Convoys and the Long Way Home

[drron]

Wednesday and we arrive in Murmansk.The first impressions were not great and didn't improve-

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Some of the buildings we passed on the bus.The second picture is their main train station-

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The statue is of a local hero a 16 year old who "exploded"himself with a grenade when surrounded by Germans in the last war.

 

[drron]

Murmansk was founded in 1916.Our first stop was at their local parliament building-

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In front of it is a site that was to be a cathedral.Naturally after 1917 those plans were scrapped but apparently it may finally go ahead-

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You didn't have to go far to find a more typical Murmansk building-

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More shots from the bus-

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[drron]

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The next stop was the WW2 memorial.Close to a lake with local tourist facilities.Also great views over the city and port-

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Some people giving the statue perspective.Also the eternal flame.

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[drron]

Heroic Russian cities and a tribute to the anti aircraft gunners-

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More views including the housing in this area which is more modern.Some from the 60s but more built in the 70s and 80s.

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[drron]

Next stop was a memorial to the women of Murmansk.naturally the workers there planting out the summer flowers were all women.The terrible lock craze has even spread to Murmansk.And more depressing apartment blocks-

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The post war housing.Facilities were outside.Never the less people are still living in these-

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The next stop was an orthodox church and a sea farers memorial-

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[drron]

And an event that should be more widely recognised-

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This was a real Russian church as it had a shop staffed by babushkas.

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Below the church at the fake light house was the memorial to those who died in the Kursk-a nuclear sub that sank in 2000.

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[drron]

More from the bus including 2 new shopping malls and Mr Lenin-

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More highlights!

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[drron]

The last stop was at the Radisson for crepes + coffee or tea.The crepes were nice the coffee not.

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We had about 40 minutes after the crepes to visit their souvenir shop.I once again snuck off and wandered the local area.Came across a bride with a small group going to the reception probably-

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Not surprisingly near a western chain hotel were several currency exchanges.All exactly the same.Once again there seemed to be a lack of maintenance.

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[drron]

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Saw at least 3 of these places with large smokestacks.Turns out to be Murmansk's central heating system.Steam pumped around town in pipes which again seem to lack maintenance-

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So back to the ship.Immigration not so painful here.You picked up your passport,handed it to a Russian official who took a green sticker out.When you reboarded a red sticker taken out.Still took nearly 2 hours to get to this point but at least our tour left on time.
We noticed a black car at each end of the ship with a guy in a dark suit inside.Then a ship berthed in front of us and a black car parked next to that-? Putin's Paranoid Puppets?

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The tender for refuelling us arrived two hours late.This had a much larger impact on us than thought.That next.

 

[drron]

Because the refuelling was 2 hours late sail away was put back from 2pm to 4pm.Unfortunately when 4pm came the Russian navy closed the port.Said to be just coincidence but I asked what was likely to happen and was told probably the port will reopen about 11.30pm and the Cloud would leave just after midnight so Silverseas would have to pay another day's port charges.
So much later it was announced the port would reopen at 11.30pm and we sailed just after midnight.
So pictures of sail away-

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Continuing sail away-

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[drron]

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Thought it my duty to photograph the navy-

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It was now 1am so I went to bed.Naturally just after I had done that but the Russian airforce sent 2 jets to fly over the Cloud.

 

[RooFlyer]

Enjoying the ride up north.

The church under construction reminded me of the cruise between St Petersburg and Moscow - at almost every site we visited, the front buildings / churches were covered in scaffolding - everything in Russia is being renovated (but maybe Murmansk hasn't caught up fully ).

 

[PLANT]

Let's see some pics of the cars and KGB???
What are you eating?

 

[drron]

Enjoying the ride up north.

The church under construction reminded me of the cruise between St Petersburg and Moscow - at almost every site we visited, the front buildings / churches were covered in scaffolding - everything in Russia is being renovated (but maybe Murmansk hasn't caught up fully ).

Our guide in Archangel was quite honest.She initially said the church was being renovated but later admitted it had been totally destroyed in the 30s and now was being rebuilt.I think most probably fit that scenario.

Let's see some pics of the cars and KGB???
What are you eating?

Didn't take a picture of the cars but in the 4th pic in post 261 between the line of 5 cars and the ship you can see the black car.But not KGB these days.I have christened them the PPP.Putin's Paranoid Puppets.

 

[drron]

The delay meant we miss the port of Alta and have 2 sea days to get back to time.It meant also that we now took the inner route through the fjords so hopefully some great scenery.On the first day we had made the Norwegian coast.Must be the most northerly wind farm in Europe,lots of little fishing vessels and finally the island of Mageroya-

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We now turned south of Mageroya so missed Nordkapp from the sea.Passed the fishing villages but had to pick up a pilot-

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Some nice scenery along the coast of Mageroya Island-

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[drron]

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[drron]

At the narrowest part of the channel separating the island and the mainland the current was quite strong-

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Shortly after I recognised the place where the Sami swim the reindeer to the mainland at the end of summer.Must judge the timing accurately-

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A fishing boat heading into a tiny settlement-

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[drron]

In the distance an Aida ship heads north-

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[drron]

A lovely dinner that evening but things were starting to change.First getting more clouds-

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[drron]

Then the fog started rolling in-

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Friday and fog all day.Still enjoyable company and went to the show-British songs of the 60s.Enjoyable.