For the Best Old Town View...

... climb the tower at St.Peter's Church! Amazing. The history, too, is amazing. A church has been here since 1209. Although it has burnt down several times since, parts of the walls remain original from the 1200s -- wow! The current style of the church and steeple was established in the early 18th century. When a large fire threatened the church, Peter the Great was said to have personally traveled from St.Petersburg to aid in the the unsuccessful efforts to save the church. A story tells of the architect who built the steeple dropping a bottle from the top proclaiming that the more pieces it broke into, the longer the life of the church would be. Unfortunately, the bottle landed on a bail of hay and broke into only two pieces. Then, the fire came shortly after. In 1973, when the church was fully restored, the superstitious tradition was repeated. This time, the bottle shattered into hundreds of pieces. We believe.