Cities on the water: San Pietroburgo St. Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia by size and population with about 5 million inhabitants, it has the most important port in the country, it is also the northernmost city with more than one million inhabitants in the world. Founded by Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725) on the Neva delta, St. Petersburg was the capital of the Russian Empire for a long time and is currently considered the Russian cultural capital. The city was conceived from the beginning as commercial port and naval base. Little by little, in the mind of Peter the Great, the idea of a real city took shape, built from nothing, in a totally inhospitable area. The sovereign started the excavations of the fortress of Saints Peter and Paul on the island of the Hares, in the center of the Neva, in a swampy and wild area, practically uninhabited, where the river flows into the Gulf of Finland. The largest islands are Vasilyevsky Island, Krestovsky Island and the Decembrist Island. The altitude of the city varies from sea level to its highest point of 175.9 meters on the Orehovaja Hill. Part of the territory of the city west of the Litejnyj prospect does not exceed 4 meters above sea level and has suffered from numerous floods. The floods in St. Petersburg are the result of a long wave in the Baltic Sea, caused by weather conditions, winds and the surface of the Neva Bay. Thanks to its position, about 60 ° N latitude, the length of the day in St. Petersburg varies with the seasons: from 5h50' to 18h50'. From mid-May to mid-July, twilight can last all night: this phenomenon is called "white nights" or "midnight sun". St. Petersburg is a city with a fascinating profile made up of canals and bridges of different styles. The city is made up of 40 islands divided by more than 60 canals and connected by about 500 bridges. See you next week with another city on the water! 5 / 1 2 0 2 o n g u i G.