Travel
fire publish on this page articles and notes which may help our readers in making their plans for travel at home and abroad. They are written by correspondents who have visited the places described. We shall be glad to answer questions arising out of the Travel articles published in our columns. Inquiries should be addressed to the Travel Manager, The SPECTATOR. 99 Gower Street, W.C.1.]
Cruising to Leningrad
1w nineteen days the Baltic Cruise of the Cunard liner ` Carinthia' just concluded enabled its five hundred members to sec much of seven Baltic countries, and made possible a three-days' stay in the Soviet Union. By the efficient co- operation which exists between the Cunard Company, Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son, and the local authorities in the various countries, facilities were provided for motoring through many miles of territory. The excursion was strenuous, but—par- ticularly as regards Russia—a lasting impression of the places visited remains.
At Copenhagen, the first call, there was the opportunity of driving through long stretches of the fertile Danish countryside into Northern Zealand, to Elsinore—with Kronborg Castle and its local celebrity, the ghost of the father of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark—and to the Kattegat coast. On the way one passed the Villa Hvidore, the Danish retreat beloved by Queen Alexandra and her sister, the tragic Empress of Russia. At dinner in a Copenhagen restaurant the Danes manifested their present degree of democracy. The brother of the King —Prince Harald—his wife and two daughters, the Princesses Fecidora and Alexandrine, entered and occupied a table near to us. Although the place was full, there was no demonstra- tion, and the royal party courteously rose when the orchestra played the British National Anthem in our honour. At Visby on the Island of Gotland, the largest of the Swedish Islands in the Baltic, we saw the remains of what, from the tenth to the fourteenth century, was one of the most flourishing towns in North-East Europe. Excavations arc now in progress there on the site of a mediaeval battlefield, and the bones of soldiers buried in a common grave were in process of dis- interment.
The Finns at Helsingfors provided an imposing welcome. As we arrived at the quay in a tender from the ship, a group of small Finnish girls—dressed in white and waving Union Jacks—rendered 'Rule Britannia" with enthusiasm. A tall Finn, grasping an enormous bunch of roses, made an eloquent speech of welcome, in which were many praiseful references to British institutions, and, as a compliment to the British Empire, announced his intention of presenting the bouquet to the first lady who stepped ashore. She happened to be an American.
Many had chosen this cruise because of the opportunity which it afforded of spending a few days in the Soviet Union. The tourist traffic in the U.S.S.R. is controlled by a Government organization known as the " Intourist Bureau." Fortunately, the Bureau works in close co-operation with Thomas Cook and Son, who, with infinite patience, make all arrangements and reserve accommodation in the Russian trains, and, where they exist, in the hotels. The Cunard Company arranged for passport visas direct with the Soviet Authorities, thus saving the tourist much trouble. The landing excursion in Russia was expensive but optional. No passenger was permitted to land by the Soviet authorities unless the stipulated excursions were taken. There were two, the visit to Leningrad, costing £11 per person, and the trip to Leningrad and Moscow, at 120.
The three-days' stay in Soviet territory was planned intelligently. Leningrad was thoroughly explored, and all the points of interest were shown by educated women guides, mostly from the Russian Universities, who speak English well. The Hotel de l'Europe, Leningrad—where lunch and dinner were served—was placed at our disposal. After ten hours of in- tensive sightseeing (which was, by its very strangeness, at once removed from the category of ordinary sightseeing) we left at night by special train for Moscow. The train was composed exclusively of sleeping-cars, and the Cunard Company, with Thomas Cook and Son, had transferred the baggage to the compartments reserved, and had thoughtfully provided (after much difficulty with the Soviet authorities) cartons of refreshments and scaled bottles of water for use en route. There was no restaurant car, and only Russian tea and hard rusks were served. The wagons-lits of the Soviet Union are quite comfortable, and no worse than those of the Paris-Lyon- Mediterranee. The four hundred miles' journey to Moscow was completed in eleven and a half hours. The whole of the next day was spent in seeing Moscow, in the custody—for that is the word—of competent women guides. It was an experience of profound interest.
At Moscow the party was accommodated at the Grand Hotel, and at night we returned to the same train. The next morning we arrived once again in Leningrad and motored out to Dyetskoye Selo (once called Tsarskoye Selo), formerly the country retreat of the Imperial Family, where Nicholas II and the Tsarina spent their last days before banishment to an unknown destination in the Urals. The Russian roads are abominable, but Dyetskoye Selo well repaid the physical dis- comfort of getting there. Our last impression as we passed Kronstadt and emerged from Soviet waters was a glimpse of the former Imperial yacht ` Standart.' The Customs regulations in the Soviet Union are strictly applied, and the following quaint extract is taken from the official Soviet Customs rules :—
"The following articles may be brought into tho 'U.S.S.R. :- For each traveller ; articles for personal use ; headgear (one fur article, in all 4 articles per person), travelling and toilet articles (in all not exceeding 5 kg. in weight), goloshes—two pairs of shoes ; 1 kg. of tobacco, 500 cigarettes, or 100 cigars, 3 opened cakes of soap ; Provisions ; platinum, gold and silver articles for each person over 16 years of age ; watches, cigar-eases, reticules (only made of silver), bracelets, brooches, breastpins, forks, knives, one article per person ; rings, crosses, small holy images, spectacles, eye-glasses - -2 articles per person ; studs-4 articles per person ; ornaments on walking-sticks, and on toilet articles are not included ; instruments and articles indispensable for doctors, artists and the like, if the quantity does not suggest their being imported for sale ; the profession should be certified by a document ; trunks containing traveller's luggage. If the duty for the new articles of one traveller, or of a family exceeds the Amount of 150 roubles, a permit is necessary from the corresponding foreign Representation of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade, Books and manuscripts are examined at the frontier.'
Our stay in Stockholm was a delightful experience. The clean streets and beautiful buildings—including the famous Town Hall—are the more impressive, coming as they do after the depressing atmosphere of Leningrad. In Sweden the home plays an important rile in the life of the people, and architecture, and arts and crafts adapted to the home have been so well developed that they reach a high level. There is national pride in the claim that Sweden possesses the highest standard of living of any country except the United States. Our visit to the Stockholm Exhibition was necessarily brief, but we saw enough to show that modem Sweden aims at a high standard of industrial art. As in Denmark, we noticed evidences of the tendency towards the elimination of class distinction.
Our next call was at Zoppot—for Danzig. The Treaty of Versailles severed Danzig from the German motherland and made her an independent Free -State, and here live-more than 384,000 inhabitants, of whom 96 per cent. are Germans. The day was well spent in this fascinating old Hanseatic town, with its unique architecture. Many members of our party later explored Zoppot, to dine, dance or play Boule at the Casino there, while others visited the neighbouring Polish frontier to hear, from their formerly German chauffeurs, illuminating political views on the subject of the Polish Corridor. The 'Carinthia' came up through .Danish waters to Norway, and Bergen was our last calling place. Bergen is too well-known to need description here. We tourists, how- ever, found that, like the old City of Rome, Bergen has its seven hills, and its enchanting surroundings make it one of the most beautifully situated cities in Europe. Its Hanseatic museum—the house of a Hanseatic merchant—is left intact. The ancient account books, the rooms of the apprentices and of the merchant, together with many relics of the past, may here be seen as they were in the days when the League was a power. There are still many picturesque Wooden buildings in the older quarters of Bergen, as well as stone structures dating from the Middle Ages. The ' Carinthia's' homeward way led through the Orkneys and Scapa Flow, where a good view was possible of the German warship Hindenburg '—lately salvaged from the sea. Cruises are good fun. There are places which the busy man must see if he is to be au courant with the world's happenings, and the cruise provides a quick and pleasant means of doing this. The Cunard Company deserve praise for their arrange- ments for the comfort of the passengers in the Carinthia.' This 20,000-ton Atlantic liner is one of the steadiest, and every possible amenity for comfort has been introduced, including, apart from ordinary equipment, a squash-rackets court and a swimming-bath. Such a cruise may be undertaken for less than £75 per person, including the landing excursions. This cost may be reduced by avoiding these trips but to those who use the cruise as a means of reaching and seeing other countries quickly, the excursions arc indispensable. There is something to be said for foreign travel in " tabloid' form, and the quick cruise— unsatisfactory as it may seem to those who have the leisure to spend a long period in each place they visit—is after all not so aimless as it may at first appear.
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