Review – Saint Petersburg Harley Days 2016
These are the differences that we love, no other motorcycle brand can keep up, whether it's the Hamburg Harley Days , the European Bike Week , or the Daytona Bike Week USA, plus the many other Harley meetings and events in the world. They are all special in some way, the beautiful beach of the Daytona Bike Week, the edge of Hamburg's harbor, the border triangle at Lake Faak and the wonderful metropolis of St. Petersburg in Russia. We are not interested in the political barriers, even if there are sanctions against Russia, it is all the more exciting that we are celebrating an American legend St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg and Hamburg are the first German-Russian twin cities after the war, which makes it all the more important to set an example that we never want these times to happen again! We maintain friendships in Russia and it's the same the other way around, we were the largest group from abroad this year. We drove from the Russian border to Saint Petersburg with around 50 Harleys and were able to enjoy the Russian hospitality. We drove to Helsinki in two groups on two different routes to meet up there and make our way to the Russian border together with Harley friends from Finland, from where we went to St. Petersburg together with our Russian friends from the Leningrad Chapter drove.
The roads are not much worse than here, every now and then a hole suddenly appears in the road, but generally the roads on this route are in good condition. You have to get used to the Russians' own driving style, they also like to overtake in the hard shoulder, which is a bit adventurous.
Refuel for free at Gazprom!
Shortly before St. Petersburg event sponsor Gazprom invited everyone to fill up with gas, which was a nice gesture. Suddenly it was in front of us, the magnificent city, these old buildings from the time of the tsars are indescribable, especially in the evening with the soft lighting the city shines. We also took some time for the culture, the Catherine Palace , the Amber Room , the island of Kronstadt with the Naval Cathedral and, as a highlight, the Hermitage Palace . You need good nerves to visit the Hermitage, you get the impression that the whole world is coming together to look at the museum, but it's also amazing what there is to see here.
The event area
But we are mainly in St. Petersburg because of the Harley Days , the event site is in the middle of the city, built around the Alexandrinsky Theater, it is a unique location that is second to none. Stunt shows, live music, local dealers and also a custom bike show are on offer. There is a large eating area, even a German was there with his grill. However, the offer from foreign traders is very limited, they have to overcome very big hurdles if they want to import their goods to Russia and export them again, which is why the majority of Russian stands are represented here, which doesn't necessarily have to be a disadvantage. The Harley-Davidson authorized dealer from St. Petersburg offers its event shirts and dealer shirts here.
I was a little surprised by the many Harleys that were driving around here, but I was less surprised by the many pretty ladies that were at the event. That was known long in advance, but obviously not in St. Petersburg beauty is saved.
The night parade through St. Petersburg
On Friday there was a night parade, which would be unthinkable, starting at 10 p.m. with a parade with hundreds of Harleys in the middle of the city center, but people stood on the streets and watched the spectacle was also the first Harley parade at night for me.
Start of the parade in the palace parking lot in front of the Hermitage
But the highlight is the parade in the palace parking lot of the Hermitage , you don't forget the impressions you get there so quickly, the impression of Russia in advance is actually different, as soon as you stand here in front of the Hermitage, everything negative is erased , friendly people and these incredibly beautiful buildings are awesome.
We enjoy the hospitality of our Russian friends and are allowed to ride in the front rows of the parade. Then it started, through the middle of the city of St. Petersburg, the full width of the city center, that's a parade, no flinching, things went well and thousands of people stood on the streets and waved. From one historic square to the next, the city is really big, at the end we arrived at the event site and were completely amazed by the parade.
There was a lot of entertainment here, in the evening we went back to the hotel, unfortunately this year I didn't notice the opening of the bridges at night, every night the bascule bridges go up with a light spectacle and stay up for a few hours the ships sail through beautifully lit. I'll take a look at that next year.
On Monday we all went back again, our friends accompanied us to the border again and we drove in a convoy to Helsinki. On Tuesday we parted ways, one group took the ferry to Travemünde and my group for with the Silja Line ferry to Stockholm, we wanted to do a few more kilometers and drove to Malmö in Sweden and from there took the ferry to Travemünde.
Next year Copenhagen will definitely be on the route; this beautiful city was missing from our Harley tour to St. Petersburg.
Conclusion: A great event in one of the most beautiful cities you can visit and in combination with a route through the Scandinavian cities it is really an experience.
further information at www.GreatestRides.de
More pictures are in the picture gallery
