I know that I am
lucky enough to have traveled more than most people, but there is
still so much of the world I haven't seen. I don't have a bucketlist
of trips I'd like to take, but if I did, this one would probably have
been a check off the list. The reason for that: I finally went north
of the Arctic Circle! Not by much, but I finally did it!
Murmansk is really
far north. Really really far north. I currently live in Moscow, which
is already pretty far north, but it's nothing compared to Murmansk.
Look at the map and you'll see what I mean. Even Wikipedia says the
city is in the far northwest of Russia. The distances from the city
are with the Norweigan and Finnish borders, because nothing else
worth mentioning is anywhere close to Murmansk. Driving from Moscow
to Murmansk, you'll cover nearly 2000 kilometers over almost a 24
hour drive.
Murmansk sits on
the slopes of Kola Bay, and is a major port on the Arctic Ocean.
There are nearly 300,000 residents, which is a lot less than at the
end of the Cold War, when there were almost 470,000 residents. The
city name comes from the word murman, which is an old Russian word
for Norway.
The city isn't very
old, it was the last city founded in the original Russian Empire. The
city was built because there needed to be a port and civilization at
the end of a newly built railway line, durring WW1. Murmansk was
originally known as Romanov on Murman, after the Romanov dynasty that
was still in charge of the empire. That name lasted less than a year,
Murmansk became the official city name in 1917.
Murmansk was
important during WW2, as it was an open port on the Arctic Ocean, and
a supply point for the enormous Red Army. Unfortnately the city
didn't fare well during the war, being damaged nearly as much as
Leningrad and Stalingrad. (Which are now known as St Petersburg and
Volgograd, respectively.)
Though Murmansk is
really far north, it doesn't get super cold. Winters are long and
dark, but the average low temperature is only -13C or so. Trust me
when I say that's not all that cold. Summers don't normally get all
that warm, the average high in July is only 17C. Murmansk is really
humid, nearly all year. Wikipedia tells me it rains most days of the
summer, and snows most days of the winter. It's only during the short
spring and fall seasons that there isn't much precipitation.
We flew up to
Murmansk, landing around 2 in the morning. Since our trip was in
June, it was still light when the plane landed. Claire has talked
about being willing to live in Murmansk for a year, but I don't think
I could handle the major extremes of daylight and darkness throughout
the year.
We hung out in the
airport for a few hours, finding chairs upstairs that didn't have
armrests between each seat. Before dozing on and off for a while we
noticed that the souvenir stalls were open when the flight arrived,
meaning working hours were at 3 in the morning!!
It was easy to
catch a bus into the city center, getting off not far from our hotel.
As it was June, and the normal temperatures aren't super warm, the
heat was still on in our hotel. We just happened to arrive on a day
when the high temperature was 26C, meaning the room we were in was
really really warm.
After a while we
left the room, starting our day by visiting a supermarket. From there
we walked to the first thing we wanted to see in the city: a former
nuclear icebreaker ship. The Lenin is permanently moored in Murmansk,
and it is open for visitors. You have to join a tour group, I think
the tours are quite regular.
We thought we would have to wait a
little, but I think tour groups start as soon as there are enough
people. 1145 certainly isn't a normal tour time.
Obviously the tours
are in Russian. Our particular guide spoke very quickly, giving the
memorized spiel really fast. We had no clue what he was saying, so we
quit paying attention pretty quickly, and just took whateva photos we
could. The tour moved really quickly, so there was no dawdling. We
couldn't risk being totally left behind, as getting around the ship
was rather confusing (to me, at least,) and we never would've made it
out by ourselves. So many hallways and stairwells.
It was neat to see
the ship, I wish I had learned at least a little from what the guide
was saying. At the end of the tour our group had a little more time
to take photos in the bridge of the ship, which was fun.
It started to rain
not long after we got off the Lenin, thank goodness it wasn't far to
the busstop we needed. The rain wasn't so bad because it was so warm,
but the humidity was really uncomfortable, especially once we got on
a bus.
We got off the bus
not far from the Museum of the Northern Fleet, which was in a
building that was probably quite nice a few years ago. The exterior
is in sore need of a new paint job. The museum was well set up, with
plenty of exhibits, (nothing in English,) but the heat was on in
there as well, so we were HOT. We would've spent more time in the
museum if it hadn't been so darn hot. Crazy temperature fluctuations
are one of the cons against central temperature control in a city.
There is a lake in
the middle of the city, we headed there next. As we got close to the
lake to take a few water pictures we became aware of all the bugs, a
hazard that comes alomg with high humidity.
Almost across the
street from the lake is a small church, up on a small hill. The
Church of the Saviour on Waters is dedicated to seamen who have lost
their lives during seatime. It isn't particularly inspiring inside or
outside.
There is a giant
set of stairs leading down from one side of the church, the stairs
bring you to what looks like a lighthouse. It is a lighthouse, but it
is also a memorial dedicated to sailors who have died in the Arctic
Ocean. Right next to the lighthouse is part of a submarine hull, from
the Kursk. The Kursk sank during exercises in 2000, and the Russian
government refused international help during rescue attempts in order
to protect state and technology secrets.
Though we hadn't
seen a lot that day, we were exhausted because of the heat and
humidity and lack of sleep, so we figured out where to get dinner and
then go home. It turned out our hotel wasn't particularly close to
public transport stops, so we walked down more stairs from the
lighthouse monument to a tram stop. The tram took us to a Lenin
statue, where we took a team photo.
From there we were
able to walk to a sushi restaurant, which turned out to have Moscow
restaurant prices, but was worth it. Really good food, beautifully
plated. Our hotel was a three minute walk from the restaurant, so it
was perfect.
It wasn't easy to
sleep that night, but we eventually fell asleep. Thankfully the
temperature had dropped quite a bit by the next morning.
The next morning we
started out by walking a ways to the British War Cemetery. It is
quite small, but really well kept. It's always sad to see the ages at
which military folks lose their lives, and to see how they are
described on their tombstones. I couldn't help but wonder why the
bodies of these dead weren't repatriated to the U.K.
The walk back into
the city center was quite long, and a whole lot colder than the day
before. It was a windy, chilly day, with clouds rolling through
rather quickly. The next stop was a giant whale jawbone on display.
It is just behind a closed fence, you can't see it without the bars
of the fence. There is no protection for the bone, it's just there in
the elements.
From there we
walked toward another memorial. At least, that's what we thought we
were doing, until I looked at the map and realized we had made a
wrong turn. Whoops. We finally found the memorial after turning
around, it was a bit more unique than most WW2 memorials. The
monument is dedicated to the fisherman and ships that were lost
during the defense of the Soviet Polar Region during the Great
Patriotic War. I don't know if it makes sense, but I would describe
it as a stained glass version of a torch with a red mosaic flag on
top.
From there we had
one more major sight to see in the city, and we needed a bus to get
there. The name of the monument is Alyosha, and it's huge. It sits at
the top of a hill on the north side of the city, overlooking much of
the city and the bay. Alyosha is dedicated to everyone who gave their
lives in the defense of the Soviet Polar Region during the Great
Patriotic War.
The monument has a couple areas with named engraved,
but is mostly a really really big statue of a soldier.
We took another
team picture up there, hoping to have a view looking down into the
bay. While taking the photo we were seriously concerned the camera
would be blown over, or we would be blown off the side of the hill.
So windy.
Another bus brought
us back to the lake area, we'd heard about a small shack to see on
one side of the lake. This shack is supposed to be used by ice
swimmers in winter, I think there is a sauna inside? Who knows.
(Though the port doesn't freeze during winter because it's too deep,
the other bodies of water in the area do freeze.) It was 'summer' so
the shack wasn't open.
Close to the shack
was a city sign, something we hadn't seen so far. I was particularly
keen to have a team photo at this sign, because it proved I was north
of the Arctic Circle. Yay!
At that point we
chose to walk back into the city center, then find a place to have a
quick snack. After snacktime we went back to the sushi restaurant
from the night before. The food from the night before had stuck in
all our heads, so why not go back for more?
After hanging out
in the restaurant for a while, we picked up our bags at the hotel,
then caught a bus back to the airport. Just like our plane had
arrived in the middle of the night, our departure flight left in the
middle of the night, so we spent the next couple hours dozing a bit.
Getting back to
Moscow was quite smooth, and for all three of us Monday was rough, as
we were tired from lack of sleep, but it was worth it. I liked
Murmansk, I'd like to go back in late winter (when there are at least
a few hours of daylight,) to see it in completely different weather.
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