Nath

Before one starts banging on about Helsinki, I keep forgetting to write about the so called “white nights” phenomenon that we have had the pleasure of experiencing over the past few days. Basically this is when the sun sets at some ungodly hour (think it’s around 12:30am) only to rise again 2/3 hours later hence effectively you are sleeping in broad daylight!

Anyway, Helsinki, for some unknown reason when one visualises the city, modern architecture springs to mind. This is partly true, however, there are sights i.e. old brick churches mixed in also working surprisingly well.

As usual, one docked at the port around 2 miles from the centre so decided to scrap the “walking into the centre” idea and simply stroll around the various harbours. Despite this, it turned out said the road that one was rolling on along ends up in the centre anyway.

One thinks that it has been said 2 or 3 times on this trip alone, however, the city is home to it’s own tram network, just like all the rest, it depends upon the rolling stock as to whether it is accessible for wheelchair users.

One was also lucky enough to be in Helsinki on market day, this not only provides fresh fruit and vegetables but also a wide range of souvenirs, not appealing when one had a million seagulls swooping up and down!

Tomorrow is yet another day at sea before we dock at our final port of call, Gdynia in Poland (the porting city for Gdansk, however, attempting to source a wheelchair accessible taxi company who speak English is impossible, Gdynia looks nice though!

Whilst in St Petersburg, one chose to tour with I Love Travel after reading Cory Lee’s experience with the company. A lovely lady met us outside the cruise terminal and whisked us away into the city passing some of it’s famous landmarks such as The Winter Palace and The Peter and Paul Fortress…

After stopping off to purchase souvenirs and grabbing a bite to eat (Sushi in Russia – why not!), one headed down to the pier to board the accessible boat for a river tour. Now, when watching the video on Cory’s blog, one noted a nice metal ramp being put into place to bridge the gap between the pier and the boat itself strong enough to sustain the weight of an electric wheelchair but for me, a piece of plywood, someone could have broke that with their own weight! The positive side to this, however, is that you do get a whole new perspective of the city from the water…

Today, our tour guide took us to visit the Peterhof Palace. Peterhof is located just outside the city and is commonly referred to as the “Russian Versailles” with the inspiration, as implied, taken from the city of Versailles by Peter The Great.

The grounds are mostly wheelchair accessible albeit a little bumpy and comprises of many fountains (including a ‘trick’ fountain with the idea being that standing on the wrong stone triggers a fountain of water!).

Peterhof also backs on to the Baltic Sea (or the Gulf of Finland to be exact) hence offers great views, especially towards the Lakhta Centre which is currently under construction but will become the tallest building in Europe!

All in all, I Love Travel is a great company to tour the city with, very knowledgeable and will do their upmost to assist wheelchair users.

Tomorrow, we begin our very slow journey back to the UK stopping off at Helsinki.

It must be said that leaving Stockholm last night through the fjords was probably one of the most awesome views from a cruise ship thus far!

Anyway, one is pleased to report that we docked in Tallinn at the planned port meaning it was a mere 15 – 20 walk to the Old Town in the heart of the city…

Akin to Bruges, the majority of the Old Town comprises of cobbled streets and drop curbs are scarce making it a nightmare for Superbunny plus the pavements become very tight at points! However, if you look beyond this, the area does have stunning architecture!

Now, financial districts, yes one knows that I have a thing for them everywhere I go but they do have their uses as on this occasion. As you might expect reading the above, nearly all the shops and restaurants in the Old Town have steps whereas the New Town with all it’s glass skyscrapers doesn’t thus that’s where we eat.

The New Town is in stark contrast with smooth pavements and drop curbs as you would expect making it much easier to roll around for a wheelchair user…

Tomorrow we dock in St Petersburg in Russia where we will spend 2 days (Saturday and Sunday) touring the city with ‘I Love Travel’ including an accessible boat tour which should be an experience!

This morning we docked in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. Unlike Copenhagen, the port is situated within walking distance of the centre (if you know where your going!). We began our meander into the centre with Superbunny by following some fellow passengers who turned out to be lost also, in fact, one is pretty sure that we did a massive circle! On consultation of Google Maps, it turned out that we still had a 45 minute walk ahead of us and it was at this point that we ditched the ‘walking into the centre’ plan. When one researched Stockholm prior to the cruise. I discovered that the city possesses an observation deck quite close to the port and it was this that became the foundation of our new plan. In order to get to the Kaknäs Tower, it was necessary to traverse through the Ladugårdsgärdet area consisting of lush greenery and forestry, quite surreal considering it’s in the middle of the city!

The tower itself stands majestically on a hill and offers panoramic views, quite cheap too, around £6pp…

On reflection of this Baltic cruise, it seems that it may have been better to have a private tour guide picking us up directly from port as it has become clear that, unlike the Caribbean, the ports are much further out of town! Saying that, we have a tour booked for St Petersburg and sourcing one as we speak for Helsinki on Monday.

Tomorrow, we dock in Tallinn, Estonia where the port seems to be in proximity to the city centre!

Today was the turn of visiting the Danish capital, Copenhagen, sound familiar? As we spent 4 days here last year, the plan was to take a leisurely stroll into town and visit what we missed i.e. a walk around Nyhavn and The Opera House. Now this is me your talking about, nothing ever seems to go to plan! One woke up this morning expecting to be docked nearish to the Opera House but no, we seemed to be docked in a cross-between industrial estate and barren wasteland some 7 mile away with the only real option to hop on the shuttle bus. In the UK, especially in Bristol where you have Avonmouth docks, you see conventional coaches with no wheelchair access to and from the city centre. One therefore thought it best to leave Superbunny to the confines of the ship and head out in the manual wheelchair. A thought then crossed the mind, this ship is full of people with mobility scooters so how were they supposed to get to the centre? Unbeknown to us, the cruise line laid on accessible transport for just that purpose!

The one thing I remember from visiting Denmark (and I think Sweden has similar) is that for many of the pavements that are cobbled, they have essentially wheel lanes comprising of concrete slabs making for an easy roll for wheelchair users..

We headed down to Nyhavn to grab lunch, it needs to be noted that many restaurants in this area have steps either up or down so eating al fresco is the only viable option or, in ones case, be carried down a flight of stairs!

Before heading back to The Sapphire Princess, one couldn’t resist a roll around the perimeter of The Opera House. As expected from a Scandinavian country, the area is fully wheelchair accessible…

Our next port of call is Stockholm in Sweden on Thursday!

Bruges, the so-called hidden gem of Belgium. As mentioned in the previous post, a taxi was necessary to transport us from the port of Zeebrugge into the centre. One chose to use a company called Hendricks Taxis, however, little did we know that taxis are not allowed in the actual port area! After chatting to a guy on the dock, he radioed through and allowed the driver to literally drive up to the ship, we were then all set for the short journey into the city…famous last words!

Now, when the taxi aka van left portside, the sat nav informed us that we would arrive at 10:13am. This time came and guess where we were…the middle of the Belgium countryside driving through little villages! I think the whole palaver was due to a brand new road linking the port to the city not registering on the system resulting in a very confused sat nav.

In terms of accessibility, Bruges reminded me a lot of Reykjavik in Iceland, your main chain shops and restaurants i.e. Carrefour are all level and accessible, however, if you are seeking something more local, bar the few odd buildings here and there, you have no chance! The majority of shops and restaurants have steps and even when there is level access, the doors are quite tight and much too narrow for Superbunny resulting in lunch at Burger King which was another palaver! The seating area was upstairs so common sense prevails to install a passenger lift but no, the delivery lift in this BK is the preferred choice of elevation and, shock horror, it broke on the way back down meaning a swift trip to the kitchen was necessary for a reboot.

One was lucky enough to be dropped off in the main square meaning that all the sighs were within walking distance but beware, certainly the centre of Bruges is mainly cobble stones so a bumpy ride but definitely worth a visit!

Our taxi driver seemed to find the correct way back to the ship which took 20 minutes rather than an hour! Tomorrow, one has a day at sea before arriving at the next port of call on Tuesday, Copenhagen in Denmark!

Something felt not quite right today as we headed down to Southampton to begin our 2 week Baltic Cruise aboard the Sapphire Princess, perhaps one associates travelling with flying from Heathrow, Gatwick or even Bristol! The thought that you can travel to Russia by boat from the UK is one of which I had never thought of before now.

Anyway, we chose to purchase cruise parking on a ‘meet and greet’ basis enabling us to simply drive the van to the terminal and then the staff take care of the rest! Now, one is not being ageist here (honestly!) but it is common knowledge that cruises are mainly targeted at, shall we say…the older generation? This thought stuck with me as we made our way through the terminal and onto the majestic ship. One would say, bar from a few kids, we are some of the youngest on here! Nonetheless the staterooms (albeit a little outdated) are majestic, here’s the view from ones balcony…

It was at this point that one discovered a joyous safety video on the TV. You get all sorts these days but this one seems to top that. Think of a Disney song but then a bit of a cheese whilst conveying a meaningful message of what to do if the boat was to sink (what a thought to have).

Our first port of call tomorrow is Bruges in Belgium, however the ship docks in a neighbouring village meaning a taxi is necessary to travel to the centre so we will see how that goes!