Our next port of call was Gdansk, Poland, where we would be able to spend most of the day. In this post, I will focus on Malbork Castle, which was a highlight of our shore excursion. Malbork Castle was established as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The UNESCO website has interesting information about the castle, some of which I will quote here. First, here is a very concise history of the castle: This spectacular fortress bears witness to…
After leaving St. Petersburg, we were headed to Tallinn, Estonia. We really didn’t know much about Estonia and thought it was probably a convenient stop between St. Petersburg and our port in Poland. But Estonia was much more – we could only spend a few hours here as we were due back on the ship around lunchtime. For our shore excursion, we chose a walking tour that would give us an overview of Tallinn. Estonia likely dates back to the…
The last church we would visit in St. Petersburg was the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, located within the Peter and Paul Fortress. Before I talk about our visit to the cathedral, let me give you a little history. During the Great Northern War (1700-1721), Russia challenged Sweden, regaining some of its land, and giving the Russians access to the Baltic. In 1703, Peter the Great established St. Petersburg. He ordered that a fortress be established on Zayachy (Hare) Island…
We would visit two more churches before leaving St. Petersburg. This post will focus on St. Issac’s Cathedral which is the second largest Orthodox church in the world. It can accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers. Members of the Russian Orthodox Church believe that Jesus is present in the church so do not sit out of respect for Him. The first St. Isaac’s was a small wooden church ordered by Peter the Great. The church was dedicated to his patron saint, Issac…
The Hermitage is the world’s second largest museum. The museum’s collection is housed in five connected buildings, the largest being the Winter Palace. We visited the Hermitage with our guide, Anna, who was on summer break as a high school history teacher. She would show us some of the highlights of the museum as it would be impossible to see everything. I thought this quote put the magnitude of the Hermitage in perspective: With over 3 million items in its…
Part of our shore excursion in St. Petersburg was a Canal Tour which would take us on three rivers: the Fontanka, Moika and Neva. The rivers are an integral part of the city together with a canal system that connects them. The Neva runs through the center of the city and connects to the Gulf of Finland. It is part of a major shipping route. Two of the canals are the Griboedov, along which the Church of the Savior on…
We left Yusopov Palace, had lunch and then walked to a church commonly known as The Savior on the Spilled Blood. Before I talk about the church, I want to tell you about the danger of pickpockets in Russia. They are on the streets and also at tourist sites, posing as other tourists. They often work in pairs. Our guide cautioned us about pickpockets as we walked to the church. She frequently told us to be mindful of our purses…
After an incredible morning at Peterhof, we drove back to St. Petersburg where we first visited the Yusupov Palace, probably best known as the site where Grigori Rasputin was assassinated. There was originally a palace on the site that belonged to the niece of Peter the Great. It changed hands and in 1770, the palace that became what we see today was designed, though there have been additions and changes through the years. In 1830, the Yusupov Family, a rich…
Our next port of call was St. Petersburg, Russia where we would spend two days. St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Tsar Peter the Great. Today it is the second largest city in Russia and is considered Russia’s cultural center. It is one of three federal cities in Russia and is an important port on the Baltic. The pictures below are ones we took as we were driving through St. Petersburg on our way to to our first stop….
We left Stockholm just a little before dinner and entered the Gulf of Finland the next morning and were docked outside Helsinki around 10AM. Finland was first occupied just after the Ice Age based on stone tools and pottery that has since been discovered. In the 13th Century, Finland became part of Sweden and in the 1800s, part of the Russian Empire. Finland declared its independence in 1917. Helsinki is its capital. Officially the Republic of Finland, the country has…