What did you buy on your Baltic cruise?

[cruisinalong001]

I found a great thread on "what to buy" for our Greek Isles cruise last year. I had my shopping list all prepared for each port. :)

 

Perhaps those of you who have already been on a Baltic cruise can tell me what items you found to buy in the various ports.....and where you found the best bargains!

 

Looking forward to making my list again!

 

I know some might think this belongs on the Baltic boards, but those that have already been on a Baltic cruise may not be looking at those boards.

[linda_22003]

We like art glass, and indulged ourselves in Stockholm.

[lindberg]

In Poland we bought some really sparkly amber which vendors sold right at the dock. They had pendants, strands, beads, everything in the way of amber. Very reasonable.

[lindberg]

My favorite Baltic Cruise purchase..... Fiskers trimming shears, for trimming bushes, roses, trees. I've used those frequently and always remember where I got them. We were the only cruise ship passengers hiking around town trying to find a hardware store. It was a fun day!:D

[Pam in CA]

Amber and more amber. :) I bought a beautiful pendant in an unusual shape in Talinn, and green amber earrings in Gdansk. They are very nice and I paid a heck of a lot less than I would for similar items in the U.S.

[rdsqrl]

In St. Petersburg, I'd recommend vodka, of course! And Russian chocolate, which is really good. Look for Krasnaya Oktyabre [Red October], a brand that's been made since the mid-19th century (they supplied the tsars). Their factory used to be right in downtown Moscow (you could smell the chocolate wafting out of the vents!), although it's being relocated to the 'burbs now while they redevelop the buildings as loft apartments/retail. Anyway, the chocolate is sold all over the country so you should have no trouble finding it -- look for their chocolate bears (Misha Kosolapii) and the Alyonka chocolate bar (has a picture of a girl on the wrapper).

[blizz_27]

My parents bought one of those ornate and beautiful eggs when we were in St. Petersburg ... it was blue/gold, sparkly and pretty! :( dunno what they were called...

[Miss Jolly]

They are called Faberge eggs. They ARE beautiful and are plentiful but vary in price and quality. I bought beautiful knitted jumpers in Tallinn down by the wall and also a magnificent calf length leather coat which is far more stylish than anything I have seen here at home. I cannot remember the name of the shop but it is in Old Town just around the corner from the Town Hall. The shop is full of fur and leather coats. The fur coats were beautiful but we are not permitted to bring them into Australia. Our strict laws also prevented my DH and DS from buying the war relics that they were so intereted in.

[txsaxplayer]

Echo the Amber--Very popular with the wife and the daughter, conveniently sold at dockside in Gdynia. St. Petersburg I bought several Complete Works DVDs with all the recordings of several jazz artists. Not exactly legal, but there the trade flourishes. But my all-time favorite Baltic purchase in the three months that I worked their on Star was the New Yorker (a week old, sometimes two, but who cared?) at the magazine stand of the big department store downtown.

[custompcsys]

I bought a Russian fur hat on my first visit to St. Petersburg. Keeps me very warm during our cold Vermont winters :)

[cruisingfreak]

Last August I bought Long Silk scarves, a handpainted paper mache box, stacking doll sets, & Russian chocolate in St. Petersburg.

 

Of course I had to buy an amber bracelet too while on this cruise, as you see it being sold everywhere you go.

 

Minette

[stacycs]

Great thead. I look forward to more great ideas before my Baltic cruise as well.

thanks

[sunsetbeachgal]

I am going to spell this wrong, but we bought those matrishka dolls...the kind that are made of light painted wood that you open and smaller dolls are inside. Little granddaughters love them!

[Pia1913]

To the OP, you only missed one letter. It's MATRUSHKA.

 

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In Oslo we bought a troll (a little one) and in Estonia we bought coffee.

[CruisinChris]

Matrushka dolls, similar egg with the madonna on it, kosta boda atol tea light holders, amber jewelry, fabrege egg jewelry, Russian caviar, viking horn hat for niece, row house - similar to Cat's Meow

[cruisemom42]

Russia: Painted lacquer box, Russian wine

 

Talinn: Amber, hand-embroidered napkins and tea towels, small watercolors

 

Gdansk: Amber

 

Stockholm: Art glass vase

 

Helsinki: iittala glassware (casual wine glasses, everyday glasses, shipped to US), Oiva Toikka glass birds, marimekko tote bag and umbrella

 

Copenhagen: Glass tealight candle holders

[KND2006]

Stockholm-art statue in art gallery

 

Helsinki-hand crafted metal plates at the market

 

Tallin-amber jewelry, and linen

 

St Petersburg-matrushka dolls, vodka and watercolors

 

Gdansk-amber

[sunsetme]

i bought very little as the dollar sucked last summer. my husband bought a russian folktale children's book for the art. nothing else!

[gipper77]

We bought books among other things. I am glad that we bought them when we went as with the luggage cost now, this would have been outrageous.:)

[Pia1913]

We bought books among other things. I am glad that we bought them when we went as with the luggage cost now, this would have been outrageous.:)

 

I completely agree. Fortunately on our first trip to Scandinavia and Russia , we were able to buy books from every city; even bought several from different areas of Russia.

[cruisinalong001]

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

 

Cruise Mom- Was there a particular store for the glass items or was there a good department store that sold them? I am a bird person myself and may just start a collection of the birds. How were the prices?

 

By the way, how was the Russian wine?

[cruisemom42]

Thanks for all the great suggestions.

 

Cruise Mom- Was there a particular store for the glass items or was there a good department store that sold them? I am a bird person myself and may just start a collection of the birds. How were the prices?

 

By the way, how was the Russian wine?

 

 

I found the birds at the Stockmann department store -- right on the Esplanadi and close to where the ship shuttle drops you off. I'm a bird lover too. :) It just so happened that the ones I got were on sale, but they had some other beautiful ones that were more expensive. I thought I might find them at the iittala store also, but that was mainly just glassware.

 

This looks a lot like the ones I bought (currently perched on the sill of a high window in my living room):

 

http://www.glassbirds.com/toikka-female-teal.html

 

The price I paid in 2005 was somewhere around $120-$130 each.

 

 

The Russian wine was not so great -- the white was much better than the red. Our guide (Den Rus) made a special stop for me at a nice wine store and helped me pick out some likely suspects. The white was a Georgian white, I don't remember the name, but Georgian whites are supposed to be one of the better wines. I'm not at all sure that they are still available in Russia though due to the political tensions:

 

http://georgianwines.blogspot.com/2007/04/russia-bans-georgian-wines.html

[Elvera]

I bought a Matrushka doll and painted napkin rings in St. Pete. The later have proved to be a real conversation piece at dinner parties. That trip was on Rennaisance in 2000. This year we're going on the Emerald May 26.

[minimi.4214]

great suggestion everyone, thanks.. i will make a list of everything incase we decide a cruise this summer...

[2good2b]

I wanted to add three more items that I don't think were mentioned. In St Petersburg...check out the Lomonosov Porcelain. I purchased the prettiest tea-pot. The bottom says hand made in St Petersburg. Also in Stockholm I purchased a crystal Dalecarlia Horse..also made in Sweden. In Copenhagen, I went to the Royal Copenhagen store and bought some beautiful pieces of china. I also buy a Christmas ornament from every port we stop at, these go on my "travel tree" that I put up each Christmas. I also brought my little granddaughter's back little Russian Dolls & some cute little Swedish dolls.:)