Welcome to the St. Petersburg cruise port guide. The city of St. Petersburg is a city that is on the bucket list of many. It simply is a city you have to have visited at least once in a life time. It is the former capital of the grand and glorious empire that stretches half way around the world. This city of 4,6 million inhabitants was build with the pure intention to become the “window to the west”. In 1703 Peter the Great would kick off a monumental change in history. He started building a city that would embrace western ideas and give it the oppurtunity to flow into Russia. It would take Peter the Great 18 years and countless lives to be able to do it. Up til that point in history there was no battle in time that had cost as many lives as it would to build St. Petersburg. Therefore St. Petersburg is nicknamed the city of bones. This window to Europe would within a decade became such an important city that Peter decides to change it into the capital of Russia. What Peter the Great started is something that the wife of his grandson would finish. Catherine the Great is one of the most captivating women to ever walk this earth. She plotted her way to the top of the Russian Empire and claimed the Russian throne for 34 years. Under her rule St. Petersburg would undergo a building boom unlike Russia had ever seen. St. Petersburg is a beautiful and fascinating destination and also one of the most intriguing destinations in Europe. The stories about this empire never fail to amaze anybody especially because the evidence of all this history is standing before you. St. Petersburg might just be the most interesting architectural city in the world.