There is gold underground!

If you descend to a depth of 65 meters under the city of Saint Petersburg (hint: there are comfortable escalators to do so) there is a lot of gold to be found! The glittering Mezhdunarodnaya station opened at the end of 2012, as the new southeastern terminus of Saint Petersburg metro line number 5.  Mezhdunarodnaya is Russian for “International” and originates from the fact that many streets in the area have been named to commemorate politicians or important cities of former Warsaw Pact countries. Inside the station, tying in with the international theme, there’s a mosaic of Atlas, the Greek God who held up the earth and sky.  According to the interesting blog A Window on Russia, “Before the station opened Atlas had a penis. This was all a bit too much for 21^st century St Petersburg, so he ended up with a mosaic loincloth“. You can see the mosaic (and the whole picture) much larger and in better quality at The World Photos.

One of the advantages of the Saint Petersburg metro over the Moscow one is that the former is much smaller and therefore you don’t have to ride the train for over an hour to get to the terminus stations of the various lines. In spite of being relatively close to the centre of town, these stations tend not to be crowded at all (except, of course, during peak hours), making them a joy to photograph or just to enjoy.

Would you like to take part in a tour of Saint Petersburg or Moscow metro or have one organised just for you? Do get in touch and we can definitely make it happen!