Nevsky Prospect

If in Europe all roads lead to Rome, then in St. Petesburg all roads lead to Nevsky Prospekt. This 4.5 kilometer long avenue is the heart of St. Petersburg, teeming with life from early morning until late at night. Everything can be found on Nevsky - the best hotels, tons of restaurants and cafes, several movie theaters, shops, banks, theaters, and concert halls. Nevsky combines and compresses all of St. Petersburg onto one street; here one can see all the brilliance and all the squalor of the city. Newly renovated buildings stand next to decrepit and gutted ones; young currency speculators and peddlers of kitschy souvenirs share street space with beggars and musicians. Nevsky is the main cruising ground of mafiosi in their expensive wheels, irate nationalists and communist demonstrators, hare krishnas, leaflet pushers, and anyone else who thrives on attention.

Nevsky is also one of Petersburg's most beautiful streets, a fact that amidst all the hubbub often gets overlooked. There are only three buildings that were built this century: the Aeroflot building (house 7), the Zinger Sewing Company building (now Dom Knigi, house 28) and house 14 upon which is written "Citizens! During shelling this side of the street is more dangerous," a reminder of the Seige. Three bridges span Nevsky: Politseisky Bridge over the Moika River, Kazansky Bridge over Kanal Griboyedova, and Anichkov Bridge with its four horse statues over the Fontanka. Nevsky is home to architectural gems like Kazansky Cathedral, Ploshchad Ostrovskogo (with the huge monument to Catherine the Great and the Alexander Theater), and the palaces of Stroganov (house 17), Anichkov (house 39) and Beloselsky- Belozersky (house 41).

Most of all, Nevsky is where it's at. Ever since it was first laid in 1710 it has been Petersburg's backbone, as much a symbol of the city as the Bronze Horseman and the Peter and Paul Fortress. A walk from the Admiralty to Ploshchad Vosstaniya takes about an hour, plus of course time spent looking in shops, sitting in cafes and being harassed by souvenir peddlers and munchkin pickpockets.