Baltic Bliss

Kalmar is well known for Swedish crystal, handmade in one of the 15 glassworks in the Kingdom of Crystal, among which Orrefors and Kosta Boda are the most prominent. In Orrefors factory shop, purchase (tax free) firsts and seconds from the Orrefors collection and watch master craftsmen in action as they create crystal masterpieces right in front of you.

Poland also offers crystal. Cruise passengers will want to make for Swietojanska Street, Gdnyia’s main shopping street, for a selection of crystal in shops and galleries.

Spend a leisurely morning strolling the markets in many Baltic Sea destinations. Cruise passengers can hardly miss Helsinki’s famous Kauppatori, the Market Square, selling almost everything from fresh fish to handicrafts. The Old Market Hall next to the Market Square is worth a visit as well. The Old Market Hall offers historic charm and a wide assortment of fresh fish and special foods, including canned bear meat! Continue Reading »

Founded in 1680 as Sweden’s primary naval base, Karlskrona is surrounded by islands. Ships transit a beautiful archipelago and a series of fortresses en route to the Karlskrona’s harbor.

Ships that dock at the city center put passengers within a five-minute walk of attractions. Most ships, however, must anchor, and cruise passengers enjoy a short tender past forts to a landing at the Naval Museum, a five-minute walk from the city center.

Many of the port destinations in the Baltic Cruising region are walkable cities. Pedestrian streets and parks allow visitors to escape traffic. Continue Reading »

The Baltic Cruising Region is rich with castles and royal palaces. Visitors can still see the changing of the guard in Copenhagen’s Amalienborg Palace, residence of Queen (changing of the guard daily at noon); and in Stockholm, where the main guard has been at Kungliga Slottet since 1523. Today, military units and bands from all over the Sweden participate.
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Stockholm has endless shopping possibilities with several areas in the city of interest to shoppers. Gamla Stan features gift shops, including the inviting Slottsboden in Kungliga Slottet, specializing in genuine handicrafts and antiques.

City center is the place to go for big department stores and shopping malls. NK and Gallerian are located on Hamngatan; Åhléns City, PUB and Debenhams on Drottninggatan; and Sturegallerian at Stureplan.

Small boutiques are scattered throughout the city; however, the greatest concentration is in the area between Norrmalmstorg and Stureplan. Södermalm is filled with shops and galleries, where shoppers can buy everything from exquisite ceramics at Blås & Knåda to jewelry at Efva Attling’s atelier. Both Madonna and Jennifer Aniston wear her creations.

Tallinn’s Old Town is lined with dozens of souvenir, antique and specialty stores, not to mention clothing and footwear. Within Old Town, the main shopping streets are Viru, Müürivahe, Suur-Karja, Vaike-Karja and Kullassepa.

Kalmar’s picturesque 17th and 18th century stone buildings offer a wide range of shopping. Almost all streets in the shopping area are walking streets, with Storgatan and Kaggensgatan being the main ones.

Find Swedish handicraft such as woodwork, pottery, jewelry and textile craft as well as Swedish and international delicacies at Gerdas Te & Kaffehandel. Souvenirs from Kalmar can be found at the Tourist Information Center, Kalmar Castle and Kalmar County Museum.

In the Baltic Sea Region, visitors will find refined city lifestyles and rural country charm. From opera and ballet in St. Petersburg to open-air museums presenting farm and peasant life, the Baltics spans the gamut of cultural offerings.

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With a history that dates back many millennia, the Baltic Sea Region is awash in museums. In fact, some of the cities, contained within well-preserved medieval town walls, could be considered to be museums themselves.

Museum-seekers will find no better place to begin than in Stockholm. With more than 100 museums, Stockholm boasts the world’s highest concentration of museums. Visitors with time to see only a few will not want to miss the Vasa Museum (pictured), which houses a warship (the actual ship, not a model) that in 1628 sank in the harbor on its maiden voyage and was brought up from the depths in 1961. Nothing can prepare visitors for the scale of what they will see in the city’s most popular museum, built in 1990.

Within walking distance of Stockholm’s Vasa Museum is the world’s oldest open-air museum, Skansen, featuring a zoo with wild and domestic Nordic animals, and 150 cultural and historic buildings from throughout Sweden. Skansen, more than 100 years old, is a large living heritage exhibit well worth a visit.

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