Murmansk, a port city in Russia, is the home to the Museum of the Northern Fleet, which honors the Arctic convoys and the RAF men posted to Murmansk, as well as Russians. The city is one of the stops of the Land of the Midnight Sun cruise offered by Voyages of Discovery, where passengers get to ride on a replica Viking long ship that as part of a cruise that starts in Norway, according to the Daily Mail.
The cruise is an 18-day voyage around the North Cape to Murmansk and Archangel, stopping at its first call in Bergen. The city has been a prosperous fishing area since the Middle Ages and is proud of its status as a world heritage city.
After leaving Bergen, the cruise continues through the Arctic seas to Bodo, which is known as the city of eagles, and they can be spotted flying in the sky above. There is also the opportunity to try "goat beer," which is called that because drinking it makes you feel as if a goat has kicked you in the head.
The long ship then continues around the North Cape, following the route taken by British Arctic convoys during the Second World War, where they carried vital supplies to Russia. The ship then calls at Murmansk, the only port in northern Russia that is free of ice all year.
The cruise continues around the Kola Peninsula into the White Sea, where it heads for the Solovetsky Islands, which are home to the Transfiguration Monastery, which was founded in the 15th century, and even though it sounds like something out of "Harry Potter," it served as a labor camp after the Russian Revolution. Today it is again a functioning monastery.
Archangel is the final Russian stop on the cruise, a city that explorer Richard Chancellor arrived at in 1553 while seeking a northeast route to China.
The last call is at the Norwegian port of Kirkenes, where Hitler stationed 100,000 troops as a base for an intended seizure of Murmansk. Between 1941 and 1944, the Russians bombed the city more than 300 times. A network of tunnels, called the Andersgrotta, was blasted into the rock of an iron-ore and served as a refuge for the townspeople.
The cruise also offers the opportunity to try rowing a replica long ship on Lake Bjorkedal.
The cruise leaves from Portsmouth on June 11 and makes calls at Norwegian ports including Bergen, Tromso, Molde and Honnongsvag, as well as Russian ports.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
