Murmansk, A Short Trip to the Arctic Circle

As with all truly memorable trips leaving from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport today’s one hour trek to the airport took nearly three hours.  We barely made our flight to Murmansk and were forced to suffer through the chastisement of the taxi driver.  He was annoyed with our foolishness for only booking our taxi four hours prior to our flight’s departure (even though the drive should only be one hour…ugh Moscow traffic will be the death of me).

 

Boarding the tiny plane I immediately noticed �БГД instead of ABCD marking the plane’s seats and realized that I was stepping into a relic of Aeroflot’s Soviet past.

  As I settled into my tiny seat my mind raced over Russia’s dubious air safety record, worst in the industrialized world, and over the fact my plane was produced by the people who brought the world the Lada.  It was not a particularly pleasant thought but as the engines roared to life and I drifted to sleep my mind turned from Lada’s to MiGs.  Fine flying machines I thought.   Machines the Soviet Union could be proud, machines which my plane must have much more in common with then Ladas.

 

Two hours and 10 minutes later as the plane rushed towards the blackness of Murmansk at breathtaking speeds I became legitimately concerned that we might fall out of the sky.  The plane sped down with shrieking screams and whooshing whines roared out of the engine cutting through the walls of the plane and piercing my ears.

   Screech and whoosh, screech and whoosh the engines rolled back and forth between the two sounds as we plummeted down with the sensation of speeding up and slowing down until suddenly the twinkling lights of the runway emerged from the darkness and a moment later we were on the ground.  I had reached my destination, covered in nervous sweat, but I had reached Murmansk.

 

I entered the plane in Moscow on what could be considered a warm and sunny spring evening, temperature hovering in the mid teens (Celsius).  I exited the plane at Murmansk’s regional airport and stepped into nearly white out snow conditions and sub-zero temperatures.  I stood for a moment on the gangway taking in the frigid night.  Surveying the snow covered Arctic landscape of rolling hills and stubby trees laid out before me I thought how I might now be standing as far north in the world as I ever will.

  The fact is there are not too many places to go north of Murmansk, certainly not too many that are easily reached or with human populations of any significant number.

 

Leaving the plane I Grabbing my bags and stepped into a taxi (actually a Lada).  The driver sped through the blinding snow fall and over twisting and turning roads that crisscrossed the arctic landscape of snow covered hills porcupines with stubby leafless trees.  After forty five minutes of careening through the Arctic at breakneck speeds I was finally dropped off at my hotel in Murmansk…the whole flight and drive from the airport to Murmansk took less time then my drive from my apartment to the airport in Moscow.

 

Murmansk is the World’s largest city north of the Arctic Circle and gateway to the North Pole.

  A city built for trade and the navy. Murmansk and the Kola Peninsula, where Murmansk sits, is home to a significant fishing fleet, four of Russia’s nuclear powered ice breakers and the great Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation.  Established in 1916 by Nicholas II Murmansk has an interesting history that includes occupation by American and British troops in 1917 and 1918.  The Allies held the city while they mulled over what role they were to take in the Bloody Russian civil war. 

 

In World War Two the city was one of the main hubs for lend lease program.  As a result Murmansk suffered bombardment and near obliteration as the Nazi’s desperately tried to stem the flow of American Studebakers, bullets, and spam that helped to fuel the Red Armies’ desperate struggle and eventual victory over the Nazi invaders.

  Murmansk is now a city shrinking in size.  Military cuts after the end of the Cold War and privatization of the fishing fleets and harbor industries have cost the region thousands of jobs and led to a general migration of much of the population.  While half the size of what it once was Murmansk struggles and survives at the top of the World where, rightfully speaking, no city was meant to survive, much less thrive. 

 

Murmansk sits nearly alone inside the Arctic Circle where complete arctic darkness shrouds the city for 40 days every winter.  During the arctic winter in December and January only the green glowing lights of the Aurora Borealis and whatever illumination human kind can make to illuminate the city.

  In the summer the long days of darkness are replaced with 40 days of 24 hour sunlight in which the sun never slinks below the horizon.

 

Architecturally Murmansk can be described as nothing but a Soviet city.  Hulking grey cinder block apartment dwellings appear to make up 90% of the buildings.  These boxy and cold buildings are visible in every corner of the city from the mouth of the harbor where ships wait in the frigid waters, to the terraced hills that rise above and along the city.  To avoid the view of these monster structures you must look past the city and focus your eyes on the forested and snow covered hills surrounding the city and the inlet to the Ocean.  Even the cities greatest structural landmark a massive concrete statue of a Red Army Solider, named Alyosha, which rises hundreds of feet into the air from it’s perch on a high bluff above the harbor plants the city firmly in its Soviet past.

 

The architecture of the city gives the impression of conformity and coldness that is inconsistent with the warmth and energy of the local population.  Murmansk is a city with hip bars, lively dance clubs and tasty restaurants featuring a variety of dishes prepared with bear, elk and reindeer meat as well as fresh fish.   Most importantly, though, Murmansk was a city with open and friendly people whose kindness and hospitality contrasted sharply with the unemotional grey architecture of their city and the hard frozen landscape they inhabit. 

 

As for activities there is not a tremendous amount to do in the city.

  You can wander the streets, hit the very small museum of the Northern fleet, climb up to Alyosha for an absolutely fantastic view of the city, watch reindeer races (if you happen to be in town for the once a year event), eat gamey food, look at the monument to the victims of the Kursk disaster and dance and drink at some of the trendy restaurants and clubs (at bargain basement prices compared to Moscow).  Most of the other interesting activities require that you leave the city and explore the surrounding area.

 

For those who like nature and have a bit of time there are opportunities on the Kola Peninsula. I’d recommend exploring the harsh Arctic landscape of the Peninsula via car, crossing the desolate border into Norway, seeing the sea and watching the indigenous Sami herd reindeer in the Lapland bio-preserve.

  I’ve not done any of these things, but hope to on a future trip to the Arctic Circle.  For those of you with $10,000 to spare you can hop on one of the Russian Icebreakers for an exotic cruise to the North Pole.  

 

Well that’s Murmansk, go if you can and witness a truly Soviet city, enjoy 24 hours of sun or night (depending on your mood), feast on reindeer and fresh fish and brag to your friends that you saw the World’s largest city north of the Arctic Circle, a city where few other travelers, Russian or otherwise will ever see.