Just like today, the people of the Russian Empire sought to get away from stuffy cities to nature in summer, to hide from the sun in the shade of trees and enjoy picturesque places in good company.
Of course, it was the gentry of that time - noblemen, merchants and well-to-do city dwellers - who went on vacation. Some spent holidays in their own country estates, others rented a dacha in the countryside and invited their relatives or friends there.
Popular entertainments included small talk, music playing and amateur productions of theater plays.
However, the most frequent and favorite activity was long tea drinking sessions in the fresh air. A kind of “Russian siesta”.
Vacationers could also spend time with a book.
Russian nobles also loved picnics in nature.
Even the tsar's family often ate out on the grass. The photo below shows Empress Maria Feodorovna, grand dukes and princesses and other relatives of the Romanovs.
Another popular way to escape from the city was, of course, a trip to the sea (which took much more time than now!). Most often, pre-revolutionary noblemen chose Crimea and its picturesque surroundings. There, they used to improve their health with the healing sea air.
And, of course, wander the many mountain trails.
The tsar's family and wealthy noblemen had their own palaces and houses along the Black Sea coast. The photo below shows Princess Yusupova (left) in her Crimean palace in Koreiz.
More modest dachas were also built there. For example, Anton Chekhov, who suffered from tuberculosis, often went to a dacha in Crimea.
In Crimea, one could meet the whole cream of the intelligentsia and socialize in an informal atmosphere. Leo Tolstoy, who lived for almost a year in a friends' palace, would entertain many guests there.
Another popular leisure activity was also trips to the mineral water resorts of the Caucasus. The photo below shows a couple of women in Essentuki.
Such a vacation with drinking mineral water and walking through the grottoes is described in detail by Mikhail Lermontov in ‘The Hero of Our Time’.
The nobility never actually bathed neither in the sea nor anywhere else. It was considered that only lower classes could entertain themselves this way. Even on the beach, nobles remained fully clothed.
Sunbathing was also considered indecent, so everyone tried to hide under umbrellas and awnings.
On rare occasions, only children were permitted to swim.
However, the nobility did not completely shun the water, as they liked to boat or take cruises.
Volga River cruises were especially popular.
Tsar Nicholas II often traveled with family on his own yacht.
Public domain
And then landed on the shore and had a busy vacation. Nicholas II, for example, was very fond of tennis, so the whole family played with the officers of the yacht.
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