Sailing Back Below the Arctic Circle

Next we visited Honningsvag, the northernmost city in Norway.  From this northernmost city, we took a trip to the northernmost point in Europe, the North Cape, or in Norwegian, the Nordkapp.  There's a visitor center at this rocky plateau more than 1,000 feet above the sea.  On a good day you're looking across the Arctic Sea at an expanse of water that leads to the North Pole.  Here, the sun never sets for 77 nights a year and the midnight sun is a big draw.

Of course the view must be thrilling, but what we saw was the inside of a cloud.  Here's our view:

If you want to see it on a good day, check out this website https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/north-cape-norway  or just search North Cape Norway.
But the drive up and back was beautiful and there were plenty of reindeer around to gawk at.  There were a couple of hotels along the way that looked like good bases for hiking adventures, and lots of trails around.

Onward past the Arctic Circle to our last stop in Norway, Kristiansund.  What a lovely place!  Overall, we were really impressed with Norway.  There are several places there where a person could spend some time just walking or hiking.  Leaving the ship, we drove the Atlantic Road to Haholmen, then caught the locally reproduced Viking ship over to the island.

 The island was a fishing village originally and it was the home of a group of people who rebuilt three Viking ships (from diagrams and pieces of wrecks).  They sailed them around the world on a goodwill tour in the 60's but lost two of the ships in a storm on the way home.  All were rescued, including a portion of one of the ships.  A building was erected around the salvaged portion, and they proudly show a film about the adventure.  Really a neat place.

Then, back onto the Atlantic Road and a stop at an amazing viewpoint.

And then we landed in the Shetland Islands.  At Lerwick we headed off for the Jarlshof Prehistoric Settlement.  A violet storm in 1905 uncovered this site, revealing remains from the Stone Age and settlements from the Bronze and Iron ages.  Also an ancient Viking community set up shop on the site.

Along the way:

At Jarlshof:

We'd talked with the Scottish Restaurant Manager, Douglas, about things we all wanted to find when we got back to the UK.  Douglas wanted black pudding, and we wanted Walkers Sensations Thai Chili Crisps.  Well, while we were off touring Douglas found the local Co-op and brought the crisps back for us!

Back to Rosyth, Scotland with a correction of pronounciation.  It's "Ros-eye-th".  Lots of people headed into Edinburgh, but this time we took the shuttle into nearby Dunfermline to shop a little.  So did Douglas.  Found him at the Tesco.  He was getting more pudding and we were buying more crisps.  And candy.  Tesco has the best hard candy.  Just about everyone in the UK knows Marks and Spencer's gummies, "Percy Pig".  We now have not only Percy himself, but Percy's Parents, Percy's Pigtails, and Percy and Penny.

So long for now, Scotland.
 

Final stop in the UK was Newcastle, where we had stopped earlier in the cruise.  We were going to go into town from our dock at Tyne, but it was a grey day and we decided to hang around and do nothing after we had our usual Sunday breakfast of champagne, caviar, and eggs benedict.

Arctic Russia

Murmansk is two degrees north of the Arctic Circle.  They have long, snowy winters but the climate is moderated by the mostly ice-free water around it.  Murmansk was the last city founded in the Russian Empire.  In 1915, World War I needs led to the construction of a railroad to an ice-free location in the Russian Arctic in order to move military supplies.  The place became known as the Murman station and a settlement grew up around it, with the help of the Russian government.  Apartment blocks were thrown up and people were promised a better lifestyle than in the south. 

These days, the population in Murmansk is decreasing, so the Russians see no reason to erect new buildings.  Unfortunately, they don't seem to see much reason to maintain or improve the ones they've got.  Here's some typical apartment blocks, circa the 1960's:

There's not a lot to see around the town.  This huge statue called "Alyosha" is actually the Memorial of the Defenders of Kola Land, which is the name of the peninsula.  He and his surroundings are about the best thing around.

Next stop was supposed to be the Solovetsky Islands, but the weather didn't look good for tendering, so we spent the night on the dock in Murmansk and headed off to Arkhangelsk.  There, we chose to stay on board.  It was apparently a good choice because there wasn't much there.  During both stops, Pati had fun trying to decipher the Cyrillic...she did pretty good if the word turned out to be something recognizable.  She got Lenin, Panorama, the name of some ship, restaurant, and a few others.

We emigrated from Russia and were on our way back to the European Union, with languages and money that we recognized.  But we were still above the Arctic Circle, and the weather looked like it.

Norway

We stopped at several small towns in Norway:  Stavanger, Bergen, Alesund, Trondheim and Hammerfest.  They all have a few things in common.  Each has an old town, a lot of fishermen, fjord tours, and a major historical fire that destroyed most of the town.  Houses were mostly wood, so once a fire got going, all that was needed was a little wind and half the town went up.  That being said, there are a combination of new and old in every town.

We crossed the arctic circle on our way, and we stayed above the arctic circle for some time.  Outdoor temperatures weren't bad, usually in the 50's, and there was always the chance of rain.  In Stavanger, we were parked right in the middle of town:

Bergen seemed very livable if you don't mind nine months of winter and three months of lousy skiing.  We rode the funicular up to Mount Floyen for a view over the city:

The town was having a celebration of steamboats and that added even more character to the waterfront.

Did we mention that trolls are a big thing in Norway?

We also visited the home of the famous composer Edvard Grieg.  You have heard his music in every Disney feature depicting characters awakening in the morning.  He and his wife are buried near the house, in a mountainside.

Alesund.  Rain.  It's pronounced "olesund".  We took a guided walk around town in the rain to see the Art Nouveau style buildings.  This is a result of the fire on January 23, 1904.  Practically the entire town was destroyed during the night with a gale force wind aiding the flames.  The inhabitants had to evacuate the town in the middle of the night with only a few minutes notice.  More than 10,000 people were without shelter.  Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany sent four warships with materials for temporary shelters, then the town was rebuilt with stone, brick, and mortar in the Art Nouveau style.

Trondheim is a place where one could live, if it wasn't for the drawbacks of Norway, specifically, rain.  And I'll bet it snows like hell in the winter.  It's a college town with lots of shops and services.  Some very nice looking new apartment blocks and a really huge indoor swim complex was right next to our pier.  In Trondheim we visited an open air folk museum...a stave church and a number of really old original buildings moved there piece by piece.  Included was a dentist's office, an apothecary, and several homes.

One of the homes belonged to the Night Man.  Has anyone heard about the Night Man?  The Night Man lived outside the city walls because his job was considered to be, well, a bit dirty.  This was the guy who came into town at night to empty the toilets and pick up the trash, which sometimes included cadavers.  From there, we drove to the Kristiansten Fortress, which had good views and some interesting art.

Then on to the Nidaros Cathedral to marvel at its facade.  Wow.

In Hammerfest, we climbed up the hill to a Sami camp.  The Sami are the native people of the area, and everyone has probably heard of Laplanders.  These people are related.  Our host, Mikkel, is a Reindeer Sami, not to be confused with Ocean Sami (fishermen), or River Sami (fishermen).  So, he makes his living from his large heard of reindeer and entertaining tourists in his authentic Sami buildings. 

We were treated to Sami culinary delights:  smoked reindeer, cooked reindeer, and reindeer jerky.  Mikkel must have a friend who's a River Sami because we also had smoked salmon.

More on Norway on the way back south, but for now, onward to Arctic Russia!

Country Hopping

In Tallinn, Estonia we took a guided walking tour around the town.  Estonia has only been an independent state since 1991.  Before that, the area had been bounced around between Denmark, Russia, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany.  The country is small but it had occupied a strategic position at the crossroads of trade between Western and Northern Europe and Russia, hence the competition for the area beginning in the 13th Century.  In the end, they relate most closely to the only people who didn't take them over:  Finland.

They are a very serious people and although our guide had plenty to say, she noted that small talk is not the thing in Estonia.  Most questions will receive a one-word answer.  Also, people there are fiercely independent.  If you need something, you gotta ask for it, because they aren't going to butt in and offer it.

A few of the sights of Tallinn:

They do have a sense of humor at that.

Our next stop, after a blessed day at sea, was Warnemunde, Germany.  Enroute, we passed our sister ship, the Seven Seas Explorer, punctuated with lots of waving and ship's whistle blowing.

At Warnemunde, a lot of people hopped on busses at 6:30 a.m. and took the three-hour ride up to see Berlin.  We'd already been there, so we started our day by running to the grocery store for toothpaste.  Us and most of the crew!  Later in the day, we went to Bad Doberan to visit the Monastery church.  It was started in the 1200's and is still mostly original.

Then we took a narrow-guage railway ride on the "Molli Train" through the beach towns to the summer resort town of Kuhlungsborn.  The Molli runs right down the main streets of the towns and is still important transportation for the locals.

On to Copenhagen.  This turned out to be a disappointing day.  It was turnover for the ship, and the rest of us expected a pleasant boat ride on Copenhagen's canals followed by a stroll among the many beautiful buildings in the city.  Instead, we took a rain-soaked ride in an open tour boat during a thunderstorm and were too uncomfortable to enjoy staying in town to get more thoroughly soaked.  By the way, you know those photos of the Little Mermaid statue that is the symbol of Copenhagen?  Well, cut and paste them from somewhere because the truth is that there are so many people crawling around her that you can't hardly see the poor girl.  Back to the boat, and a rush for hot drinks and clothes dryers. 

St. Petersburg, Russia

Next, an overnight in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Immigration into Russia is a very serious matter.  Americans are not allowed outside without an organized tour or a Russian Visa.  The Destination Services people kept repeating over and over and over that everyone needed to have their documents in order and follow all instructions or you'll go to the back of the line and miss your tour.  They put it in writing in at least four places.  The Cruise Director made announcements.  So, of course, some folks never read or heard any of the directions.

St. Petersburg is a collection of things that don't seem to go together.  There are the beautiful golden onion-domed churches with falling-down warehouses next door.  An incredible roadway system that passes Soviet-area apartment blocks.  A new landmark tower belonging to GazProm sits prominently at the shoreline and there are no other skyscraper-type buildings.  And everyone seems so serious.  Lots of officials in uniforms standing around doing, well, maybe something but it looks like nothing.  Our guide said that she could tell how long a policeman had been on the force by his size.  The fatter and more "successful" he was, the longer he'd been there.  We passed one motor policeman and she commented that he looked like he'd only had the job for about a year.  Stockholm and Helsinki bustled and Stockholm especially had a kind of a "vibe".  St. Petersburg seemed to lack that spark. 

That being said, we did go to Catherine's Palace and here it is!

Beautiful details inside, all in gold:

And back outside near the gardens:

For more information, this website gives it a thorough going-over:  http://eng.tzar.ru/museums/palaces/c_atherine

A lot of people went to evening tours like the ballet, so the ship had to feed them before they left.  They had a special buffet, and that restaurant was absolutely smashed.  Douglas, the restaurant manager, said they fed over 200 people in a little over an hour.  The main dining room, later, was so quiet, it was amazing.  There probably weren't 30 people in there. We loved it.  The wait staff hated it.  Time was going to slow for them.

On our second day, we got a real treat at breakfast.  Our favorite waiter from the World Cruise, I Gede, was back onboard!  He walked right over to us and said he saw the tomato juice but where was the Tabasco?  Gordon had it stashed in his pocket.

That day, we took a "highlights" tour which mostly visited the cathedrals.  The Peter and Paul Cathedral is very plain on the outside but inside is amazing.

It contains the tomb of Peter the Great:

And the remains of the murdered Romanov family, headed by Nicolas II:

We also stopped for photos of Spilled Blood Cathedral.  The blood was spilled by Alexander II who was fatally wounded on this spot by political dissidents in 1881:

We also stopped at St. Isaac's Cathedral, which is really huge but not awfully photogenic.  Oh, and it was Navy Weekend in town, so the fleet was in:

Then we were on our way to Estonia and Germany.