Kronstadt. Maritime Nikolsky Cathedral

Kronstadt is a special route. When my guests choose it, I know that they are interested not only in what is beautiful, but also in what is deep. This city does not open at first sight. He's silent, he's strict, and I like to help people hear what he doesn't say.

We meet at the hotel and the road itself is part of the tour. Wind from the Gulf of Finland, water view, ships in the distance The city appears unexpectedly: clear, stone as a palm, clenched in a fist.

Kronstadt is a military port, a fortress, a former forbidden zone. At the same time, it is a place of amazing calm. He looks like a man who has gone through a lot and is in no hurry to prove anything to anyone.

First of all, the Naval Cathedral. Huge, light, sounding. I freeze every time we walk in. Its architecture is like a hymn to power and prayer at the same time. He seems to know that he stood on the border between storms and prayers, between life and war.

I talk about sailors, about the tradition of knocking out marble slabs with the names of the dead. I’m always a little silent – the church demands it.

Then we walk down the streets -- narrow, flat, almost European. Showing the dock of Peter I, explaining why the bastions where the first lighthouses stood were needed. It's strict, it's business. But it's incredibly beautiful. Small things. In proportion. Feeling.

Weather permitting, go to the water. Watch the fairway, the ships. Shut up. Sometimes guests ask if you can just stand. You can. You do.

And Kronstadt is a city of simple, amazingly living people. Here you can eat a cake in a local bakery, talk to a retired sailor, hear how the real Russian sea language sounds - rude, but honest.

On the way back, we're driving over the dam again. Petersburg is slowly approaching. But inside remains Kronstadt - with its cathedral, wind, cast-iron anchors, silence and a real, not decorative history.

And I'm always happy to come back here. Not as a city, as a person who wants to talk to again.

# excursion on my Hyundai Creta car for a group of 1-3 people costs 14000 rubles

# excursion by car "minivan" (driver + guide) for a group of 1-6 people costs 25000 rubles

# excursion by car "microbus" (driver + guide) for a group of 7-12 people costs 32000 rubles

# excursion by car "microbus" (driver + guide) for a group of 13-16 people costs 38000 rubles

# excursion for a group of more than 16 people by agreement