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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • THE FAMILY ALBUM
  • ONCE UPON A TIME IN ROMANIA
    • ▸Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution
    • ▸I’ve also lived under communism
    • ▸Portraits of transition
    • ▸”Cabernet cu pepsi”
    • ▸Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines
    • ▸“Mineriada” – My story
    • ▸Memorial of pain
  • WORK IN PROGRESS
    • ▸Barbershop
    • ▸Melancholic Identities
    • ▸Faces
    • ▸Fragmentary world
    • ▸Two
    • ▸Buddhist monks
    • ▸About windows and walls
    • ▸Mediterraneo
  • STORIES
    • ▸Alone, together
    • ▸Life and death in Varanasi
    • ▸Trans-Siberian – An experience of becoming
    • ▸Boxing in Havana
    • ▸Moving out of Escobar shadow
    • ▸One night at Htee Thein monastery
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – I misteri
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – La pasquetta
    • ▸Stalin’s Museum in Gori
    • ▸Havana: Between magic and decay
    • ▸Muay Thai for a day
    • ▸Cuban billboards
    • ▸Seeking a geisha
    • ▸Belfast’s murals: Behind and beyond
    • ▸Riding the Yangon’s ring train
    • ▸Bazar-Barakholka-Vernisazh
    • ▸An unexpected trip to Dhobi Ghat
    • ▸A different way to look at death
    • ▸Cannes under siege
    • ▸Inside the Guru’s kitchen
    • ▸Tibetan refugees
    • ▸The Golden Triangle: A Mecca of tribal diversity
    • ▸Bullfighting: Barbaric or art ?
    • ▸Crafts and traditions in Morroco
    • ▸Glastonbury with God
  • TRAVEL
    • Cuba
      • ▸The show must go on (part 1)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 2)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 3)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 4)
    • France
      • ▸Paris
      • ▸Paris. Again
    • Greece
      • ▸Mount Athos
      • ▸Postcards from Santorini
      • ▸Athens
      • ▸Mykonos – The picture-perfect Island
    • Germany
      • ▸Berlin
    • Vietnam
      • ▸Four days in Hanoi
      • ▸Cruising through the misty Halong Bay
    • India
      • ▸Portraits of Kashmir
      • ▸Rishikesh – Spiritual marketplace
      • ▸Life on the Sidewalk
    • Ireland
      • ▸The capital of pubs
      • ▸Ireland in ten days
    • Israel
      • ▸Israel in black & white
    • Colombia
      • ▸Colombia
      • ▸Paisas, coffee and much more
      • ▸Streets of Bogota – From Dystopia to Hope
      • ▸Life along the magical Magdalena River
      • ▸A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise
    • Myanmar
      • ▸Min-ga-la-ba Myanmar
      • ▸Up and down on the hills of Shan State
    • Japan
      • ▸Tokyo
      • ▸Springtime in Kyoto
    • Portugal
      • ▸Life at the edge of Europe
    • Russian Federation
      • ▸The unexpected Moscow
      • ▸White Nights in St. Petersburg
    • Italy
      • ▸Rome
      • ▸Random Sicily
      • ▸Vedi Napoli e poi mori
      • ▸Venice
      • ▸Vanishing Venice
    • Morocco
      • ▸Sunset, camel rides and tea in Erg Chebi
      • ▸Medinas: Morocco’s hidden cities
      • ▸Morocco outskirts
      • ▸Djemaa El Fna encounters
      • ▸Surf and hippies
      • ▸The road of the One thousand kasbahs
      • ▸Amazigh – Berber – Free men
    • Georgia
      • ▸Postcards from Georgia
      • ▸The Many Faces of Tbilisi
    • Nepal
      • ▸Kathmandu Valley
    • Romania
      • ▸Romania to go
      • ▸Maramures
      • ▸Tara Motilor
    • Jordan
      • ▸Bedouin Trails
    • Turkey
      • ▸From Turkey with love
      • ▸Ballooning Cappadocia
      • ▸Where East meets West
      • ▸Street life, Istanbul-style
    • Mexico
      • ▸Finding Mexico City
    • Malaysia
      • ▸Transit KL
    • UK
      • ▸London
      • ▸Grab your kilt and bring your pipes
    • Sweden
      • ▸Stockholm
    • Spain
      • ▸Off-season Andalusia
    • Thailand
      • ▸Bangkok, year 2555
      • ▸Life in Pai
      • ▸Thailand
    • Laos
      • ▸Luang Prabang – The City of ultimate Zen
    • Poland
      • ▸Why I love Poland
    • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
      • ▸Neighbors, but not relatives
      • ▸Patarei – A little slice of Hell
    • Findland
      • ▸A sunny day in Helsinki
    • Denmark
      • ▸Copenhagen
  • SINGLES
  • CONTACT
  • MY BOOKS
  • MY VIDEOS
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White Nights in St. Petersburg

 

Freezing cold and dark for three months of the year, St Petersburg enjoys six weeks of heat when the sun barely dips below the horizon – its famous Byele Nochy (White Nights) Children are banished to “dachas” (country house) with grandparents, leaving parents free to enjoy themselves. Life becomes a sequence of “tsusovki” (gatherings), as people encounter long-lost friends strolling on Nevsky prospekt or feasting in the Summer Garden at midnight.

White Nights occur not only in St. Petersburg, but also in other regions around 60 degrees north latitude. But St. Petersburg is especially popular for its White Nights, and for good reason. The magnificent city of Russian czars offers a unique setting for this fascinating play of colors. During “White Nights”- typically from the second week of June through the first week of July – the sky never darkens beyond the colors of a fading sunset and the city is held in a spell that lasts all night.

The weather is warm and the streets are alive with light-hearted locals who have recently emerged from hibernation. This is the time when city residents shrug off endless months of winter gloom and party all night long. Everyone converges on the Neva River embankments to watch. The bottles are passed from person to person, and strangers join impromptu sing ballads or “songs from the Gulag” around anyone with a guitar or harmonium. The streets thronged with people carrying guitars and bottles of champagne or vodka; naval cadets and their girlfriends walk arm in arm, and pensioners perform impromptu tea-dances on the riverbank.

The “bridge opening” ritual signals the end of a very long day. At 3am, when it’s finally truly dark, St Petersburg takes a short rest. In three hours, another day will begin.

 

 

 

 

White Nights in St. Petersburg

 

Freezing cold and dark for three months of the year, St Petersburg enjoys six weeks of heat when the sun barely dips below the horizon – its famous Byele Nochy (White Nights) Children are banished to “dachas” (country house) with grandparents, leaving parents free to enjoy themselves. Life becomes a sequence of “tsusovki” (gatherings), as people encounter long-lost friends strolling on Nevsky prospekt or feasting in the Summer Garden at midnight.

White Nights occur not only in St. Petersburg, but also in other regions around 60 degrees north latitude. But St. Petersburg is especially popular for its White Nights, and for good reason. The magnificent city of Russian czars offers a unique setting for this fascinating play of colors. During “White Nights”- typically from the second week of June through the first week of July – the sky never darkens beyond the colors of a fading sunset and the city is held in a spell that lasts all night.

The weather is warm and the streets are alive with light-hearted locals who have recently emerged from hibernation. This is the time when city residents shrug off endless months of winter gloom and party all night long. Everyone converges on the Neva River embankments to watch. The bottles are passed from person to person, and strangers join impromptu sing ballads or “songs from the Gulag” around anyone with a guitar or harmonium. The streets thronged with people carrying guitars and bottles of champagne or vodka; naval cadets and their girlfriends walk arm in arm, and pensioners perform impromptu tea-dances on the riverbank.

The “bridge opening” ritual signals the end of a very long day. At 3am, when it’s finally truly dark, St Petersburg takes a short rest. In three hours, another day will begin.

 

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