The Green side of Saint Petersburg
There is nothing more relaxing than a nice, long walk in one of the many beautiful parks and gardens of Saint Petersburg. The weather hasn’t really been on our side this week, but hopefully it will get better than this! And when it does, be sure to go for a walk in one of these parks.
- Александровский сад (Alexander Garden)
The garden was named after Alexander II, and is located next to the Palace Square and behind the Admiralty (do not confuse it with the Alexander Park, which is in a different part of the city). In the garden there is a “musical” or “dancing” fountain, named that way because it “dances” according to the music that is playing in the garden. There are a few statues there honoring Russian cultural figures: Васи́лий Жуко́вский (Vasily Zhukovsky, famous Russian poet from the 19th century), Михаи́л Ле́рмонтов (Mikhail Lermontov, the greatest figure in Russian Romanticism from the 19th century), Никола́й Го́голь (Nikolai Gogol, renown Russian literature classic), Mikhail Glinka (composer, “the father of Russian opera”), Nikolai Przhevalsky (geographer, explorer of Central and East Asia).
Address: Адмиралтейский проспект (at the top of Nevsky Prospekt, around the Admiralty), Metro: Адмиралтейская (Admiratelskaya)
- Ботанический сад БИН РАН (The Botanical Garden of the V.L. Komarov)
This is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the country, and was founded by the order of Peter The Great. It was first named the Apothecary’s Garden, as a lot of horticultural research went on in there. But now there are is a lot more than just medicinal herbs, like rare plants and cactus. In fact, there is a very special event happening once every year at the end of May or beginning of June. Once a year the Botanical Garden remains open after midnight so that people can watch the Queen of the Night cactus bloom. This is a very rare cactus that only flowers a few hours a year; therefore it is considered a very unique event. If you would like to know when that is happening this year, let me know in the comments, and I will keep you posted. Unfortunately, they are only able to announce it on the day, or even a few hours before it happens.
Address: 2, Ulitsa Professora Popova , Metro: Петроградская (Petrogradskaya)
Website: http://www.botsad-spb.com/
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Летний сад (The Summer Garden)
First of all – if you are studying at Liden & Denz in St. Petersburg, then this is one of the closest parks to your school, just ten minutes walking! The Summer Garden, also founded by order of Peter The Great, has many beautiful marble sculptures, rare flowers and plants and fountains. Don’t forget to visit the Summer Palace of Peter the Great. Right next to the Summer Garden you have the Марсово поле (Field of Mars) and Михайловский замок (Michael’s Castle), which I also recommend you to check out.
Address: наб. Кутузова, 2, Санкт-Петербург, Metro: Гостиный Двор (Gostiny Dvor)
- Центральный парк культуры и отдыха имени С.М. Кирова (Kirov Central Culture and Leisure Park)
This park – named after former Leningrad Communist Party boss – is a favourite amongst Saint Petersburgers, and is located on Elagin Island. Often people will refer to it as ЦПКО (read like: ЦэпэкэО) or ЦПКиО. There you can go on a boat trip or rent a pedal boat, see the Елагин дворец (Elagin Palace) and its Музей декоративно-прикладного искусства и интерьера (Museum of Russian Arts and Crafts), or go on a costumed tour and learn about ballroom etiquette of XIX century. Many musical and theatre events take place in the park throughout the year, and don’t forget all the sports you can do there – volleyball, badminton, roller skating, tennis, swimming and in winter – skiing, ice skating and sledging.
Metro: Старая Деревня (Staraya Derevnya) or Крестовский остров (Krestovsky ostrov)
Website: http://elaginpark.org
