saint petersburg

Saint Petersburg – also known as Leningrad – welcomed us with its grand yet orderly atmosphere, a city with both soul and history. Staying on Sadovaya Street, we were lucky to meet with Ülker Abla and Mesut Abi, who are on a diplomatic post here; they kindly joined us for a day to explore the city.

The city was founded by Peter the Great (Deli Petro) with the vision of opening Russia to the West, and you can still feel this ambition in the architecture and planning of its streets. Nevsky Prospekt, the famous main avenue, has long been at the heart of Russian literature, appearing in works by Gogol and Dostoevsky, among others.

One evening, we joined a river boat tour during the “White Nights.” Because the sun barely sets in summer, the city never truly grows dark; at midnight, we witnessed the iconic opening of the bridges over the Neva – a spectacle full of atmosphere.

For meals, we tried Perbacco Italian Gastrobar right next to our hotel, and later with Mesut Abi and his family we enjoyed dinner at Kazan Mangal, which was excellent. We also strolled through Yusupovskiy Sad and visited Chizhik-Pyzhik, the tiny bronze bird statue by the Fontanka, before heading to the Summer Garden.

Among the highlights was the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood – its name comes from the spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881, a striking mix of beauty and tragedy. We also walked across Palace Square and its surroundings, soaking in the grandeur of imperial Russia. At some point, we tried places with a Soviet theme, a curious throwback to another chapter of the city’s history.