Baltic Cruise, 2026
In May, 2026. I took a 12 day cruise on Sapphire Princess, to the Baltic. It started and ended in Copenhagen, and went to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. I had been to Norway, Sweden and Denmark, but the other countries were new to me.
I flew to Copenhagen two days early, and stayed in the Comfort Hotel. There was a covered passage from the airport to the hotel, with signs indicating the way. The next day, I took the metro to the Kongens Nytorv station. I walked outside, and could see Nyhavn Harbor. Nearby, was a street called Stroget, which is one of Europe's longest pedestrian streets, with shops and restaurants. I walked around the harbor area and could see the Copenhagen Opera House. I did not go inside. I walked to Amalienborg Palace, and watched the Changing of the Guard at noon. The palace consists of four identical buildings in a square, with a statue of King Frederik V in the center. It is the home of the Danish Royal Family. I then walked down Frederiksgade, to a large domed church called Frederik's Church, or Marble Church. There was some private event going on inside the church, so I couldnot go inside. I then walked to Kastellat, a large park. I saw the statue of The Little Mermaid, St Alban's Church, the Citadel Windmill, and the Gefion Fountain. I walked to Christiansborg Palace. The State Rooms were closed for a few days, and I did not want to see the Kitchen or Stables, so I did not go inside. There was a line to climb the tower, so I skipped that too. The palace houses the Danish Parliament,the Supreme Court and the Royal Reception Rooms. I walked to Rosenborg Castle, which is in the middle of a large park called King's Garden. The castle contains the Danish Crown Jewels. Tickets were sold out for the day, so I was not able to go inside. I walked back to Nyhavn, and took the metro back to the airport, and walked back to my hotel.
The next day, I walked back to the airport, and took the ship's transfer to the cruise port.
We arrived in Skagen, Denmark, on Day 2. The small town is walking distance from the pier. They had free maps at the dock, so I took a map, and walked into town. The center of the town is very pretty. There were signs to Grenen, which is the northernmost tip of Denmark, where the North Sea meets the Baltic Sea. Its about 2.6 km from town, along an easy paved path. Along the way, I saw the White Lighthouse and the Grey Lighthouse. The White Lighthouse was built in 1747, and is the oldest lighthouse in Denmark. Originally built of red brick, it was painted white in the early 1800s. It had a closed lantern at the top, but they feared that the windows would freeze in winter and conceal the lantern light, so they replaced the lantern with a coal fire. In 1858, it was replaced with the larger Grey Lighthouse. Starting in 1871, the White Lighthouse was used as a signalling station, with signalling balls hung from the lighthouse, to warn ships of sea conditions. I had wanted to continue on to Grenen, but I was not sure how much further it was, so I turned back at the Grey Lighthouse. I later found out that it was only 0.3 km from the Grey Lighthouse to Grenen, and I could have easily done it. After lunch on the ship, I walked to the Buried Church, which is 3.7 km from the port. It is well signed, but you need to take notes of the turns, because when coming back, there are no signs pointing back, and indicating where the town or port is. You have to take notes of whether you turned left or right at each sign, and do the reverse when coming back. The church was built in the 2nd half of the 14th century. The sand moved and covered most of the church, by the end of the 18th century. Today, only the tower is visible. There is a door and a stone spiral staircase that leads to the top of the toweer. It is narrow and difficult if there are people going up and down at the same time.
We arrived in Oslo, Norway, on Day 3. I had been to Oslo before, so instead of buying any tours, I just walked to Akershus Fortress and toured the interior. After lunch on the ship, I wanted to walk to the Royal Palace. I did not have any good maps, and did not find it. It is only open from late June to middle August and tickets sell out fast.
Day 4 was a sea day.
We arrived in Gdynia, Poland, on Day 5. Sapphire Princess is too big to dock in Gdansk, so we docked in Gdynia, which is about an hour's drive from Gdansk. I had bought a 'Gdansk on Own' tour. The bus dropped us off near the old town, with a map of all the attractions, and picked us up later on. Gdansk is a relly pretty town, with amazing architecture. I entered through the Green Gate. I saw the Fountain of Neptune, City Hall, Prison Tower, a city gate called 'The Crane', the Armory, Golden Gate and St Mary's Basilica. I was able to go inside St Mary's Basilica. While inside, my phone thought something was wrong, and made me wait for 30 minutes before I could turn it back on again.
We arrived in Klaipeda, Lithuania, on Day 6. I had booked a tour that went to Nida and the Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, shared by both Lithuania and Kalinigrad. This was not all that great. The bus left the port and took a car ferry to get to this place. We also visited the Thomas Mann Memorial. He was a German Nobel Prize winner, who lived in Lithuaia.
We arrived in Riga, Latvia, on Day 7. Riga has got to be one of the prettiest towns in Europe. There were a lot of pretty buildings with great architecture. There is a canal that runs through town, separating the old town and the new town. The port is a 10-15 minute walk from the old town. I took a tour that showed us all the highlights of Riga. After the tour, I opted to stay in town, and walk back to the pier.
We arrived in Tallinn, Estonia, on Day 8. Tallinn is another very pretty town, with amazing architecture. The old town is a 10-15 minute walk from the pier. Tallinn has an upper and lower old own. I took a tour that showed us all the highlights of the old town, and after the tour, I opted to stay in town, and walk back to the pier. Toompea Castle is an mediavel castle that currently houses the Estonian Parliament. The Alexander Nevsky Church is across from the Parliament and is free to enter. I saw several churches and city gates, including Fat Margaret and Viru Gate. I also walked a little on a portion of the city walls. St Catherine's Passage is a very pretty medieval passage way.
We arrived in Helsinki, Finland, on Day 9. The pier is not close to the city, so I took a tour. We visited the Rock Church. The interior was excavated and built from solid granite. Natural light enters through a skylight surrounding the center copper dome. Most of the church is below the ground. We drove past the Olympic Stadium and visited the Sibelius Monument. We then went to the Helsinki Cathedral Square, where we had some free time. I went inside the Cathedral, then walked to the Presidential Palace and the Uspenski Cathedral. I wanted to walk to the Railway Station, which we had seen from the bus, but it seemed to be too far.
We arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, on Day 10. The ship docked in Nynashamn, which was an hour's drive from Stockholm, so I took a tour that dropped us off in the city and picked us up later. This tour did not provide us with any maps, which made it difficult to find any of the places I wanted to see. I saw some signs for the Royal Palace, so I went there and went inside. From there, I managed to find my way to the main square, Stortorget Square, in Gamla Stan. This square has some pretty colorful houses on one side. The square also has the Nobel Prize Museum, but I did not go inside. In the center of the square, is the Stortorgsbrunnen, or central well. I also passed several churches and eventually found the City Hall, which is the venue for the Nobel Prize Banquet. You can only go inside as part of an escorted tour, and luckily there was one in English, soon. The interior of the City Hall is very grand, especially the Gold Room.
We arrived at our last port, Visby, Sweden, on Day 11. The town was a short walk from the puer, and they provided us with free maps. I visited the Visby Cathedral, which was free to enter. I saw the ruins of several churches, the largest being the Saint Karins Ruins. I also saw the Saint Nicolai church ruins, and Heige And (Holy Spirit) church ruins. The city has walls, but I didn't see any place where the walls could be climbed.
Day 12 was a sea day, which gave us time to pack. We returned to Copenhagen the next day and flew home.
