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It is always best to get to know the world on foot. No bus excursion will reveal the city’s beauty to you in quite the same way as a leisurely stroll around its prospects, streets and embankments. You can spend hours walking around St. Petersburg. It could be a structured walk along a planned route or simply a wander around in search of your own St. Petersburg. It’s important to feel the special rhythm of the city: the evidently brisk yet simultaneously slightly indolent pulse of Nevsky Prospect, the majestic expanse and magnitude of Palace Square, the peace and calm of Petrogradka (the Petrograd Side) with its understated, almost French art nouveau charm, the magical endearing beauty of the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, which reveals something different from every angle, and finally, the commercial bustle of Sennaya Ploshchad leading on to pure Petersburg ‘gloom’ – the adjacent districts are to this day closely associated with Dostoevsky.
By world standards, St. Petersburg is a young city – just 304 years old. Yet many tourists dream of visiting the glittering former capital of the Russian Empire at least once. Why? Probably because, however clichéd it might sound, it is one of the most unusual cities in Russia. It is associated with the heyday of the Romanov rule – the last imperial dynasty, the opulence of lavish palaces and churches, sternly European from the outside and stunning for their rich eastern décor on the inside. Tourists are enticed here by the plethora of architectural monuments of various styles and the superb cultural life: a multitude of concerts, exhibitions and theatrical productions take place every day. Life in Petersburg becomes particularly full and spiritual in the winter. During the short winter days, you can see the striking white beauty of the northern nature that serves as a humble setting for the jewel that is St. Petersburg. Winter only emphasizes the contrast and causes one to marvel at this man-made miracle time and again. The most northern megapolis in the world and the fourth largest city in Europe has something to amaze any inquisitive traveller.
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