Murmansk - largest city north of the arctic circle

Wednesday 21st of August we arrived in the largest city in the Arctic. With over 300'000 people living here it is a big city by European standards. Thanks to the Gulf Stream following the Norwegian coast and curling around just far enough to give the Kola its unique arctic climate with just sub-freezing temperatures in winter and balmy 18 °C in summer. Murmansk is more northern than most of Canada, all of Alaska and Iceland. All the habitable places on Greenland are further south than we currently are. Crazy. Yet, we were wearing T-shirts the last couple days until a thunderstorm brought some cooler air and clouds.

Murmansk was founded in 1916 in an ice free area of the Russian empire to receive supply ships from Russia's allies in the Great War. The goods then went by train south to Petrozavodsk (where we took the hydrofoil boat), and further. The former military outpost quickly grew and soon sported a harbour, train station, barracks, dry docks etc. Many of the ores mined in the Kola came here by train and were loaded onto ships.

At the start of the Second World War Murmansk was an industrial power house and important port. No wonder then that the Nazis bombed the city and sent troops to capture it. Max's grandpa was among the troops that marched (on foot) up all the way through occupied Norway around neutral Sweden. The German army was stopped and turned back just 70km short of Murmansk. It certainly took great effort on the Soviet side, too. There is a very good exhibition in the 'Naval Museum of the Northern Fleet' here about the war effort. Even though the museum is completely in Russian the exhibits, many old photographs, propaganda pamphlets, battle charts and plenty of highly detailed ship models, really convey the story. Definitely worth a visit! There are more modern parts of the Northern Fleet on display, too. Not everything is about the war.

Murmansk is not a pretty city, but good for surprises. At least in summer it is a very lively town which we enjoyed. The first day here we went to get lunch at the 'Tundra Bar and Grill', a very stylish restaurant with very good food. The best so far in Russia. Max had boiled baby pine cones on his dish! They were very tasty.

We had planned to visit the 'Lenin', Russia's first nuclear ice breaker (1957), but somehow there was no tour at 3, even though we were told there is one at every hour. Here it is at the pier with some newer ships in the harbour.

As the looming thunderstorm broke we decided to skip the tour (we would have had to wait another hour in the rain) and went back to the hotel. Getting a taxi is not that easy in Russia. Either you use an app in Russian, or you find a place where they speak English and ask them to call a cab for you. We found an Irish pub where the barkeep was very friendly and organised a taxi for us. They tell you the number plate of the taxi, so you don't get into the wrong car. Most taxis so far were normal unmarked cars, so not easy to identify as such. Maybe they have Uber here, but we don't have internet with us while on foot.

Friday morning we went to the 'Naval Museum of the Northern Fleet' (mentioned above and pictures below).

The Lenin as a model ship.

A very intricately detailed wooden model of the Aurora.

In the afternoon we relaxed in the hotel cuddling the dogs who we had left alone for our city visits.

Next destination: Teriberka (we don't know what all the fuss is about, we haven't seen the movie!)