Vladivostok, Russia – September 28th
We arrived in Vladivostok in the wee hours of the morning and people started leaving on tours about 7 a.m. We were in port until 7 p.m. so lots of time to tour around the city. The Diamond Princess was docked right downtown so walking tours were easy. Well, perhaps easy wasn’t the proper word but at least the walking could start right at the pier.
I have only be to Russia once before and that was on a cruise and the city we visited was St. Petersburg in the west. Vladivostok is in the west right on the coast. While St. Petersburg is beautiful, well-kept and almost pompous in display, Vladivostok is very plain and drab and dilapidated. As a tourist centre, St. Petersburg wins hands down. However, Vladivostok is beautiful in its own way and really does have a lot to offer. You just have to watch the sidewalks and roads and steps which are in total disrepair and attempt to trip you every second step. I spent 8 hours out walking around the town and thoroughly enjoyed myself and the scenery – and I didn’t trip once, which is darn good for me. Vladivostok has only been open to tourists since 1992. You can see where changes have been made and more changes are happening all the time.
The first thing you have to know about Vladivostok is that it is an incredible port city. The natural harbour is huge and there were ships everywhere and lots of industry nearby to sustain the shipping. The Diamond Princess was by far the largest ship in the harbour and it dwarfed most other vessels. We parked right beside several Russian naval vessels that were prominent in the harbour so we were quite a contrast. Given its location on the Pacific and its natural harbour, Vladivostok has always been a very strategic port. The Submarine Museum is a star attraction but I didn’t feel like visiting that, except from the outside.
As a shipping port, goods could come in or go out by sea. On the land, goods travel throughout Russia on the 5,778 mile Trans Siberian Railway. The longest continuous railway track in the world, the Trans Siberian Railroad ends (or starts) here in Vladivostok. The railway station was right behind the main port where we docked so it was my first stop. The outside of the building is quite detailed in an old 17th century style although it was built much later than that. The main reception area has frescoes on the ceiling. I didn’t wander past the trains to visit the entire building but what I saw was impressive. Czar Nicholas II laid the cornerstone for the building – I assume around the end of the 19th century as the track was built from 1880 to 1900.
Another thing you must know about Vladivostok is that it is full of hills. The tourist brochure describes the area as” a landscape formed by sea gulfs and hills” and that is pretty accurate. There’s water then there’s a hill. On the other side of the hill at the bottom is more water. This makes for very beautiful vistas but it also makes for some strenuous walking. They have lots of staircases but sometimes not all the stairs were there so you had to do some fancy footwork. I left the train station and walked across to a statue of Lenin and then through a garden to the next street. Then I kept walking for another 20 minutes or so and most of it was uphill. Suddenly you realize you are going downhill again and there is more water and a beach in front of you. This particular beach had a lot of sports complexes and amusement parks along it so obviously a very popular area in the right season. The beach was a nice sandy beach and quite wide in places. It was cool and windy when I was there first thing in the morning so I didn’t go down and check out the water. The aquarium is also in this area but it wasn’t open yet.
A little farther up the coast was the Fortress Museum. I stopped there and wandered around for a while. They had lots of exhibits within the walls of the old fortress and lots of larger objects (guns, missiles, etc.) out in the compound area. It looked like quite a large and well designed fortress – one of many in the area – and was quite interesting even though I wasn’t interested in most of its contents.
From there I walked down Fokina Street which is a walking street. It wasn’t quite what I expected. It was definitely a street you could walk down as traffic was not allowed, although it was full of parked cars. Most of the stores were now open but there wasn’t anything I was interested in. There were not many people around and most of them I recognized as ship passengers so not much business from the locals. I did notice that store hours were 10 to 8 though so perhaps things get busier later in the day.
I visited several Greek Orthodox Churches in the city. They were all very small but very beautiful. They were all white inside and out and decorated, mainly with gold. The alters were very impressive. And they all had lovely grounds and normally stairs leading to the church itself. I guess when you make everyone stand for the service you can afford to have smaller churches. I did also find a German Lutheran Church. It was built many years ago but sat for over 50 years without use. It has just recently been repaired and reopened. It had chairs (not pews) so they get to sit down.
There were monuments and statues all over the city but I can’t tell you what they were about because I couldn’t read any of the inscriptions. The Lenin statue I knew because a map told me what it was. There are also lots of gardens and parks around the city, which presented a nice break from the old dingy buildings and the benches provided a nice relaxation for your tired legs. The Central Square is right down by the harbour and it is huge. There are three statues on the one side of the square and then lots of open space to have gatherings and special events.
A funicular takes you near to the top of Eagles Nest Hill, which is a great lookout over the full area. Some o f us were going to the start of the funicular to go up and see the sights. We obviously overshot the mark a bit because when we got to the funicular we were at the top instead of the bottom. It was still a climb from there but it was worth it. I sat at the top for half an hour and enjoyed the view while I ate my bun and muffin (from the breakfast buffet table) and had a drink of water. I also talked to a journalist from the local paper. She and her photographer were up taking pictures doing a story on the new bridge that is being built across the harbour. It really is quite an impressive structure and will be massive when completed. The reporter’s English was quite good although she kept apologizing for it. I can assure you she certainly knew more English than I knew Russian!
On the way down the others took the funicular but I decided to take the stairs since they were right there. We had come up the streets and through the parks to get there and this seemed like a more straight forward approach. From the time I started counting there were 350 steps and there were at least 50 before I started counting so it was quite a trek. It was specifically interesting when you’d come to a big hole where a couple of steps had disappeared into the depths below. Then you just kind of hopped to the next available platform. Luckily these stairs, unlike others in the city, did have a railing. However, I really wasn’t too certain of its sturdiness. The strange thing was that the steps were concrete and looked very solid so when a couple of them disappeared there really was just a deep hole in the hillside with a board lying across it. I wasn’t exactly sure where the real steps had disappeared to but I was hoping none of the current ones were going to slip away while I was on them.
The top of Eagles Nest Hill (the lookout) was the only really dirty place I saw. There were bottles and cans and garbage everywhere, which was a surprise since the rest of the city was garbage free. People were out picking up debris and sweeping the streets when I was out walking earlier in the morning but it was obvious that no one looked after this area even though it’s probably one of the favoured tourist sites. There was also a high school at the top so I didn’t know whether to assume that the students were the messy ones or if the tourists were the culprits.
I should add that the other not so clean thing in the city were the toilets. You always had to pay (maybe about 30 cents Canadian) to use them and there were always people working there so you would think they would be clean but they definitely weren’t. The first squat toilet was reasonably clean but then it was early in the morning when I found it. The second time was in the afternoon so perhaps the toilets were more “used” by then. These ones were western sit toilets so I thought that was a plus. However, there was no way I was going to sit when I got in there. They were like old port-a-potties and everything inside was wet. I wasn’t sure that some people hadn’t been standing on the sides and treating them like squat toilets (and missing!). The toilets also didn’t necessarily come with toilet paper even though you paid to use them. Oh well, it’s all an experience.
I’m not sure what else to tell you about. I saw Yul Brynner’s family home (yes, that’s how it’s supposed to be spelled apparently) which was huge and lovely and set among other really huge buildings so it looked tiny. I also saw the Gorky theatre and school. The architecture throughout the city is varied from modern skyscrapers to older more decorated buildings – some of which were huge and very European looking. It definitely has the feel of a big city but because of the hills and water separating sections of it, if also feels small.
The weather started out cool and cloudy but then cleared off and seemed quite hot. I had my jacket on to start but had to take it off while climbing up yet another hill. Just as I got back on the ship about 4:30 p.m. it started raining but that didn’t last long. Once the sun started to go down it was definitely cool. I tried to make it through the sunset but as we’d already set sail it was really breezy and cool on the deck.
We were actually late in leaving the ship as someone hadn’t turned his passport in and we couldn’t sail until the Russian officials had accounted for all passports. I bet they called the person three or four times over the public address system before it finally got sorted out and we were allowed to sail. When the immigration people left the ship shortly after that there were 27 of them. I don’t know if some got off earlier. And apparently the police or soldiers were onboard all day patrolling the ship and checking for who knows what. However, from our perspective the passport process worked very well and efficiently so there were no waiting lines.
Oh yes, there was a group that came on board and gave us a concert at 5 p.m. They were excellent and did a great show. The main group was 6 females and 2 males and they did a number of songs. There was also a younger group of girls who did some traditional dances and they were very cute. I enjoyed their show very much even though I was sitting on the floor at the side of the theatre in front of an air vent that was blowing cold air at me. Hmmm, perhaps that’s why I’ve been feeling like I have a cold coming on.
We are at sea again today where it was sunny and lovely this morning and I just sat on my balcony reading. This afternoon it clouded over a bit but still quite nice. Tomorrow we are in Busan or Pusan, South Korea for more walking and touring and great times.
Jayne
We arrived in Vladivostok in the wee hours of the morning and people started leaving on tours about 7 a.m. We were in port until 7 p.m. so lots of time to tour around the city. The Diamond Princess was docked right downtown so walking tours were easy. Well, perhaps easy wasn’t the proper word but at least the walking could start right at the pier.
I have only be to Russia once before and that was on a cruise and the city we visited was St. Petersburg in the west. Vladivostok is in the west right on the coast. While St. Petersburg is beautiful, well-kept and almost pompous in display, Vladivostok is very plain and drab and dilapidated. As a tourist centre, St. Petersburg wins hands down. However, Vladivostok is beautiful in its own way and really does have a lot to offer. You just have to watch the sidewalks and roads and steps which are in total disrepair and attempt to trip you every second step. I spent 8 hours out walking around the town and thoroughly enjoyed myself and the scenery – and I didn’t trip once, which is darn good for me. Vladivostok has only been open to tourists since 1992. You can see where changes have been made and more changes are happening all the time.
The first thing you have to know about Vladivostok is that it is an incredible port city. The natural harbour is huge and there were ships everywhere and lots of industry nearby to sustain the shipping. The Diamond Princess was by far the largest ship in the harbour and it dwarfed most other vessels. We parked right beside several Russian naval vessels that were prominent in the harbour so we were quite a contrast. Given its location on the Pacific and its natural harbour, Vladivostok has always been a very strategic port. The Submarine Museum is a star attraction but I didn’t feel like visiting that, except from the outside.
As a shipping port, goods could come in or go out by sea. On the land, goods travel throughout Russia on the 5,778 mile Trans Siberian Railway. The longest continuous railway track in the world, the Trans Siberian Railroad ends (or starts) here in Vladivostok. The railway station was right behind the main port where we docked so it was my first stop. The outside of the building is quite detailed in an old 17th century style although it was built much later than that. The main reception area has frescoes on the ceiling. I didn’t wander past the trains to visit the entire building but what I saw was impressive. Czar Nicholas II laid the cornerstone for the building – I assume around the end of the 19th century as the track was built from 1880 to 1900.
Another thing you must know about Vladivostok is that it is full of hills. The tourist brochure describes the area as” a landscape formed by sea gulfs and hills” and that is pretty accurate. There’s water then there’s a hill. On the other side of the hill at the bottom is more water. This makes for very beautiful vistas but it also makes for some strenuous walking. They have lots of staircases but sometimes not all the stairs were there so you had to do some fancy footwork. I left the train station and walked across to a statue of Lenin and then through a garden to the next street. Then I kept walking for another 20 minutes or so and most of it was uphill. Suddenly you realize you are going downhill again and there is more water and a beach in front of you. This particular beach had a lot of sports complexes and amusement parks along it so obviously a very popular area in the right season. The beach was a nice sandy beach and quite wide in places. It was cool and windy when I was there first thing in the morning so I didn’t go down and check out the water. The aquarium is also in this area but it wasn’t open yet.
A little farther up the coast was the Fortress Museum. I stopped there and wandered around for a while. They had lots of exhibits within the walls of the old fortress and lots of larger objects (guns, missiles, etc.) out in the compound area. It looked like quite a large and well designed fortress – one of many in the area – and was quite interesting even though I wasn’t interested in most of its contents.
From there I walked down Fokina Street which is a walking street. It wasn’t quite what I expected. It was definitely a street you could walk down as traffic was not allowed, although it was full of parked cars. Most of the stores were now open but there wasn’t anything I was interested in. There were not many people around and most of them I recognized as ship passengers so not much business from the locals. I did notice that store hours were 10 to 8 though so perhaps things get busier later in the day.
I visited several Greek Orthodox Churches in the city. They were all very small but very beautiful. They were all white inside and out and decorated, mainly with gold. The alters were very impressive. And they all had lovely grounds and normally stairs leading to the church itself. I guess when you make everyone stand for the service you can afford to have smaller churches. I did also find a German Lutheran Church. It was built many years ago but sat for over 50 years without use. It has just recently been repaired and reopened. It had chairs (not pews) so they get to sit down.
There were monuments and statues all over the city but I can’t tell you what they were about because I couldn’t read any of the inscriptions. The Lenin statue I knew because a map told me what it was. There are also lots of gardens and parks around the city, which presented a nice break from the old dingy buildings and the benches provided a nice relaxation for your tired legs. The Central Square is right down by the harbour and it is huge. There are three statues on the one side of the square and then lots of open space to have gatherings and special events.
A funicular takes you near to the top of Eagles Nest Hill, which is a great lookout over the full area. Some o f us were going to the start of the funicular to go up and see the sights. We obviously overshot the mark a bit because when we got to the funicular we were at the top instead of the bottom. It was still a climb from there but it was worth it. I sat at the top for half an hour and enjoyed the view while I ate my bun and muffin (from the breakfast buffet table) and had a drink of water. I also talked to a journalist from the local paper. She and her photographer were up taking pictures doing a story on the new bridge that is being built across the harbour. It really is quite an impressive structure and will be massive when completed. The reporter’s English was quite good although she kept apologizing for it. I can assure you she certainly knew more English than I knew Russian!
On the way down the others took the funicular but I decided to take the stairs since they were right there. We had come up the streets and through the parks to get there and this seemed like a more straight forward approach. From the time I started counting there were 350 steps and there were at least 50 before I started counting so it was quite a trek. It was specifically interesting when you’d come to a big hole where a couple of steps had disappeared into the depths below. Then you just kind of hopped to the next available platform. Luckily these stairs, unlike others in the city, did have a railing. However, I really wasn’t too certain of its sturdiness. The strange thing was that the steps were concrete and looked very solid so when a couple of them disappeared there really was just a deep hole in the hillside with a board lying across it. I wasn’t exactly sure where the real steps had disappeared to but I was hoping none of the current ones were going to slip away while I was on them.
The top of Eagles Nest Hill (the lookout) was the only really dirty place I saw. There were bottles and cans and garbage everywhere, which was a surprise since the rest of the city was garbage free. People were out picking up debris and sweeping the streets when I was out walking earlier in the morning but it was obvious that no one looked after this area even though it’s probably one of the favoured tourist sites. There was also a high school at the top so I didn’t know whether to assume that the students were the messy ones or if the tourists were the culprits.
I should add that the other not so clean thing in the city were the toilets. You always had to pay (maybe about 30 cents Canadian) to use them and there were always people working there so you would think they would be clean but they definitely weren’t. The first squat toilet was reasonably clean but then it was early in the morning when I found it. The second time was in the afternoon so perhaps the toilets were more “used” by then. These ones were western sit toilets so I thought that was a plus. However, there was no way I was going to sit when I got in there. They were like old port-a-potties and everything inside was wet. I wasn’t sure that some people hadn’t been standing on the sides and treating them like squat toilets (and missing!). The toilets also didn’t necessarily come with toilet paper even though you paid to use them. Oh well, it’s all an experience.
I’m not sure what else to tell you about. I saw Yul Brynner’s family home (yes, that’s how it’s supposed to be spelled apparently) which was huge and lovely and set among other really huge buildings so it looked tiny. I also saw the Gorky theatre and school. The architecture throughout the city is varied from modern skyscrapers to older more decorated buildings – some of which were huge and very European looking. It definitely has the feel of a big city but because of the hills and water separating sections of it, if also feels small.
The weather started out cool and cloudy but then cleared off and seemed quite hot. I had my jacket on to start but had to take it off while climbing up yet another hill. Just as I got back on the ship about 4:30 p.m. it started raining but that didn’t last long. Once the sun started to go down it was definitely cool. I tried to make it through the sunset but as we’d already set sail it was really breezy and cool on the deck.
We were actually late in leaving the ship as someone hadn’t turned his passport in and we couldn’t sail until the Russian officials had accounted for all passports. I bet they called the person three or four times over the public address system before it finally got sorted out and we were allowed to sail. When the immigration people left the ship shortly after that there were 27 of them. I don’t know if some got off earlier. And apparently the police or soldiers were onboard all day patrolling the ship and checking for who knows what. However, from our perspective the passport process worked very well and efficiently so there were no waiting lines.
Oh yes, there was a group that came on board and gave us a concert at 5 p.m. They were excellent and did a great show. The main group was 6 females and 2 males and they did a number of songs. There was also a younger group of girls who did some traditional dances and they were very cute. I enjoyed their show very much even though I was sitting on the floor at the side of the theatre in front of an air vent that was blowing cold air at me. Hmmm, perhaps that’s why I’ve been feeling like I have a cold coming on.
We are at sea again today where it was sunny and lovely this morning and I just sat on my balcony reading. This afternoon it clouded over a bit but still quite nice. Tomorrow we are in Busan or Pusan, South Korea for more walking and touring and great times.
Jayne
posted by Jayne Brooks @ 10:57 PM
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