Scandinavia and Russia cruise, Royal Caribbean- Stockholm??, Helsinki ?? , St Petersburg?? , Tallinn?? and Riga ?? from 2-9th July 2017

Europe
July 9th 2017

Published: July 9th 2017

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FiCotton

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St Petersburg Russia

What a big week! We cruised with Royal Caribbean across the Baltic Sea, around the Gulf of Finland, touching base with several amazing cities along the way.

We left Stockholm ?? on the afternoon of the 2nd, bound for Helsinki, Finland ??. The Baltic Sea was smooth and before we knew it we arrived to a cold, out-of-character, Summer day in Finland. The Finns were not sure what to do with the cold, windy weather as it had not been like this in a Summer for a very long time. We mooched around the city, trying local coffee and food, walking downtown and through markets, museums, to churches and local sights. We did not buy much as we knew we were returning in a little over a week as our final country. The highlight for Marcus was a 'make your own Magnum' shop and local licorice. We found some really nice Baltic gems and itms we wished to buy on return at the markets. We will have more time to explore and will have a car to travel around the 'golden triangle' of the south of Finland ??.

After a fantastic day, we returned to port, boarded the ship

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Church of Spilled Blood, St Petersburg Russia

and continued to St Petersburg, Russia ?? . Fortunately, we had two days in St Petersburg, though we were bound by tours ir forced to purchase a visa, etc. to be allowed 'free time and access' in Russia. We opted for four Onshore Excursions with Royal Caribbean. Our morning walking tour was The Church of the Spilled Blood. It was a beautifully designed and built church. We gained a great deal of history on this tour and had the opportunity to buy souvenirs here. Marcus decided that his goal was to try chocolate and ice-cream in each of our destinations. The architecture of St Petersburg or very different as you drive from the port to the centre of the city. It has grey blocks, built to house large volumes of people in very small apartments in the ugly ones further out of town. As we progressed into the city, the architecture became more beautiful, interesting and colourful. There were thousands of tourists in the city- there were at least four cruise liners in port, so it was incredibly crowded around the tourist sights.

Our afternoon tour was a 'live like a local' walking tour with tour guide, Ruslan. We

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St Petersburg Russia

were able to go on the Metro- which was still quite traditional, in its appearance- tiled and big letter signs to identify stations. The trains themselves were quite old-fashioned looking and very loud. We went to a local market, which was an indoor food market. I guess it would have been much busier in the morning and perhaps had a better atmosphere. They had some quite different honey on sale there- different colours of creamed honey as well as clear honey. Unusual flavours and textures- more chewy- too, to what we are used to in Australia. We had some free time to wander shops, purchase things and try local foods. Our tour guide took us to sample a local meal. It was odd that he took us to a local English pub and we ate two courses of desserts, which did not seem unique to St Petersburg. We returned to the ship for dinner and the evening entertainment. There were some very good performances in the theatre on the ship- something different every night. I went to several of them, Marcus was less-enthused.

The following day, we had a tour of Peterhof- this was a long drive there on

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Our ship docked at St Petersburg Russia

an excellent toll road. Our tour guide was wonderful. She was also a musician who played (viola) with the Russian orchestra and ballet both within Russia and internationally. We heard an enormous amount of Royal family history with her and history in general. She was a fantastic tour guide. In the afternoon, we visited The Hermitage. There was an incredible number of art works to see here. Ironically, we thought we would see numerous Faberge eggs, but we saw more sculptures and paintings- some by Rafael and Leonardo Da Vinci than anything else. It was an incredible museum with so much to see- half a day tour did not even touch the surface. The hordes of people made it very easy to lose your group- I managed to lose the group in an instant whilst taking a photo with fifteen minutes 'til departure time. There were thousands of people in the museum, it was incredible. It caused a little angst for Marcus moreso than I, as I made my way to the bus zone and waited- I knew they had to turn up soon. It was departure day and I knew we'd had to be back at port shortly. Poor

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Metro station, St Petersburg Russia

Marcus was having kittens that he had lost his wife in 'rush hour' in Russia. I had my passport with me, so I was fine. The relief when he found me was sweet. Everyone applauded for the romance.

Back to the ship- after two glorious days in St Petersburg, a city of five million people and an immense amount of history. We continued on our journey to Tallinn, Estonia ?? - a significantly different port to visit. We arrived the following morning, to another magnificent day. It was a short walk into the old town. There was an EU summit on as there were VIP cars and sirens going everywhere. We ambled around the beautiful old town, cobbled streets, small facade as shop fronts. There were many things of interest to buy and foods to try. We had a relaxing day, meandering through narrow streets up to the top of the old town, down through the markets, our to the modern city and back into the old town again for a coffee and drink. There was a medieval festival on at the time, with people in costumes, shooting arrows, preparing feasts of lamb, crafts and stalls, dancing, a wedding,

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Local market sellers, St Petersburg Russia

family and children everywhere. It had a very nice 'game of thrones' feel to this old town. It was a pleasant place to spend the day.

Our next port was Riga, Latvia ?? from which we had to take a shuttle bus 30-40 minutes into the city. Another old town with market square filled with restaurants and cafes, shops and historical buildings. Blue sky and sunshine, we had a wonderful day, buying local foods and their famous alcoholics spirit, Balsam Black- which had been recommended to us by a couple of locals. It had been in an ice-cream I had tried which was delicious, so we bought a bottle of it. Perhaps better in moderation or blended in cocktails- still we can say we have tried it! Their local food markets were far more interesting to us than previous destinations- there were indoor and outdoor markets, a lot of fresh produce which was much cheaper than in Australia or anywhere else that we have been this trip. We tried hemp paste (ticked that off- never to be tried again), fresh raspberries, cheeses, salami, walked through their smelly fish halls (again, done it, won't do that again), and saw what

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Sunset over the Guof of Finland, St Petersburg Russia

felt like a piggery- with so many pig heads, ears, trotters, tongues etc. I might stay off pork for a little while now... There was a feeling of tiredness in the older locals, people who it seemed have lived a harder life. There were not complaining but it appeared to me that they were weary with age and experience. The produce that they sold at some markets were an assortment of camomile flowers, mushrooms and cucumbers that perhaps came from their garden and knitted garments, whilst others had a large selection of fruits and vegetables to buy. It was a different and enjoyable experience.

Back to the ship and to yet another overeating meal. By this stage, I was very much over the Windjammer buffet (the 'Food Crammer' I referred to it as there were so many people, eating plate after plate of food and we were no different- and the waste of food I witnessed was appalling considering hunger and poverty across the globe). For some reason there were a really high number of Israelis (as well as American and Spanish-speaking people) on this ship- they always insist on sitting in packs of people, talking loudly, so we

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Lounging in the spa in The Pool Bar on the Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas

decided it was better to avoid that annoyance. We started eating in the Reflections dining room as there were fewer people, it was a la carte and some of the food options were slightly different. Marcus was able to have his ocean fill of seafood including crab claws, prawns, cockle shells, mussels, fish, crayfish, etc. He was happier than a pig in mud.

Our final day on the ship we tried a few activities we had not tried previously, played ping pong, pool, climbed the outdoor rock climbing wall, went to a stretch gym class, I walked my Park Run of the ship... twenty laps was five kilometre of deck twelve. We relaxed, I went to a facial pamper session, watched our tv series on ipad and tablet and took in the final live shows and entertainment on the ship.

Whilst we were very happy to go on the cruise, I am glad to be back on terra firma and ready to return see the rest of Stockholm, Sweden ??. We were immensely lucky to get off the boat, with luggage in tow (easier than the Hurtigruten), walk to the bus stop which dropped us to the door