Where to start enjoying the diversity?
Expert advice on “must visit” in St. Petersburg – for those who is in the city not for the first time, and for those who are planning their visit. Suggested by Tardini.
There is not only one period in the year which is the best for going to St.Petersburg. After all, each next season the city offers its guest a new, charming and unforgettable visiting scenario.
Designed as a new capital of the renewed Russian Empire, St. Petersburg was erected from scratch by Peter the Great, inspired by Venice, Amsterdam and other major, civilizationally advanced cities of Western Europe of the XVIII century. The first Emperor of Russia invited the best architects, engineers, and other creative professionals of the time to the future St.Petersburg. So in 1703, a fortress arose on a scanty, swampy, but strategically important territory.
During its more than 300-year history, the city has collected and created all the best in the country, being the face of the Russian history. Now, the former Empire’s capital remains the face of the country in a different incarnation – as the cultural capital.
The first TARDINI boutique in Russia is located in a place which is special for St. Petersburg – in the Grand Hotel Europe. Its historic building on the corner of Nevsky Prospect and Mikhailovskaya Street is the witness of the main secular events of the city from the end of the XVIII century till present. This is also a home for all the world’s celebrities – guests of the city: Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Bernard Shaw, Jacques Chirac, Montserrat Caballé and many others stayed in the rooms of this hotel.
It is not a surprise that the Grand Hotel Europe has collected all the best in terms of style and quality of life. There is the Caviar bar with all kinds of caviar, and the Azia restaurant with the latest gastronomic trends in the Asian menu, and the spa from the famous French “house of beauty” Carita – perfect places to adjust to the time zone and recover from the journey over.
Being located in the very center of the main street of St. Petersburg, the hotel, as well as the TARDINI boutique in it, is a part of the bohemian itineraries. So, walking along Nevsky Prospect means finding out what is happening in the city: every month new public places being worth attending by the tempted guest of the Northern capital are opened here and on the nearby streets. If the lively Nevsky Prospect lies to the left of the main entrance to the Grand Hotel Europe, then to the right, there is a quiet Art Square park with the traditional Russian Museum and the progressive Mikhailovsky Theater in it.
Where if not there – at the ballet or opera premiere – is it best to solemnly appear with the new style attributes hand made of noble American Alligator leather by TARDINI?
If you are tired of the inevitable noise of the city but want to continue enjoying the distingue St. Petersburg aesthetics, visit the royal country residences – Peterhof, Pavlovsk, Pushkin, Strelna. Or theaters with classical and modern repertoires at the Mariinsky or at the Alexandrinsky.
In the summer, the most refined architectural creations of human are getting surrounded by fragrant creations of nature – shady tree alleys and blooming park meadows are delightful there.
In St. Petersburg you can find everything you need for leisure, both active and relaxing in Peterhof Golf Club or Gorki Golf Club, in the Imperial Yacht Club or take an other view by helicopter at Helinord.
St. Petersburg is the gastronomic capital of Russia too, so you can find public places of all culinary trends and traditions of the world – up to molecular cuisine in the center of the city for example, Duo GastroBar and Kokoko
And all this is in among the very special St. Petersburg architecture, which has reinvented the world art styles in its own way. So, for example, the worldwide famous Art Nouveau style is called here the “Northern Art Nouveau”, being distinguished by special features – more concise and consistent than the colorful “Moscow Art Nouveau”.
Moscow and St. Petersburg are two characters, two flavours, two rhythms. And although you will not fully figure out what Russia is by visiting only these two cities, the roots of what is world-wide known about the country and its people will be revealed to you completely, since St. Petersburg and Moscow were and remain the centers of concentration of the Russian intellectuals who have always moved the country forward.