Terijoki resort at the Finnish bay (15 beach etudes in monochrome) .:. EN/RU

Zelenogorsk is a small resort town located less than an hour's drive (50 km by train) from St.Petersburg. Its former name which I prefer, Terijoki, in original Finnish simply means 'Tar River'. It is located on the northern shore of the Finnish Bay of the Baltic Sea, which means it is part of the World Ocean... although of course one can not see here nor salty sea water, neither crabs or starfish or corals.

Terijoki was part of the Principality of Finland (which, in turn, was in a personal union with the Russian emperors - and was part of the Russian Empire). At the beginning of the 20th century, 50,000 summer residents came here from St. Petersburg every summer and there were about 1,400 dachas. After the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939, this land was annexed to the territory of the USSR, and although it did not regain its former status as a "resort Mecca", it is still very popular with residents of St. Petersburg - we have no other sea nearby!

View of St.Petersburg over the bay side. On the opposite side of the Gulf you can see the quarters of St. Petersburg, including the famous Gazprom "Needle" business center. As you can see for yourself, this land was damn close to the Russian "heartland" - no wonder Stalin's government was so eager to push the Soviet-Finnish border further away... But, mind you, I'm not going to turn this post into a political discussion. Instead, I suggest you equip your eyes with a black-and-white filter and see what you can see on the seashore. We'll visit the city itself some other time.