Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Germany, Denmark, & England, on the Azamara Journey, September 2017

 1- The Beautiful Azamara Journey  2- Visiting the Vasa, Skansen and Old Town in Stockholm, Sweden  

3- The Waterfront Seafood Market in Helsinki, Finland​ 4- Getting pick-pocketed in Russia​ 

5- Amazing palaces in St Petersburg, Russia 6- The quaint walled city of Tallinn, Estonia​ 

7- Beautiful waterfront town of Warnemunde near Berlin, Germany​ 

8- A relaxing boat ride through the canals of Copenhagen, Denmark​ 

9- Riding bikes to the top of Denmark in Skagen 10- 48 hours in London with the London Pass 

Cruising the Baltic has been on our list for a long time. Most ships only visit this area during the warmer summer months, so the window of opportunity is pretty small. We were finally able to get to this beautiful part of the world on the Azamara Journey and loved the experience. This is a port heavy itinerary -7 countries in 12 days - and we loved every minute of it.

Azamara has two identical smaller ships - with a third coming in summer of 2018 - that go to interesting ports all around the globe.  They are known for spending more time in each port allowing us do an all-day excursion and still go out to dinner on our own, for example.  This particular itinerary allotted three full days in St. Petersburg so we were able to immerse ourselves into the culture and sights of this amazing city.  They have included house drinks, complimentary bottled water for you to grab as you go ashore, two specialty restaurants, a fully equipped gym, light and bright room décor and butler service in the suites. Most sailings include an AzAmazing Evening event ashore as well as a White Night party onboard.  We love the casual elegant feeling on these beautiful ships.

Stockholm – We both agreed we could easily spend more time here!  We did get a chance to visit the excellent Vasa Museum and catch an English tour of this fully restored 17th century ship.  It set off on its maiden voyage and promptly sank before even leaving the harbor!  But that loss is the world’s gain.  Skansen is an open-air museum complete with traditional Swedish crafts, amusements, foods, farmsteads, houses, animals and shows.  Don’t miss the reindeer! Finally, the old town area of Stockholm has narrow winding streets with shops and restaurants and is lots of fun to explore.  Have a Fika – a mid-morning coffee break that features a sweet bun and encourages a moment to slow down, appreciate the good things in life with friends, family, colleagues or even a date. A wonderful Swedish tradition.

Our ship docked right in front of the outdoor market in Helsinki.  We bought a few traditional Finnish gifts (reindeer antler bottle openers, woolen potholders, socks, wooden trivets) and then ate some delicious seafood soup.  We walked to two very different churches and went past the capital building.

Pick Pocketing would never happen to us because we are careful (pockets with zipper or velcro closures, locked backpacks, etc.) and observant, right? Wrong!  We experienced an attempted pick-pocketing (the zippers and locks worked :-))and then an hour later it actually happened.  The ONE time the phone was put in a regular pocket for one second, to open a door...…poof, gone.  Crowds, tag-teaming, continual watching and experienced thieves make St. Petersburg a pick-pocketer’s paradise.  And once your phone is gone, it’s gone forever.   Be careful!

St. Petersburg has so many amazing sites!  The royal family built the most sumptuous palaces and churches.  They collected art and wanted to show it off and impress other nobility.  Peterhof was Peter the Great’s summer pleasure palace that features the most amazing series of 64 fountains and beautiful gardens leading to the sea.  The Hermitage was Catherine the Great’s Winter palace and became a museum after she acquired an impressive collection of paintings.  Now it is the second largest museum in the world and has been open to the public since 1852.  The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood is a marvelous Russian-style church with 5 onion domes and is exuberantly decorated, enameled and mosaiced.  The Fabergé Museum is a small, wonderful museum showcasing the tiny, bejeweled masterpieces that the royal family commissioned from The House of Fabergé.  They would give each other these eggs with tiny surprises inside them on Easter.

Tallinn, Estonia is a super cute medieval walled city that’s walkable, quaint and picturesque.  It has a large square in the middle that is rimmed with colorful restaurants with big patios for excellent people watching.  Tallinn has the most affordable amber jewelry which is found throughout the Baltic region.  Amber is fossilized tree resin that is 20 -40 million years old!  It sometimes has plant or insect parts inside it.

Warnemunde is the port city for the Berlin excursions.  Berlin is almost 3 hours from the port so you have to commit to a long day to see the many sites in Berlin.  If you prefer a more relaxed day, Warnemunde is a cute beach town with shops and restaurants, boats, flowers and ice cream.  Its fish sandwich, or Fischbrotchen, is a famous casual dish.  Rostock is 20-30 minutes away from the port and is a little larger and has a wonderful pedestrian-only street that’s fun to explore.

In Copenhagen, Azamara was able to dock close enough to let us walk to all the sites.  We saw all three Little Mermaid statues, the traditional, the buxom and the cubist!  We took a wonderful boat ride from the Nyhaven area which features colorful row houses and tons of tourists.  For lunch we walked over the bridge to the food hall on Paper Island.  Finally, because we had plenty of time in town we went to Tivoli Gardens amusement park.

Skagen is the northernmost town at the tip of Denmark.  The Baltic Sea and North Sea meet at this point and create a line in the water where the two currents converge.  We rented bikes right in front of the cruise ship and rode to Grennon beach.  We then walked out to the tip and saw the natural phenomenon that makes a line in the water.  No swimming allowed – too rough and chilly!  We biked through the cute town and neighborhoods where we saw that this is an arty, beach town that’s busiest in the summer months. Charming!​

After the cruise, we spent 48 hours in London.  We bought a London Pass and put it to good use. You can buy this on your phone, download the pass and you're on your way. It's one flat rate depending on the number days you want it for, that includes admission the the vast majority of the major sites in London. One of our favorite stops was the Tower of London. We would absolutely recommend the tour given by one of the Beefeaters – historical, educational, and humorous!  The Churchill War rooms were surprisingly interesting!  Westminster Cathedral and St. Paul’s cathedral are both stunning!  Our evening included a gastro pub and a swing thru a few floors of Harrods.  The busy shoe department had a party atmosphere – a place to see and be seen.

Shoot an email to: doug@plazatravel.com if you have any questions or want more details about this, or any of my other trips!