Temple of Culture, open museum, symbol of tolerance… St Petersburg is not just about these common places, even though they are often true.
The most European of the Russian cities is equally majestically deploying its charms in less expected areas. Its most romantic neighborhoods are not necessarily the most courteous and, every weekend, the nightlife makes the most demanding of the nocturnal. At the end of June, the city is also the scene of a particular phenomenon. northern latitudes. The days then lie quickly and the «white nights» begin. Nightlife is the most exciting. A perfect opportunity to book your plane ticket!
Legend Museums
Visiting the Ermitage for the first time is a shock. Especially if you arrive from Nevski Perspective through the Arc of the Staff. Its green pistachio walls, flanked by a gust of white colonnades, triumph over the other end of the Palace Square. The first impression will remain the right one: everything here is only deafening. Three million works, ten kilometers of galleries, 400 rooms… A life is not enough to discredit all the treasures of this museum, choices are required! Spend a few hours with Flemish painters, discover the largest collection of Matisse in the world or run directly on the Scythes gold.
Ermitage's world reputation often overshadows that of the Russian Museum. It's wrong!
It is devoted to Russian art, less known to the western public, but to artists such as Chagall, Kandinsky or Malevitch, whose works will upset generations of painters. A deprecation in the galleries of this museum is an excellent first contact with Russian culture, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Rooms are lent to contemporary artists the time of temporary exhibitions which are all possibilities of meeting with the current art scene.
In St Petersburg, culture goes down even on the street if you think of the recent appearance of graffs and tags on the walls of certain neighborhoods. Lively, polymorphic, insolent, the Petersburg art scene is surprising and makes Piter the true cultural capital of the country.
Paradise for walkers
Students broke, engineering novelists, mothers' mothers, street salesmen, golden youth, tourists, men sandwich, transis lover, family-leaved… All St. Petersburg walks along its vast sidewalks. This has been the case since Gogol for whom: ' There is nothing better than the Nevski Perspective, at least in St Petersburg '; For this one, she's all. " From the Admiralty to Saint-Alexandre-Nevski, this main artery charages an incredible human imbroglio. " Anchored in the Russian reality with its social contrasts and its dynamic dynamism, this avenue invites to a walk in the Petersburg history. At the 18 th, the former pastry Wolf ˇ & ╚ Béranger, which became since the literary café, was the Q. ª G. de Puschkin. At 17, the baroque delirium of Stroganov Palace continues to rotate the heads. Moreover, the courtyard welcomes a cheap buffet in a magical setting.
A happy bazaar reigns on the weekend in front of Gostiny-Dvor ˇ Kiosks offer theater tickets and excursions, demonstrations of Stalinist Stalinist Stalinists make the youngest smile smile, babas sell the garden flowers… In short, the whole city is at the foot of the luxury boutiques of Gostiny-Dvor. The majestic avenue is punctuated by bridges and canals that have given this artificial archipelago a nickname of «pro Venice of the North» of the 42-odd islands. Following the Moika, the Griboyedov Canal or the Fontanka, it is slipping into the intimacy of the city and getting lost in gentle dreams.
In the heart of winter or during the white nights, they offer long hallucinatory walks along palaces that reflect this subtle northern light. It's an opportunity to discover other neighborhoods like the strange Little Hollande. This peninsula on the canal housed the yards of the Pierre the Great shipyards. Today, these vast buildings are abandoned. Invaded by vegetation, punctuated with decay architectural effects, they offer a bucolic atmosphere close to the church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Marins, a small architectural jewel with its five Byzantine bulbs and its bell tower outside the sanctuary.
The literary history of St. Petersburg is sufficiently illustrated to launch the footsteps of one of his writers. Arpenter the Dostoevsky Museum, fire the atmosphere of the place aux Hay, follow its characters Kazanskaya Street… The town's past is still there, so we wonder whether we have not crossed a Dostoevsky, Pushkin or Gogol character.
Saint-Pet makes his «white nights»
The Petersburg night is a serious competition on the Moscow scene. In Saint-Pet, we pride ourselves on being more sharp, more original, less commercial than in the capital. We dance until no time in clubs with well-marked identity and concert halls also offer high-performance programming. This is all the more so when the end of June comes and begins the famous «white nights». This latitude, which is the northernmost metropolis of the world, creates a particular phenomenon: from May to early July, the sun does not layer up. It only disappears at 6 ° below the horizon, which is completely insufficient to overshadow the sky. From late June to early July, the days are 18 hours and the nights are almost white. The people of St. Petersburg do not hide their joy in this summer, finally found after a very harsh winter. And, when these famous «white nights» arrive, joy takes away the city. Concerts and festivals multiply, bars and streets do not disappoint. A perfect opportunity to go (re) to discover this dream city planted on the Baltic coast.
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When is it? From late June to early July, the «white nights» make the heart of the city beat. An ideal niche to get drunk at the Piter by night!
Go there. Plane or bus at choice, the plane remains much faster and more comfortable.
AIR FRANCE - More information on the site
Useful. A tourist visa is required. It is issued to the consular service of the Russian Embassy.
RUSSIAN EMBASSY - More information on the site
TOURIST OFFICE OF SAINT PETERSBURG - More information on the site
