Visit St.Petersburg What is the best city of Russia?
What is the best city in Russia? I know the only correct answer!
It is not too old - just 317 years old. But he is already grey haired, grey skyed – just 10 per cent of the days in the year are blue and bright, the others are grey and cloudy and even rainy, like in old rainy London which is almost 2,000 years old.
It is called Saint but it was founded by the tsar Peter the 1st who was not Saint at all – just remember the story how Peter tortured to death his own son from the 1st wife.
The founder of the city Peter was energetic, somehow crazy and charismatic.
He started the fortress on the 27th of May in 1703 and it didn’t become the boarder but the heart of the city. Peter didn’t hesitate to build the city around the fortress wall.
So this very fortress is on the small island which is located so good in the center of the river and designed so clever that it was not impossible to capture the fortress for any enemy. Perfect location.
Place of birth of Saint-Petersburg - Peter and Paul fortress next to the river Never. The widest part of the river - about 1,200 meter here from one bank to the other!Nobody before Peter put the fortress here on this island - the place is too low and it was to be under water during floods, which took place every year. But Peter was not afraid of anything.
Soon, than the city was just 9 years old in 1712 Peter made it the capital! You can imagine, next to the boarder of the country, next to Sweden, just to show that crazy Russians are not afraid of anybody and to let Russians realize too that we are not afraid of anything.
Now the capital is back to Moscow, because we don’t want to be the capital – too noisy, too many cars and traffic in any capital, too much rush – not good for us. (There was a long story – I will tell you the other time)
Now we are better – we are the culture capital!
My city is the best! And its birthday is the best – it is not just a formal birthday like the other cities have, but it has the day of foundation. There was nothing, just a couple of villages and a swamp – and Peter came and made the most beautiful city ever!
Right on the swamp, that is why some people believed that it was not possible to construct the city on this swamp – it would be drown down, and Peter built it in the sky and put the whole city altogether on the ground. (In reality to make the highest buildings they used to put wooden poles into the ground as a basement).
River Neva in Saint-Petersburg (317 years old) and sphinx (3,500 years old) from EgyptNotwithstanding the weather, high humidity, regular floods (to tell you the truth nowadays no floods anymore because of the damb), the swamp, dark days in winter, rains and so on – it became the best city in the world. Russians from all over the country want to come here just for some time and then they want to return and stay. Everybody in Russia knows if one has problems, or in a bad mood or doesn’t know what to do – he should go to Saint-Petersburg.
Why do we want to come here? Beautiful buildings, white nights in June, real rock music, soulful people who are always ready to help, chains of courtyards, like diamonds 500 palaces, open air museum, the wind from the sea, good friends, good people who are ready to help - this is not the answer. Everybody has his own reason and we have a lot of reasons in common – but the only reason is love!
Happy birthday, my Dear true love Saint-Petersburg!