A walk along the old embankment of the Neva River

On this day, my friend and I agreed to go for a joint walk along the Neva River along one of the old industrial areas. We agreed to meet at the garden by the fountain. This garden is located roughly on the border between the residential neighbourhoods and the old industrial area, it is the best place to start our route.

Cyclists were relaxing in the garden near the fountain, and I regretted that we had decided to hike this day and not bring our bikes. But then I remembered that we didn't know the condition of the seafront. It might have been difficult to cycle in some places.

If we wanted to just enjoy the nice weather on this May day, we could have spent the whole day in this garden and not go anywhere else. It was a beautiful day. The weather was sunny, but not hot. The cherry trees and apple trees were in bloom in the garden. Yellow dandelions were hiding in the grass near the old fence.

The area of the city we chose for our walk is changing very quickly now. Old industrial enterprises are moving outside the city limits. New roads are being built. The construction of a new bridge across the Neva River started in autumn, and this new thoroughfare is very much in demand. In a few years, this neighbourhood will be transformed. and everything we saw on that day (except the garden and the fountain, I hope) will remain only in our memories and photos.

We came to the bank of the Neva River and started to move upstream. At this point the river banks are not clad in granite. You can go down to a narrow sandy beach to walk along the water. Downstream and upstream of the river there are no such areas, granite embankments are everywhere. This part of the shore was probably a closed area, so the city couldn't build an embankment here.

We move upstream and come to a section of the old embankment. The high bank at this point is overgrown with bushes and tall grass. An old navigation sign is hidden in the bushes - hardly visible from the river. Trees are blossoming here, too, and we can smell the fragrance of flowering cherry blossom.

We follow the path along the old embankment and soon we come to a fence: this land plot has already been developed, a multi-storey building is being built here. Flats in a new building near a convenient transport interchange with views of the Neva River... it's hardly cheap. The neighbouring empty plots will soon be built up too. There are more and more people wishing to settle here and the cost of land in this neighbourhood is rising rapidly.

The Nevsky House of Culture is surrounded by a fence. Previously, there was no such fence, and one could get into the crumbling building unhindered. The House of Culture was built in 1968-1972 for the workers of the machine-building plant. In Soviet times it was known as a centre of unofficial culture. It hosted exhibitions of unrecognised artists and concerts of young rock musicians. Now the building is disconnected from the city's communications and is slowly deteriorating. It is for sale, but no buyers have been found yet.

Ahead of us is a neighbourhood that has already undergone renovation. We can see an old restored industrial building (after renovation it is a business centre) and the upper floors of residential buildings. But at the edge of the plot still stands a miraculously surviving one-storey apartment block. You often see similar houses in the suburbs, and this is exactly how summer houses of the middle of the XX century look like. But in the city, wooden houses, especially such simple, rural ones, are very rare.

This is where our walk today ends. On the way I photograph a small flowerbed that has grown on a concrete block beside the road. These flowers are unpretentious but very beautiful, especially when you zoom in.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia