St. Petersburg Rivers and Canals

St. Petersburg was destined to rise up in a place where a city might never have been built. As fate and the first Russian Emperor Peter the Great willed it appeared on the border of state like a mirage. Built on the Neva delta it was spread out over sixty islands. Even nowadays it is hard to say whether it is more land or water here.

Locals like to say that they live in a swamp as St Petersburg was built in marshy lowland. According to one old Finnish legend, when Peter the Great started building the city in this place, it fell apart and everything sank into the swamp. Then Peter, who was a giant tall man, ordered to build the city on the clouds and personally supervised the construction. When it was finished he lowered St Petersburg to the ground in one piece and this time it did not sink. However, in some places, where the city’s foundation was thin, the water started to break through. Peter the Great ordered to build a bridge everywhere it happened and immediately the water turned into a river or canal.

Though the Finnish version about foundation of St Petersburg is just a beautiful legend, we do have a lot of water in the city. Statistics say every month a citizen of St Petersburg uses about 800 liters of water. The average humidity is 80-90% regardless of the season.

The main river of St Petersburg is the Neva. Beating pulse of the city, both peaceful and dangerous, it cuts through St Petersburg like a steel ribbon and entangles it with network of tributaries. Granite embankments, bridges and palaces serve it as a great setting. The best way to see it is to go boating along the canals and rivers. You will see St Petersburg sights from a different perspective and enjoy their reflections against the ever-changing St Petersburg sky.

Boat tours in St Petersburg are extremely popular with tourists and locals. You will find piers everywhere in the downtown, the boats usually leave every twenty minutes. The average tour along the Neva and smaller rivers takes about an hour. St Petersburg now runs several routes of water-buses, which is an alternative to a boat trip. If you want to mix with locals take the blue water-bus route, which runs in the downtown. Another way to see the city from the water is to go from St Petersburg to Peterhof by hydrofoil.

Along with parks, palaces, cathedrals and other architectural masterpieces city’s rivers and canals became one of the biggest attractions of St Petersburg. So do not miss it!

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