Pedestrian streets in St.Petersburg Pedestrian streets are what I like best in foreign cities. Usually situated in town where streets are narrow and crooked they remind me of continuity of human activities from middle ages to nowadays. I like walking down streets looking at the beautiful buildings around me.
St.Petersburg is a relatively young city. It was founded in 1703. The city streets were planned straight and wide from the beginning. There hadn't been any pedestrian streets and zones in St.Petersburg until the first one (Malaya Konushennaya street) was created in 1997.


Contruction work on Malaya
Konushennaya, street. 1997.

The Governor of St.Petersburg opened the second one (Malaya Sadovaya street)  on October 9, 1999. I took some pictures after the street was opened.
The new street looks better than the older one. It connects the main avenue of St.Petersburg - Nevsky prospect with Italian street and Manezhnaya Square where construction work has begun recently. It's shorter and isn't as wide as the first one.
The pavement here is very similar to Malaya Konushennaya street. But the design is completely different. You can see beautiful small pines in the wooden tubs.
There is a fountain at the beginning of the street. It's a line of marble steps and a granite ball flowing on the water. You can make the ball revolve around its axis using your hand.
The new street attracts a lot of people. It's expected that estate prices will rise 20 percent. There is an Adidas sportswear store on the corner, juweller's in the middle and the first storey of another building is being renovated.
Malaya Konushennaya street - the first pederstrian street seems abandoned and forgotten. But may be it's just my own impression caused by the bad weather and autumn mood.

Fountain in the beginning of the street

Malaya Konushennaya seems abandoned