Hansa Across the Sea

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Here we are at sea again, as we begin the second segment of our cruise. 

As I reflected on our just-completed journey around the Baltic Sea, several recurring themes struck me. One phrase that I kept hearing was “Hanseatic League.” All of the ports we visited had a historical connection to the Hanseatic League.

The Hanseatic League, or Hansa, was a network of merchant guilds and market towns in northern Europe that operated from the late 12th century through the middle of the 16th century. Most of the Hanseatic trade involved maritime routes, and most of it was centered on the Baltic Sea, although the trade routes also extended into the North Sea and up some of the larger rivers. In those days, most of the nations we know today did not exist. Thus, the members of the Hansa were primarily market towns, rather than countries. The league started in the region that is now Germany and was influenced, and perhaps dominated, by powerful traders from that region. 

The Hanseatic League offered commercial benefits to traders and eventually standardized trade practices were adopted by members of the League. Another advantage to members was related to safety - protection from pirates and robbers.

The dominant language of trade was Middle Low German. This language had an impact, that can still be found today, on the other languages spoken in the Baltic region. In the 12th and 13th centuries, German merchants settled in several Baltic cities, including Gdansk, Riga and Tallinn. The medieval German influence can still be found in the architecture of these outposts, as well. 

The Hanseatic League started out trading in coarse woolen fabric, adding fine woolen and linen goods as manufacturing techniques evolved. Other important trade goods included beeswax, furs, honey, timber, flax, wheat, and rye from the eastern regions, and salt, herring, beer, metals and broadcloth from the western merchants. It is known from archaeological sites that trade goods from Turkey, and other distant lands found their way to Hanseatic markets. I love that fabric played such an important part in the medieval Baltic trade. 

The League had tremendous economic power, and they were not afraid to use it. They did not have a centralized administration, but they did begin to operate like a government. For example, the Hansa members built the first lighthouses in the Baltic, trained ships’ pilots, and entered into mutual defense treaties.

Visby, on the island of Gotland, played an important role as a hub during the Hanseatic period. If you look at a map, you will see that it occupies a very central and strategic position in the region.

Visby is the large yellow island on this map showing Hanseatic sphere of influence in the year 1400,
from Wikipedia entry for Hanseatic League

Visby is still a hub of maritime commerce. Here is a photo we took of the cargo terminal in Visby:

“Gods” means “goods” or “cargo”

I think it is very interesting to look at the map of the Baltic and see how close together all of the Hanseatic towns were, and to think about all of the commerce that was being conducted between the various communities back in those days. The ancient trade routes are still there, in the form of fleets of large, modern cruise-ferries that travel back and forth between Tallinn and Helsinki, between Visby and Nynäshamn, and between Copenhagen and Oslo, to name a few well-traveled routes.

Another theme that kept coming up during our visits to the countries touching the Baltic was a deep anxiety about Russia and concern about the sustainability of the arrival of thousands of refugees from Ukraine. Poland shares a border with Ukraine and the Polish perhaps feel the impacts of events in Ukraine most acutely. However, in contrast to feelings of uneasiness, in some places the Ukraine refugees are very welcome because they help the local economy by alleviating labor shortages. (Translation: The Ukrainians will do the jobs the locals do not want to do.)

We noticed the food was quite similar in the various countries we visited around the Baltic. Fish made up a larger part of the diet than it does in the US. Beer and cider seemed to be more popular than wine. Rye, which grows better than wheat in colder climates, is frequently used in breads. While dairy products such as cheese are popular, beef is not as frequently eaten. Lamb and pork are more common. Hearty soups and stews are typical foods. Coffee is incredibly popular.

A color similar to “Skagen yellow” was prevalent everywhere, even in the “old towns.” We also saw a lot of buildings painted a shade of red called “Falun red,” which was made with iron oxide from copper mines.

Having visited Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland before, I was aware that they are first-world countries with robust economies. I was not expecting to find such a high standard of living in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. I assumed that their history as satellites of the Soviet Union would have left these countries impoverished. I expected to find grim, bleak cities and towns, such as the ones I had seen in the Russian far east, and to some extent in St. Petersburg. I only saw a small part of each country, but I saw vibrant cities full of tourists, a high standard of living, lots of new automobiles, abundant food, busy restaurants and cafés, well-preserved old towns, clean streets and parks, and apparently happy capitalists. I did not see much homelessness. I did not see much of a police presence anywhere. I didn’t see barred windows or complicated bicycle locks or alarm systems.

Our Baltic itinerary was wonderful, interesting, and thought-provoking. I hope you will consider a trip to the Baltic region. Try to visit beyond Scandinavia, and beyond the capitals. 

That’s it for the Baltic. Soon we will be exploring elsewhere. Meanwhile, I am taking advantage of this sea day to relax. I attended a presentation this morning called “Smartphone Photography Basics. I learned how to take better photos and I also learned what many of the cryptic things on my camera app do. Yay! I also went to the Princess Book Club and met some like-minded people. Books were handed out. There were four to choose from. I chose “So Far Gone,” by Jess Walter. 

Spoiler alert: I finished the book and I really liked it.

Today’s fabric is broadcloth. Historically, broadcloth was made from wool, though now it is usually cotton or synthetic. It was woven wider than its finished width and then subjected to hot, soapy water to shrink it. This produced a tighter weave than could have been achieved through a weaving alone. The cloth was also beaten, or “milled,” which created matted, or “felted” fibers. This process makes it warmer and more waterproof, but makes it hard to see the weave. Wool broadcloth is often used in coats. I found these public domain photos on Wikipedia.

Wool broadcloth coat, 2009
(Obviously not in the US)

Close-up of broadcloth surface, with corner of pocket and end of drawstring for scale, photographed at 6× magnification

The Best Laid Plans

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

We are back in Copenhagen and today is “turnaround day.” This means our beautiful Baltic cruise ends today, and a new cruise begins. We have booked back-to-back cruises, so we have lots of travel yet to look forward to, but we also have some tedious matters to deal with. For one thing, we have to change rooms today. Our new room is just like the old one, but on the aft of the ship. We had to pack up all of our stuff last night except for what was on hangers. Everything will be moved to the new room today by cabin stewards and the hanging clothes will be waiting for us in the closet.

It is also necessary for us to clear immigration in Denmark (again). They have an insane process that is also new and has not been field tested very carefully. The process calls for ALL passengers and crew members to disembark before 9:00 am so that “zero count” can be attained. In other words, everyone must be accounted for. Once we have zero count the 1089 passengers continuing on back-to-back cruises, and all of  the crew members can start going through Danish immigration and returning to the ship.

We had the choice to go off on our own and explore Copenhagen, or stay at the port and return to the ship right away. We were tired from all our Baltic adventures and from packing and getting up early this morning so we decided to stay at the port. Also, rain was expected today. The port is not near anything - not even a cafe or convenience store. The cruise terminal is just a large building, very similar to a warehouse, in fact. I think there was a train between the port and the town center, but I hadn’t researched it because I thought we would be closer to things. Our taxi from our central Copenhagen hotel to the ship at the beginning of the cruise was about $40 US. So if we were to go anywhere today, we would be looking at a round trip in the vicinity of $80. Yeah. I don’t think so. We would prefer to enjoy the relative quiet of the ship before the arrival of the 1500 new passengers.

So, here’s the thing. We were herded into a large room full of chairs. Several Danish officials were in there to tell us where to sit. It started raining hard, but nothing else happened. We thought they were having a problem getting to “zero count,” but it turned out to be a bigger problem, with their IT system. Eventually someone without a microphone came over to tell us we would be starting soon, but at the other end of the room. This outraged some of the people near us because our group had gotten off the ship earlier and we had been waiting longer. I was particularly embarrassed by the way one of my fellow passengers behaved, berating the junior staff members and demanding to see their superiors.

But really, nobody was going to start soon.

Outside, on the street side, we could see some of the 1500 new passengers starting to arrive, but they were being sent to another room, which was good, because our room was full. Outside on the dock side, we could see Danish officials trying to set up flimsy little booths in the rain. At some point, someone from Princess came and told us the Danish immigration computer system was not working. That was the only time anyone from Princess came to check on us, and that is how we found out why it was taking so long. Every once in a while there would be a flurry of activity in the vicinity of the Danish officials, but nobody was told to get in any lines.

There were bathrooms there, but there was no coffee available, and not even any water, in fact. This waiting game went on for three hours. Finally, they permitted one row of people to go outside and visit the little booths for their immigration inspection, after which they were able to reboard the ship. We saw a lot of uniformed officials whose primary job seemed to be standing next to a row of chairs and preventing anyone from getting up or leaving until it was that row’s turn. After three hours of sitting there we finally got to go through Danish immigration. We went outside to the flimsy booths and were asked lots of silly questions by officious officials. Who are they kidding? They have probably had the ship’s manifest since we first boarded 12 days ago. If they haven’t already vetted 99% of us, something is wrong with them. Was it really necessary to page through my passport and look at each stamp? And run it through their copying machine multiple times?

I want to make it clear that 90% of this situation was on Denmark. Princess was not involved and they had no control over anything. However, it would have been nice if Princess had provided us with periodic updates in a more transparent manner, since the Danish were not. And they could have brought water out from the ship for us. I noticed that the Danes did not offer an apology when they finally started processing us. Later that night, by contrast, our ship’s captain apologized to the entire ship despite the fact that Princess did not cause the problem.

I really like Denmark, but this left me with a bad taste, and I admire them somewhat less than I did before this wasted day.

That’s how travel is sometimes. Expect it and build a little flexibility into your schedule. Have a Plan B if the weather is bad, or you are tired, or something stupid happens. Don’t take it out on the low level clerks you encounter and don’t be the entitled American like that guy in line near us. Maybe they are doing this to us because “we” do it to them. Or maybe they can’t control everything about their computer system.

When the ship left in the early evening, we had great views of Copenhagen.

A little bit later, we sailed past Kronborg Castle, the model for Elsinore in Hamlet.

Kronborg Castle

A castle on the Swedish side of the channel

Today’s fabric is “Exercise Patience, Eggplant, Large” by applebutterpattycake for Spoonflower.

The Seaside Painters

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Skagen, Denmark, is another small resort town that is just as scenic and interesting as Visby, Sweden. (The “g” is silent, so it is pronounced halfway between “Skay-en” and “Skayn.”

Skagen is the northernmost town in Denmark, on the tip of the Jutland Peninsula. The population is about 7,250, though the population was twice that in 1980. Skagen is the setting for the PBS series, “The Seaside Hotel,” yet the name of the town doesn’t come up in the series (or if it did, I missed it because I didn’t know how to pronounce it when I saw the series). The building portrayed as the hotel in the series does not actually exist, according to our guide. The series, set in the period from 1928 to1947, is about some upper middle class families who come to Skagen from Copenhagen every summer, and some of the Skagen locals who are associated with the hotel. 

Our tour today was called “Skagen on Foot” and our guide, Ann, was wonderful. But Skagen was the star of the show. I hesitate to say “charming” once again but Skagen really shines when it comes to “charming” and “interesting.” This small town, first settled in the 12th century, has many noteworthy features. It is an important commercial fishing port (herring). The surrounding waters, where the North and Baltic Seas meet, have become the site of an extraordinary number of shipwrecks. Skagen is home to a migrating sand dune. It is also a temporary home to large numbers of migrating birds, and birders are drawn to the lovely coastline here for excellent birdwatching. The king and queen of Denmark loved Skagen so much in the 1910’s that they built a summer residence there. (Today the royal villa is a retreat for scholars.) And Skagen has such extraordinary light that it became the home of a group of impressionist artists known as the Skagen Painters. 

These buildings by the water are used by fisherman to store their gear

Dozens of huge tankers and other vessels anchor offshore here while they await their next job

The Royal Villa

Wild roses are invasive here, but they help to anchor the sand dunes so they are welcome along certain parts of the beach

Black Houses

The oldest houses in Skagen are black. That is because they were made from driftwood and salvaged wood and then covered with tar so they wouldn't deteriorate. Nowadays, I think they just paint them black, but the tradition of the black exterior is maintained.

Sones with holes in them, nown as hag stones or witch stones, can be found on the beach around Skagen. Some people coolect them.

This thatched-roof house is part of the Kystmuseet, or Museum of Local History. It would have been the house of a prosperous fisherman.

This is an example of the house of a poor fisherman

Black houses in a neighborhood

Yellow Houses

The yellow houses signify a more prosperous period in Skagen’s history, when people could afford paint. Our guide said the only store in town only sold yellow paint, because that is what the shopkeeper ordered. (I don’t know if that’s true.) Today, that color is known as “Skagen yellow.” Most of these houses have white trim and red tile roofs, which go very nicely with the yellow.

The crossed flags indicate a lifeboatman lives here (or stores things here)

Red Houses

The newest houses are red and made of brick. The townspeople started using bricks when ships started using bricks (which they could sell) as ballast. There are also some buildings with red paint, but I don’t know if there is a story that goes with them.

Not brick, and not a house, but a warehouse. I thought I would put it with the red houses.

Did you notice how small these red houses are, and how similar they look?

Village Life in the Old Days

In the Museum of Local History we saw what everyday life was like for the families of the fishermen and lifeboatmen.

The wives of the fishermen used to come to this windmill to gossip

Inside the house of a prosperous fisherman

The Lifeboatmen

This is one of the lifeboats they used to use to rescue people from shipwrecks. It took eight men to row it.

A portion of map showing shipwrecks off the coast near Skagen between 1858 and 1882. The black circles represent wrecks; the white circles represent ships which ran aground.

In 1852, the North Jutland Rescue Service was established to rescue people from stranded or sinking ships close to shore. There were 19 rescue stations along the coast. Each station had a permanent team, usually local fishermen. The work was dangerous and difficult, but was considered an honor. The men received extensive training. Some rescue missions lasted for days. When conditions did not permit a boat to row out to a ship in trouble, the lifeboatmen would use rockets to shoot a rope or cable out to the ship, and after the line was secured, a bosun’s chair would be used to carry people off the ship, one at a time. To find out more about the rescue service, click here.

Some times an old boat would be turned upside down and used as a roof for a storage hut.

The Skagen Painters

We saw the houses where some of the Skagen Painters lived, and one of the hotels where they used to eat, drink, and display some of their paintings. I have included a few of their paintings below. The paintings are all in the public domain and can be found on the internet.

The Lifeboat Is Taken through the Dunes, by Michael Ancher, 1883

Launching the Boat, by Oscar Björck, 1885

Sunlight in the Blue Room, by Anna Ancher, 1891

Summer Evening on Skagen’s Southern Beach, by Peder Severin Krøyer, 1893

The narrow streets are lined with enchanting yellow cottages with red tiled roofs. Everything is neat and tidy. The beaches are clean and empty. A delightful place, indeed!

Today’s fabric is a sampler. A sampler is a piece of fabric used to practice embroidery or to show off different stitches. This antique sampler is from the Kystmuseet in Skagen. If you look closely, you can spot two of the three extra letters (æ, ø, and å) in the Danish alphabet as they must have looked in 1849.

The Tiger City

Sunday, August 16, 2026

Today was a day at sea. We sailed down around the tip of Sweden, through the narrow passage between Denmark and Sweden, and then up the coast of Norway and into the very long Oslofjord. Here is what we saw along the way:

Sailing under the bridge between Denmark and Sweden

Monday, August 17, 2026

Strong winds prevented us from leaving Visby on time, so we arrived at Oslo almost an hour late. We docked at Revierkaia, which is the less convenient of the two cruise terminals in Oslo, but the center of old Oslo was still within walking distance, and we were grateful that it was not necessary to take a train or shuttle bus.

Our plan for the day was to follow Rick Steves’ Self-Guided Walk for Oslo, have lunch, then go to Bygdøy by ferry to visit a museum. However, our time frame was impacted by the late arrival, getting a manicure in Oslo, and a difficult geocache. By the time we finished lunch we were pooped and we didn’t want to wander too far from the ship, so we never made it to Bygdøy.

Oslo is a vibrant modern city with deep roots. Its metropolitan area population is about 1.5 million. Oslo is nicknamed the Tiger City because of a poem from 1870 which compared Oslo to a dangerous tiger and the rural countryside to a safe horse. (In 2000, to mark the 1000th anniversary of Oslo’s founding, a bronze statue of a tiger was installed at the Central Train Station.)

I get it. I had the feeling that, compared to the other Scandinavian and Baltic capitals, Oslo was a bit more “wild west” and a bit less refined and civilized. Whereas in Copenhagen, packs of cyclists stayed in the bike lanes, in Oslo, cyclists rode in bike lanes, in the streets, and on pedestrian paths, with no bell-ringing or audible warnings. In Oslo, they have elevated swimming in the harbor into a major social event. There are little houseboats that are essentially big saunas, and groups can rent them. (The water in the harbor must be quite clean. We even saw swans there.)

I decided that Copenhagen is like the Japan of the Baltic. It is quirky and interesting and eclectic, but safe, and people there tend to follow the rules. Oslo is more like the Alaska of the Baltic  — a little edgier, definitely more rule-bending going on, but such an exciting place.

On our walk we hit most of Rick’s highlights.

Ostbanehallen, the original train station, now a food court

We walked along Karl Johans Gate, which is a grand boulevard, rather than a gate. Here we saw the iconic Freia sign, reminding us of Norway’s best chocolate.

Oslo Cathedral

A modern new train station sits at the top of the steps behind the Ruter Tower. In the background, a shopping mall and the 37-story Radisson Blu Plaza.

One of the most important buildings in Oslo is the City Hall. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in this building.

Statues of workers belonging to different trades line the front of City Hall

Because of the two towers, City Hall is called “the goat cheese building.” That’s not the first thing that pops into my mind, but I don’t eat that much goat cheese.

In the area of the harbor, there was a lot to see. Facing the water, on the left you can see the looming Akershus Fortress and the Norwegian Resistance Museum. We spent a lot of tme in the Fortress, climbing up and down to different levels and finding dead ends, to complete a complicated, tricky geocache. 

On the right side of the harbor, you will see the Nobel Peace Center and the National Museum. Beyond that is Aker Brygge, a recently developed district of restaurants, shops and nightclubs. Our lunch destination, a waterfront restaurant called Jarmann Gastropub, was located there.

Another building that was once an old train station is now the Nobel Peace Center. The Peace Bench in front reminds us of the value of dialogue and diplomacy.

The National Museum

Jarmann Gastropub

On the other side of the peninsula where Akerhus Fortress is located, a number of magnificent buildings dominate the waterfront facing another branch of Oslofjord. These include, the Opera House, the Munch Museum, and the public library.

Munch Museum

Opera House, front on right
Public library, slightly behind on left

Here are some random photos of things I liked in Oslo:

Houses along Oslofjord

Remember the Vikings!

Harbor art

Although Oslo is one of the most expensive cities in the world, 

Norway has a very high standard of living.  Norwegians receive cradle-to-grave social benefits: university education, healthcare, one year of parental leave, five weeks of vacation, and pensions from the government. Norway has excellent infrastructure: roads, bridges, tunnels, ferries, public transportation, and so on. This is paid for by high taxes and revenue from oil and gas which goes into a fund that is similar to Alaska’s Permanent Fund, but is managed better and worth over a trillion dollars.

Oslo has successfully revitalized and modernized itself by adopting a long-range master plan called the Fjord City (Fjordbyen) Project, based on five overarching strategies:

• Removing and burying traffic infrastructure (tunnels, port relocation)
• Implementing a “Car-Free Livability” program (parking elimination, nudging drivers)
• Anchoring the waterfront with cultural beacons, such as the Opera House
• High-Density Architectural Innovation, to preserve forests and limit urban sprawl (a good example is known as “The Barcode Project”)
• A continuous Harbor Promenade (walkway) 9 km long providing continuous public access to the waterfront zone

There’s more, look it up. I am really impressed with how well Oslo has pulled it off.

Today’s fabric is Norway on Blue by brynnbader for Spoonflower.