Russian Travel Guide

The history recipes of the Metropole restaurant

The history of the restaurant business in St. Petersburg goes back to 1703 when the city was founded. The first eating establishment appeared close to Hare Island, where the Peter and Paul Fortress – the building with which the construction of the future capital of the Russian Empire began – was being built. During the first years of the founding of St. Petersburg most of the city’s life and attention was concentrated in this area. It was only after two decades that this life expanded to the other side of the Neva River and it was only then that Nevsky Prospekt became the city’s central street and the centre of business life. It also became a prime area in which to live and relax with a variety of restaurants, cafes, pastry shops and coffee shops popping up all over as a result. Now in St. Petersburg there are more than 3,000 such establishments around the city. Unfortunately, none of th...

RTG TV TOP10 Люди искусства. Памятные места

The Neva river

The Neva River is changeable, sudden and sweeping — she reminds of a woman who knows perfectly well that she has the right to act on any whim. The river is one of the most beautiful and deepest in Europe. It doesn’t have a typical river regime — that is to say that it doesn’t overflow in the spring or lose depth in the summer. The Neva carries its waters from Lake Ladoga to the Baltic Sea’s Gulf of Finland and flows through the centre of one of the most beautiful cities in Russia, St. Petersburg, and has played witness to many key moments in Russian history.In this RTG TV film we explore the Neva throughout the seasons. In the winter the great river is covered in ice and the Nevskaya Zastava icebreaker is the only thing powerful enough to push through its frozen waters. In autumn the river threatens to overflow, sometimes even spilling over onto the banks of the city. Every spring thousa...