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The snow-white colossus maneuvers through the skerries, between islands, tamed and uninhabited, with villas in Christmas lights and silent snowy plateaus

Archipelagos non-stop

You can love the Baltic ferry for its cozy leisurely atmosphere, delicious food and stunning views of the islands

Grigory Goldenzweig
For Friday

28.12.2012, 50 (332)

Daily giant Scandinavian ferries allow you to get acquainted with the islands and skerries of the Stockholm archipelago, Finnish Turku and the Åland Islands lying between them in the most impressive way and for symbolic money . Watching in the evening from your cabin window how the neighboring giant ferry, decorated with Christmas garland, carefully turns around in a cramped harbor is perhaps the most accessible of the miracles closest to the border.

Dance floor for seniors

I confess: I love traveling around the Baltic by ferry. For a Finn or a Swede, such a revelation is like recognition for a Muscovite to regularly visit Antalya and Hurghada. The 10-12-deck ship, which occupies half of the panorama in a tourist photo from the Scandinavian capital, is bashfully called the “ Swedish ferry” in Finland, and the “ Finnish ferry” in Sweden. The degree of harmless provincialism inherent in the northern countries rises to its maximum here. Residents of sleepy, non-coastal provinces dress up in all the most expensive clothes, with rhinestones and lace, sing karaoke all night long, dance to local Piekha and Leshchenko, squander money in slot machines and get extremely drunk. After midnight, in order to get from point A to point B, on the main ship's promenade you have to step over snoring passengers " in their best clothes." It's easy to hate this poor man's Las Vegas - if you look for a reflection of the taut central promenades of Stockholm and Helsinki . But I love his naivety, timidity, restrained for weeks, months, to turn into riotousness while watching collective hockey in the sauna, the childish tenderness on the faces of the gray-haired teacher and accountant on the dance floor. And the very fact of having a dance floor for pensioners is also infinitely sweet and correct.

Personal archipelago

The ferry trip is a hotel with an entertainment program, but if you are not an anthropologist or a fan of Finnish karaoke, you can simply ignore it.

16 hours between Helsinki and Stockholm, 11 hours between Turku and Stockholm. All night or all day. There are cabins for two or four. From hostel-like ones in the hold to 30-40-meter suites with double beds, a balcony, panoramic views and breakfast in bed. Personal space with views of three archipelagos, almost non-stop. There are up to 50 thousand islands in the Turku archipelago, over 6 thousand in Åland, and about 30 thousand in Stockholm. The snow-white colossus maneuvers through the skerries, between islands, tamed and uninhabited, with villas in Christmas illumination and silent snowy plateaus - it is impossible to tear yourself away from this picture, sitting by the window with a glass. 11 hours pass like 11 minutes.

Correct angle

The most beautiful road is from Turku in the afternoon: only from there you can go out in the morning and see the three island groups before dark. By the way, this particular route turns out to be the most inexpensive, and a luxury cabin for two in the off-season can cost here some 80 euros. This route allows you to see the Stockholm archipelago in the morning: and this is the only possible true prelude to the Swedish capital - without a bizarre jumble of islands, this city cannot be understood and experienced. Perhaps the most beautiful thing to do in the Baltic is to sit on the top deck in windproof gear and gaze out at the approaching skyline of Stockholm's Old Town. The best views are from Viking Line ferries. In January 2013, Viking Line put on the Turku-Stockholm line a newly built, ultra-modern ship Viking Grace with panoramic windows and personal Jacuzzis in the suites.

Buffet

You can sail to Stockholm from Tallinn , Riga , and in the summer from St. Petersburg, but outside the window on the Estonian and Latvian side it is much less beautiful, and these ferries arrive on the featureless outskirts of Stockholm.

But Tallinn ferries have their own strengths. While the Viking Grace has not yet been launched, they are superior to the simple Viking in design, cabin decoration and, partly, the elegance of the public, especially in the Finnish direction. In addition, the Tallink Silja ferries have the best Swedish cuisine, which, ironically, is much easier to find on unfashionable ferries than in restaurants on land. Rows stretching into the distance with dozens of varieties of herring, salmon, simple caviar and intricate potato gratins - there is no better place to get acquainted with Swedish food.

One way without a car

Buying a ferry ticket is different from buying a train or plane ticket. Cabins are sold, not individual places: the more people in the cabin, the cheaper. In addition, a so-called cruise, where you spend two nights on board there and back, is often cheaper than a one-way trip ( if you don't have a car, you don't have to use the return segment). Finally, those who are not lazy to use an automatic translator and book on the Swedish or Finnish version of the ferry company’s website always end up with a big win: this is where the best deals are available, allowing you to cross the Baltic in a good cabin for nominal money ( for example, Sista minuten in Swedish or Punaiset lähdöt in Finnish). In ten years of shared love with Scandinavian ferries, I have never paid half the full price of a ticket.

www.tallinksilja.ru www.vikingline.ru

Archipelagos non-stop

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