We visited seven port cities (including four world capitals) on this 14 day cruise in the Baltic. Wifi played a big part in our days ashore. After 2 weeks in Norway with limited internet, we needed to access! In a world, at least for me, where most everything is done online, it is difficult to go a long period of time without a good internet connection.
Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark was our first port and we had a beautiful day. A hop on hop off canal boat let us see this city on the water in a special way. We enjoyed the sunshine and warmer temperatures. One of our hop offs was Tivoli, the second oldest amusement park in the world and I took a ride on the hot air balloon ferris wheel of course!
Warnemünde in Germany was the next day and an unknown town to most of us but it turned out to be quite nice. The main city of Rostock, a short boat ride away for us (the train was an option as well) was a great town and more well known. We had a good lunch and 3 hours of Wifi which on a day that was cool and a bit cloudy was a welcome treat.
After Germany, we had a day at sea and would now have six consecutive days in new ports. Our first day was in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia which was wonderful. We climbed up a winding staircase with over 230 stone steps to the top of the spire at Saint Olav’s Church. We were rewarded with amazing views of Tallinn’s old town and the surrounding city and port. Under sunny skies, we enjoyed a nice lunch and Wifi in view of Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral built in 1900 for orthodox Russians.
Saint Petersburg was next and with two days here it was a highlight for many… 48 Hours in Saint Petersburg.
After leaving St Petersburg in the early evening, we arrived the next morning in Helsinki, the capital of Finland that was quite lovely with great Wifi as well. They told us that technology was their biggest export and we quickly learned that Nokia is Finnish. The highlight was Temppeliaukio Church (known as the Rock Church), where the walls were created out of the natural bedrock and allows for great acoustics. We also did a quick ride by or two of the 1952 Olympic Stadium.
The following day was a 3 hour approach through a beautiful archipelago into Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Surrounding the city is approximately 24,000 islands that include many summer homes for residents. This is another city proud of its technology and we agreed! We had 2 days here and the first day, we visited the Vasa Museum. This is the site of the Vasa, a 64 gun warship that sank on its maiden voyage in the harbour. It was brought up to the surface in 1961 and restoration took almost 20 years. An amazing museum where the ship can be viewed on 6 different levels. Having not read our hop on hop off bus (paid for 24 hours that took us to the ship) literature, we missed our bus while walking through a park with beautiful flowers. We incurred the cost of a taxi ride back to the ship and during dinner were surprised by 3 hot air balloons flying over our ship and the docks. The second day we walked through the streets of old town and took the canal boat tour, enjoying the sights from a new vantage point and of course free Wifi.
After a day at sea, we arrived in our last port of Århus in Denmark, it appeared that cruise ships were not regular visitors. As we backed into the dock, many workers in offices came out to watch. A high school band played as we disembarked and under small tents shaped like sails ladies were selling handicrafts. We stopped at a little cafe on a canal for Wifi and coffee. We were hoping for a danish but this was not something they knew about. The town is enchanting and although a short day of only 5 hours ashore, it was a great port to complete our cruise. We left the sunny skies of the Baltic and headed back to Dover arriving with clouds and light rain, where we began this journey 28 days earlier.
It sounds like a fabulous trip. Coastal cities are my most favorite. Who knew they don’t do a danish in Denmark?
I know, we were surprised too! Thanks!