Murmansk

Murmansk is, like a lot of Russia quite unfriendly to tourists. Still I quite liked my short stops there. I think this was mainly for astetic reasons. It’s an intresting place..

Murmanski is quite a big industrial city and an important port. For me the main pleasure was to walk around the dirty broken up streets and houses and looking at the old cars. I also like industrial and harbor areas and Murmansk sure has those. The coal trains and the iron dinosaurs digging at the coal in the harbor were pretty cool for example. This place like many in Russia felt like a window to another age.

Still there has been some development and now modern services are popping up all over the place. The funny thing is that the downtown area didn’t use to have any retail space so all the businesses are located in former apartments. This is of course quite bothersome for a tourist but funny non the less. You even find banks “up the stairs to the left” :)

Not being a place I’m very enthusiastic about visiting again this place is still a nice example of what Russia can often be like.

I’ve been to Murmansk 4 times, and I must say it’s a strange city compared to other russian citys. It really hasent got much of a history, since it was built up during the cold war. But it’s a place worth visiting if you’re doing scandinavia og russia. Check out hotel arctica for a great view, mamma mia for continental food and kruskha for great atmosphere and cheap meals.