Peter and Paul Fortress +cruiser Aurora + coffee break in a panoramic restaurant

The first structure to be built in St. Petersburg, and thus the birthplace of the city, it never served its intended defensive function. Instead it has had a rich, hugely varied, and sometimes sinister history as a military base, a home of government departments, the burial ground of the Russian Imperial family, the site of groundbreaking scientific experiments, and a forbidding jail that held some of Russia's most prominent political prisoners. Travel back in time by stepping on board the memorial ship Aurora, which played an important role in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The cruiser Aurora was built between 1897 and 1900 by the "New Admiralty" in St. Petersburg and joined Russia's Baltic fleet in 1903. The ship measures 126.8 meters in length, 16.8 meters in width and weighs a staggering 7,600 tons. Maintaining a speed of 20 knots it can travel independently for up to 1,440 sea miles.