21-Day Baltic Gems & Norway

Elegant is the word that will come to mind.

As you take in the Danish capital’s rich history and traditions. With castles and crown jewels, galleries and museums, cathedrals and canals, the sightseeing ranks among the best in Europe.

The Strøget is a series of pedestrian-only streets which make strolling and shopping a pleasure. And be sure to visit Tivoli, a unique combination of picture-perfect flower gardens, lakes, theaters and restaurants with more than 100,000 colored lights.

Graceful design, imaginative architecture the Finns have long been admired for their beautiful buildings, gardens and parks. You’ll enjoy visiting them too, as you pass all styles of centuries past and present, from medieval to neoclassical, as well as the superb ultramodern creations by Aalto, Saarinen, and other Finnish masters.

This is the town where north was invented. That’s right no village in the entire world is further north than Honningsvag, Norway. How far north is it? It is so far north the sun doesn’t even think of setting from mid-May until the end of July-which seems like an awful lot of work, and that could explain its need to set and stay set from late November to late January. (This period is especially difficult if you have a night job.) Honningsvag is the gateway to the North Cape, but hey, if you want to head that direction, you’re on your own.

Wasn’t Leningrad here a minute ago? Maybe a few years ago, but since the fall of Communism this shining jewel of a city has reverted to its original name, St. Petersburg, named for Peter the Great, who built it as a fortress in 1703.

Elegant facades, glorious cathedrals and grand residences were built along the city’s canals. Construction flourished under Catherine the Great, and the city gained new splendor with elaborate palaces, lovely parks and magnificent squares designed by French and Italian architects. St. Petersburg is the most European city in Russia, and the most
spectacular.

Founded as a fortress in the 13th century, Stockholm eventually grew to become the capital of Sweden. It is a city of remarkable beauty with numerous parks, tree-lined squares and boulevards, and pleasant water vistas. To grasp the full character of Stockholm, visitors must hop from island to island, each of which boasts its own personality. Sergels Torg, a central square located in Norrmalm, serves as the focal point for modern Stockholm. On Helgeans Holmen, the tiny island
immediately south of Norrmalm, sits the Riksdagshuset (Parliament Building), followed by the medieval Gamla Stan (Old Town) island and then the large Sodermalm, a bohemian enclave in a former blue-collar quarter.

Across the Strommen (the Current) lie the two scenic islands of Skeppsholmen and Kastell-Holmen. Farther east, Djurgarden Island houses a number of city museums and connects to the northern Ostermalm, a pricey residential neighborhood that adjoins Norrmalm sprawling across 14 islands, the Swedish capital has always enjoyed an ideal
commercial location at the confluence of Lake Malaren and the Baltic Sea. As a result, a forest of high-rise office buildings and condominiums has grown up beside the medieval castles that once guarded Sweden’s strategic waterways. Founded in the mid-13th century, this former outpost developed into a vibrant capital in the 17th century, when landscapers and architects began to build elegant parks and squares that rivaled those in the finest European cities.

Today, picturesque Stockholm boasts a stunning combination of man-made gardens in its center and natural scenery on its outskirts, where sun-lit lakes shimmer in the pine-clad countryside.

The capital and largest city in Estonia, Tallinn is located on the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, Finland. It offers an interesting blend of modern, Western atmosphere with well preserved medieval buildings, walls and narrow streets. It is very popular with artists and has numerous galleries, museums and cultural festivals.

The world’s northernmost university – only one institute of higher learning may boast of that distinction, and at the moment anyway, that institution is the University of Norway at Tromso. Situated about 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Tromso has continuous sunshine from late May to mid-July. Nearby is the city of Narvik, known for mysterious lightning that occurs every August.