Murmansk Winter Expedition: Day #5

Daily distance: 211 km
Distance from home: 1570 km

You may have noticed that some of our journeys are related to the cities of the Hanseatic League. We were in Lübeck and Visby on Gotland, as well as in Riga, Tallinn and Stockholm. In Polish Gdańsk (where Hanza had its cantor) we were also 😉 Therefore, when planning our trip to Murmansk, we had to visit Wielki Nowogród, which was the gates of the Hanseatic League in trade with the East.

Hanseatic merchants left Nowogród in 1494, but the Hanza Hotel remained as a reminder of them.

Our interest in Hansa appeared after reading Andrzej Pilipiuk’s “Deer’s Eye” series. All those interested in the history of the Hanseatic League are also recommended to visit the very good Hanseatic League Museum in Lübeck, where you can spend many hours and gain a lot of knowledge.

So what is worth seeing in Veliky Novgorod?

We were attracted by the Kremlin, a fortress with several interesting buildings. 

On the other side of the fortress, behind the bridge, we met a docked restaurant with good coffee and cakes.

And then we went to St. Petersburg that welcomed us with a snowstorm.