St Petersburg Russia 4K. Second Best City in Russia!

hey guys this is Russian plus and in this video we're going to talk about st. Petersburg it's the second largest city in Russia with a population of 5.3 million people it was the imperial capital for two centuries having been founded in 1703 by Peter the Great culturally historically and architectural II it's the most European city in Russia sometimes to call it the northern Venice for its multiple canals and rivers it's a northern city it actually has the same latitude as southern Alaska it is situated on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea what makes the city so popular well it's really close to Europe it's just three hours by car or train and you're in Finland in fact many residents of st. Petersburg go to Finland for the weekend fishing or shopping the city is well taken care of it's clean the roads are in great shape and did you know that st. Petersburg has sandy beaches it's places like this that you come to after a working day that make you want to fall in love with st. Petersburg wow I never expected st. Petersburg to have such a nice beach outside actually this place reminds me of Brighton Beach New York but it's real Russia though if it wasn't for the short summer it could have been a real resort city some people go swimming although officially it's not allowed many Russians come here to get education there are some great universities here like st. Petersburg State University the city is always action-packed it is a lot easier to find things to do here than in a smaller town you love culture well there's so many theaters here the Mariinsky theater a historic theater of opera and ballet opened in 1860 in the center there are endless street musicians on every corner street artists the central part of the city is like a huge Museum even the backstreets so many hidden gems like this inner yard where several Russian movies were filmed winter cherry and gangster st. Petersburg just to name a few the architecture will keep surprising you even if you've lived here for a number of years you always come across new outstanding buildings with luxurious interiors and exteriors there's no shortage of parks here either where you can sit on the grass with your friends this park has a beautiful name it's called field of Mars it's a huge Park 22 acres looks absolutely stunning from above if this wasn't enough to make it exciting for you there are 342 bridges over canals and rivers but don't get the impression is just all buildings we're talking about when it comes to modern infrastructure st. Petersburg has something to surprise you as well it has some of the best roads in Russia just look at this masterpiece of a highway it's called Western speed diameter it's a toll road that stretches for 46 kilometers over the water going up and down Wow first time I was driving on it I felt like a kid riding a rollercoaster you'll be going for 46 kilometers above the Gulf of Finland with a perfect view of the city of course it was not cheap to build this seven billion dollars to be exact did you know that the tallest skyscraper in Russia and in the whole of Europe is located in st. Petersburg yes it's called the lacta Center it's an 87 storey 462 meter high skyscraper this is the tallest building in Europe and the 13th tallest in the world when it comes to public transportation subway is what you want to focus on so just what a token because 25 verbals that's less than a dollar st. Petersburg subway was opened in 1955 it has five lines and sixty nine stations daily ridership is two million people which is three times less than in Moscow the city is in desperate need of more stations but the only open one in several years compare that to 17 stations the open in one year in Moscow the st. Petersburg used to have the longest network of trams but not anymore so st. Petersburg used to have the longest tram line in the world there are also regular buses and electric buses and recently they've added car sharing options that's what I was using just downloaded this car sharing thing I don't see if this app works ok so I've chosen this car it's just gonna rapid so it's supposed to be very fast going to be driving around st. Petersburg from now on it's really convenient toll roads are free of charge and plenty of parking for you all over the city even in the Central Park surprisingly there are still lots of Russian and Soviet cars in the city even in my hometown of Yekaterinburg you won't see so many of them of course the city is known for its drawbridges you can go in a night boat trip along the neva and watch the drawbridges open and close there's always thousands of spectators along the banks of the river watching this and while this may be entertaining for the tourists for the locals it's actually an inconvenience what are the local people like well the locals here are pretty different the stereotype is that they're more creative they're less in a hurry they're less driven by monetary gains and they're more focused on creating something the city is full of surprises you'll always be stumbling upon cool places like this island it's called New Holland it's a historic triangular artificial island dating from the 18th century there is a great choice of restaurants from Japanese to Georgian cuisines and you always find something to do you think we're in the Netherlands no we're still in st. Petersburg there's so many different places to go to this particular place is called Norway online or New Holland in the wintertime this whole place becomes a huge skating rink needless to say there are lots of options to eat walking to sit in the grass man I'm in love with st. Petersburg of course in Petersburg is famous for its white nights which lasts from L June til early July it's a time when the city doesn't sleep at all it never gets completely dark at this time but it's the busiest time when it comes to tourism st. Petersburg is growing fast new neighborhoods are popping up all over the city but in the center you have lots of old apartment buildings do you want to see what those old buildings look on the inside well let's take a look if you want to find something more affordable and comfortable you'll have to be looking at the newer neighborhoods and looking at that makes you wonder where did all those people live before but new neighborhoods have problems too commercial developers only care about making a profit so parking spaces and walking areas are not a big concern to them you'll be surprised but a lot of these old buildings in the center stay empty just like in Venice a lot of them have been sold and the investors are sitting around not doing anything or sometimes they turn in these properties into hotels and hostels many buyers actually come from China sometimes they're buying whole blocks of buildings just to give you an estimate prices can reach eight thousand dollars per square meter depending on how central it is this house on millionaire Street is actually for sale together with another house the starting price is 55 million dollars so if you possess this kind of money you can turn it into a modern-day Palace and live like a king in the very center of st. Petersburg [Music] but what are the downsides of living in st. Petersburg I know what you're thinking weather right the stereotype is that st. Peters rainy all the time well it's not actually true it doesn't rain here any more often than it does in Moscow and actually three times less than in Sochi problem with the weather is that they don't get a lot of sunny days here just 75 sunny days in the air on top of that it's windy and very humid lawn winters with no sunshine can make you feel depressed that's true summer temperatures are comfortable low about 20 to 25 Celsius sometimes 30 winters don't get a lot of snow sometimes the snow melts right when it lands and this makes your shoes wear out faster sometimes a pair of shoes will not last more than one season what about the salaries though you would expect the salaries to be high it's not the case it's actually pretty disappointing to learn that the average salary is just about six to eight hundred dollars a month but that's officially but regular positions like retail and customer service is not going to give you more than $500 a month how are you going to survive on $500 a month and the city like st. Petersburg well it's tough a lot of people are finding it very hard to make ends meet one of the most famous plans in the city is the Kirov plant it's a major Russian machine building manufacturing plant that was established in 1789 of course if you want to live a comfortable life in the center of the city you have to be making a lot more than the average I think making about two three thousand dollars a month will provide you with a pretty comfortable lifestyle they say that ambitious people go to Moscow and creative people come to st. Petersburg in search of inspiration people are throwing parties in the old apartments dating on the rooftops in fact rooftops are so popular they even offer rooftop tours did you know that their golf courses around st. Petersburg yes you can play golf here so apparently there are golf fields around st. Petersburg something I did not expect to see but yeah along the wide birch trees you can play golf I guess is popular wonderful the locals are crazy about soccer or football the local team is called Sunita it is sponsored by gas prom football clubs in each was founded in 1925 the club plays in the Russian Premier League they've been the champions of the Russian Premier League many times it seems like Soviet style is still pretty popular around here you'll stumble upon restaurants cold stole away which means a canteen a term used in the Soviet era bullish land like a bakery and multiple Lenin statues [Music] is st. Petersburg safe for foreigners in the 1990s there were a lot of attacks and foreigners there were skinhead gangs and the situation was ugly now it's safe even at night all I meant was happy drunks there's lots of police and lots of foreigners and it's really safe actually did you know that if you come in here on a cruise ship you can stay in the city for 72 hours without a visa pretty convenient huh a big part of the city's life is now tourism let's take a look at some of the major sites the main avenue of the city is nevsky prospekt today it has become an endless flow of people it's 4.5 kilometers lon it's an avenue lined with historic landmarks and magnificent architecture paulsen with activity 24/7 this beautiful building is called signore house in Russia it's also known as the house of the book it's located at the intersection of Nevsky prospect and the griboyedov canal it serves as the headquarters of the VK which is a Russian equivalent of Facebook its founder and CEO Pavel Durov had to flee Russia in 2014 to escape prosecution as he refused to cooperate with the Russian authorities on given out user information at their demand it was from this building that Pavel Durov was throwing five thousand ruble bills into the crowd in 2010 on a City Day celebration and five thousand rubles is about a hundred bucks he has no plans of returning to Russia and he's actually the founder and the developer of the telegram messenger another awesome building on the Nevsky Avenue is the kazan cathedral it's right across from the singer building from Nevsky Avenue you can see church of the savior on spilled blood sitting on the banks of the gritty ed of Canal directed on the site where political opposition fatally wounded Emperor Alexander the second in March 1881 a lot of people see the resemblance of the Saviour on the spilled blood with Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow it's richly decorated the church is stopped with colourful onion domes just like in Moscow but unfortunately it seems like it's always under some form of renovation [Music] at the end of the Nevsky Avenue you'll see Admiralty building it's the former headquarters of the Imperial Russian Navy and the current headquarters of the modern Russian Navy to the right of Admiralty building is the main square of the city palace square which is included in the unesco world heritage palace square is the central city square of st. petersburg and of the former russian empire many significant events took place here including the Bloody Sunday massacre in 1905 when unarmed peaceful demonstrators were fired upon by soldiers of the Imperial Guard as they were coming to the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas the second that's where the nickname came Nikolas the bloody and then when some events from the October Revolution of 1917 were taking place on this Square and today it's on this square that they install the main Christmas tree in the city the Alexander column is the focal point of the square this monument was raised after the Russian victory in the war with Napoleon's France this Beldon of course is the Winter Palace it was the official residence of the Russian Emperor's from 1732 to 1917 Winter Palace is huge had sitting on 22 acres of land and consists of 1500 rooms [Music] part of the Winter Palace is the Hermitage Museum the state Hermitage Museum is the second largest Art Museum in the world it was founded in 1764 they say it's so big that if you look at every picture or exhibit just for 30 seconds it's going to take you about 20 years to finish the collection this beautiful building is called st. Isaac's Cathedral today it function as a museum and you can visit the museum itself or buy a ticket to get on top and get a wonderful view of the surroundings because it's one of the tallest buildings in the area what a beautiful place so many people sitting on the grass in 2017 the recent history is that the governor of st. Petersburg wanted to transfer it back to the Russian Orthodox Church but luckily due to the this was not accomplished due to the protests by the citizens of st. Petersburg so now we can all enjoy if you have the time to travel outside of the city you should visit Pieter Hoff it's just outside of the city about 40 minute drive or about an hour boat trip it's a seafront museum complex and former royal palace surrounded by parks known for its many fountains it is absolutely fascinating and if you decide to visit just know that it's going to take you several hours to see it all [Music] cruiser aurora i remember this song for my childhood what is it that you dreaming about cruiser aurora when the sun rises above the neva river today it's a floating museum but he used to be a warship it's a warship that has a history of service in the russian-japanese war Revolution of 1917 and the Second World War this cruisers survived the Battle of Tsushima and was entered under us protection the Philippines and eventually returned to the Baltic Fleet Kunz camera it's a museum of anthropology and ethnography with architectural collections from Russia and worldwide the medical oddities like dead babies and parts of human bodies might be somewhat disturbing to some so be warned but 90% of the exhibition is about cultures from around the globe the peter and paul fortress is the original citadel of st. petersburg built in 1703 it was used as a political prison for some time and even in the early 1920s it was still used as a prison and execution ground by the Bolshevik government a lot of people admired Peter the Great saying that he brought Russia into the modern age and that's kind of true during his time he built Russia's first real Navy he won a series of military victories and he moved the capital from Moscow to st. Petersburg however by today's standards he was still a monster he killed his own son he locked up his wife in a monastery after he fell out of love with her and married another woman and then when he found out that his ex-wife was seeing someone he tortured her lover to death and that's just the tip of the iceberg speaking about prisons one of the most famous prisons in the city is called Christi which means crosses the prison consists of two cross shaped buildings and an Orthodox Church the history of this prison starts in the 1730's this crusty prison is mentioned many in different Russian songs and movies if you decided to go a little bit outside of the city you might as well visit the city called crunch stat it's a town and a naval base on the Kotlin island just west of st. Petersburg it is dotted with military memorials there are also beaches and cozy parks we have come to the city of crunch dot which is part of st. Petersburg and we are on the beach right now the weather is perfect it's the end of August and you can see how much we've driven you see that huge tower in the distance maybe you can see that well that's how much we've driven enjoying this wonderful town we're about to see some fortifications you know this island used to belong to Sweden until Peter the first took it from them by some shady maneuvers but good for us now it's Russia there is also this beautiful naval Cathedral when we came there there was a TV crew that was filming some low-budget TV show you guys see how much equipment I'm tearing to shoot my videos and the whole production crew it costs money it doesn't come as a surprise that there are lots of foreign tourists in saint-petersburg today so what's your name so my name is Swapna and where do you come from so I came from Singapore it's my first time in this world and I would say that I'm really you know mesmerized by the beauty of this place and actually entire Russia create beautiful architecture around and beautiful churches around okay thank you and enjoy you say thank you very much now if you don't mind let me do a little bit of complaining first thing I want to complain about is the restrooms you come into Peter and Paul Fortress peterhof those are magnificent places that are supposed to be luxurious but then you got to use a restroom you know and then you find yourself in this pathetic a mobile restroom and it's just in such a dismal state that I don't even want to try to describe and they're charging you money for this poor experience I feel like the city of st. Petersburg can't afford to build decent restroom facilities for tourists another complaint is that many tourist places become tourist traps which is understandable but look at these guys dressed as Queen and King they're smiling and pretending to be happy if you give them just one dollar but if you don't they turn away you can feel how much they're not interested in their job and this guy's singing songs with the guitar he doesn't let you listen to the song with that point into the money box every 30 seconds let's ask the people on the street what they think about the city be strong be generous no this is doors disregard mysterion technically must be a mutation diets optimal burger in Brittany who leads that this canal this withdrew with them I mean if you believe you can do it super super efficient recipe must be tricky neutralizer you know this other than the application use like funny about Buddhist I mean see what resultantly opinion Suzy's register key 3 plus another reality gerado usually reflects Eurasian together nema say never my brother otherwise Oh fire sparkliest one Slayer reason her shop rag or a security a trip loser phonic now I know water question pricier in your pocket and a stationary story he suggests cricketer me started on our society the museum which in seriousness - chitters - pseudocyst okay near the river cash cattle mr. Flores Nebraska Omaha gonna sound a little foolish the god no to show that also in the immune system yes the famous casino pagoda post a new HD the Wyatt is live Akita the Lucas negative or SATA elevated the religion Dennison trust again [Music] Acadia something loose over than hours left very good rushon a teleporter medium from the quality which is that you think it's a yes Akita MIMO CSKA here Gesell Osterberg ordinal scale a to produce numbers to passage what does it mean us pursue whatever coup de chimie Vienna with this me a serious question esta aqui three blue circle Doradus but rigorously Chaney is like treating immobilizer near-certain iron corrosion I'm in new silicon new year the first abortion traffic neurology Dave soft means we have no population was luminosity stem so the white masivo the logic Napoleon would she make III blue Sakurada from the original her super bozo at the Samba was record is Amelia this is purple Charter famously Westerberg there's no specific religion given as the Museu speaking of the vision at the park water at the villars nest Apple iguanas Duvall slouching I saw spasiba so to sum things up if you want to live in st. Pete it's not as hectic as Moscow the weather is not the best they say if you live here long enough you'll be able to distinguish 50 shades of grey that's the color that the city stays in for six months in a year cloudy and humid salaries are low there follow that does not scare you away then you might as well fall in love with the city so everybody welcome to st. Petersburg I had a wonderful time here and I'm pretty sure that you will too [Music] [Music]

Channel: RussianPlus

Views: 4,820,256

Keywords: st petersburg, санкт петербург, piter, st pete, visit russia, vacation in russia, cruise to russia, leningrad, modern russia, documentary

Id: zWjkWw52_UI

Length: 30min 21sec (1821 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 05 2019