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Olimpiiska Station, Kiev Metro, December 2019 The Kiev Metro is a classic ex-USSR metro system with palatial, ornate stations and distinctive artistic and political designs, although two waves of decommunisation in Ukraine first in the 1990s and then after 2015 have removed many of the original designs. But the stations still retain the palatial feel of an ex-USSR metro system following the principle that public spaces should be chandeliered palaces to be used by the people, and in any case many of the less overtly Soviet-linked designs remain.  The design of Olympiiska station above was inspired by the 1980 Moscow Olympics, with the station's chandeliers in the style of the spokes of a bicycle wheel and grey marble arcades to the platforms.  Bronze plaque as a ventilation grille in Vokzalna Station. Workers, peasants, students, intellectuals and Ukrainian traditional culture are united under the Soviet flag, though with the hammer and sickle now rubbed out.  The man on t...

Peterhof Palace, St Petersburg, December 2019 Built on drained former marshland, the city of St Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Tsar Peter the Great as the capital of his great empire. He intended it to be a symbol of how he was westernising Russia, as well as being a better port to trade from than Arkhangelsk which was frozen for half the year. Its architecture was intended to signal Russia's place as one of the great European powers, and is clearly a mix between Western European and Russian designs.  Entrance to the Peter and Paul Fortress The first building of the newly-founded city was laid by Peter the Great: the Peter and Paul Fortress on an island in the river Neva. It now contains a museum complex including the Peter and Paul Cathedral, where the Tsars of Russia are buried.  Peter and Paul Cathedral This includes the chapel where the Romanov family are now buried together, having been executed together in 1918.  Romanov family chapel in the cathedral It's also h...

Hammer-and-sickle ventilation ducts in Narvskaya metro station, St Petersburg, December 2019 Much remains of Soviet architecture in the ex-USSR. St Petersburg is no exception, with its socialist-realist architecture around the city but especially with its metro system. It follows the Soviet architectural philosophy of designing public spaces as palaces for the people.  House of Soviets, on Moskovskaya Square The first building we saw in the city after arriving from the airport was the House of Soviets on Moskovskaya Square, completed just before the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. Its construction was part of a plan to move the city centre from the historic centre to somewhere less flood-prone, with plans for a much bigger square flanked by triumphal arches, but this was stopped by the 1941 invasion of the USSR. This left the House of Soviets on the front line of the Siege of Leningrad, with concrete pillboxes around the square surviving to this day.  The building itself ...

When we arrived into Minsk from the airport, the airport bus dropped us off at the main train station. We bought our tickets to Kiev for two days later while we were there, but by then it was late in the evening and we needed to go to our hotel. We went by the Minsk Metro, which became one of the first sights we saw in Belarus. The 0.60 BYN (£0.21, €0.25) flat ticket price was the second best thing about the metro; the best of all was definitely the socialist-realist design and architecture. Not a sight often seen any more - completely preserved from the opening of the metro system in 1984 The main train station is served by "Ploschad Lenina" metro station, meaning "Lenin Square". Well, it certainly made a strong first impression. Bust of Lenin, in Lenin Square station Our visit in Minsk only began in earnest the next day, where we walked around the city centre. We did, however, take the metro to the national library - which involved going through th...