you
drove your own vehicle and it was stolen, the excess fee of the insurance
can go as high as 1/4 of the vehicle's value. Typically several thousand
euros anyway.


  #5  
Old March 1st, 2004, 12:48 PM
Yorick
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Default Rome to St. Petersburg by land?

Doug Clark wrote:
?Would it be worth doing or should we just fly?

Time is not a problem as we are retired.

?Can we get a rental car or must we take the train?

The time would be around June 1st.

?Maybe we should just stay around and see Corse & Sardinia & Sicily
rather than taking off up country?


That's quite a day and night difference between going to St. Petersburg, or
to Corsica and Sardinia.
Is there a particulair reason to go to St. Petersburg? Otherwise I wouldn't
combine it with a trip to Rome, but make a seperate trip out of it.

As I've said before on this group, to me Corsica is one of the best / most
beautiful places you can visit in Europe.
Rent a car, tour the island, take the ferry over to Sardinia. Or, if you're
not afraid of long distances, drive south from Rome to Sicily and then make
the loop to Sardinia and Corsica. If you've got plenty of time (and you said
you do), that would make a perfect trip. I think June is a very good time of
the year to do it too, because it gets very hot in the summer.

Yorick.


  #6  
Old March 1st, 2004, 07:13 PM
Timo Saarto
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Default Rome to St. Petersburg by land?

On Mon, 1 Mar 2004 12:48:52 +0100, "Yorick" wrote:

?Would it be worth doing or should we just fly?
Time is not a problem as we are retired.


That's quite a day and night difference between going to St. Petersburg, or
to Corsica and Sardinia.
Is there a particulair reason to go to St. Petersburg?


Dear Yorick,

I read in your message that you are fan of Corsica, but to respect the
OP's obvious fascination of visiting St.Petersburg I would definetely
recommend taking the train thru "old Europe". OP might even consider
stopovers at some smaller towns + countryside sleep-ins (oh yes there
are those also in the eastern Europe). Most of the people are very
friendly and warm, even though seldom speak foreign tongues.
Steer away from the leatherjacketed men, usually they mean business
(the hard way), smile a lot, and don't offend anyone with attitude and
you will be fine.

Cheers,
Rudi.



  #7  
Old March 1st, 2004, 07:27 PM
Timo Saarto
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Default Rome to St. Petersburg by land?

On Mon, 1 Mar 2004 12:48:52 +0100, "Yorick" wrote:

?Would it be worth doing or should we just fly?
Time is not a problem as we are retired.


That's quite a day and night difference between going to St. Petersburg, or
to Corsica and Sardinia.
Is there a particulair reason to go to St. Petersburg?


Dear Yorick,

I read in your message that you are fan of Corsica, but to respect the
OP's obvious fascination of visiting St.Petersburg I would definetely
recommend taking the train thru "old Europe". OP might even consider
stopovers at some smaller towns + countryside sleep-ins (oh yes there
are those also in the eastern Europe). Most of the people are very
friendly and warm, even though seldom speak foreign tongues.
Steer away from the leatherjacketed men, usually they mean business
(the hard way), smile a lot, and don't offend anyone with attitude and
you will be fine.

Cheers,
Timo.



  #8  
Old March 2nd, 2004, 10:24 AM
Bjorn Olsson
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Default Rome to St. Petersburg by land?

Timo Saarto wrote in message . ..
On Mon, 1 Mar 2004 12:48:52 +0100, "Yorick" wrote:

?Would it be worth doing or should we just fly?
Time is not a problem as we are retired.


That's quite a day and night difference between going to St. Petersburg, or
to Corsica and Sardinia.
Is there a particulair reason to go to St. Petersburg?


Dear Yorick,

I read in your message that you are fan of Corsica, but to respect the
OP's obvious fascination of visiting St.Petersburg I would definetely
recommend taking the train thru "old Europe". OP might even consider
stopovers at some smaller towns + countryside sleep-ins (oh yes there
are those also in the eastern Europe). Most of the people are very
friendly and warm, even though seldom speak foreign tongues.
Steer away from the leatherjacketed men, usually they mean business
(the hard way), smile a lot, and don't offend anyone with attitude and
you will be fine.


I agree, but just want to comment on a little detail. In some parts of
"old Europe" smiling for no apparent reason to complete strangers is
considered a sign of stupidity rather than a sign of friendliness. At
the same time, one would of course smile when there is reason to do
so. In other words, yes smile, but don't overdo it. Of course, this is
one of the causes of confusion for "westerners" who sometimes get an
imnpression of unfriendliness where none is intended.

Bjorn
 




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