Copenhagen, surrounded by water, is a city of elegant spires and central cobbled streets which characterize Scandinavia’s most populous capital and one of its oldest, richest and multi-layered towns.
When Denmark ruled Norway and Sweden during the 15th century, Copenhagen was the capital of all three countries. Today it is still a lively northern capital with about 1 million inhabitants. It’s a city meant for walking, the first in Europe to recognize the value of pedestrian streets. As you stroll through the cobbled streets and square, you’ll find that Copenhagen combines the excitement and variety of big-city life with a small-town atmosphere.
The city itself is built upon two main islands, Slotsholmen and Christianshavn, connected by drawbridges. The ancient heart of the city is intersected by two heavily peopled walking streets- part of the five such streets known collectively as Stroget-and around them curls a maze of cobbled streets packed with tiny boutiques, cafes and restaurants- all best explored on foot.
Our ship does not sail until 10:00pm, so there’s time to see a few city highlights:
Amalienborg, (Amalia’s Castle). The principal residence of the royal family since 1784.
Borsen. (Stock Exchange). The oldest stock exchange still in use built by the 16th century monarch King Christian IV.
Carsberg Bryggeri. (Carlsberg Brewery). Opened in 1847. Tours Mon-Wed 10-4.
Christiansborg Slot. (Christiansborg Castle). The Parliament House and the Royal Reception Chambers. This was the city’s first fortress built in 1167.
Den Lille Havfrue. (The Little Mermaid). Erected in 1913 to commemorate Hans Christian Andersen’s creation.
Kastellet. (Citadel). The city’s main fortress during the 18th century and turned into the Germans headquarters during their occupation of Denmark during WW II. The lovely green area around it, “Churchillparken,” has beautiful walking paths.
Kongelig Teater. (Royal theater). The home of Danish Opera and the Danish Royal Ballet.
Kongelige Bibliotek. (Royal Library). The country’s largest collection of books, newspapers and manuscripts.
Marmorkirken. (Marble Church). This Baroque church was begun in 1749 in high-prices Norwegian marble and stood unfinished because of budget constraints from 1770-1874. It was finally completed and consecrated in 1894.
Radhus Pladsen. (City Hall Square). This is the hub of Copenhagen’s commercial district. The Town Hall or “Radhuset,” Renaissance-style building was completed in 1905.
Rosenborg Slot. (Rosenborg Castle). This Renaissance palace houses the Crown Jewels and royal memorabilia including Christian IV’s pearl-studded saddle.
Tivoli Gardens Amusement Park. It has a pantomime theater and an open-air stage, elegant restaurants, and frequent classical, jazz and rock concerts and a museum.
Vor Frelsers Kirken. (Our Savior’s Church). Legend has it the staircase encircling the fantastic green-and-gold spire of this 1696 Gothic structure was built curling the wrong way around that when it’s architect reached the top and saw what he had done, he jumped.
Vor Frue Kirken. (Church of Our Lady). This has been Copenhagen’s cathedral since 1924 but the site itself has been a place of worship since the 13th century. The neoclassical façade is a 19th century innovation repairing damage suffered during Nelson’s bombing of the city in 1801.
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St Petersburg, Russia ~ (Thursday, August 12 – Friday, August 13, 2004) St Petersburg, Russia’s most European city was founded by Peter the Great as his ‘window on the West’ at the only point where traditional Russian territory meets a seaway to northern Europe. Built with 18th and 19th century European pomp and orderliness, (mainly by European architects), the result is a city that remains one of Europe’s most beautiful. Where Moscow intimidates, St Petersburg enchants.
St Petersburg’s latitude – level with Seward, Alaska – keeps it bright nearly 24 hours a day in midsummer but also ensures long, gray winters. The vistas of elegant buildings across the wide Neva River and along the canals and avenues recall Paris, Amsterdam, Venice and Berlin. However, St Petersburg’s beauty, happily little harmed by Soviet reconstruction, is of a brand all its own.
The onion domes of Moscow seem almost passé here. From St Petersburg, autocratic tsars ruled Russia for two centuries with the splendor and stubbornness that partially let to their downfall in March 1917. Russian ballet was born in St Petersburg and the 19th century flowering of Russian music was centered here. Nijinsky, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov spent important periods here. Pushkin was educated in, exiled from, readmitted to and killed in St. Petersburg. Dostoevsky set “Crime and Punishment” here.
At one end of the cultural spectrum today are the Hermitage, one of the world’s greatest art galleries, housed in the tsars’ superb Winter Palace, and the Kirov Ballet, which has recently overshadowed Moscow’s Bolshoi. At the other end, St Petersburg has produced many of Russia’s top rock bands and has witnessed a rebirth of avant-garde art.
It was Peter the Great who made Russia a European power and led to the founding of the city. In 1703 he founded the Peter & Paul Fortress on an island in the Neva River. In 1709 he began digging canals to drain the marshy south bank and 1712 made St Petersburg the capital. Peasants were drafted as forced labor, many dying of disease and exhaustion; it’s still known as the city built upon bones. Architects and artisans came from all over Europe. By his death in 1725, his city had a population of 40,000 and 90% of Russia’s foreign trade passed through it.
Peter’s successors moved the capital back to Moscow but Empress Anna Ivanovna (1730-1740) returned it to St Petersburg. Between 1741 and 1825 under Empress Elizabeth, Catherine the Great and Alexander I it became a cosmopolitan city with a royal court of famed splendor. These Monarchs commissioned great series of palaces, government buildings and churches, turning it into one of Europe’s grandest capitals. By 1914, when in a wave of patriotism at the start of WW I the city’s name was changed to the Russian-style Petrograd, it had 2.1 million people.
On October 24th the Provisional Government in the Winter Palace surrendered to the Bolsheviks when a blank shot was fired from the battleship “Aurora” (a popular tourist attraction), on the Neva River. The new government moved the capital back to Moscow in March 1918. Petrograd was renamed Leningrad after Lenin’s death in 1924.
When the Germans attacked the USSR in June 1941, it took them 2-1/2 months to reach Leningrad. As the birthplace of Bolshevism, Hitler swore to wipe it from the face of the earth, but not before his expected New Year’s victory ball in the Hotel Astoria. Approximately one million people died from shelling, starvation and disease. Leningraders dropped dead of hunger and when no cats or rats were left they ate glue off the back of wallpaper. After the war, Leningrad was reconstructed and reborn, though it took until 1960 for its population to exceed pre-WW II levels. The city center retains its aura of past glory and current chic, a heady mix of opulence and decay, though the outlying areas are lined with depressing, uniformly gray and chunky blocks of flats that go on forever.
In 1989, the Leningrad city council voted to change the city’s name back to St Petersburg. Today, it sprawls across and around the delta of the Neva River at the end of the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland.
A word about St Isaac’s Cathedral. It is open from 11:00am to 6:00pmThusday to Monday and to 5:00pm on Tuesday but closed on Wednesday. Admission is $8.00 and photography is not permitted. Don’t miss the sublime city views from the colonnade (kolonnada) around the drum of the dome, which closes an hour earlier than the cathedral. You need separate tickets for the colonnade, costing $3.50. Babushkas will try to prevent you from taking photos of the city skyline. It’s several hundred steps (262) up the spiral staircase to the colonnade, and there are no escalators.
Tours ~ Just A Recommendation:
The Hermitage is the white and gold rococo fantasy of the Winter Palace, residence of tsars from 1762 to 1917 and the largest part of the famous State Hermitage Museum. The complex of buildings is the size of a small town. Four linked riverside buildings - the Winter Palace, the Little and Large Hermitage buildings and the Hermitage Theatre - hold a vast collection of Western European art, with enough chandeliers, over-the-top interior encrustations and tsarist jewels and treasures to have you seeing stars for days. The collection largely dates from the culturally heightened days of Catherine the Great, and many works were gained when Napoleon's power began to wane. Put together throughout two centuries and a half, the Hermitage collections of works of art present the development of the world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century. The centerpiece of our cruise will be two unforgettable days in St. Petersburg. The Hermitage's three million exhibits with 200 Impressionist and Post- Impressionist master works, 25 Rembrandts and a Czarist collection of Matisses and Picassos is said to surpass anything in France.
Peter & Paul Fortress Built in 1703, the Peter & Paul Fortress is the oldest building in town. Its original purpose was to defend the land newly acquired from the Swedes. However, its main use up to 1917 was as a political prison and the first inmate was Peter's own son Alexey (Peter supervised his son's torture), who was followed by other notables such as Dostoevsky, Gorky, Trotsky and Lenin's older brother, Alexander.
The cathedral, though plain on the outside, has a magnificent baroque interior. Most of Russia's Romanov rulers are buried here. Between the cathedral and the Senior Officer's Barracks is a strangely proportioned statue of Peter the Great - rubbing his right forefinger apparently brings good luck.
Nevsky Prospect St Petersburg's 'Champs Élysées' is the famous Nevsky Prospect, which runs west from the Admiralty 4km (2mi) to the Alexandr Nevsky Monastery on the banks of the Neva. It's lined with fine buildings. Its residents include: Tchaikovsky, Nijinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Dostoevsky.
Sir Isaac's Cathedral The 21.8m-high golden dome dominating the St Petersburg skyline is Sir Isaac's Cathedral, the last neo-classical structure to be built in the city. French designer Ricard de Montferrand kick-started proceedings in 1818, but construction took so long (the cathedral wasn't finished until 1858) that Nicholas I was able to extend the original designs to include even more extravagance. The granite was ordered from Finland (and delivered in specially built ships and railways), 100kg of gold leaf were used for the dome and the end result - a lavish interior of marble and mosaic - along with the two largest solid lapis lazuli pillars ever mined in single pieces is a must-see. You can climb up the 43m-high colonnade for breathtaking views of the city.
Pushkin Palace is the magnificent palace and former home of Czarina Catherine the Great. Looted and largely destroyed by the Nazis during World War II, the palace and gardens have been restored over the past 40 years to their original splendor. Your fully guided tour will begin with the main staircase, designed by Ippolito Monighetti in 1861. The palace ceilings were decorated with paintings by Italian artists in the 17th and 18th centuries. Be prepared to marvel at the magnificent Grand Hall or Throne Room, a gilded wonder with a spectacular painted ceiling and mirrored walls that are breathtakingly beautiful. The Cavalier’s Dining Room was designed by Bartolomeo Tastrelli and you will see Alexander I’s State Study with its splendid marble fireplace. The Picture Gallery contains more than 130 paintings by Dutch, Flemish, French and Italian masters of the 17th & 18th centuries.
Peterhof - "the Russian Versailles" ~ "the Capital of Russian Fountains." Peterhof is an immensely luxurious royal estate, lying on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea), a combination of several palaces and parks, the "capital of Russian fountains" and "the Russian Versailles." The estate was founded by Peter the Great and shortly after 1710 the tsar had a beautiful park with several palaces built.
The focal point of both the Lower Park and the Upper Garden is the magnificent Grand Palace (Bolshoi Dvorets) with the Grand Cascade (Bolshoi Kaskad) in front of it. The original palace was built for Peter the Great in 1714-25 and in 1745-55 was remodeled to its present baroque glory by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the architect of the Winter Palace in downtown St. Petersburg. Despite all the damage done to the Grand Palace during WW II, its interiors have been carefully restored and are truly breathtaking.
The Grand Cascade, which goes downhill from the palace towards the Baltic Sea, is one of the largest fountain ensembles in the world. The 64 fountains-built in 1721 use almost 8,000 gallons of water per minute without the use of pumping stations. Most of them were damaged during World War II, but have now been restored to their original beauty. From the Grand Cascade's largest fountain, the Samson, a channel goes through the park to the pier, where hydrofoils and boats from St. Petersburg arrive. Multiple fountains and pavilions (the Monplaizir Palace, Marly, the Hermitage-not to be confused with the Hermitage museum) are scattered all over the park. In a quiet part of the Alexandria Park there is the Cottage palace of Nicholas I, which unlike many other palaces has the royal living quarters carefully preserved.
The Upper Garden is a pretty baroque "formal garden" which separates the Grand Palace from the St. Petersburg-bound highway. Beyond the limits of the seemingly endless royal parks lies the town of Peterhof. It has a population of 82 thousand and is renowned throughout Russia for the "Raketa" wristwatches, which are produced there.
Peterhof is original name of the estate and the town is Peterhof is the German for "Peter's yard," "Peter's home." Note, that between 1944 and the early 1990’s the town was called Petrodvorets, and some guide books might still list it under that name.
A Word About Architecture. For most of its history, Russian architecture has been predominantly religious. Churches were for centuries the only buildings to be constructed of stone, and today they are almost the only buildings that remain from its ancient past. The basic elements of Russian church design emerged fairly early, around the eleventh century. The plan is generally that of a Greek cross (all four arms are equal), and the walls are high and relatively free of openings. Sharply-sloped roofs (tent roofs) and a multitude of domes cover the structure. The characteristic onion dome first appeared in Novgorod on the Cathedral of Sancta Sophia, in the eleventh century. On the interior, the primary feature is the iconostasis, an altar screen on which the church's icons are mounted in a hierarchical fashion.
The cathedral is actually a remarkable synthesis of traditional Russian architectural styles, though its classical proportions mark it as a work of the Italian Renaissance. The Russian tradition experienced a brief period of renewed influence under Ivan IV (the Terrible), under whose reign the legendary Cathedral of St. Basil's was built. In general, however, the Tsars began to align themselves increasingly with European architectural styles. The great example of this shift was Peter the Great, who designed St. Petersburg in accordance with prevailing European design. His successors continued the pattern, hiring the Italian architect Rastrelli to produce the rococo Winter Palace and Smolny Cathedral. Under Catherine the Great, the rococo was set aside for neoclassicism, completing St. Petersburg's thoroughly European topography.
On the night of our arrival into St. Petersburg, Holland America offers a wonderful musical evening tour ; a private Opera Concert At Yusupov Palace.
This is very limited and you do need to sign-up for this tour as soon as possible. It includes a visit to the beautiful Russian Yusupov Palace where Prince Yusupov lead the plotters who killed Grigori Rasputin.
You will be greeted by costumed Hussars at the entrance to the Palace and ladies-in-waiting line the staircase, at the top of which is a classical quartet.
A tour of the palace is just the beginning of the marvelous evening ahead. Enjoy a cocktail and canapés with live balalaika music before you enter the Yusupov Theater for a gala performance by the St. Petersburg Opera Company. Highlights of some of the most famous operas are included such as The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, and Don Juan. The performers are professional Russian opera singers and will be dressed in 19th century style costumes, accompanied by a 30-member chamber orchestra.
Important Warning: Never, under any circumstances drink un-boiled tap water in St Petersburg.
Tallinn, Estonia ~ (Saturday, August 14, 2004)
Tallinn is one of Europe’s most charming capitals with a medieval Old Town, beaches, forests, and mixed cultures. The city was settled by Finno-Ugric people in 2500 BC.
Tallinn is situated on the Gulf of Finland and is dominated by Toompea, the hill over which it has tumbled since the Middle Ages. In few places in Europe does the aura of the 14th and 15th centuries survive intact as it does in Tallinn’s Old Town jumble of medieval walls and turrets, needling spires and winding cobbled streets. The city is on a similar latitude to St. Petersburg and shares the same warm summer White Nights and short, cold dark winter days.
If you’re seeking a glance at Estonia’s Soviet past, forget looking here. The city – with its cozy cafes, glass-paneled skyscrapers and smart overpriced boutiques making it a virtual suburb of Helsinki and the most magnetic hub in the Baltic region. Russians comprise 47% of the population.
Lower Old Town (Vanalinn). The Old Town is separated into two parts. The Upper Town, sitting on Toompea Hill, the site of the parliament buildings, has great views of the city. The farther out towards the Old Town’s edges you go, the fewer tourists there will be and the greater its ambience. You may enjoy taking a 20 minute trolley bus ride through the Old Town for 30EEK starting at Vene tanav 8 at the top of Viru tanav.
“Raekoja Plats.” The Lower Town’s center is the Town Hall Square (Raekoja plats), dominated by the only surviving Gothic Town hall in northern Europe. It has been the center of Tallinn life since markets began in the 11th century and is filled with outdoor cafes and open-air concerts.
Stockholm, Sweden ~ (Monday, August 16, 2004)
Sleek marble buildings and old cobblestoned streets mingle here in what many regard as the world’s most beautiful city. Sprawled on 18 islands, Stockholm is the “Venice of the North.” The water is so clean you can fish and swim in it. You are seldom more than a five-minute walk from twisting, medieval streets and magnificent water views. Shop in medieval Gamla Stan, (Old Town), a labyrinth of narrow medieval streets, alleyways and quiet squares on the island just south of the city center. Watch the snappy changing of the guard at the Royal Palace. If only visited by taxi, don’t miss the world famous Vasamuseet, (Vasa Museum). The 17th-century warship Vasa (largest ship of its time), sank in Stockholm Harbor on its maiden voyage in 1628 because it was not carrying sufficient ballast. Forgotten for 300 years, the perfectly preserved vessel was recovered from the sea in 1961 and now stands sentinel over the harbor in her own striking museum.
Visby, Sweden, Gotland, the largest island in the Baltic ~ (Tuesday, August 17, 2004)
Don’t miss the exciting approach by sea as we sail into Visby and you see the old trading center, the towers of the cathedral and the old wall turrets of the “land of ruins and roses.”
The island of Gotland was created over thousands of years as the animals and plants of the ancient Silurian Sea slowly sank into the sediment that was to become the limestone platform of modern Gotland. Million year-old fossils and the island’s monumental sea-stacks can still be found on the coast.
In the Viking Age the island was a busy trading post. Visby, the principal center of population, later became a prosperous Hanseatic town. Great stone houses were erected, churches were founded, and a city was built. Today, two miles of the medieval limestone wall remains virtually intact, interspersed with 44 tower and numerous gates. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Visby is best explored on foot. This is a photographers dream and every turn is another photo opportunity.
Visby is much older than its medieval remnants suggest – the name derives from its status as a Stone Age sacrificial site: “the settlement by the sacred place.” The defensive wall that encircles Visby is the most obvious manifestation of its previous importance. It was hardly a new idea to fortify trading centers against outside attack, although this land wall, built around the end of the thirteenth century was actually constructed to separate the city’s foreign traders from the island’s own locals.
At the height of its power, Visby maintained sixteen churches and while only one, the Domkyrkan (built between 1190 and 1225), is still in use, the ruins of eleven other can be seen. The Domkyrkan dates from just before the great age of Gothic church-building on the island. Used as both warehouse and treasury in the past, it’s been heavily restored and about the only original fixture left is the thirteenth-century sandstone front. Most striking are its towers, originally topped by a spire, but since an eighteenth-century fire they’ve been crowned with fancy Baroque cupolas, giving them the appearance of inverted ice-cream cones.
Seventeenth and eighteenth-century builders and decorators found the smaller churches in the city to be an excellent source of free limestone, times and fittings - which accounts for the fact that most are today in ruins.
BLACK MAGIC, Riga Black Balsams --- (Rigas Melnais Balzams)
It’s as black as ink, as thick as custard, as sharp as lemon, and has been produced in Latvia – and nowhere else – since 1755
Its recipe remains a closely guarded secret: Orange peel, Oak bark, Wormwood, Linden blossoms plus 25 other “fairy-tale” ingredients. It calms the nerves and settles the stomach. In the 18th century it was administered to Catherine the Great when she was struck down with illness. Two days later, she was fully recovered.
Riga druggist Abraham Kunze created the insidious concoction. Its name originates from “balsamon” the ancient Greek word for a sweet-smelling medicinal balm or ointment. Its opaque ceramic bottle, labeled with a black and gold Riga skyline, is reminiscent of the clay jars the potent liquid used to be stored in during the 18th and 19th centuries to keep it safe from the rays of the sun. It’s 45% alcohol, (90 proof), and guaranteed to knock the hind legs off a donkey. Drink it with coffee or Coca-Cola.
Cruising The Stockholm Archipelago ~ (Monday, August 16, 2004) The Stockholm archipelago has over 24.000 islands and it is a unique natural experience. It stretches 90 miles from Landsort in the south to Väddö in the north. Only 150 of the islands are inhabited year around. In the archipelago you will experience beautiful nature, wildlife, fjords, narrow channels and straits.