Around the Baltic Sea

We made it to our mooring in Newbury, I think by the skin of our teeth as there was someone running their boat into the lock gates behind us and Sulhamstead Lock is still broken. Our destination was Southampton to embark on P&O Arcadia for a little round trip to the Baltic Sea. I had hoped we’d see lots of whales and dolphins, but it turns out that the Baltic is a mix of fresh and salt water to the extent that it’s called brackish and the marine mammals don’t like it. Our cruise would take us to ports in Denmark, Sweden, Latvia, Poland and Germany.

Our first port was Skagen where we took a trip to Grenen known as the “Top of Denmark”.  We stood on a spit of sand where the North Sea and Baltic Sea meet. I think they were having a bit of an argument as the waves were quite choppy and we both got wet.

 

 

On to Aarhus, Denmark’s “City of Smiles”. The canals and parks had some great sculptures. But the must see was Den Gamle By (The Old Town), an open-air museum that is full of rescued buildings rebuilt so that you can walk through time to discover the cultural development of Denmark. There were actors moving around the streets but the manikins in the workshops were so lifelike you had to look twice in case they started moving too.

Sailing on through the Storebaelt on the way to our next port of call, we passed near a stretch of shoreline that gave us a flash back to 1988 (the year we got married!!). We’d graduated from university and to celebrate we went Interrailing with a group of friends.

This was the campsite and location for our stag and hen night parties which were very laid-back affairs. Ian had a crate of beers to share with his brother on the beach, and I caught the bus into town with a couple of friends for a little pub crawl. The only problem was, when we girls got back to camp, there was no sign of the boys, just the empty crate on some rocks, that sobered us up rather quickly!

 

Ian has visited Stockholm a few times for work but this time he was sightseeing and our first stop was the Vasa Museum, it holds a Swedish warship that sank in the harbour nearly 400 years ago. It’s a bit like the Mary Rose in Portsmouth only bigger and even better. As a kid,Ian had assembled and painted an Airfix model of the Vasa, I’m sure he did a great job, but the real one is a truly impressive sight, it’s so big that I’m amazed there were any trees left in Sweden!

 

 

And of course we went to the ABBA museum, and I did recognise the costumes they’d worn on Top of the Pops and yes, I did do the audition to be the fifth member of the band- it was just a tad embarrassing to walk out of the curtained booth afterwards (ha ha). Back on our ship the captain’s evening port summary must win the prize for containing the greatest number of ABBA quotes, it was very cringe worthy!

The harbour town of Gdynia, Poland, was quite an eye opener for me. It did feel like we had stepped into an eastern bloc country and given the history of what was once a little fishing village, that’s not surprising. The buildings are all quite modern and austere as the port continues to serve its post WWI purpose as the main shipping port for Poland.

Riga, Latvia stands proud today but remembers the political upheavals and hardships that it has suffered during the 20th century. Many of the city’s 39 churches stand around squares containing monuments to fallen heroes both civilian and military. It is a humbling experience to read of the difficulties suffered here.

All in all, this trip did not disappoint. The ship, scenery and architecture was stunning; the cultural histories of each port were both enlightening and horrifying. We will definitely be going back to explore more.

But right now, we’re back on our little boat and heading west!