The Baltic Sea is home to an extraordinary group of fabulous
destinations. And all are accessible by efficient, comfortable and
surprisingly inexpensive ferries. For those who enjoy sailing, but don't
demand the glitz and cost of traditional cruise ships, the Baltic has an
amazing choice of ports that can be shaped into one's own special itinerary.
Cruise Baltic, an association of 19 Baltic ports in 10 countries, is a great
resource for matching destination choices with your vacation time. For
example, consider the following August 2007 Sweden-Finland-Poland-Sweden
trip. It all started in Stockholm, Sweden's capital, a major cruise and
ferry home base. This elegant city, comprised of 14 islands, offers some of
Europe's best history, culture and cuisine.
Stockholm boasts extraordinary attractions, paced by the incredible Vasa.
This warship, huge enough to carry 64 cannons and some 450 men, sank in calm
waters minutes into its 1628 maiden voyage. It has been resurfaced and
lovingly restored so that visitors can walk upon its decks and admire its
hull from below.
You can also engage with a bevy of interactive computerized simulations to
see if you could have designed the ship better. All this makes a visit to
the Vasa truly fascinating for the entire family.
Nearby is Skansen, a 116-year-old, open-air museum featuring more than 150
18th and 19th century dwellings. They were collected from all over Sweden,
then reassembled to create a village that summarizes Swedish building styles
and crafts. Across the harbor on Gamla Stan - the completely preserved
medieval/historic island - there are plenty of twisting and hilly
cobblestone streets, plus Sweden's Royal Palace, the Stockholm Cathedral and
the Alfred Nobel Museum. You'll also want to visit City Hall, where Nobel
Prizes are annually awarded, and where you can dine on the same meal
recipients enjoy.
Moving on, a three-hour eastbound Viking Line sailing reaches the
Swedish-speaking, but Finland-controlled, Aland Islands. The capital city
Mariehamm is a lovely, laid-back destination with several outstanding
attractions. These include the Pommern, a huge 1903 sailing craft that
commercially linked Scandinavia, England and Australia until the beginning
of World War II. Well into the age of powered shipping, the Pommern stayed
commercially viable in the grain trade, relying on the premise that "wind
was free, oil was not."
Other Mariehamm appeals include superb seafood, the Aland Hunting and
Fishing Museum and buildings remaining from czarist days when this western
edge of Finland was also the western boundary of the Russian empire.
Viking Line continued eastbound to Turku, Finland's ancient capital that has
been chosen to be one of Europe's 2011 capitals of culture. Highlights
include remnants of 14th century structures, long thought to have been
destroyed in an 1827 fire. There's also the glorious cathedral, the
beautiful Sibelius museum filled with remembrances of Finland's most famous
composer, and the extraordinary Handicrafts Museum. High on a hill - beyond
the reach of the 1827 fire - this is a remarkably preserved collection of
wooden homes and workshops. Hours can easily be spent here walking through
the bakeries, ceramic workshops and 18th and 19th century homes. People in
traditional dress staff them.
Fifteen miles north of Turku lies Naantali, once a medieval trading center
and pilgrimage site, but today a beautifully preserved piece of Finnish
history and spa town. Gdynia, Poland, is a modern port, dating to the 1920s.
For tourists, its prime appeal is offering an easy access point to the
gorgeous reconstruction of nearby medieval Gdasnk (called Danzig before
World War II), and the amazing castle of Malbork. Gdansk was a major
medieval Hanseatic League trading port. Heavily bombed during World War II,
the city was later reconstructed to show it at its medieval best. Now,
Gdansk again presents an amazing swath of history, offering multiple hours
of streets, lanes and plazas to explore. There's also a beautiful amber
museum, several extraordinary churches and plenty of lovely restaurants,
ideal for al fresco dining. Gdansk also is home to the Solidarity Museum,
dedicated to the ship workers union that - under its leader Lech Walesa -
ignited protests during the late 1970s. The underground museum has plenty of
artifacts, films, pictures and documents detailing Polish life under
Communism, and what a group of ordinary but angry workers did to help defeat
it.
