Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ST PETERSBURG
ST PETERSBURG
(Санкт-Петербург), Petrograd, Leningrad and St Petersburg again -
the city's succession of names mirrors Russia's turbulent history. Founded in 1703 by
Peter
theGreat
as a “window in the West”, self-assured, future-focused St Petersburg still retains
more of a Western European feel than Moscow more than three hundred years on. A soph-
isticated capital of the tsarist Empire, the cradle of the Communist Revolution of 1917, and
a symbol of Russian stoicism due to the city's heroic endurance of a three-year Nazi siege
duringWorldWarII,present-dayStPetersburghaseasedintomodernitywithoutsacrificing
any of its old-world magnificence and charm, with shopping malls and nightclubs sitting
alongsideopulentpalaces.Thepaceoflifehereisrelaxed,andthepeoplearemoreopenand
laidback than their Muscovite counterparts. The best
time to visit
is during the midsummer
White Nights (mid-June to mid-July), when darkness never falls, and the partying can reach
fever pitch. From May to October all bridges across the River Neva are raised from 1am to
5am - a beautiful sight, best experienced from a boat.
