* For two centuries, the mossy banks of the Neva River have been shaping the appearance of a new European city, which has become a place of revival of the extinct Russian culture. The mothballed Moscow state, cut off from the seashores, was in dire need of an ice-free port just as much as it needed urgent administrative and economic reforms. The ambitious Russian tsar's ambitious tasks were certainly impossible to solve in his lifetime, but the foundation he laid became a necessary starting point for creating a new power on the map of Europe. The peak, reflecting the full power of imperial greatness, occurred in the first third of the 19th century. It was during this period that colossal architectural projects were being built or rebuilt in St. Petersburg almost simultaneously: St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Admiralty, the General Staff, the Senate and Synod Buildings, the Alexandrinsky Theater and many others, which became the hallmark of the historical center, inscribing the name of the great city of St. Petersburg in a golden line. Our route covers three important milestones in the development of the city: its origin on Zayachy Island, where the fortress of St. Peter and Paul was built, the development of the port on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island and the formation of a ceremonial ensemble on the islands between Neva, Moika and Fontanka. During the tour, we will visit the Peter and Paul Fortress, look into the royal tomb located in the cathedral, and the Trubetskoy Bastion prison, where political prisoners were held in solitary cells. The tour route: - Nevsky Prospekt - Alexandrinsky Theatre - Monument to Alexander Pushkin - St. Isaac's Cathedral - Monument to Nicholas I - Semimostye - Yusupov Palace - The Bronze Horseman - The Sphinxes - Arrow of Vasilyevsky Island - Peter and Paul Fortress - Cruiser Aurora - Troitsky Bridge - Palace Square - Saved on Blood - Mikhailovsky Castle - Anichkov Bridge