Azura's Baltic success...

Hello from Azura!

Well our first Baltic cruise is proving to be a great success. Apart from torrential rain on one of our days in St Petersburg, we’ve had some really lovely weather.

As I said a couple of days ago, I’ve got lots to update you on, so here goes.....

Everybody seemed to love the surprise port of call this week; Tallinn. Tallinn is the capital city of Estonia and is an absolute Baltic gem. I always describe it to people like a cross between a Disney theme park and a little quaint seaside town. It’s just like someone’s opened up a fairy tale book and you’ve stepped inside. It’s a wonderful little medieval city that’s enclosed in a ring of huge stone walls.

The walking in the city isn’t easy – everywhere is made up of cobblestones and high kerbs and there is no transport (apart from a little trolley train and some 3 wheeled bicycles which double up as taxis), but the atmosphere and architecture is stunning.

The city is divided into 2 halves (which isn’t quite as evident today as it was in the past), and it’s very easy to get in between the upper part of town and the lower part.

The upper part of town is home to Estonia’s Government and Parliament, and its high situation offers some of the most fabulous views of the city and the harbour.

Not far from the Parliament building (in the upper part of Tallinn), is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which was built in 1900 on a former garden. Its architecture is perfectly, typically Russian.

Built by the Russians to demonstrate their perceived superiority over resident Germans in Tallinn (and the local Estonian population), this cathedral looks completely out of place compared to the rest of the upper part of town. It is so architecturally and politically incompatible with any other building that surrounds it today, plans are often discussed to completely remove it from the skyline, but there’s such a prominent Russian speaking population in Tallinn today though, none of the plans ever go ahead in fear of the inevitable hostility that it would cause. It’s still a fabulous building to see though; the exterior supports huge onion domes that are typical of Russian church architecture, and inside the building is decorated with colourful mosaics and a great deal of gold.

My favourite part of Tallinn is the Town Hall Square area, which is in the lower part of the city. This is a lovely pedestrianised sector which houses the town hall and is surrounded by open air cafes, bars and restaurants. It’s a real social hub and a great gathering place for locals and tourists.


Straight after Tallinn Azura made her way to St Petersburg, which was obviously the highlight port of the cruise for most people (the Playhouse Theatre was packed to the rafters when I did my Port presentation – to the point where people were sitting on the floor in the aisles!).

For passengers to go ashore in Russia, they need a Russian visa (either obtained before they join the cruise, or via a group visa that’s obtained by P&O Cruises through the Shore Excursions programme).

Well over 6,000 tickets were sold for excursions in St Petersburg and 153 full sized coaches left Azura's side and travelled to every corner of the city and beyond. For such a massive operation, the embarkation and disembarkation of everybody ran very smoothly (despite the torrential rain that we had on the 2nd day of our call and the excursions team getting soaked to the skin and being blamed on several occasions for the fact that the weather was dreadful – all in a day’s work - hahaha) ;o)

We’ve had a record number of comments about one of the full day tours - all of them positive - which is fantastic news! The ‘Palaces of Catherine and Peterhof’ excursion is 9 ¼ hours in length, but my goodness, it’s worth tiring yourself out for! This tour takes you to see the 2 most famous palaces in (or rather, just outside) St Petersburg.

Catherine Palace one of the world’s largest Palaces (standing at almost a kilometre in circumference. It was designed by an Italian Architect (who also designed the Hermitage or Winter palace), and it’s very distinctive because of its bright blue and white façade.



Although the palace is primarily associated with Catherine the Great (Because it was she who brought in the lavish works of art from abroad and spent much of her time enjoying the building and its grounds), it was actually designed for the Tsarina Elizabeth who named it after her mother Catherine 1st (Peter the Great’s wife).

Around the palace are nearly 1,500 acres of gardens, and the grounds are all perfectly manicured, and linked together with lakes and fountains.

The interior of the palace is sure to impress any visitor. There’s a room adorned from floor to ceiling with amber, there’s original art work and sculptures by some of the masters, and there’s a 50m long great hall, which was built and used for exuberant costume balls and galas and completely glitters with mirrors, candles, chandeliers, windows, ornate cherubs, and golden garlands....

What an incredible place!!

Peterhof Palace though, is one of the most incredible places that I’ve ever seen, and somewhere that I’ll never, ever forget.

Peterhof is set to the west of St Petersburg, and was built by and for Peter the Great (who wanted a palace that ‘befitted the very highest of monarchs’). Basically, during a visit to Versailles in 1717, Peter the Great saw new and inspirational designs and architecture that he believed would suit his new and developing city. So he decided to use some of these new architectural ideas and eventually rivalled all of those buildings in Europe with this construction.

5,000 labourers worked with architects, water-engineers, landscape gardeners and sculptors to create what can only be described as an absolute masterpiece. This photo is just one section of the 'Grand Cascade' of fountains that run from the palace, Down through the gardens, and out towards the sea.

Every direction that you turn in Peterhof presents you with an absolute myriad of water and gold, so the whole place just sparkles as soon as the sun rises.

The fountains in the grounds are the most famous attraction and they are fed by underground springs coming down from the nearby hills. Unbelievably, there’s not a single pump used to enhance the design. All of the fountains are created using gravity and water levels alone, which makes you feel even more awe inspired.

Absolutely breathtaking!

I personally did something a little bit different this week in St Petersburg. I’m very lucky and privileged to be able to say that I’ve seen and visited all of the big tourist attractions and landmarks, and after specialising in the Baltic region for a couple of years now, I’ve tried and tested the excursions that run from the ship too.

So, this week I went out with one of the local guides to see where she lived, how she gets to work, where she meets her friends, and where she shops etc. What an education!

St Petersburg isn’t all about the glittering gold of Tsarist Russia. It’s full of people who’ve been suppressed for many years and have had to deal with a great deal since the city sprang up out of the marshlands.

Yana was a similar age to me (I’m guessing - late 20s / early 30s) and lives with her family in a tiny apartment in a tenement block near to the new port area. She was so happy to be living there, with her family alone. She was telling me that many of the tenement blocks of tiny apartments were built to help overcome a serious housing problem in Russia – which consisted largely of communal flats.

Basically, as an example, a huge house would be converted into, say, two 6 bedroom flats (a 6 bedroom flat on the ground floor and a 6 bedroom flat on the upper floor). Each bedroom would be leased to a family and each family would share the one bathroom and kitchen in each flat.

So in a 6 bedroom flat, it wouldn’t be uncommon for about 36 people to be sharing a toilet and a stove.

When Yana told me that her current flat literally consisted of a small kitchen, a small bathroom, and 2 small bedrooms (for her, her parents, and her brothers and sisters to share), I struggled to keep the shock from my face, which unfortunately, in turn, shocked her. She was so excited to tell me that her family had their own space, it really pulled at my heart strings. She thought it was fantastic. I found that hard.

Still, we recognised that our lives were a million miles apart and learnt a great deal from each other.

We went into the metro system (clutching our possessions in fear of being targeted by the thriving pick pocketing industry),

We walked around the local market and spoke to the butchers, watched cheese being made, and smelt the fresh cut flowers,

We went to an Orthodox church service where the women wear skirts and cover their heads and pray to their own chosen icon,

(no photo to show you I’m afraid, for obvious reasons)

And we browsed the shops as trams rattled past, ladies smoking cheap cigarettes sold heather to passers-by, and battered dusty trucks pulled up and parked next to brand new shiny cars (that’s how it seems to be in Russia – some people have nothing and some people have everything. I guess it’ll take many years and a great deal of political change to remedy that).

What an eye opener. Days like that really make me appreciate the life that I live and the luxuries that all of us unintentionally take for granted.

We’re in Copenhagen tomorrow and I’ll tell you all about that in the next couple of days (I’m sure I’ve given you enough food for thought for one day!).

Just before I finish up though, let me just tell you about Jimmy James (70’s Soul legend who sang with the Vagabonds) and his performances last cruise.

I’ve been very fortunate (throughout my TV career and during my years at sea) to see many big musical acts perform, but Jimmy James is one of the few artists that makes my spine tingle when he’s on stage.

Jimmy James is a fantastic guy on and off the stage. He’s easy going and really makes me laugh (which as anyone who's met me will know, is my favourite hobby!).

When the spot lights flick onto Jimmy James' purple suit, his feet start moving, his hips start going and his fingers click. From the second he draws a breath to start singing, he’s got the audience captivated. He’s brilliant (and the only performer I’ve EVER seen on a cruise ship that’s got the entire audience on their feet dancing and rewarding him with a standing ovation).

Here’s a couple of pictures. If any of you are lucky enough to join a ship where Jimmy James is performing, don’t miss his show. Whatever else is happening on the ship that evening, it will never compare to one of Jimmy’s shows!

I’ll update you again with another post in the next day or two (life onboard Azura has calmed down again now that we’ve successfully completed our call to St Petersburg).

Have a wonderful day!

Jo