The Baltic countries have always had an appeal for me, as one of  my Grandmothers had lived in Riga before she emigrated to the United States. Russia is also of similar interest as the same Grandmother married a fellow immigrant from Russia. When I found out about the Baltic Sea cruise itinerary, which many cruise lines offer, it seemed like an ideal solution to see this area of Europe.

After deciding on our destination, the next challenge was to decide on a cruise line. We’ve been on a few cruises, but not many, and for this one we wanted something above and beyond the standard cruise. We selected Oceania, which is considered a “premium” cruise line (better than standard, but not quite "luxury" (more about this later), and we selected their very new ship, the Marina, for this cruise. We were not disappointed. The cruise was wonderful, and the ship provided service facilities, and dining beyond our expectations. That, by the way is the motto of Oceania - “We want to exceed your expectations” – and in our case, we feel that they did. Every aspect of the ship and the cruise itself, were perfect, and we found nothing to complain about.

This is a port intensive cruise with no “sea days” and 6 hours on the shortest port stop (most were 8-12 hours) and 2 days in St. Petersburg. I arranged all the port tours privately (details below), and used the “Cruise Critic” web site to find traveling companions for the various tours (6 in all)  The smallest group was 4, and the largest group was 10. We were lucky in our selections, and all the participants proved to be friendly, cooperative and pleasant people to travel with.

Before I go into a detailed description of where we went and what we did, I want to salute my wife Alisa’s hard work  and great effort she made in order to make this cruise possible. We ordered the cruise and made all the arrangements months before the cruise, but 7 weeks before the start of this trip, Alisa sprained her ankle badly. She was severely limited for 3 weeks and then for 4 weeks, she did intensive physio-therapy, acupuncture and other treatments.  When we took off for Copenhagen, she was still limping, and walking slowly with the aid of a cane. However, every day she improved a little and she took part in almost all the activities. This cruise is only done in the summer, and had we cancelled, we would have had to delay it until next summer.

Due to Alisa's sprained ankle, we requested and received "assistance" at all the airports we flew through in both directions. I have to say that we were surprised by the level of this free service, and at every airport, there was someone who escorted us with a wheel chair, or electric cart from start to finish. Without this assistance, we would have missed at least one of our flights! 

Below is a description of the highlights of this cruise and the visits to Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Click on any thumbnail to see a full sized picture.

We stayed at the Best Western City hotel, which is located directly between Slotsholmen (where the Christiansborg Royal Palace is) and Nyhaven. The hotel suited us just fine and met  our expectations. The location was great, there were several nearby bus lines, the room was big enough, the staff was helpful and breakfast was fine. Due to the high prices in Copenhagen's restaurants, a good breakfast in your hotel is a major plus here.

ALISA AT NYHAVEN WITH HER WALKING STICK

A GREAT WITH PICTURES ABOUT NYHAVEN

COPENHAGEN PICTURES

COPENHAGEN.COM

ABOUT
COPENHAGEN

PRACTICAL STUFF ABOUT COPENHAGEN

Nyhaven is one of the most popular attractions in Copenhagen. It is the "old port" even though its name means the new port. It was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. It's filled with restaurants, docks with private boats, bars, and lots and lots of tourists. See the 2 pictures to the left.  It was our first stop and here we took the "canal boat ride. It lasts an hour, has a multi-lingual guide, and was a great way to start our visit. There are 2 companies offering the same exact boat ride, at Nyhaven. Their docks are located about 50 feet from one another. One (Netto) charges  40 Kroners while the other charges about double. Go figure. We took the Netto boat and didn't regret it. See the picture to the right.

NYHAVEN - AT THE LOWER LEFT IS ONE OF THE CANAL TOUR BOATS

ALISA IN FRONT OF THE CAP HORN RESTAURANT

For dinner, we ate at Cap Horn, one of the many restaurants at Nyhaven. It was fine, and we enjoyed the langoustine, fish and beer that we had. It's a bar bistro type of restaurant but the food was quite good. This is where we found out the price of a modest meal in a restaurant in Copenhagen. The bill came to 500 Kroners, about $85, which, we learned, is a reasonable price in Copenhagen. At least tipping isn't the norm, nor expected, so  the number on the bill is the final price.

There's another issue to consider when paying for meals (and other things) in Scandinavia, and that would be the "surcharge" added on to the bill when you pay with a foreign credit card. "Foreign" means a card not issued in Scandinavia. It's not true for every establishment, nor is it true for every card. Later, at the end of the trip, the system was explained to us by a waitress in Stockholm. You get the bill, hand over a credit card, and then get the charges. The credit slip will (should) show the surcharge. It varies between 2 and 4 %. You can agree to pay, or you can try another card. I found out that one of my Visa cards caused a surcharge, but the other didn't. Go figure.

A BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF COPENHAGEN AT SUNRISE

THE STORK FOUNTAIN ON STROGET

The next day we strolled around Copenhagen. It's a small capital city, and we saw most of what we wanted to. We strolled on Stroget, known as the the longest pedestrian shopping street in the world, and visited the "Round Tower", as well as the Cathedral, known as the "Church of our Lady", where we listened to a free organ concert at 12 noon. Here's a link about several outstanding churches in Copenhagen.

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT HERRING GOES BEST WITH BEER.

For lunch we ate at one of the oldest restaurants in Copenhagen, "Det Lille Apotek" (the old drugstore). We had a fun meal - a smorgasbord of their specialties. Our favorite was the 3 styles of herring. There was also some pork, fish, pate, and of course, bread and beer. They wouldn't let us share (apparently the norm in Copenhagen), so we each had to order at least one item.  The restaurant advertises that it has been operating since the 16th century, and that the interior hasn't been changed since 1720. The place was full (lunchtime) and the service was lousy, but it was a fun meal. After lunch we took the bus back to the hotel for an afternoon nap before the grand meal we had planned. 

On this particular day, we had wanted to eat at one of the best smorrebrod restaurants in Copenhagen - Schonnemann, which was quite near our walking route that day. What's smorrebrod, you ask? It's the famous Danish open-faced sandwich which is considered to be the national dish of Denmark.  Here's a site dedicated to smorrebrod by someone who describes himself as "obsessed" with it. The site includes recipes and serving ideas.  Here's another site, this one about the hunt for the best smorrebrod in Copenhagen.  It even has an interactive map with the best smorrebrod restaurants on it. Unfortunately, Schonnemann was closed for their summer holiday, so that's how we found the little Apotek restaurant (described above) where we ate.

TIVOLI FROM THE NIMB TERRACE

Our evening meal was at the Louise restaurant located at the Nimb Hotel, which is one of the most exclusive and expensive hotels in Copenhagen. The hotel is right across from the central train station and is literally in the Tivoli Amusement Park. If you go in the front entrance of the Nimb, you can go at the back and be in Tivoli. 

Until just a few months ago, the restaurant at the NImb (actually there are several restaurants but only one of Michelin star quality) was known as the "Nimb Hermann", and which had at least 1 Michelin star. Several months ago, the executive chef left and a new chef, Allan Poulsen took over. The name of the restaurant was changed as well, and it became known as "Nimb Louise". I'm not sure what it's called today, as there are several restaurants at the Nimb, and I couldn't figure out which which is the gourmet restaurant. We started our evening there with a visit to the Nimb itself, where we met 2 of our cruise mates who would be joining us on several port tours. They were staying at the Nimb, and had just arrived a few hours earlier. 

After the visit, we entered the Louise. We had the tasting menu, and in short, it was one of the most incredible meals we ever had. The meal itself had 10 or 11 courses (depends on how you count them), and it began with 7 "snacks". The service was incredible, the food was very creative, and the entire experience was far beyond our expectations. Here's one picture to the right, but it's not enough to convey a feeling for the meal.

WHAT'S UNDER THE GLASS AT LOUISE? CHECK OUT THE ALBUM HERE.

I have put together an entire album about this meal which you can view
by clicking anywhere on this sentence.  

THE STOCK EXCHANGE BUILDING ON SLTOTSHOLMEN ISLAND AT SUNRISE

The next morning (which was a Sunday morning), Alisa slept late and I took a walk at 7 AM. It was a beautiful sunny day, and of course, I was alone, except for a few other busy photographers. I visited Nyhaven, the Marble Church, Amelienburg, the Kastellet Citadel, and the very impressive Gefion Fountain. I got as far as the Langelinie cruise port where our cruise ship, the Marina was scheduled to dock that morning at 8 AM. Pictures to the right and left. Here is a link to a nice panoramic view of the Gefion Fountain and the nearby St. Alban's church.

ST. ALBAN'S CHURCH NEXT TO THE GEFION STATUE

As I said above, before the cruise I did lots of research. There are 3 distinctive classes of cruises and cruise line. The vast majority of cruises fall into the "mainstream" or "mass market" cruises. That's more that 60% of the market. Above that is "premium", and above that is "luxury". The difference, as you go up the ladder, is less passengers, larger staterooms, better overall service and amenities, and of course, higher prices (but not as much as you might think). Here is a more detailed description of the differences. The leading premium lines are Celebrity, Holland America, Princess, Azamara, and Oceania. We picked Oceania, because they had the exact itinerary that we wanted and it was on a brand new ship - one of the most advanced ships on the cruise lines right now - the Marina.

ON THE MARINA ON THE ENTRY TO STOCKHOLM

On all cruises like this, the cruise line offers "shore excursions". These shore excursions are generally expensive and feature large groups. Anyone with some initiative will organize private tours in each port with a select and small group of his or her choosing. That's what I did. I used the standard internet search engines to find private tour guides, and used a site called "cruise critic" to find compatible tour companions. If you are going on a cruise, I highly recommend checking out the Cruise Critic site. The site features forums, reviews of ships and cruise lines, and a special forum for organizing private groups.

In the end, I had organized 5 different tours, with the biggest group being 10 (St. Petersburg) and the smallest being 4 people (in Riga). We had 14 different people on the various tours, and I am very happy to report that the selection was great and everybody got along just fine. Below is a capsule description of each port.

I should say a few words about the food on the Marina. As on all high end cruise ships, there's plenty to eat. There are several venues for dining, almost at any hour, and the food is excellent. One of the best features about dining on the Marina (and other Oceania ships) is that in the main dining areas, there is open seating and no need to declare at what time you would like to dine. The food in all venues is terrific, but the highlight is the 4 "specialty" restaurants on board ship. These 4 restaurants are exceptional, and would be successful and popular restaurants in any large city in the world.

WONDERFUL LOBSTER TAIL AT THE POLO GRILL

There's no extra charge for dining at any of the specialty restaurants, but there is a limit to the number of reservations you can make in advance, depending on your cabin class. The 4 restaurants are "Red Ginger" (Asian food), "Toscana" (Italian), "The Polo Grill" (as the name implies - grilled specialties), and "Jacques" (French). We ate at each one once, and twice at Toscana. The food at these restaurants is exceptional. Check out the pictures to the right and left for a sample.

DESSERT OF CHOCOLATE RAVIOLI AT TOSCANA

OUR GUIDE DAVE IN WARNEMUNDE

Warnemunde is a port on the northern coast of eastern Germany. It's about a 2-3 hour train ride to Berlin, so many people, if they haven't been to Berlin, take the long train ride and visit Berlin. Others, who have been to Berlin (like us) stay in Warnemunde and tour the local area. We booked with "Friends of Dave", a private tour company which provides a first come - first served tour. You have to sign up in advance, and the number of participants is limited to 14, and there's no payment in advance.

NEAT HOUSES ON WARNEMUNDE

BEGONIAS ON THE MAIN STREET IN WARNEMUNDE

We signed up for the "Complete Hansa" tour which includes Wismar, an enchanting town which was one of  the shining pearls in the German Hanseatic crown. That description comes from Dave's web site. I assume it's correct, but because of Alisa's ankle, I have no idea, because we left the tour after the part in Warnenunde. Dave warned us that Alisa would have trouble navigating the hills and cobblestones in Wismar. Dave is a personable guy and provides a pleasant and enjoyable tour.

THE WARNEMUNDE MARINA

COLORFUL HOUSES ON RONNE, DENMARK

Rønne was the most disappointing port for us. It is on the Danish island of Bornholm. There are various tours of the island available, although we stayed in the town and wandered around on our own. There are some brightly colored houses, but the stores in town were very "pedestrian" and  we just weren't impressed, and we couldn't find any other passengers who thought that Rønne was worth a visit.

ENTRY GATE TO THE GDANSK OLD TOWN

Gdansk sits in a very strategic position on the Baltic coast of Poland,  between perennial powers the Germans, the Russians, and to the north, the Swedes. That makes for interesting history and Gdansk is a city with an incredibly varied history. Its most recent history includes leading the fight against Communism in the 1980's via the "Solidarity" movement and its leader Lech Walesa.

THE SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT MEMORIAL

THE VERY LONG BOARDWALK IN SOPOT

In Gdansk we booked with a company called "Tours in Poland". The guide who accompanied us was Dorota. Our tour was called the Tricity Tour, because it included Gdansk itself, Gdynia (where our boat docked) and Sopot, the local beach resort town. These 3 cities are close together geographically, and tied closely together economically, and hence are called "The Tricity Area".

GDANSK HISTORY

RICK STEVES ON GDANSK HISTORY

GDANSK.COM

OUR GUIDE DOROTA IN THE OLD TOWN OF GDANSK

The highlight of our visit to Gdansk was the old city, where we strolled with Dorota and enjoyed the beautiful buildings. Gdansk was pretty much destroyed during WW2, and most everything of what we saw was restorations. We visited the St. Mary's Basilica, the Solidarity Movement memorial site, and the Oliva Cathedral where we heard an organ concert.  Dorota was a good guide, her English was excellent, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Gdansk.

OLIVA CATHEDRAL

RESTAURANT SIGNBOARD IN THE GDANSK OLD TOWN

We had lunch in the old city and I was disappointed. We wanted to have Polish food, but the restaurant had run out of Piroshkies. I had to settle for the stuffed cabbage.

BEAUTIFUL BUILDING IN THE OLD TOWN

TENDER TO VISBY

Visby was the only port where we had to use tenders to get to shore. See a picture to the right to see a tender. The Marina crew did a great job and everything was orderly and efficient. However, these are small boats which bounce around quite a lot and lots of people didn't feel too well with the ride. On the other hand, nobody I saw left their breakfast on the tenders. To the left is a tender, and to the right is the view inside one.

INSIDE THE TENDER TO VISBY

DELIVERY TRUCK AND GARDEN

Visby was another place where we toured on our own (as well as most of our companions). It's the "capital" city of the Swedish island of Gotland. It's a town with medieval history and impressive city walls. In my opinion, this town is very beautiful, with a lively little market in the central square, and a walk up the hill provides beautiful panoramas of the island and the sea. Even the delivery trucks were beautiful and blended in with the scenery. See the picture to the left. It's also a very popular destination for Swedes in summer, and we were told that it's one of the best party cities in all of Sweden. As in Ronne, there were tours available of the island. To the right is a view of the Marina from up on the hill behind the town.

A VIEW OF THE MARINA OVER THE ROOFS OF VISBY

ART NOUVEAU BUILDING IN RIGA

As I mentioned above, Riga had a special attraction for me, as my Grandmother had lived here.  I found a very private guide, and one couple from the cruise joined us on this visit. The guide, Yeva, is a historian, who worked at the Riga "Occupation Museum" for 10 years, so she was a fount of interesting information. She confided to us that she had  stopped doing guided tours since I had first contacted her, but since she had committed to our tour, she fulfilled her commitment. Yeva was very knowledgeable and interesting, and this tour was really like touring the city with an old friend.

THE CENTER OF THE OLD TOWN OF RIGA

THE RUMBULA MEMORIAL

The tour was in 2 parts - the standard Riga highlights, and Jewish Riga. (The other couple with us were also Jewish.) We visited Rumbula, a forest site where 25,000 Rigan Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis. Today it is a moving park and memorial. To the left is a picture of the memorial. Back in the city, we visited the Synagogue, the old city, and the art nouveau neighborhood. Click here for a terrific gallery pictures of art nouveau buildings in Riga as well as in other cities.

RIGA SYNAGOOGUE

Since I have very little information on my grandmother (she left Riga in 1905), Yeva couldn't shed much light on my family, although her historical knowledge of Riga gave me plenty of insight into how or where they may have lived and worked.

OUR GUIDE YEVA AND US

GARDENS AT KADRIORG PARK IN TALLINN

In Tallinn, we booked a tour with a local company called EstAdventures. The company was founded by an ex-Australian. Our guide was Maria, a lovely young woman who is Estonian, but spends most of her time today in Paris. She comes back to Estonia for the summer tourist season, but she hopes to open a branch of EstAdventures in Paris.

OUR GUIDE MARIA AND ME

TALLINN OLD TOWN CENTER

Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, which is probably the most successful of the 3 Baltic countries which gained (or regained) their independence in 1991. We spent most of our time in the lovely old town (both lower and upper), but we also took a bus to the Kadriorg park, a park built by the Russians in the 18th century with a palace built for Catherine the Great. It's one of the most popular tourist destinations in Tallinn.
Our visit to Tallinn was one of shortest stops of the cruise, but it was very enjoyable. 

A VIEW FROM THE UPPER OLD TOWN

OUR GUIDE YELENA IN THE HERMITAGE WITH ALISA

The highlight of any cruise to the Baltic is St. Petersburg. That's why you spend 2 days here. There are several leading tour companies to choose from, and we chose SPB. We were a group of 10, and with SPB, we worked out a program which suited all of us. Our guide was Yelena, who was probably the most professional guide we had on any tour during the cruise. She knew a lot, her English was excellent, and she knew how to explain things without tiring us out.

APPROACHING CATHERINE PALACE

JUST ONE OF THE 1200 ROOMS IN THE HERMITAGE

St. Petersburg is a young city - built by Tsar Peter the Great at the beginning of the 18th century to rival the great cities of Europe and to break away from the stifling politics of Moscow. I won't go into the history, but here is a great site with a lot of interesting information. The city is really incredible and beautiful,  and there is plenty to see. The only problem we had while we were here was the heat. The temperature got up over 30° C (about 90° F), and the only place in St. Petersburg with air conditioning is the hotels. Our visit to the Hermitage Museum was almost unbearable.

THE SQAURE OUTSIDE OF THE HERMITAGE

THE ALTAR AT THE CHURCH ON THE SPILLED BLOOD

We toured the city, visited a market, we visited Catherine Palace, the Hermitage Museum, Peter & Paul Fortress, Peterhof, the Church of our savior on the Spilled Blood, Yusupov's Palace (where Rasputin was murdered), the city Metro, and probably a few more places I have forgotten. The Hermitage Museum was truly incredible, Yusupov's Palace was fun, the Church on the Spilled Blood was incredible, but most impressive was Peterhof, an incredibly beautiful site built by Tsar Peter the Great.

ALISA HAVING TEA WITH RASPUTIN BEFORE HIS DEMISE

ABOVE AND BELOW: VIEWS OF PETERHOF

Peterhof was built about 30 kilometers outside of the city with close access to the bay of Finland. The place has a palace, a park and gardens, but the main attraction is the fountains, all gilt, and spouting water with no pumps, but only by gravity. The water is fed by springs located about 15 KM away. It was built by Peter to overshadow France's Versailles. Pictures to the left and right. As you can see, it may have been hot, but the weather was perfect. As many tours do, we drove to Peterhof from St. Petersburg and took the hydrofoil boat back.

ABOVE: ALISA & I AT PETERHOF

The picture directly to the right is the Church of St. Isidor and Nicholas, which is located on the banks of the Griboedov Canal, and is right near a "novelty" stop on any guided tour of St. Petersbrug. I call it a novelty stop for 2 reasons. The first is that the place where I am standing and taking the picture is called "the square of the 7 bridges", because you can see 7 different bridges from this particular spot. The second reason is that there is a very nice gift and souvenir shop right there at the corner. The place sells all kinds of novelties, souvenirs, artwork, has clean bathrooms, and provides coffee and vodka tasting. It wasn't cheap, but they did have some nice things. The store was called "Northern Venice".  I even found it on wikimapia.

THE CHURCH OFSt. ISIDOR & NICHOLAS LOCATED NEAR THE SQUARE WITH THE  7 BRIDGES

MARINA AT HELSINKI ON THE WAY FROM THE PORT TO DOWNTOWN

In Helsinki, we booked a walking tour with "Tours by Locals", a company which provides local guides for private tours in many cities worldwide. They provide the details on local guides, and if you book, you pay through the company in advance. Of all the tours we booked, this was the only one where we had to pay in advance. I picked Rolf, a very congenial guide, and we put together a group of 10 people for this tour.

I can't really say much about Helsinki, because, once we got started, we saw that there was too much walking involved for Alisa, so she went back to the ship. I followed her back after reaching the center of town. Helsinki is a typically clean and beautiful Scandinavian city. One of the highlights of the tour was a visit to the "Rock Church" to hear an organ concert.

CLOSED MARKET IN HELSINKI CENTER

SCENE FROM THE STOCKHOLM ARCHIPELAGO

As noted above, our cruise ended in Stockholm. The ship docks there at 8 AM. The approach to Stockholm passes through the Stockholm Archipelago - thousands of islands, and if the weather is clear, it's a beautiful and magical experience. I got up at 5 AM (along with a few other hardy souls) to experience this passage. The weather was perfect, the sun came up as advertised, and I took 90 or 100 pictures. Here are a couple of the best to the right and left.

SCENE FROM THE STOCKHOLM ARCHIPELAGO

STOCKHOLM.COM

VISIT STOCKHOLM

VISIT SWEDEN

STOCKHOLM OFFICIAL CITY PAGE

A GREAT STOCKHOLM BLOG BY A NATIVE

Stockholm is a beautiful city. The height of buildings is limited to 6-7 floors, and I believe that this is one of the reasons. This gives the cityscape a special look which I found very attractive.  The city is set on 14 islands and and is surrounded by an archipelago of thousands of islands. The city is very clean and well maintained and many consider it to be the most beautiful city in Scandinavia (and also the most expensive). All the building facades were impeccable and I don't remember seeing any garbage or graffiti.

THE ONLY TRAM IN STOCKHOLM - THE #7 TO DJURGARDEN ISLAND

SALUHALL

In Stockholm, we stayed at the Mornington Hotel located in Ostermalm, generally considered the best neighborhood in central Stockholm. The hotel's location is excellent. It's right near bus lines, and a metro stop. it's a 10- minute- walk to several busy squares, and it's very close to Saluhall, the most famous enclosed market hall in Stockholm. The hotel's public facilities are excellent, and so is its breakfast. Our only complaint was with the room design. The room was small, but not terribly so. It had a closet with hangers, but not one single shelf for clothes. Even the flat screen TV (good sized) was on a rolling table on the floor with no useful shelves, but did take away floor space. The only place for clothes or other items was on the chairs, the desk, or just pile them on top of the suitcases or the TV.

FIXING THE STREET IN STOCKHOLM

ENTERING GAMLA STAN

We bought the Stockholm card because we knew we would use lots of public transportation. In hindsight this was a good decision. It cost about $92 per person for the 2 day card, but be warned, there are only a limited number of places where you can buy it. We bought it at the tourist center at the Gallerien shopping mall in the center of the city. It covers all public transportation as well as many museums and other attractions.

A VIEW OF STRANDVAGEN FROM NYBROKAJEN

GUARD AT THE ROYAL PALACE

We visited Saluhall several times, and ate lunch there twice, once at a tiny smorrebrod restaurant called "Nybroe Smorrebrod". Yes, they eat smorrebrod in Sweden, too. At Saluhall, we also ate at the most well known restaurant there - Lisa Elmqvist. This restaurant is quite good, even though it's located in a market hall. It operates according to the market's hours which means that it's only open for lunch, and in order to eat there, a reservation is recommended.

BEAUTIFUL STOCKHOLM

RIDDARHOLMEN

A NICE SITE OF STOCKHOLM PICTURES

THE STOCKHOLM TRAVEL GUIDE

THE VASA

THE VIEW OUT OF OUR WINDOW AT WEDHOLM'S FISK RESTAURANT

On our last evening we ate at what is considered the best fish restaurant in Stockholm - Wedholms Fisk. It's perfectly located at one of the main squares of Stockholm, with a great view of the water, and it was a wonderful meal. The service was impeccable and the fish was prepared perfectly.

RAUL WAHLENBERG MEMORIAL, ALSO RIGHT NEAR THE WEDHOLM'S FISK