1st of November 2026 - Arrival at Oporto

Today I flew into Oporto from Birmingham arriving to great views of Oporto from the air.

I managed to catch a photo of the Arrábida Bridge which is an arch bridge over the Douro River.  Tomorrow our ship starts our cruise of the Douro River.

12th of August 2026 - Stockholm

Stockholm stretched across fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic Sea with very much a waterfront character.  We started our day with a walk along the waterfront to the Vasa Museum.

 

The Vasa Museum houses the Vasa, a 17th‑century warship that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628 in the waters of Stockholm.  The Vasa was recovered, very much preserved, more than 300 years later.  It was impressive to see the Vasa's towering masts and ornate carvings.

Outside the city to the east, and along the coast, is the island chain of the Stockholm archipelago.  We took a short boat trip past some of Stockholm's islands to the edge of the archipelago.

We then walked back to Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s medieval Old Town, past the Royal Palace.

In the evening we went to the cocktail bar on the top floor for some last views of Stockholm.  This is my last entry for our visit to the Baltic countries.  The biggest surprise I had on this holiday was seeing a road sign for St Petersburg in Tallinn.  We were roughly 95–100 miles (about 150–160 km) from Russia.  Russia’s past impact on the Baltic states was shaped by decades of domination, first through the Russian Empire and later under Soviet rule.  Even after regaining independence in 1991, the legacy of occupation influenced everything from citizenship laws to security policy.  Recently the Baltic states have pursued rapid integration with NATO and the EU as a safeguard against renewed Russian pressure.

11th of August 2026 - Arrival in Stockholm

Today we left our ship and transferred to an hotel in Stockholm.  We walked from the hotel to Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s medieval Old Town.  Gamla Stan is an island district of cobbled lanes and 13^th century narrow alleyways forming the historic heart of Sweden’s capital.

 

We found a delightful restaurant in Gamla Stan to have a delicious Swedish version of duck confit.  The cocktails, a Stockholm version of a Moscow Mule, were good too.

 

After our meal we walked back to our hotel past the Royal Palace (Kungliga slottet), Sweden’s official royal residence and one of Europe’s largest functioning palaces and along the waterfront.

10th of August 2026 - Helsinki

Helsinki is the modern Nordic capital of Finland where Baltic seaside calm meets sleek Scandinavian design.  Our visit here was mostly a coach tour showing us the cities highlights.

The statue is of Paavo Nurmi, Finland’s legendary long‑distance runner known as the “Flying Finn”.  Active in the 1920s, Paavo Nurmi won nine Olympic gold medals and set 22 official world records.

We visited the Sibelius Monument, which is a tribute to Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, set in a quiet park near the sea in Töölö.  It consists of over 600 hollow steel pipes clustered like an abstract wave or forest, capturing the spirit of Sibelius’s music and Finland’s northern landscapes.  Beside it stands a realistic bronze portrait of the composer.

The Rock Church (Temppeliaukio Church), one of Helsinki’s most distinctive landmarks, was carved directly into solid natural bedrock in the 1960s.  Its circular interior, rough stone walls and copper domed roof create a cave like acoustic space that’s used for concerts as well as worship.  The church, filled with natural light from the skylight ring, blends modern architecture with Finnish geology.

The bronze statue of Tsar Alexander II, standing at the centre of Senate Square was unveiled in 1894.  The statue shows the emperor elevated on a tall pedestal surrounded by allegorical figures representing law, culture, peace and light.  The monument reflects a period when Finland enjoyed autonomy within the Russian Empire.

The white Lutheran Cathedral above Senate Square is Helsinki Cathedral.

Sailing out of Helsinki we had a good view of Finland’s longest and tallest bridge, the Kruunuvuorensilta, which dominates the Helsinki skyline.  It opened in April 2026 and is unusual because it is built exclusively for trams, pedestrians, and cyclists with no car traffic.

Several inhabited islands with houses sit right off Helsinki’s coastline.  These islands are typically connected to mainland utilities by subsea cables and underwater pipes or have robust standalone systems.

9th of August 2026 - Tallinn

The capital city of Estonia is Tallinn and is located on a bay in northern Estonia on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea.

Our first visit was to Tallinn’s amphitheatre, the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds (Tallinna Lauluväljak), which is one of Estonia’s most important cultural landmarks and the heart of the country’s massive choral tradition.

The trees around the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds form a green belt that frames the amphitheatre and creates a natural approach to the site. They include the historic oak alley planted in 1969 which acts as a symbolic entrance route and memorial corridor linked to Estonia’s Song Festival tradition.

 

We then visited Toompea Hill, the historic limestone plateau at the heart of Tallinn, which is Estonia’s traditional seat of power.  It rises above Tallinn's beautifully preserved UNESCO-listed medieval Old Town with cobbled lanes, Gothic spires and sturdy stone walls.

The Orthodox church in Tallinn’s Old Town is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a late 19th century Russian Orthodox landmark.  It was built in 1900 during the Russian Empire period and features onion domes, black cupolas and a richly decorated façade with mosaics and icons.