Date Visited: 7/25/22

Kotka, Finland was not part of the plan when we booked our cruise through the Baltics. We were supposed to go to St. Petersburg, Russia, but with the Ukranian war that wasn’t going to happen. Cruise ships are generally not welcome in war zones!

Kotka, Finland was an interesting destination considering how things were going. Kotka is right on the border with Russia. I wasn’t sure if going that close to Russia was wise, but considering I was willing to walk literally to the border with Kaliningrad when we were in Lithuiana I guess I wasn’t too cautious either.

Since we didn’t really have time to research Kotka, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As mentioned, all the Baltic countries have to deal with Russia and being that Kotka is right on the border with Russia, it is no exception. The city has numerous times been under Russian control. It was kind of interesting that I found a statue of Lenin in the city. It was hidden but it was there.

Also things I saw in Kotka was an old church with an interesting memorial to those who died resisting Russia during and after world war II. It was all very strange, like the city accepts Russia and then it doesn’t, I am not really sure what was going on there. Maybe it was some sort of survivor thing going on.

The city of Kotka is mostly a shipping port, but it has a nice small town feel. We got dropped off in a residential zone which was interesting. Most people seemed to live in big apartment buildings. The main attractions are an aquarium and a park with a waterfall. If you walk a bit further you will also find some interesting views of the Baltic sea and I was able to explore an abandoned Russian fort.

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