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Posted on by Rick Steves

Market Scenes in St. Petersburg

While St. Petersburg has lots of earthshaking turnstile sights, simply visiting a neighborhood market is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable experiences a visitor can have. Part of my mission on this visit was to find some good markets that are accessible to tourists and add them to our guidebook chapter on St. Petersburg. Do you have any market memories from towns in the former Soviet Union to share?

Photos by Trish Feaster, The Travelphile.com.
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Pickles are a big part of any market scene, partly because when a Russian man thinks of vodka, he also thinks of pickles. Just like we enjoy chips or pretzels with beer, Russians have pickled vegetables with their firewater.
Pickles are a big part of any market scene, partly because when a Russian man thinks of vodka, he also thinks of pickles. Just like we enjoy chips or pretzels with beer, Russians have pickled vegetables with their firewater.
No offense to Russian cuisine, but even after the fall of the USSR, it’s the people from Central Asia (“the ’stans”) who bring spiciness and a fun twist to the otherwise predictable local menu. In markets you’ll invariably see Uzbeks selling taste treats like these.
No offense to Russian cuisine, but even after the fall of the USSR, it’s the people from Central Asia (“the ’stans”) who bring spiciness and a fun twist to the otherwise predictable local menu. In markets you’ll invariably see Uzbeks selling taste treats like these.
As a tourist, it’s helpful to enjoy the little chores and rituals of everyday life. Just stopping by the corner mini-market and buying some handpicked blueberries gives us a chance to exchange smiles with a local who may never see a tourist, resulting in fun memories for all.
As a tourist, it’s helpful to enjoy the little chores and rituals of everyday life. Just stopping by the corner mini-market and buying some handpicked blueberries gives us a chance to exchange smiles with a local who may never see a tourist, resulting in fun memories for all.
Chance encounters with sweet people on the street is a delightful contrast to the vast and overwhelming sights of the city.
Chance encounters with sweet people on the street is a delightful contrast to the vast and overwhelming sights of the city.

Trish had a beautiful and emotional encounter with this woman and writes about it in an entry titled “Never Judge a Babushka by Her Head Cover” at The Travelphile.com.

Comments

5 Replies to “Market Scenes in St. Petersburg”

  1. Visiting local markets is one of my favorite things to do when traveling. Please continue to expand this area in your guidebooks. Thanks!

  2. I was in Odessa and Yalta in the summer of 1987, and the markets were quite different at that time. The department-type stores had large pictures in their windows, but it was just for show. The stores were almost devoid of any merchandise.
    People would stand in line for hours for meat, just to be told the it was all gone.
    One memory involved shoe shopping. If someone needed new shoes, they would buy what ever size was available, in hopes they could exchange the size they needed with someone else.
    Items such as lipstick and nail polish were such a luxury that the tour guides were elated when tourists tipped them with such.
    I was in a park in Yalta and attempted to get water from one of their dispensing machines. I did not have the correct change and a young man put his money in the machine for me. To thank him, I gave him a ink pen I was carrying and he was so grateful, I was taken aback.
    As our ship sailed from the harbor, there were many people standing on the pier watching us leave. I do not remember them waving, just the rigid posture and forlorn look in their eyes. I was very sad for them and so very grateful for the country from which I was fortunate to be living.

  3. My memory of visiting markets in St. Petersburg was of a whole lot of merchandise packed and stacked into rather small areas. My assumption was that this was a legacy of the Soviet period when, quite frankly, the stores had much less items for sale, and hence didn’t require as much space.

  4. Love a good market anywhere we travel. We like to get bottled water because we aren’t use to the Flora in city water and find the trip is much smoother for the digestive track if we stick to bottled. But it gets hard to eat three meals a day in a restaurant, so to be able to get snacks and some different foods in a market is always great!

  5. Hi all,

    The photo of Trish and the little old lady is so sweet. I guess Rick shot that one.

    Thanks for letting us see St. Petersburg through your eyes.

    der Doppelganger
    WTVT Tampa

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