Steve and Cathy's Blog

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, …” – Mark Twain

We learned of this quotation by Mark Twain from Peter Croyle, the excellent guest lecturer on our last cruise. If there was ever a place that challenged our deep-set attitudes and preconceptions, this is it. We were both raised as Cold War kids, and our objectivity about Russia is nonexistent. It is taking everything we have to lay off the KGB jokes and put aside our mild concerns about Russian antipathy toward Americans. This is a good test of Mr. Twain’s maxim.

We aren’t due in port until noon, and our tours don’t begin after 2. We spend most of the morning in Horizons. Part of our time there is spent talking to Sharon (the woman on our ATW cruise from Arizona). We discuss Valdimir the beluga whale we saw in Hammerfest, and she shares her excellent photos of him being fed. We have the “Taste of Morocco” lunch in the GDR, have a visit from two maintenance department guys trying to fix the door to our veranda, and watch the scenery go by.

Nautica has traveled up a narrow bay for about an hour, and we see Murmansk as the heavily industrialized port that it is. We will find out later that the port area extends for almost 12 kilometers (around 7.5 miles), and is covered with piers, ships, cranes, railroad lines and all manner of bulk commodities. Steve is entranced. 

We come to the head of the bay where the city itself is located, and put into the “passenger” pier. A cruise terminal it ain’t, as outside our stateroom window we watch cranes unload coal from railroad cars, piling it up on the shore for reshipment to who knows where. As a cruise ship destination, this city has a long way to go, but municipal hopes are high.

Murmansk was only a small village when it was really established in 1916 after rail lines were hastily built from Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) after the Central Powers (i.e., Germany) cut off the Baltic and Black Sea supply routes during WWI. It is most famously known as the end of the Murmansk Run, a convoy route for ships bringing supplies to Russia during WWII (a conflict that the Russians call The Great Patriotic War). Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the port has diminished significantly in industrial importance, but as it is the western end of the Northeast Passage, and climate change is making possible year-round transit of that sea route possible, Murmansk may return to its former prominence.

Our excursions – Cathy and I are splitting up for the first time ever – begin at 2:15 and 2:45pm. In both cases, the immigration process does nothing to erase our preconceptions about Russian officialdom. Cruise Director Shawn Carter has very carefully and very specifically laid out the procedure. First of all, we have signed Migration Cards, which are to be turned over to immigration officers. We must carry our passports whenever we are on shore. We must be sure to have our ship id cards with us. We must have our excursion ticket with us at all times. Other than the ship card, no other country has or will require any of these other documents.

When we booked this cruise, Oceania also notified us of another Russian tourist requirement: without an official visa obtained directly from a Russian consulate, we are not allowed to leave the ship except on an excursion booked through the cruise line.There is no walking around Russia on our own. 

We’re not sure but what US immigration rules and procedures for Russians aren’t similarly strict. Cold War enmity between our countries continues, but the strictness of the rules and the complexity of the required documentation is not the warm welcome that will melt our “prejudices” away.

Because we are taking separate excursions, we will write about our experience separately. Steve will start:

My excursion is entitled City Highlights and MSCO Shipping Museum, and it begins at 2:45pm. Off the ship, through the very thorough but not-unfriendly examination of our documents, and we head for the bus. Our guide’s name is Tatiana (“but you can call me Tanya if it’s easier”). She introduces her city to us, and I will head into Random Fact Mode to relate what my notes say:

• Murmansk was named Murman by the Romanov czars, but the name was changed to Murmansk in 1917 after its establishment as a port city.
• It is located on the Kola Peninsula, which has the Barents Sea to the north and the White Sea to the south. One third of the peninsula (the inland part) is in the permafrost region of the country, which gives us a good idea of how cold it must get inland in the winter.
• Murmansk is on the 68^thparallel, and thus is north of the Arctic Circle. 
• The city has many parks full of flowers, owing to the relatively warm climate thanks to the Atlantic Ocean currents. Winter temperatures average -10 degrees C. in the winter and 10 degrees C. in the summer. 
• Today it’s in the single digits Celsius (around 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit).
• Climatically, winter begins around the end of October, although they often get snow in September. Arctic night begins on November 20^thand ends on January 20^th.
•  The port, as mentioned above is 12 kilometers long, and is actually four separate ports, one after another. Each one has a specific purpose, those being 1) fishing, 2) passenger, 3) commercial, and 4) icebreakers.
• Speaking of which, nine nuclear icebreakers call Murmansk their home port.
• The distance to St. Petersburg is 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) and 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles). The distance to the North Pole is 1,451 miles.

As we proceed through the city, Tatiana continues to talk about the history of the city. She is careful to describe the period of 1989 and thereafter as the Reform period of Russian history. She is fairly forthright about the “Soviet period,” as she refers to it. As cautious as she is in her descriptions, there is no doubt that almost every citizen of this country regards the Great Socialist Experiment as a dark period of Russian history, and we see evidence of it everywhere, especially in the buildings and the condition of the infrastructure. Now, as hard as we are trying to “think anew” about Russia, I just have to say that Soviet Russia must have been one gawdawful place to live. And I cannot possibly resist saying this: anyone in the United States of America espousing the wonderful nirvana that is socialism must, must visit modern Russia. They are trying, trying to shake a 70-year old nightmare, and the hangover from this dreadful, awful part of their history lingers. How in God’s name anyone would want to trade our imperfect but free society for the guaranteed misery and poverty and squalor that socialism produces is a complete mystery to me. 

Okay, now back to the tour. We are traveling down Lenina Avenue (obviously named after Vladimir Lenin), the main street of Murmansk. Tatiana explains that, while most cities in Russia immediately expunged that name wherever it existed, Murmansk citizens decided to keep it, citing the fact that he is indeed a part of their history. 

We come to our first stop at a lovely park. As we walk through, we see lilac bushes growing profusely. Now granted they are a special type that blooms later than ours, but you can’t help but marvel at seeing lilacs in July! We also see Murmansk’s highest building, the 19-story Azimut Hotel. 19 stories is the building height limit here due to the permafrost. It was built during the Soviet period to as a “monument to the victims of foreign intervention.”

Soon we come to the Palace of Culture, built in what Tatiana refers to as “Stalinist architecture” and named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov. Kirov was a leading Communist party official born and raised in the area that was one of Josef Stalin’s closest friends … until Kirov became a revered figure in his home town. That was seen as a threat to Comrade Stalin, and Kirov was mysteriously assassinated on December 1, 1934. It wasn’t until government archives were opened up after “the reforms” in the 1990s that the world learned that Stalin, fearing Kirov’s popularity, had him murdered. 

Nearby is a small monument that serves as the cornerstone marking the beginning of the building of Murmansk. Originally it was to have been the cornerstone for a cathedral, but the Bolshevik revolution, in their attempt to banish all religion, put the kybosh on that idea. You just have to admire these fun-loving Bolsheviks, don’t you? 

Okay, we also pass by the Duma, another example of Stalinist architecture (it’s the columns that were put on all that type of architecture that sets it apart). The regional government still inhabits this huge building, and you can still see the Hammer & Sickle adornments on it. 

It’s back on the bus as we head to our next stop. We pass an actual new shopping mall (Tatiana: there is no Russian word for mall, but younger Russians understand that word) located on Five-Corner Square (Pyat Iglov), which only has four corners. Why is it called Five Corner? Because there is one in St. Petersburg, and that one doeshave five corners. 

Tatiana continues to give us many nuggets of Russian and Murmansk info:

• While Murmansk remains the largest city north of the Arctic Circle, it was once much larger – population of around 500,000 in 1980. Now the population is 300,000 because 1) closures of the many military bases once located here, and 2) the death rate has exceeded the birth rate for decades. That statistic fortunately has been reversed in the past three years.
• Most of the housing we drive by is from the Khrushchev era, and it looks it. Another stereotype that is almost impossible to expunge from our minds. We will have photos when the Internet permits us to enter them.
• In 1990, almost all construction in the city ceased, as the new government closed military bases, moved regional offices, shut down much of the port activity and such. Just recently, construction has resumed.

We arrive at our next stop, the MSCO Shipping Museum. MSCO, or the Murmansk Shipping Company, was founded in 1939. It has grown considerably, and is the principal shipping company in the Russian Arctic and much of northern Europe. Its offices used to be in the building that now houses the museum, but they outgrew it and turned it into a wonderful museum in 1977.

The people of Murmansk are justifiably proud of their Arctic maritime history and tradition, and I could have spent all day here (if it weren’t for the fact that every single sign is in Russian, written, of course, in the Cyrillic alphabet, making them utterly indecipherable to me). Fortunately, we had a very informative guide named Maria, who spoke Russian with Tatiana interpreting. 

As Maria took us from room to room, we were treated to a quick overview of what we were seeing. One subject that Maria covered extensively was Murmansk’s role in WWII as the port through which Lend Lease and war materiel flowed to Russia. The convoys of liberty and other ships were in extremely dangerous waters, and over 3,000 merchant marines and sailors died trying to escape the German Navy. The city of Murmansk was bombed heavily – as heavily as Stalingrad. I can’t even imagine the nightmare it must have been unloading the ships and transferring all the cargo while very often being under continual bombardment.

The other subject covered extensively was the development of icebreakers. The first one was the Ermak, and that was actually built in Newcastle, Great Britain in 1899 (but of Russian design). Maria explained how this ship was built sort of in the shape of an egg. It broke the ice not by crashing into it with the bow but by riding up on to the ice, breaking it with the weight of the ship. This method is still the one in use.

The first nuclear icebreaker was introduced in 1959 – another Russian first. It was named the Leningrad, and is docked next to our ship, and it is soon to celebrate its 60^thanniversary. We also saw a model of this icebreaker, another of the first one to reach the North Pole, and also a detailed model of the largest cargo ship operating in the Arctic northern route. I loved this stuff!

Our tour lasted about an hour, and was just an introduction to this extensive collection of memorabilia, models and other historical documents. On our way out of the last room of models, we were urged to ring a ship’s bell, which would bring us good luck. 

Then it was back on the bus to stop number three: Murmansk Alyosha, an enormous statue dedicated to the WWII defenders of the Soviet Arctic that miraculously were able Hitler’s forces from capturing the city in 1941. It is 36.5 metres high and weighs 5,000 tons. It was built in pieces in St. Petersburg, transported by rail to Murmansk and on a high hill overlooking the city, and is really quite impressive. In addition to this memorial, there is a WWII anti-aircraft artillery piece, which Tatiana proudly says was manned by young girls – quite effectively, we are told. Speaking of impressive, one very touching custom in Murmansk is for brides and grooms to come to Alyosha before their wedding day to pay respects to those for whom the monument is dedicated. 

By the way, it is as cold today as it has been on the entire trip, with temps in the low 40s. Up here on this hill, with the wind blowing at 25-30mph, it is absolutely freezing – on July 13^th, no less. 

We wind down the hill past apartment building after apartment building, all built at least fifty or sixty years ago. I certainly look at them as monuments in themselves; monuments to the bleak and unhappy existence of the people forced to inhabit them during the glory years of Communist subjugation.

Our last stop is the Saint Nicolas Church, a beautiful Russian Orthodox church. We take just a few minutes to see the inside, and leave just before services are to begin at 6pm. Tatiana explains that, while several churches in Murmansk remained open during the Soviet era, and attending church wasn’t officially banned, many of those who chose to attend were harassed and otherwise made miserable by the authorities. It took an act of bravery to practice their faith. Citizens of Murmansk now celebrate their ability to worship as they please.

While there, we walk down a road for about fifty yards to view two more memorials. The first is the Lighthouse Memorial, a memorial dedicated to seamen lost at sea in the Arctic (of which there have been many hundreds due to both war and the incredibly harsh winter environment). Nearby is also a memorial dedicated to all soldiers and sailors that died during peacetime. The memorial is actually the conning tower of the Russian nuclear submarine Kurskthat accidentally sank in the Barents Sea in 1980 with the loss of all hands.

Tatiana looks at her watch and suggests one more stop: at a statue depicting a Waiting Woman. In a seafaring city such as Murmansk, this statue of a woman looking out at the sea speaks to all those who wait at home for their sailors to return. Tatiana does say that locals wonder if this 2012 bronze statue is of a woman waving goodbye to her departing man or a woman waving hello at his return. It is a very poignant reminder of the loneliness felt by those left on land by their seafaring men.

Well, it is time to return to the ship. Tatiana says with great sincerity that she hopes that our visit has brought us closer to the Russian people. She adds that it is people at our level of society and not the leadership that, if allowed, would most likely be friends. She is echoing Cathy’s and my sentiments exactly, and we wish every ordinary person in this nation a good future. They’ve earned it.

Cathy’s turn to talk about her excursion entitled Murmansk Highlights and Oceanarium Visit: It was a blast! In a very small round aquarium where we were the only people, about 60 of us. There were four seals of different sizes ranging from very small to gigantic, doing the standard things: waving, clapping, balancing balls on their noses, pointing at things. The announcer spoke to our guide in Russian and he translated. Our tour also saw the Kirov memorial, and cathedral. Also Alyosha which was very cool, very Soviet looking. I think there should be a term like “Soviet Art Deco” to describe the style. I had an interesting chat with a couple from South Africa about our perceptions of WWII. Our guide called it “The Great Patriotic War,” which is what they call it in Russia. We talked about the huge difference between countries that were attacked and countries that weren’t. Like America and South Africa. I asked how things were going and they said not good. There are rolling blackouts now in certain parts of the country where the power companies are being run by incompetent corrupt bozos. The future of South Africa is not looking good. Our tour also saw the wedding parties with the photo taking. Very cool. Everyone cheered them. 

Cathy and I meet back at the room and head off for dinner … somewhere. We compare notes on the two excursions we took. Both tours took us to several of the same places, so it was interesting to get perspectives from each other and share those of the guides we had.  Our first day in Russia was very, very interesting.