Thurs July 17, 2025
Hi Folks! We are docked in Sitka, Alaska today. Our string of decent weather ran out and we’re back to a cool, drizzily, grey day. Typical Alaska weather! But we had a fun day none the less!
Sitka has a population of only 8,500 people but a total area of 4,800 square miles making it the largest city by total area in the US. That sure doesn’t seem right but it’s true. It was under Russian rule from 1799 to 1867 and was also the location for the transfer ceremony for the Alaska purchase in that same year.
Russia was going through economic and political turmoil after it lost the Crimean War to Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire in 1856, and decided it wanted to sell Alaska before British Canadians tried to conquer the territory. Russia offered to sell it to the US for $7.2 million, which worked out to be 2 cents per acre. Not a bad deal!
Therefore there’s lots of Russian history here since Sitka was the former capital of Russian America, known as New Archangel. While the Russian era ended with the Alaska purchase, its legacy is still visible in the city’s architecture, cultural institutions and historical sites. And heck we even got the line, “I can see Russia from my window”, from them! Lol
Today we rented a car but it had two unique aspects to it. The first was we rented thru an app named “Turo”. I had read about it before but never used it but it’s where people rent their own cars out when they’re not using them (like AirBnB-ing your own car!)
The other unique feature was it was an all electric car and I had never driven one before. Very nice when you don’t have to fill up with gas at the end of the day’s rental! And the car worked out great!
We drove all over Sitka but once again didn’t find any bears! But did see a Bear Sign. And one Bear sign said there was a sighting of a mama bear and cub yesterday. That’s our luck, a day late and a dollar short! Heck the only live wildlife we saw were salmon!
So we saw both the countryside and the town itself. There was a cool Russian Orthodox Church named St Michael’s there. And lots of shops both in town and by the cruise ship pier. But we spent most of our time driving up these narrow gravel roads that led to beautiful lookout points but the cloud cover was so low it made the pictures look so gloomy. Oh well, we had fun!
I’ll do another update tonight after dinner. Hope everyone is having a great Thursday!
PS: Remember yesterday I showed a pic of the Holland America ship we’re taking to Alaska next year. Well it must be fate because today we were docked next to the Holland America ship we’re taking to Japan next year, the Westerdam! It was meant to be! Lol
The Wandering Italian 