27.06.2026 Stroll. Aliye Parusa.

What’s up?

Aliye Parusa (Scarlet Sails) is a name of the highschool graduation event at Saint-Petersburg. The name comes from the part of the show where a ship with red sails goes across the Neva river. Sadly, security measures increase every year and now it’s basically impossible to look at the show itself unless you’re this year graduate.🥲

But, this doesn’t mean you can’t come and join the general crowd, listen to street musicians and have your own fun. Exactly my plan!😎

Route change

Arriving at Admiralteyskaya metro station, I was greeted with a crowd. And non-stop announcements to be careful using the escalator. I guess incidents kept happening.🤔

At the surface, however, there was an unexpected twist. I thought they would close up Dvortsovaya square and a part of embankment, but the entrance to Nevsky avenue itself was blocked off.😓

So I had no choice but to joint the stream of people, who, like me, tried to walk around the barricades. Narrow pedestrian walkways of Gorokhovaya st. were not ready, I’m telling ya.😅

Slowly but surely I’ve made it to Sadovaya st. Noticing the free passage, I walked past Apraksin and Gostiny dvors. To my surprise and relief, here was an open entrance to blocked off part of Nevsky ave., people walking on the road, street musicians playing in the distance. And no security checkpoints! Lucky me!😁

The celebration

At Nevsky there was a plethora of street musicians, playing all sorts of music, from legendary Leningrad, Korol i shut, Mumiy troll, some others I didn’t recognise, and even improvisation music like drum solos. It was loud there!🎶

There were also some fancy people there, like a man with Russian flag and a cat on his shoulders. It was super cool!🤩

I’ve spent around an hour there, even after I’ve stopped the recording, just to listen to street musicians playing some of my favorite songs.😌 A bit sad that there were no point in staying for the main event though…