Baltic cruise – no visas required!

Well in a few weeks I shall be on the Fred Olsen Braemar ‘Cruising to the Heart of the Baltic’ & that’s another tick off the bucket list.

Russia has always been on my list and cruising is the ideal way to do it, for as long as you travel on the organised excursions they include the visa in the cost. It is only if you go ‘off piste’ as in wish to do your own thing excursion-wise, then you will need to obtain a visa. As we are in St Petersburg for two days we have bitten the bullet and paid out to do the full two day excursion together with a Russian ballet on the first night, so my husband and I are bracing ourselves for the experience of a lifetime!

So, on the ‘Grand Tour of St Petersburg’ we have on the agenda: The Hermitage Museum which is one of the world’s largest and prestigious museums. The buildings that the Hermitage occupies have also seen a great number of important historical events – from Peter the Great to Nicolay II. Its collections include over three million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. Also on the itinerary is St Petersburg most elaborate church – the Church of the Spilled Blood with it’s distinctive brightly coloured five domes, and the interior which are decorated in an array of beautiful and intricate mosaics. Then the majestic St Isaac’s cathedral with its golden dome dominating the skyline. Yusupov’s Palace is next with a grisly yet interesting history as this was the place that Rasputin was murdered in 1916. Then a visit to the Tsar’s Village which is a palace complex also containing the Catherine Palace and part of the UNESCO-protected Russian World Heritage Site. The Peterhof Palace is next which has no less than three waterfalls, 64 fountains and 37 gilded statues. The final stop on this two day trip is the Peter and Paul Fortress which houses the cathedral where the Romanovs are buried.  I think we might need a couple of sea days to get over this mammoth excursion!

With other interesting ports of call such as Ronne on Bornholm Island in Denmark and the wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen with the Little Mermaid statue & the world’s second oldest amusement park Tivoli Gardens it will be an interesting trip!  Helsinki is as well, being a beautiful seaside city spread out over a network of pretty islands as well as Travemunde in Germany which is another UNESCO-listed town steeped in history.

Also adding to the experience, sampling the delights of a smaller, shallow hulled ship with a capacity of just 929 passengers means we can also get into the smaller ports and we are travelling through the Kiel Canal which is another experience I am looking forward to.

All-in-all should be a fantastic cruise and I will be sure to fill you in on my return!