RIVER CRUISING


walls there are silhouettes of his children and notes written by them and slipped under his study door where he routinely worked all night.


I


t was all brought brilliantly to life by the guide, a local literature professor, who traced a life dogged by cruel twists of fate and self-destructive habits, from gam- bling to an interest in socialism, that almost led to his execution (he was reprieved by the Tsar minutes before his death), Siberian exile and a final restitution a century later as one of Russia’s greatest artists. Some of the pungent roll-ups he became addicted to in Siberia are still left in a cigarette box inscribed by his daughter with the date of his death. The same hand that rolled them penned such great works as Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov. It was perhaps a fitting symbol on


which to end – a perfect illustration of the paradox that is Russia, a country of extremes of poverty and wealth, genius and squalor, heaving cities and empty spaces, corruption and piety, turmoil and the self-reinvention that can be seen everywhere today. 


and sculpted plasterwork. The Great Hall mimics the Versailles Hall of Mirrors. The Amber Room, made entirely of 25 different varieties of the precious material, is mooted as an eighth wonder of the world. There are silk walls, a Wedgwood


Room, stoves made of Delft tiles and countless precious objects, artworks and furniture. Not bad for a “little toy,” especially considering this palace was used for only a few weeks a year.


O


n our last day, I was eager to get a little further under the Russian skin and off the tourist track. I


started at the Yusopov Palace. By now, luxury and ostentation was pretty much a given, so the conspicuous wealth of Russia’s second richest family was only to be expected – bronze French clocks, porcelain candelabra, gilded mouldings, silk walls and even a private theatre where the great bass, Chaliapin, had sung. But there was another story waiting deep in the cellars – this was where Rasputin, the Mad Monk of legend, had been murdered. Felix Yusopov had recently returned from his Oxford education and, with a group of friends, plotted the death of the


66 WORLD OF CRUISING I Winter 2011-12


man widely believed to be a dangerous influence on the Tsar. Felix first invited Rasputin to a glass of (poisoned) wine but this had no effect. He then shot the monk, leaving his body in the cellar only to find him still alive and crawling across the courtyard. The would- be murderers bundled up the still-living Rasputin and threw him in the Neva. However, they had no weights and he floated – probably it was the cold rather than drowning that finally killed him. From here, I went to the other end of the social spectrum and the last apartment of Fyodor Dostoevsky, arguably Russia’s greatest writer, where he died in poverty in 1881. His books were banned under the Soviet regime; one, The Possessed, features a rather unflattering view of revolutionaries. There is furniture of the period and a few of the writer’s own belongings – his desk and a rather eccentric hat. On the


RIVER VICTORIA FACTFILE


Built: 1982, rebuilt 2011 Length: 423ft Beam: 55ft


Passengers: 206 Crew: 48


Passenger decks: 4 Staterooms: 93


ITINERARIES: Uniworld re-entered the Russian river-cruise market in 2011 after a total refurbishment of the River Victoria, making it the most highly-rated river-vessel in Russia. The 13-day Imperial Waterways of Russia cruise runs from May 18 to September 27 in 2011.


MORE INFO: Call Uniworld on 0845 678 8558 or visit www.uniworldrivercruises.co.uk.


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