Nesting dolls in Tallin?

[Pugdog007]

Is St. Petersburg the only place for nesting dolls or will we also find them in Tallin? What about other Scandanavian cities?

[dbh62ark]

Sorry--double post.

[dbh62ark]

I saw some nesting dolls in Tallinn but thought that the selection was better in St. Petersburg. There is a lot of variety in style and in quality with nesting dolls, so it depends on what you're looking for. I bought several sets. My niece was adopted from Russia, so I bought her two cheap sets that she can play with (she already has a couple of the high-end collectible sets) that were fairy-tale characters, etc. We bought a nicer set for us that had painted scenes of St. Petersburg.

 

Your selection in St. Petersburg will vary too. I didn't talk to many passengers who went on ship's shore excursion, so I don't have any information on shore ex shopping in Russia. But if you are going with a private tour group, the rest room breaks are at stores, and you will see a wide variety if you are on private tour. There were also some nice sets on the ship for reasonable prices, but I'm sure you understand that the prices are better in Russia with much better selection.

 

I've been on two Baltic cruises plus a Norwegian fjords, and I don't recall seeing the nesting dolls in any ports other than Tallinn and St. Petersburg.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[johnlcd]

Nesting Dolls and other Russian items are becoming more widely available nowadays. You can find them in Helsinki and even Copenhagen (though St Pete still has the largest selection and best prices)

John

[crazy4cruisn]

There were some very nice ones (signed and hand carved on the outer doll) in the market just outside old town in Tallin for about half the price of those in St Pete's or even in the shops inside old town Tallin. I also saw a great variety with average prices at the Red October shop in St Pete's. They had a huge inventory. Our ship had a sale after we left St Pete's of their Russian items which included the dolls.

[dbh62ark]

Our ship had a sale after we left St Pete's of their Russian items which included the dolls.

My husband and the other husbands on our Constellation sailing were quite amused by the "sale" on the Constellation. One of the husbands, who just happened to be a banker, said, "Don't tell me all these passengers are going crazy buying items at full price!" It was a zoo, and some of the passengers were very aggressive. Not my idea of a good time, but it was a good way to pick up items that you might have missed while concentrating on tour sites. We had plenty of time for shopping on our DenRus tour, so I was pleased with the items that we were able to buy.

 

Donna

[Willsot]

We bought some nesting dolls at a very nice shop in Tallinn called "Amber Waves."