The City
Everything in St Petersburg is built on a grand scale, which makes mastering the public transport system a top priority. The city is split by the River Neva and its tributaries, with further sections delineated by the course of the canalized Moyka and Fontanka rivers, all of which conveniently divide St Petersburg into a series of islands, making it fairly easy to get your bearings. St Petersburg's centre lies on the south bank of the River Neva , with the curving River Fontanka marking its southern boundary. The area within the Fontanka is riven by a series of wide avenues which fan out from the most obvious landmark on the south bank of the Neva, the Admiralty. Many of the city's greatest sights and monuments - the Winter Palace and the art collections of the Hermitage, the Russian Museum, the Mikhail Castle, the Summer Garden, and the St Isaac and Kazan cathedrals - are located in and around Nevskiy prospekt , the main avenue. Across the River Neva, and connected by Dvortsoviy most (Palace Bridge), is Vasilevskiy Island , the largest of the city's islands. In an area known as the Strelka , located on the island's eastern tip, are some of St Petersburg's oldest institutions: the Academy of Sciences, the university and the former Stock Exchange, as well as some fascinating museums. On the north side of the River Neva, opposite the Winter Palace, is the island known as the Petrograd Side, home to the Peter and Paul Fortress , whose construction is seen as marking the foundation of the city itself. As well as its strategic and military purpose, it also housed St Petersburg's first prison and cathedral. Back on the mainland, east of the River Fontanka, the conventional sights are more dispersed and the distances that much greater. The two most popular destinations in this wedge of land, which was largely developed in the latter half of the nineteenth century, are the Smolniy Complex , from where the Bolsheviks orchestrated the October Revolution, and, further south, the Alexander Nevsky Monastery .
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