Postcard from Britannia (Dream Holiday Part 2)
- Michael Aeria
- Jun 19, 2017
- 10 min read
After a gruelling 10 days on the road, I was looking forward to a relaxing cruise to St Petersburg on board the Britannia. There's nothing like a sea cruise to rest and recuperate. All you do is eat and sleep. And be pampered by the ship's crew. I should know, as this is my third cruise. Gosh, I am becoming a cruise addict. My first was on P & O's Arcadia from Sydney to Hong Kong and the second on the Royal Carribean's Mariner of the Seas from Singapore to Shanghai. This cruise will be a bit different because of St Petersburg I have always wanted to visit this historic city since I had a chat with a seasoned old traveller just before I retired in 2009. He convinced me that two cities stood out in all his travels: St Petersburg and Istanbul. So 8 years later, I am on my way to this beautiful Russian city, fulfilling one of my Dream Holidays. What made this cruise even more attractive was that it will make stops in Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen, cities I am fascinated with but would not go out of my way to visit separately.
The Britannia will leave from Southampton but there is no direct train service from New Malden where we were staying with our friends Judy and Danny. So we had to catch a connecting train from Clapham Junction.
Just our luck, or lack of it, we did not have a smooth ride. For a start, we ended up in the wrong platform in New Malden. Luckily we realised our mistake in time and rushed to the correct platform. You cannot reserve seats from Clapham Junction to Southampton, so we had to stand all the way, big bags and all. Fortunately for us, the journey only lasted slightly over an hour.
It is a joy checking in at a cruise terminal. It is fast and efficient. You are issued with a cruise card after you surrender your passport. This cruise card is all you need for the next 15 days. It opens the door to everything -- your cabin, any purchase on board, and entry to many countries.
We did not have to see any immigration official when leaving and returning to Southampton. It is all done in the background. For our first stop in Helsinki, immigration officials even came on board the ship to clear us for entry into Finland. We needed to go through immigration in St Petersburg only for the first of the two days we were there. After that, the cruise card was all we needed to go into the various cities. Imagine if we had to fly to these 7 destinations (Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallinn, Stockholm, Copenhagen,Oslo and Brugge). We would have to lug our bags back and forth through all the hotels and airports, and enduring hassles at all the security checkpoints.
The Britannia set sail at 6pm on June 4. Guess what is our cabin number? 406 (4th of June). What a coincidence! The next 3 days were sea days, and we would only arrive at Helsinki on the morning of June 8. The good news is that we have 3 days to relax. The bad news is that we won't have wifi for this period. Of course, we can pay for the ship's wifi but it is much too expensive for us. So we have to wait until we reach Helsinki for free wifi. There are lots of things to do onboard but I just wanted to be lazy and do very little. I watched only two movies, Assassins Creed and Allied, and that too on the last two days as I wanted to compare the sound system with those of the other ships. It was much better. There is a musical performance every night but I watched only two, one by Peter Howarth, the present lead singer of the Hollies, and the other by a group called the 4Tunes. I did go for a performance by one of the Strictly Come Dancing stars but I slept throughout the whole show. Generally, it was smooth sailing during the three days at sea. The only excitement was on Day 3 when the Britannia was approaching the Great Belt Bridge linking the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen. The height of the ship is 61.5 metres and the bridge's clearance height is 65 metres. Passengers gathered at the top deck, and held their breath as the ship sailed under the bridge. Phew! Followed by loud cheers. One thing you have to bear in mind on such cruises is that you will not be able to see much during the one-day stops. You just have to pick one main attraction of a particular city or do a quick tour to prepare you for your next visit. For me, this trip was all about St Petersburg, and I was glad the ship would stop there for 2 days. In fact, it was the only tour we had booked before boarding the ship. We paid £210 (RM1,170) each for the two-day tour, and I think it is money well spent. I was so interested in this city that I attended two talks given by a guest speaker Carl Markham on two separate days. It was full house for both talks.
The first was on the life and work of Carl Faberge, the famous court jeweller to the Russian Tsars. The second talk was on another Russian treasure, the Matryoshka dolls. Have you heard the story of the Faberge eggs? Well, there was this Third Imperial Egg of 1887. It was missing for 112 years until it was found by a collector in Idaho, of all places. He paid US$14,000 for it and finally sold it to a private collector for US$30 million. They say there are still 7 missing Faberge eggs. So friends, start searching for them at your local antique shops. We only started looking for the other tour packages on Day 4 of our cruise. By then, most of the good ones for the other 6 cities were fully booked. We had to settle for the "free and easy" tours.
1. HELSINKI
At our first stop in Helsinki, we took a shuttle to the city. It was only a 20-minute ride but we had to delay our walkabout due to the heavy rain. We took shelter in the Makasiini ferry terminus and lucky for us, there was free wifi.
It was still drizzling when we finally decided to explore the city.
The main attraction for me was the Temppeliaukio Church or more popularly known as the Rock Church. It is built directly into solid rock and is a popular venue for concerts because of its excellent acoustics. I waited to hear how good the organ would sound in that environment but no such luck. I could not wait as it was a long walk back to the pickup point.
2. ST PETERSBURG
Rain followed us to St Petersburg and stayed with us for the two days we were there.
We had a great guide in the person of Barbara who fed us a wealth of information and took good care of all of us.
Our first stop was the Hermitage Museum, one of the oldest and largest museums in the world.
Being a cruise passenger has its benefits as the Hermitage opened its doors early for us. Besides the Britannia, there were three other cruise liners which arrived the same morning.
Founded by Catherine the Great in 1754, the Hermitage's collections are housed in six historic buildings.
Like most of the great museums of the world, you need to spend a few days to appreciate the beauty of its collections. The Hermitage is said to have a collection of over 3 million items.
Two hours is definitely not enough. Still, I was kept spellbound as we walked from room to room to view the works of art from the Dutch, Italian, French and Spanish masters.
I am particularly glad that I was able to spend a few minutes admiring Rembrandt's Prodigal Son.
For those who may not have the opportunity to visit the Hermitage, go to this site:
You can have a virtual tour of the different rooms in the Hermitage and view its vast collection. It is as good as being there.
We were looking forward to lunch after all the walking. It was a real Russian treat. We had Russian salad, caviar and our main course was Beef Stroganoff.
Our guide explained to us that this dish was created by a cook of Count Grigory Stroganoff because his master had lost his teeth and couldn't chew meat. There are other versions to its origin but I prefer this one.
After lunch, we were taken to the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. This church was built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881.
A unique feature of the church is that the "paintings" on the walls and the ceiling are made up of mosaics, over 7,500 square metres of them.
We were then taken on a boat ride on the River Neva. Again, this was spoilt by the rain.
Otherwise it would have been a great way to see the Hermitage Museum complex, the Peter and Paul Fortress and the other attractions of St Petersburg.
Our guide also wanted to show us how ordinary Russians lived, and so she took us to a typical Russian wet market and guided us on a ride on the underground Metro.
The second day, we started at 7.30am, an hour earlier than the previous day. That was because we were going to a place which is an hour's ride outside the city.
Our destination was Catherine Palace but on the way there we had to pass a park dedicated to the city's famous son, poet and novelist Anton Pushkin.
There was a long queue waiting to get into the palace but the crowd was kept entertained by a 7-man marching band.
The palace was originally a modest two-storey building commissioned by Peter the Great for his wife Catherine I.
Their daughter, Empress Elizabeth, ordered its massive redesign to rival the French palace in Versailles.
It suffered massive damage during the Second World War and was reopened to the public in 2003 after 20 years of restoration work.
Our next stop was Peterhof with its beautiful park and network of fountains.
What is impressive is the clever use of reservoirs and gravity so that the fountains operate without the use of pumps.
We took a hydrofoil back to the city and visited another awesome city landmark, the Peter and Paul fortress.
Inside this fortress is the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the burial place of many Russian Tsars.
What did I miss?
I would love to see a Russian ballet performance at the Mariinsky Theatre.
A visit to the Faberge Museum would be nice, too.
Still the two days in St Petersburg were very memorable.
3. TALLINN
Tallinn is like something out of a fairy tale, with its castle and town square.
Again, we did not join any organised tour. We took a 10-minute shuttle ride into the city and went on a walking tour.
4. STOCKHOLM
This is the home of ABBA, the Vikings and Stieg Larsson, the author of the Millenium trilogy.
We signed up for a semi-organised tour. It was very disappointing.
First, the bus dropped us off in front of the King's palace.
We saw a small version of the Changing of the Guard and then walked around the old part of the town.
As we were about to leave for our next stop, the guide told us that the real Changing of the Guard was about to begin. Why couldn't they rearrange the schedule so that we can see this colourful ceremony.
I had no time to tour the Viking and ABBA museums but I made sure I picked up some ABBA souvenirs.
I will be back.
SEA DAY
There was a full sailing day before we reached our next destination, Copenhagen.
A Russian bazaar was held on Deck 5 and as I was very interested in Russian items, we went to have a look.
I ended up buying a book on Russian fairy tales and a Russian zippo lighter.
I got the book for £10 although the price tag at the other end listed it as £14.
I had to pay £13 for the lighter although it was wrongly listed as £7.
Well, you win one, you lose one.
We were too lazy to do anything after that, so we stayed in our cabin and watched TV.
We picked three movies from the inhouse TV channel - Belle, Epic and Kings of Curry.
We watched them one after the other. I enjoyed all three movies.
5. COPENHAGEN
We signed up for a tour which basically took us to three major places.
Our first stop was at Rosenberg Castle. Before we got off the bus, our guide gave us this warning: Watch out for the cyclists!
Yes, it was true. Everywhere you turn, you see them. It is a popular means of transport in this city
Our walk in this region took us to Copenhagen University and the Church of Our Lady.
The next stop was Town Hall Square. This is shoppers paradise where you will find all kinds of branded goods.
Amalienborg Palace, the residence of the Danish royal family, was our third stop.
I stayed around for a while but left after I was told that the Changing of the Guard ceremony would only be held if the Queen was around.
No visit to Copenhagen would be complete without a visit to the Little Mermaid, the international symbol of this city. This bronze statue is the work of Edvard Erikson, portraying Hans Christian Andersen's heroine.
6. OSLO
I think we missed the best parts of Oslo. We did not have a chance to visit the beautiful Geirangerfjord with its waterfalls and cliffs, and the Sognefjord.
And what about the spectacular Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock), the 25 sq metre plateau which stands 604 metres above the sea.
I am afraid I have to plan another trip to see all these wonders.
During our short stop, we just managed a quick tour of the city. The guide pointed out all the places of interest and the museums in the city.
We also took a ride up to Holmenkollen, a ski jumping centre, where we had a beautiful view of the city.
In front of the cruise terminal is the Akershus Fortress and Castle where we spent some time exploring.
7. BRUGGE
I did not expect much from Brugge. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
I fell in love with this city as I started exploring the place.
But what got me really excited was to find Michaelangelo's Madonna and Child in the Church of our Lady.
There is more to Brussels than chocolate.
We had sailed from Southampton to St Petersburg, and back, a journey of 15 days by sea, or a total of 3,987 nautical miles (4,588 miles).
And before that, we had spent 10 days on the road fulfilling another Dream Holiday, exploring the Lake District and the Loch Ness region of Scotland.
But that is not the end of our journey. As we prepared to disembark in Southampton, our friend Kimmy was planning our third Dream Holiday - a road trip to Wales.
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