Richard writes:
Murmansk; situated several hundred kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, to our surprise was by far the friendliest place we have visited so far in Russia. And with only Moscow remaining, a city famed for its people's coldness, it is unlikely Murmansk will have the "friendly" accolade stolen from it. It dawned on us that this was the furthest north we both had ever been, and that we wouldn't be going any further north on this trip. The achievement of getting here from Melbourne, in just over three months, without flying, made us both feel a little smug and content, that all of our plans had come to fruition so far.
Initial impressions of the city from the train were of a Soviet concrete jungle enveloped by a low grey sky. As we exited the train the air was chilly and moist and we were immediately approached by a baby faced police officer asking for our passports. A phone call later, a plain clothes officer joined him and they scrutinised and photographed every document we had. After satisfying themselves all was in order, they wished us luck in our travels in Murmansk with a smile. These smiles proved to be the first of many in what is a fairly bleak city; a stone's throw from the borders with Finland and Norway, and the Arctic Ocean.
We had nearly three days to occupy ourselves in Murmansk and a fairly short list of things to do. The list consisted of:
1. A war memorial
2. A tour of a nuclear ice breaker
3. An oceanarium
4. The world's most northerly Mcdonald's.
Luckily, we had booked a full day tour to the Kola Peninsula countryside, to see the beautiful arctic scenery, reindeer and Siberian huskies. This day was a highlight of our trip "up north". Our guide was Alexei. He was a thoroughly interesting guy, who was from the area, but had also lived in Belfast and Finland. He had an almost sarcastic English sense of humour and was a really nice guy. He had set up a camp with an oxymoron for a title, "the wilderness centre" just outside the town of Lovozero. Our day hadn't started well, our transport, a Toyota Landcruiser, had been filled with "bad diesel" and consequently at any hint of an incline its maximum speed topped out at 20 km/h. Fortunately the 160 km journey from Murmansk was not all up hill and we eventually arrived at the wilderness centre.
On arrival, Alexei immediately strapped on a belt of knives before exiting the car. We didn't ask any questions, but assumed this was in case of a bear attack. On the drive from Murmansk he had informed us that he had shot a 300 kg brown bear at the centre recently as it was threatening his reindeer. We nervously left the safe confines of the car and walked to feed the reindeer. En route we met Alexei's pet dog Ita and his cat. Ita was an Italian breed that ran with a gallop reminiscent of a polar bear and had been bought with the specific purpose of scaring the bears off. She wagged her tail as we approached, but barked ferociously and "smiled" by exposing her left canine. The cat however, lacked any intimidatory instincts and begged a stroke and followed us everywhere including into the reindeer enclosure, only to depart when chased out by an antlered friend.The reindeer were ridiculously cute, with their furry antlers and lumbering walk. Their huge eyes longed for the food in the bag Alexei had brought, but they were extremely gentle as they ate from our hands and seemed to enjoy a stroke. We stood for ages admiring them, including a baby (I don't know what baby reindeer are called!). As soon as the food in the bag was depleted, they quickly lost interest and lumbered on within the huge inclosure, that they apparently frequently escape from, with Alexei having to go searching for them to bring them back.
Next stop were the huskies. Alexei had already informed us that they were very excitable and craved human contact. He also said they made terrible guard dogs, with the only danger they posed to an intruder was a particularly aggressive lick. Alexei's prediction of their excitement proved correct. The closer we got to their enclosure, the 21 huskies got increasingly louder in their barks and howls. Three were selected to walk with us. In winter these huskies are used for dog sledding and we saw their pace and power on the walk. As soon as released they charged everywhere, sprinting back and forth. It was almost impossible to photograph them, as every attempt ended in a blurred mass of dog within an arctic backdrop. After a period they calmed down and we were able to interact with them and give them a good stroke. For such fearsome looking creatures, they are completely loveable and adorable. Our interaction with the animals had been fantastic and it had been an amazing day.
Our other main highlight was the visit to the nuclear ice breaker; "Lenina". We queued up and paid our 150 Roubles (about $5) and began our hour long tour of the ship. We hadn't sought clarification, but as expected the whole tour was in Russian. We listened intently as our guide Dmitry gave extensive explanations regarding all aspects of the operations of a nuclear ice breaker. At least that is what we assumed he was talking about, as we didn't understand a bloody word. Half way through the tour, we realised, that to be exposed as not understanding would be even more embarrassing, so we listened even harder, even adding the appreciative nod and raised eyebrows when we sensed something particularly impressive was being described. Casey did her best to ruin the whole charade, by descending into fits of giggles, but we held firm, and as far as we were concerned nobody suspected a thing, until as the tour finished Dmitry casually asked if anyone spoke English. We raised our hands (thinking everyone would assume we were bilingual), and he immediately began to give a synopsis of the whole tour in English. We were grateful for the explanation, but embarrassed that we had been outed. We learnt that Murmansk was home to nine nuclear ice breakers (four had been decommissioned) and Russia was the only country in the world to have ice breakers powered by nuclear fuel. A sister ship to the Lenina, had recently transported the Olympic flame to the North Pole in record time for the trip; 91 hours. Dmitry was fantastic and his English was exquisite. A genuinely warm hearted guy, who showed great interest in our trip and was eager to explain everything we wanted to know regarding the ship and Murmansk in general.
It would have been rude not to have visited the world's most northerly McDonald's. We didn't spend long there and only consumed a post mix diet coke, but at least we can say we have been there! Whilst there, we were approached by two separate individuals who heard us speaking English. It seems Murmansk doesn't get many foreign tourists and they were keen to practise some English and welcome us to their city. Another example of the fantastic warmth displayed by the city's people.
The other most memorable memory from the city is the fact, that in June it doesn't get dark. Despite wanting to, we didn't manage to pull an all-nighter, but at 12:30 am it was as light as it had been all day, and when I awoke at 2:30 am the light hadn't dimmed at all.
On our final day we walked the considerable distance to the oceanarium to find out that Tuesday was a rest day for the seals. We consoled ourselves with a ride on the lake on a pedalo and ate some pizza, before walking to the huge city war memorial. We had loved every minute of our time in the Arctic Circle, but were ready to travel southward, to continue our adventure in our next destination; Moscow!
No comments:
Post a Comment