Adventure Travel Trip Itinerary
Christmas in Ukraine and Russia.
Leader: Svetlana Ehrhart
Day
1
Date
Day
Activity (distances are
approximate)
12/17/16
Travel to Kiev.
Officially, Christmas in Ukraine
and Russia is celebrated on the
7th of January (following the
Orthodox calendar). However,
the new year holiday season, the
most important holiday of the
year, will have begun and
everything should be beautifully
decorated everywhere.
Certainly, we will be spending
OUR Christmas in Russia.
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that showcase this activity)
2
12/18/16
Arrival to Kiev. Transfer to the
hotel. Accomodation in a hotel.
Free time.
Kiev is documented as going
back at least 1400 years. It
reached its Golden Age as the
center of Kievan Rus in the 1012th centuries. A Christian City
since 988. It was part of Soviet
Russia, and it got independance
in 1991.
3
12/19/16
Breakfast at the hotel.
Walking sightseeing tour of
the city. We'll walk in the
downtown area of the city,
we'll see the famous Maidan
Square, where the
independance of Ukraine was
proclaimed, we'll visit St.
Sophia's Cathedral- one of the
World Heritage List's
landmarks, Andriyvski Uzvizwhich became known as
Kiev's Montmartre (good for
souvenir shopping), we'll see
St. Volodymyr's Cathedral ,
Motherland Monument,
Accommodation,
Notes
Golden Gate. Lunch and
dinner on your own. After
dinner walk on your own
along the main street of Kiev,
Khreshchetyk, which should
be decorated for the holidays
4
12/20/16
5
12/21/16
6
12/22/16
Breakfast at the hotel. We'll
go to see the suburbs of Kiev,
an open air museum,
Pirogovo, where you can see
beautifully preserved original
houses of the 18th and 19th
centuries which were brought
here from all over Ukraine.
Lunch and dinner on your
own.
Breakfast at the hotel. KievPechorsk Lavra. Since its
foundation as the cave
monastery in 1051 the lavra
has been a prominent center
of Orthodox Christianity in
Eastern Europe. Lunch on
your own. Getting to the
railway station. Departure
to Moscow by the night train
which has sleeping
compartments. Possible
dinner on the train (not
included in the price).
Breakfast on the train (not
included in the price). Arrival
to Moscow, the capital of
Russia. Getting to the hotel
and leaving the luggage there.
Moscow is both a living
monument to over 800 years
of Russian history and culture
and the most vibrantly
modern city in the country. In
the afternoon explore
Moscow's mighty Kremlin
with its golden domes,
lustrous cathedrals and
treasures of the csars, such as
priceless Faberge eggs
displayed in the Armory
7
12/23/16
8
12/24/16
9
12/25/16
Museum, which we are going
to visit. Enjoy your walk on
the spectacularly decorated
Red Square, home of the
beautiful St. Basil's Cathedral
(We'll see it from the
outside). We will also see the
new Christ the Saviour
Cathedral and will walk along
the Moscow River.
Lunch and dinner on your
own.
Breakfast at the hotel. We'll
have a tour of one of the
suburbs of Moscow Archangelskoe. It is a
historical estate located 12
miles west of Moscow. In the
18th century it belonged to a
very well known Galitzine
family, and in the 19th
century to the Ysupov family.
We'll visit a museum and walk
in the park there.
Lunch and dinner on your
own.
Breakfast at the hotel. Visit
the Tretyakov Gallery, the
largest collection of Russian
icons and paintings. Free
time in the downtown on
Arbat street. Lunch and
dinner on your own.
Departure to the train station
for either the evening or night
train to St. Petersburg.
Getting to the hotel and
leaving the luggage there.
St. Petersburg was founded
by the Russian Czar Peter the
Great more than 300 years
ago as a link to Western
Europe. It was the capital of
Russia for three centuries and
today is one of the great
cultural centers of the
country. Majestic gold-domed
cathedrals and canal-crossed
streets combine to make this
city one of the most beautiful
in the world. Sightseeing
walking tour of St.
Petersburg, visit to St. Isaak's
Cathedral and Peter and
Paul Fortress where all
Russian czars of the Romanov
dynasty are buried.
Lunch and dinner on your
own.
10
12/26 16
11
12/27/16
Breakfast at the hotel. Enjoy
the world famous Hermitage
Museum, the city's most
famous landmark, once the
Winter Palace of the csars,
and containing nearly
3,000,000 works of art in
numerous buildings, tour of
Menshikov Palace, walking
along the embankment of the
Neva river and on the city's
main street, Nevsky Prospect,
which will be beautifully
decorated. Stop at several
local markets along the way.
Lunch and dinner on your
own.
Breakfast at the hotel. Today
we'll go to the suburbs of St.
Petersburg to see one of the
summer palaces of the
Russian csars, Catherine's
Palace in Pushkin Town. A
highlight of the Palace is the
Amber Room, completely
rebuilt after destruction by
the Nazis. We'll also walk in
the surrounding park.
Catherine the Great was a
German Empress who
became the Russian ruler for
34 years in the 18th century.
Free time. Lunch and dinner
on your own.
12
13
14
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12/28/16
12/29/16
Breakfast at the hotel. We'll
go to see the suburbs of St.
Petersburg again. We'll walk
in Pavlovsk Park which was
used as a hunting place for
Catherine the Great's son
Paul and we"ll visit Paul's
Palace. Farewell dinner
together (included in the
price).
(If the group decides to
combine the Day 11 & 12
itinerarys, which can be done,
the last day can be a free day
to explore many other
possibilities such as The
Church of Spilled Blood, a
banya experience, the
Yusopov palace (where
Rasputin met his end),
Dostoyevsky's
apartment/museum,
shopping, etc.).
Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure to the U.S.A.
Home or onward travel