St. Petersburg – the former capital of the Russian Czars. The city was founded by Peter the Great as he laid the foundation for the first fortress on the Peter & Paul Island in 1703. This has become the chief monuments to its founder’s reign. Peter and Paul Fortress today houses the crypt of Russian Emperors. Many places of the “Venice of the North” are reminders of the Russian Czars like Petrodvorets, the Summer Palace of Peter the Great. In St. Petersburg you will find one of the world’s finest museums in the Hermitage, which houses many treasures from the era of the czars.