Russian Recital

We will complete our procedures to depart for St. Petersburg at 00:45 with Ajet Airlines flight VF 293, meeting at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport International Departures Terminal at 19:35. After document checks, baggage delivery, and check-in procedures, we will board our plane. Following our flight from Sabiha Gökçen Airport to St. Petersburg at 00:45, we will proceed to our hotel to rest and stay with our private bus waiting for us. (EARLY CHECK-IN-BREAKFAST) After breakfast, we will leave the hotel for our panoramic tour. In the panoramic tour to be held in St. Petersburg, one of the art, science, and industrial centers of Russian geography, founded by Russian Tsar Peter I in 1703, we will see that every hour of the day offers a separate visual feast. We will witness history along the 4.5 km Nevsky Prospect, which stretches flat before our eyes. The Admiralty Building, which appears on Nevsky Prospect, which is considered the key point of the city and named after Alexander Nevsky, the most famous hero of Russian history; Kazan Cathedral, a small replica of the famous San Pietro Cathedral in Rome; Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace; Stroganov Palace; Gostiny Dvor, which is not as large and deep-rooted as the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul but was founded as a bazaar 250 years ago and is used as a shopping center today; the National Library of Russia, one of the largest libraries in the world; the Singer Building, which caused quite a reaction in its period with its founding story; the Eliseyev Building with its magnificent stained glass and bronze interior structure; the Aurora Cinema, also known as the Piccadilly Cinema, which the author Nabokov frequently mentions in his memoirs; the famous Anichkov Bridge, which has a special place in Russian literature and bears the traces of the Siege of Leningrad, and many other structures, we will take a quick time travel from Tsarist Russia to the Soviet Union and today. Free time afterwards. However, our guests who wish can participate in the extra organized Ekaterina Palace Pushkin Tsar Village Tour (including Amber room) (80 Euros). The town, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and also houses the school of Pushkin, the great poet and writer of Russian literature, will attract our attention with its palaces, parks, and various structures. This area, built for the Tsar's family in the eighteenth century, will invite its guests to a Russian fairy tale. Our main focus in the town, which covers an area of 600 hectares, will be the Catherine (Yekaterina) Palace, which offers an exclusive example of the Rococo style. The famous Amber Room of the palace, named after Tsarina Catherine I and also known as the "Summer Palace", will fascinate everyone. Even the state of this original room, which is decorated with five tons of pure amber, which has survived to the present day, although it received its share of German looting during the Second World War, will make us all admire it. The landscape of the palace, carefully designed by Dutch and English gardeners, will give us peace with its serenity. The Chesma Column, erected in memory of Russia's victory in the Turkish-Russian Naval War, and the Kagul Obelisk, another symbol of victory, will be among the historical structures we will see in this garden. On the shore of the large pond in the garden, we will see the bathhouse designed with inspiration from Turkish mosques. We will all see together that the greatest feature of the garden is that it contains traces of many cultures, from Chinese bridges to Turkish baths and ancient Greek statues, as a record of Russian history. When we see the Alexander Palace, where all members of the Romanov dynasty were together at the time of their arrest, located in the same area, we will understand once again that it is the scene of another perspective of Russian history. After our trip, we will go to the hotel to rest. Free time afterwards. However, our guests who wish can participate in the extra organized Russian Cuisine Night in Peter's City (60 Eur).

• St. Petersburg city introduction tour -Free
• Ekaterina Palace Pushkin Tsar Village Tour (including Amber room) 80 Eur
• Russian Cuisine Night in Peter's City 60 Eur (Beef Stroganoff Menu- 4 course)

Free time after breakfast at the hotel. However, our guests who wish can participate in the extra organized Peterhof Palace and Park Tour (100 EUR). When we enter the fascinating atmosphere of Peterhof, a building complex built with inspiration from the Palace of Versailles, which Tsar Peter I, the leader of the Russian Westernization Movement, saw and was influenced by during his trip to France, we will feel that we have moved to a completely different world. This building complex, which is famous for its gardens and especially its fountains, and which is a pioneer in terms of both fountain architecture and the engineering approach of the period, will offer us a magnificent Baltic Sea view because it is located in the Gulf of Finland. The fountains and sprinklers, which have an impressive mechanical system from a technical point of view and where everyone from seven to seventy has fun around them in the summer months, will also offer a visual feast to the viewers. The main fountain in the palace garden, which is connected to the Baltic Sea by a canal, will make us all look at it with admiration. The Peter and Paul Cathedral, located just outside the summer palace complex of Peter, who went down in history with his intelligence, innovative attitude, and taste, will appear before us in an eye-catching way as an example of Orthodox church architecture with both its exterior and interior structure. After Peterhof, which you will not want to leave easily, although it was heavily damaged during the Second World War, it was restored by remaining loyal to its first architecture, free time. However, our guests who wish can participate in the extra organized Hermitage Museum Tour (50 Euro). The Hermitage Museum, which is a real treasure for those who want to see cultural heritage belonging to every type and every geography imaginable, from the "Golden Man" to the world's oldest carpet, from the door of the Kaaba to important works of modern art with unique manuscripts, and even the "Peacock Clock", will give us an unforgettable experience. Because the collection, which forms the basis of the works that Tsarina Catherine began to keep in her summer and winter palaces, currently contains more than four million pieces. The story of the rescue of the works in the palace, which was converted into a museum with the Bolshevik Revolution, from the Nazi art invasion during the Second World War, explains the importance of the Hermitage in protecting the world's cultural heritage. In the Hermitage Tour, where the old summer and winter palaces will be visited, we will listen with pleasure to the adventure of one of the world's largest and richest museums forming the cultural building blocks of a country that has changed regimes three times from our tour guide. Free time after our tour. However, our guests who wish can participate in the extra organized Neva River Boat Tour (50 EUR). During our boat tour, we will have the opportunity to see the buildings, museums, and historical artifacts in the open air that reveal all the splendor of Tsarist Russia panoramically. Guests who want to complete our last night in St. Petersburg with a special gala dinner in the evening hours can participate in the extra organized Russian Night Entertainment Gala Dinner (100 Eur). After our night decorated with musical dance shows, we will return to the hotel to rest and stay.

• Peterhof Palace and Park Tour 100 Eur
• Hermitage Museum Tour 50 Eur
• Neva River Boat Tour 50 Eur
• Russian Night Entertainment Gala Dinner with Show 100 Eur

After waking up and having breakfast at our hotel, we will travel to the train station by our private bus. Departure to Moscow by train. Our guests who wish may join the optional Moscow Metro, Novodevichy Cemetery, and Arbat Street Tour (Nazım Hikmet's Grave) (50 Euro). We will take the Moscow Metro, known as the oldest, largest, and most beautifully decorated metro in the world, and examine the magnificent metro stations, each decorated with a different theme, before moving on to the Novodevichy Cemetery, known to many by name because it houses the grave of Nazım Hikmet. We will visit the cemetery and the monastery within it, which has museum status, was founded in 1524, and was saved from destruction in 1812 when the nuns prevented Napoleon's order to demolish it. We will feel the sense of seclusion in the monastery, which was completely emptied and abandoned to its fate in 1922, and reopened its doors after a restoration in 1994. In Novodevichy, which translates to "Young Maidens" in Turkish, we will witness how the memories of the lives of the young maidens of that era, which passed and ended in the monastery, are still kept alive. In this monastery and cemetery, where many tsarina candidates also saw their stars fade, we will see the graves of names such as Chekhov, Gogol, Mayakovsky, Bulgakov, Eisenstein, Khrushchev, Shostakovich, and Yeltsin, who have laid down for their eternal sleep. After our tour full of history, literature, cinema, music, and of course, melancholy, we will embrace life and move on to Arbat Street, the busiest street in Moscow. We will learn that this street, which dates back to 1493 and is the most famous art center of both Moscow and Russia, takes its name from the word "Gorbat," meaning "Hill" in Slavic languages, or according to a legend, from the Arabic word "Rabad," meaning "City Vicinity" or "Suburb." In this journey through time from the fifteenth century to the present day, we will be accompanied by street painters whom we will frequently encounter. In addition, the traces of Pushkin and his wife Goncharova will welcome us at building number 53 on the street. Afterwards, there will be free time. However, our guests who wish may join the optional Kremlin Tour (65 Euro). In the Kremlin, a magnificent structure known as the center of not only Moscow but also Russia, whose name literally means "fortress," we will witness a historical heritage where political intrigues and social transformations have left deep marks. We will see that the Kremlin, which defines the eastern border of Red Square with its eastern walls, carries the magical texture of the past to the present with its old walls built in the fifteenth century. While walking in the gardens of the Kremlin, in the Grand Kremlin Palace Complex, in the Concert Hall, and in the Presidential Building, we will breathe in the rich texture of history and culture. On our trip, where we will also have the opportunity to see the 'Space Tree' planted after Yuri Gagarin's legendary space journey in the Kremlin complex, we will be quite delighted while listening to the stories of the bell tower built by Tsar Ivan and the cannon he had cast. Also, while visiting the museum, we will be able to see up close the crown of the famous Tsarina Catherine, which consists of 5000 diamond stones. After our trip, we will go to the hotel to rest and stay overnight.

• Moscow Metro, Novodevichy Cemetery, and Arbat Street Tour (Nazım Hikmet's Grave) 50 Eur
• Kremlin Tour 65 Eur

Free time after breakfast. However, our guests who wish may join the optional Winter Shopping in Russia Tour (30 Eur). During our trip, we will panoramically see Red Square, the historical center that has been the scene of political and social upheavals; Saint Basil's Cathedral, built in the sixteenth century by the Tsar known as Ivan the Terrible, where each dome corresponds to a Russian victory; the monument statue in front of the cathedral, which is one of the symbols of the city, showing two famous Russian princes, Minin and Pozharsky; the GUM Shopping Center right at the end; its neighbor the Kremlin Palace; the magnificent Lenin Mausoleum, which houses the mummy of Lenin, the symbol of communist ideology all over the world; the Karl Marx statue and right across from it, the famous Bolshoi Theatre building, which has been in operation since the eighteenth century; a little further on, the famous Duma Parliament Building, where Russia's first elected parliament began its work in 1906; the Voskresenski, built in the sixteenth century and once considered the entrance gates of Red Square, which was bombed in 1931 so that tanks could enter Red Square; and the Russian History Museum. Then, after a walk short enough to keep the Russian cold in our minds, we will visit one of Moscow's most famous shopping centers. After choosing gifts for our loved ones in this center, where we can find all kinds of items from traditional Russian motifs to the latest fashion branded clothes, we will return to our hotel to rest and stay overnight.

• Winter Shopping in Russia Tour 30 Eur

After completing the check-out procedures from the hotel, we will set off to go to the airport. We will depart for Istanbul at 05.45 with AJET Airlines flight number VF278 and arrive in the city at 10.00 local time. Welcome home!