Vyborg

Hello again,

Summer marches on and things have finally settled down into a routine for us.  As Amanda wrote in the last post, we have a weekly routine built around tutoring and baseball, as well as working on a few other important projects (school, Russian language, going to the dentist, etc.). All of these things are going well and prevent us from going out of our minds with too much free time:-)

Summer is of course also a great time for us to get outside of St. Petersburg, and while our big trip for the past year was to go to Stockholm, this past Saturday we went for the day to the Russian city of Vyborg, which is something that I had wanted to do for a while. Vyborg (pronounced VEE-berk) is a city that has traded hands many times throughout its long history. The city dates back till the 1200s when the Swedes built a fortress and since that time it has been part of Sweden, Russia, Finland, the Soviet Union, and now Russia again. For the most part, it has been a Finnish city and was forcibly taken by the Soviet Union from Finland during the Winter War that formed part of World War II.  Because of this, Vyborg is probably the most Scandinavian city in Russia which gives it a different feel.  It is also one of the last places in Russia before one crosses over into Finland.

Vyborg is a small city of about 80,000 and the historic old city is quite small, but the city has several points of historic interest, the main one being the castle. Vyborg castle is the only medieval castle in Russia and the original structure dates back to the late 1200s, although most of the modern structure dates from later renovations in the 16th and 19th century in addition to modern restoration efforts.  We have driven through Vyborg while taking the bus to Helsinki, but had never actually stopped to visit.

Vyborg is located about 80 miles north of St. Petersburg, and takes about 2 hours to get there by elektrichka (the electric commuter trains that run from St. Petersburg to nearby areas). What follows are some pictures and my commentary to describe the sites that we took in:

The elektrichka departing from the Finland Station in St. Petersburg.  We were able to take the express train there so it only took an hour and a half, although the return trip was over two hours.

The city is built along the water and connects to the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea, just like St. Petersburg.  The Vyborg castle is on the right in this photo.

An old tower from the 1500s.  Now it is a restaurant.

A house from the late Medieval/early Renaissance period with yours truly in the foreground.

A nice scenic shot that is a perfect copy of the one photograph from Vyborg that our St. Petersburg travel guide included in a short section on the city.

The historic clock tower.

The clock tower, looking up from the base.

The cathedral ruins.  The cathedral, which served as a Catholic, Lutheran, and Orthodox church over the years (reflecting the dominant Christian tradition of the power controlling Vyborg), was destroyed in the Second World War.  The Clock Tower was originally a belfry of the church.

A view of the clock tower through the cathedral ruins.

This square vaguely reminds me of a square in Riga, Latvia.

The castle!

We climbed up the main tower in the castle, which offers a wonderful view of the city.

Vyborg from the top of the castle.

The courtyard of the castle and the edge of the old town. Amanda took this photo and its one of my favorites.

Amanda on top of the tower.  It was windy:-)

The interior of the top of the tower.

The castle tower as seen from the courtyard beneath it.

The castle is built upon a hilly island.  A stone surrounds the base, while the tower and other walls are built at the top of the hill.

Walls from the side of the castle.

More walls.

The path leading out through the main entryway.

The Vyborg castle does various medieval times/reenactment things throughout the year.  On the day we were there we got to see a woman in costume who had an owl with her:-)

And to wrap it all up, an Orthodox church.

Vyborg was a fun and inexpensive day-trip and a good way to spend a Saturday in the summer:-)

Thanks for reading,

- Matt