Baltic Sea cruise
September 27 to October 10, 2025
This is my first cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line. They do not charge solo travelers double or even 1.5 times like some cruisers.
Due to large windstorms in the Baltic Sea, our itinerary was changed. We did not get to Lithuania and Sweden but we did get to Helsinki Finland
9/27 Saturday Fly from Syracuse to London all on Delta
9/28 Sunday Board the ship "Prima"
Not much happened as I was up all night in flight and transferring to the ship
9/29 Monday Ghent Belgium tour Canal Charms and Wonders"
Nice time touring Ghent by bus and canal boat. Got a good history lesson.
Took a canal ride like this one.
Castle built in the 1100's just prior to this canal being dug by hand. The owner then collected passage fees for use of the canal
Chocolates from Belgium are big thing I understand
Belgium waffle shop (Actually)
9/30 Tuesday Tour Waterways of Amsterdam
Bridges, Boats and Bicycles (100's of them)
10/1 Wednesday at sea - on board stuff
Mostly people watching and trying to figure out why my WiFi kept dropping. I did find one thing that made me happy. Great Frappuccino's
10/2 Thursday Molli Train to Rostock
The narrow gauge track was built to take the elite from Rostock area to Heiligedam on the coast of the Baltic Sea.It is called the Mollie Train named after a wealthy patron that had a little dog that got away when the steam whistle blew on an early run of the train. The woman freaked out calling "Mollie " and the name stuck.
The narrow gauge tracks
The ceiling looked like those we had in the US on our old passenger trains
A conductor took our tickets and punched them out just like I remember in the US
.
We visited the Doberan Abbey The only Abbey church in Europe from the High Middle ages, built in 1386. It was huge and very beautiful. It was bombed during WW2 but restored later. Like so many churches in Europe it is now used for concerts and educational purposes
This is a very pretty area near the Baltic Sea with many coastline homes and shopping areas.
There is a "Watch Tower" right on the beach that was built after WW2 when Germany was broken into East under Soviet control and free West Germany. 4 East German Guards manned each Tower and were armed. They were to shoot anyone in sight who were sailing or swimming to the West. .You can see the gun openings below the window.
Because of its location, the northern coastline was an area where without guards, people would leave East Germany and go to west Germany or Denmark. Not only did they have towers, but patrol boats. None the less there were those that actually swam to safety, and many died trying it.
Adjacent to the beach is a shopping and food area. During the years after the war this was a nude beach. A statue stands at this entrance to the beach. (I chose not to photograph the other side of the statue)
10/3 Friday Gdansk Poland Tour
I did not know what to expect but I was very impressed with the beauty and architectural wonders in the city. While the population of Gdansk is 487000, with the 2 cities surrounding it is known as the TriCities (Sound Familiar?) is about 1.5 million. We were there on Friday late afternoon and the streets and roads were very busy. It is known as the Amber Capital of the world. It is also where the Solidarity movement, led by Lech Walesa in 1980. That movement was a challenge to the communist regime.
Impressive "Neptune" fountain with the main town hall and bell tower in background
Beautiful building that housed the merchants gild where all sorts of business agreements were made in past years. Now used for important meeting to impress visitors.
Alongside the Motlawa river which runs through the center of the old city of Gdansk
An old ship used for dinner cruises in the river
Dinner along the riverside. My terrible skill of selfie taking.
He has offered to host me if I ever want to visit.
10/5 Sunday, Tallinn, Estonia
The country has a long history of being a part of bigger, more powerful countries. Close to Russia,Poland and Germany they proudly have recovered from Soviet governing in a relatively short 25 years.The population is only 1.3 million and it's about the same size as our state Maine with many islands off the coast of the Baltic.
The president of Estonia lives in this home and has his offices here. The President is appointed by the parliament and his term is 5 years. There were only 2 guards standing on the porch and lots of travelers and some citizen runners came along. Can you think of runners this close to the White House?
This palace was a gift of Peter the Great. (Russian Czar) to his wife Catherine the First. It is now a museum with beautiful grounds
The tower in the distance is a TV tower we visited.
View from the tower
The carpet has the distance to major cities around the world
This opening allows you to see what is below
From a higher spot in the city
You may remember when Baltic nations, 2 million people, in 1989 made a human chain with locked arms from Tallinn, Estonia to Riga, Latvia to show solidarity against the soviets It was the 50th anniversary rule from when a pact facilitated the occupation of the Baltic states. That event is remembered every 5 years when 32,000 performers and 100,000 come to this site and sing songs that celebrate their freedom.
Where the Parliament meets. I didn't go up the 50+ stairs
The Square in front of the Parliament Building
Fountain and statues of the first 2 presidents of Finland in the Square
Much like Estonia, Finland has an interwoven history with other countries. Sweden and Russia. They have 2 national languages, Swedish and Finnish which is a Uralic language that has the same roots as Estonian and Hungarian.
Shot from the bus, a swan in the upper right corner!
WC right along the street. Very handy.
The Olympic Colosseum for the 1952 games
Probably the only Burger King in the world with a sauna
Bikes and Scooters everywhere.
They still have hop on hop off trolleys. Notice the wires overhead.
A few street shots below
Classy Clothing store
Lots of Coffee shops but no Dunkins. Sorry Jake!
A Burger King competitor
10/7 was a day at sea
One of the bigger restaurants on board
Beautiful lighting
10/8 Wednesday Copenhagen Denmark
Comments