Malmo, Sweden

Malmo is the third largest city in Sweden. Malmo is classified as a global city. It was one of the earliest and most industrialized towns of Scandinavia. It has an excellent relationship with Denmark and has undergone a major transformation after the completion of the Oresund bridge. It has attracted IT and biotech companies and well as many architectural changes.
A particular architectural structure that stands out is the 'Turning Turso' that is quite an architectural achievement.

The differences between the old and the new architecture are quite evident in Malmo. 

We were fortunate to have Baroness Trolle as our tour guide of her lovely property and castle Trollenas.

This beautiful castle built in approximately 1085 and has had a long history of family ownership.

The current owners obtained the castle when Denmark ceded to Sweden in 1658. The property had been returned to Knud Thott at the end of the Scanian war, he had in the meantime exchanged properties with Mrs Helle Rosencrantz whose family was originally from Sweden and she wanted to bring back her family to Malmo under Sweden's rule when peace was restored. Kund Thott wanted to remain in Denmark so was willing to exchange properties when Malmo became part of Sweden. The castle anf lands remained in the families hands after that. Then in late 1800, the then present Baron Trolle had the castle redesigned to give it its renaissance look of today.

Baron Ulf Trolle now owns the castle and estate, during the tour the Baroness explained that no longer does the eldest son gain everything, it must be shared amongst the siblings. As she is his second wife and he had other children, his older children will receive a monetary inheritance and the Baron & Baroness' daughter will inherit the castle, and hopefully continue the tradition. Listening to the history and the openness of the Baroness' life and the issue of how inheritance worked was fascinating.

To assist in maintaining the castle, they open for tours and cater for small functions. The Baron, Baroness and their daughter live on the property, and the only staff they have is cleaner that comes in once a week. Not the way I thought an owner of a castle would live but a truly lovely lady that loves her husbands family history.

Gdynia, Poland

Gdynia Poland is one of the most important ports in Poland. It had a long history and was part of the Kashubia area in Eastern Pomerania. The Port was developed in 1920 by the Polish government as they needed a port city for political and economic reasons.

Gdansk is the old town near the harbour of Gdynia. It had the largest mill in medieval Europe and was an important grain exporter, with many grain houses dotted along the river banks. Today only some remnants of the mills and that time can still be seen, but the town of Gdansk is still in its glory. Travelling from the port inland, the old town of Gdansk is now a tourist attraction with a long history and definitely, a place to visit. The buildings artwork tell stories of the history of the area.

Other than it's milling history the region's well known for its Baltic Amber, as its one of the most valued ambers; but take care when you purchase some to make sure it's real. One test is to drop it in salt water if it sinks it's not real.  Baltic Amber is a lightweight organic fossil resin and should float. You'll find it everywhere and for various prices, indulge yourself as it's a beautiful piece to own or gift, but check out the more reputable dealers.

You must try the local version of a strudel; it's vanilla custard on apple with a pastry base. A delicious dessert with your coffee and at a reasonable price too!
Between Gdynia and Gdansk you can find many new malls, which feature some of the western chain stores we all know. An indication that the economy must be doing well if these western stores are opening up there.
For me, it was a surprise to see this city had many recognisable chain stores as I thought they'd be more like Russia, with independent boutique style stores.

Klaipeda Lithuania

Klaipeda is the third largest city in Lithuania; it's had a different past with influences from German and Russian possession throughout its history. Although it developed as a German port, the Lithuanians considered it their own. Then becoming part of Russia to finally regaining its identity. Klaipeda has a population of 100,000 is still more predominately a Russian speaking city.

I took a tour of the legends and folklore of Klaipeda; it seems most of the stories involved an evil male trying to trick a female into marrying him and the female either tricking him back or getting away from him to find her true love.

The coastal town of Palanga is a popular summer tourist designation, known as the Summer Capital of this beautiful coastline, white sandy beach, and lovely buildings, it's where many of the locals of Klaipeda go for their summer break and many Russians travel too.  History shows this area as a large fishing town. The fisherman wanted others to know which area they fished and who they were, so they developed the Weathervanes that told their story, and these were put on their boat. These weathervanes indicated where you were from, the family; the number of boys and girls, basically they told your story.

The local food in this area is very high in fat due to the extreme cold conditions they have in winter; it was explained to us how these dishes were made, they sounded splendid, so we had to head off and try some of their local dishes. Wasn't disappointed either, there were excellent local dishes at many of the local restaurants.

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and has nearly 1 million people living in the CBD. Sweden is made up of 14 islands. I have visited Stockholm before but albeit quite some time ago. It left the 'I must return' impression on me, and I have finally managed to make it back.
Cruising towards Stockholm you encounter so many beautiful properties on the waters edge, I remained on my balcony a considerable amount of time enjoying the views as we cruised towards the port in Stockholm.

As I enjoyed the Steig Larsson books starting with 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', this is set in his version of Stockholm. I took the ship's organised tour of his Stockholm, and we went to the south side. It's different from the CBD and has some stunning picturesque areas where if I had the time I would sit and meditate or just take in the beautiful city across the water. Of course, many of the areas he spoke about are a mixture of real and fictional, to enhance his storyline, but there are places, street addresses and coffee shops that you can visit that are real and mentioned in his books.

The Scandinavian way of decorating buildings is very obvious in Stockholm with all their colour and characteristic architecture. I've always enjoyed the Scandinavian style of functional, cleverly designed minimalist furniture; this reflects in the way they design their buildings too.  With this particular cruise we were crisscrossing the Baltic sea, and unfortunately, we had only a quick visit, and so Stockholm remains on my 'must return to' list.

It would have been my preference to have a longer stay in Stockholm even overnight like a few of the other cruise lines do and fewer destinations to be able to immerse yourself in the culture of each particular stop. I'd truly like to explore more of Sweden and its islands to get a better sense of this land, culture and its people. I'd suggest a tour of Scandinavia on its own, probably self-driven to see a different side of it and also get to more than just the capital cities, A trip like I did in Italy and wrote about at the beginning of this blog.

Helsinki Finland

What an unexpected welcome surprise we had in discovering Helsinki.  It's such a beautiful Scandinavian country. We found the city to be very cosmopolitan and with an upbeat vibe. Coming from a strong coffee culture, I was delighted to note that Helsinki is up there with their coffee culture too, did so enjoy having them here!
As we arrived into port, we were greeted with some stunning architecture and a beautiful vista of the city.

The architecture has a similarity to the buildings found in St Petersberg but without the obvious style of the Russians.  There has been heavy trade throughout the Baltic sea; therefore, many cities were influenced by their neighbours

The architectural styles even amongst their churches are noteworthy, from the traditional to

Helsinki's most inspiring architecturally designs. The Temppeliaukio Church a Lutheran church was designed by architects and brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen which open in 1969. Built directly into solid rock and is commonly known as the Rock Church.

      

I've always wanted to explore more if the Scandinavian countries and Findland is now on my revisit list.

I do recommend that you should go to the market in the wharf area and try some of the local

 fare they sell and cook there. I tried the reindeer sausage and meatballs. Gamey but good. 

                                

                                                           Enjoy!

St Petersberg Day 2

While I was disappointed that we were unable to wander freely around St Petersberg, I did enjoy all the knowledge our guides imparted to us. The history of St Petersberg is something you should consider learning about while there.

There was no love lost between the family of the Tzars and plenty of drama, but the architecture is something to be admired. The Winter Palace is a prime example of this, which now houses the Hermitage Museum, which in turn houses over million dollars worth of art.

     

We were fortunate to see a folk concert, with an army choir and local folk dancing. Although it was all sung in Russian, the music and melodies were wonderfully emotive. The dancers re-enacted the different kinds of dancing that told stories through the ages.

 You could see the love of the Russian songs by the all-male army choir & band, and the pure enjoyment of the folk dancers. It was an excellent concert and showed the love the Russians have for their land and culture.

     

A must on any agenda is the Hermitage Museum to see the Faberge eggs, also the history of the Babushka dolls and the art on the lid of the renown wooden boxes. Beautiful, skilful art by fabulously talented people. Also, a visit to Peter & Paul's fortress, Peter the Greats and Catherine's resting place allows you to witness the incredible workmanship of the Russians and their love of their Tzar. There are many monuments to Peter the Great throughout St Petersberg that are an example of the way his people felt about him.

Stalin's architecture- stark and uniform & Catherine's resting place - embellished and rich

In contrast, the building Stalin had designed and erected is an entirely different style of architecture.
Its stark architecture feels as oppressive as the time under Stalin's reign.

If you do go to St Petersberg, get your visa and your private guide and do some homework to know what you want to experience. For me, the freedom to explore was sorely missed and of course to have the chance to try the local fare.

St Petersberg

We arrived at St Petersberg for a 2-night stay. The one thing you need to know is that entry into Russia is very tight. If you arrive by ship, you are only allowed off via immigration with your ship organised tour. If you wish to visit on your own, you need a pre-organised visa and a private guide.

We took a night tour and loved the architecture of St Petersberg and the city lights along the rivers and ever so many bridges.  St Petersberg's known as the Venice of the North with all the rivers, canals & bridges. The bridges open and close to allow boats to get through, and can cause havoc in the city at these time with traffic, and with pedestrians trying to get around.

 Catherine's Palace was built by, Catherine I in 1717 and renovated and extended by Empress Elizabeth in 1773, which in turn was completely overhauled again in 1752 to what it looks like now. It is a stunning palace that is slowly being refurbished after the Germans left only a shell when they left at the end of WW2. The German army had left bombs to destroy the palace when they left the Russias were able to find and defuse them before they destroyed the building. It has taken nearly ten years just to bring the ballroom back to its former glory with the all the gold leaf used. There are still many rooms to be brought back to life but what you do see now is the grandeur of the palace and the times and wealth of the Tzars of Russia.

The architecture and design of the Russian churches are quite beautiful and very impressive, the colours and the symmetry is a delight to the eye. Learning more about the history of Russia and St Petersberg, as well as the drama of the Tzar's history shows a turbulent time with a very powerful and competitive family wanting to rule this land.