2013/7 Far North

Well we made it to the ‘top’ of Estonia, nearly 60 degrees N and now just started on our return trip. Today is the longest day.They call this time the White Nights, because there is no real darkness. Sundown after 10.45pm and light most of the night, Joanna just has to wake David to verify the light outside in the early hours of the morning, with the predictable response. At present we are parked in the car park of an up market sports/health hotel at the Winter sports centre of Estonia – Otepaa. Their mountain is only 318m altitude but they are obviously crazy about sport here.  There is a cycle track alongside the lake and it is used by cyclists, roller bladers and cross country skiers training on 50cm ski/rollers with poles (they go faster than us on bikes). Mid Summer eve occurs tomorrow (the 23rd June and a public holiday on the 24th St Johns Day). Bonfires and plenty of alcohol to be drunk.We have been told that all locals leave the city and head to their village/town for a bonfire and lots of merriment, alcohol fuelled, for mid summer.  We saw some  fires in preparation and thought here would be all go – however here it is a two day pop concert with a big base sound just round the corner of the lake with many youth and predictable sore heads in the morning – just the same the world over  – good on’em.  However this weekend is the first time we have enjoyed some hot weather, good enough to get us into the lake for several swims, and it is a public holiday for the locals  as well.

Not Not sure when we will finish this blog or post but the internet in Estonia is a dream – free WiFi almost everywhere in the country which created Skype.  Only a population of 1.5M but doing quite well it seems and using the Euro.   Beer and spirits certainly occupies an important part of every supermarket and even sold in petrol stations although the driving limit is zero %.

We seem to have met plenty of fellow camper vanners on this trip, Brits, French, Belgian and even some Kiwis in Riga. Probably we gang  together a bit because with languages such as Estonian, which are so alien to us and so difficult to get any sort of a grasp on, you can feel a bit isolated. Everything is difficult, supermarket shopping the worst – we have had several surprises when we get it back home. Joanna’s cooking is probably best described as fusion. Estonian dumplings topped with a pesto sauce with lots of parmesan. ( Bought a huge chunk in Italy – we are not fond of the eastern European cheeses). The cooked, smoked meat is always of interest at markets and we have had many surprises, some good some not so, but last night smoked turkey was fab. David is into some of the herring but generally we don’t see many fish restaurants.

So after the last blog we spent a couple of days in Riga, the capital of Latvia with a great old city. Cycling in from the camp site we visited the markets housed in zeppelin hangars, and wandered the old town. A sudden downpour led us into the Occupation Museum which improved our learning about the troubled history of the region through the Middles Ages, ruled by so many of its bigger neighbours and more recent take over by Russia in 1940 followed by invasion from Germany 1941-1944, then Russia until the early 90s, all of them ruthless rulers.

 

 

 

 

 

Moving NE besides castles and villages we toured an underground bunker set up during the Cold War and hidden under a rehabilitation hotel. It was only taken off the ‘top secret’ list in 2004. On up to Tallinn where we stayed in the Olympic yachting centre set up as part of the 1980 Moscow games (boycotted by many nations).  After one desperate cycle into town against a gale force wind, we used the very cheap (free for seniors) busses.  Again a very animated old town partly due to the visiting cruise liners (3 on one of the days). We enjoyed a great walking tour, and wandered all over marvelling at the reconstruction following the war time destruction. Also spent a few hours exploring some of the trendy new parts of Tallinn. It really seems to be a city on the move. But the great contrast was the endless lines of soulless apartments, in a dreary, treeless setting, as we headed east out of the city. Followed the coast north, explored the quaint fishing villages of the Lehamaa National Park and then headed S beside Pepsi Jarv which forms the border with Russia (up to 1990 there was a ‘no go’ strip along the shore).

Have been a bit frustrated with the lack of wildlife spotting. Joanna finally saw some elk in the forest a couple of days ago, but not a very clear view. Apparently there are about 700 bears here now but you really need expert help to see them, as for beavers, racoons, foxes – I think you have to go to a zoo. Saw all the signs of beavers on a walk in the Soomaa bog land. Plenty of storks and frogs. Frogs seem to be the number 1 roadkill around here. Thousands of them.

David is enjoying the beer (no more wine) and we note that alcohol is an important section of any store and even sold in petrol stations although the driver limit is 0%.  What David cannot understand is why they sell some beer in 1 pint cans (0.568l), crazy unless those returning from work in the UK have got used to it or there is an export trade to the UK.

Within a few days we will be passing through Estonia to Latvia to Lithuania and west across northern Poland.

As of an hour ago our NEW camera is sitting at the bottom of Lake Garve at Trakai in Lithuania. Much easier to drop it into than a beer glass!

2013/6 To the Balkan States

At last we have found what we wanted of the Balkans – lakes, forest and and sunshine.  So we have stopped for a couple of days R & R in Latvia. Up to now it has been cold with lots of rain, and both of us have colds. Most of the photos we are either holding umbrellas (it’s raining) or they are in the pack back (will rain soon).  The mother of all cloud bursts occurred while waiting for a “free’ walking tour in Krakow, main square awash, inches deep and drains unable to cope (see photo). Now we are on a lake side camp site, over a weekend with lots of children out sailing Optimist and Laser dinghies, plus playing basket ball late into the night.  Did you know that Lithuania nearly beat the US Dream team in the 2,000 Olympics and picked up Bronze medals in three consecutive  games (remember as there will be questions at the end).  Anyway it has become the local national game. Also it is light now until 11 at night so they really do play late into the night. Well late for us anyway.

From the untitled blog number 5 we waited for the fine weather, to go over the Tatra mountains into Poland, but gave up (no more hot pools) and drove over in the cloud.  However Zak0pane did not disappoint. It is such a lively town with lots of visitors, bars and many cheap restaurants where we managed to sample a range of pork and dumpling dishes (some restaurants even had a buffet where you paid at the end of the line by weight – smart idea worth copying). We also couldn’t resist the very cheap hiking  shoes in the town. However the walking in the high mountains was abandoned because of the continuing low cloud, rain and high winds, although we did manage some walks at a lower altitude. The town boast lots of houses with a unique architecture  following man called Witkiewicz who built a few houses and a church in the late 1800’s.

A drive NE to Krakow. Our second visit  and have to say we were a bit half hearted. Not sure why but did manage to have a meal at one of the famed Bar Mlecznys – a hangover from the communist days. Hearty, cheap local fodder, served boarding school style with no frills or fuss. A sort of Polish Ivans, for those of you that hung around Ponsonby 20 or 30 years ago. It was great. Spent more time on Castle Hill and a wander through the State Apartments which were pretty grand. Krakow was lucky to escape physical damage in WW2, but of course suffered terribly with the Holocaust. In fact Poland has a tumultuous history – an endless series of invasions and occupations. Amazing that they have kept their National identity so intact. Did walking tours in both Krakow and Warsaw with young guides who didn’t hold back on their politics and spoke most bitterly about Communist rule and Russian dominance.

Thence to Warsaw. So many times we have been told not to bother to go to Warsaw – nothing to see. We really enjoyed it. Another sad but interesting history. The city was destroyed by the Germans departing at the end of the war – 90% of buildings flattened and only 1000 people left there. Spent a couple of hours at the Warsaw Rising Museum (1944) – a sobering experience. The Old Town has been rebuilt apparently faithful to the original and the rest of the inner city has been done tastefully, apart from the normal Soviet monstrosities, which you get used to after a while.  Anyway we enjoyed and have developed a great admiration for the Polish people.

 

 

Most of the eastern block require us to drive with headlights on during the day which rather negates the cunning LED lights David added which operate when the engine is started (battery voltage high) and go off if the headlights are on.  The trouble is, on campsite with electricity plugged in, the LEDs go on and when it gets dark, (which is about11pm now)  some kind soul will will tap on the door and remind us that, ‘You have left your lights on.’ Once again it’s time to take out the fuse and say thank you.  Driving with the lights on does enable us to see more easily cars that pull out of a line of oncoming traffic on our side of the road – don't panic it is standard behaviour, some one will let him in at the last moment, or in the rare case cars take to the extreme side of the road, yes - there was room for three cars abreast.

In the NE of Poland we stopped at a run down hotel in the lake district to collect a copy of Stan’s insurance papers posted by Maureen, and then crossed into Lithuania on the short border squeezed between Belarus and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Life has been easy in many of our travels using Euros as currency, now we have to get used to the individual currencies of Poland, Lithuania and of Latvia (Estonia is on the Euro), not so easy as we will cross them twice. The good news is that in general food is cheaper and David’s coffee is down to less than one Euro most places, and beer not much more.

Spent a day in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. It is funny how sometimes you just don’t get into a place. We never really got the hang of it. Did a walking tour, which was ok but by a young student and she focused a lot on alternative, hippy type artist communities, which was interesting, but we love the history and we didn’t get it. Also did one of our rare bus tours which wasn’t much better.   At this point we were starting to come down with colds and probably accounted for the lack of enthusiasm.

Had an interesting couple of hours at a Soviet Sculpture Park. Someone had the foresight to collect all these awful sculptures, mostly of Lenin and his mates, and preserve them as a monument to freedom. Was interesting but the visit cut short by the swarms of mosquitos that tormented us.

One of Joanna’s great highlights, as always, are the storks. Lithuania, apparently, has the highest concentration of storks in Europe. They are the most engaging birds. The Lithuanians encourage them with frames to make it easy to build their nests, and often to protect the electricity lines. In the last week or so we have started to see the babies’ heads appearing over the top of the nest as the parents come into feed them.

Often we feel quite at home here, with the low population density, miles of sandy beaches and all the wooden houses. They are quaint and very attractive but have been neglected over the years, lots of peeling paint. (Often have a bit of a Wild West air about them. Expect a couple of cowboys to come bursting out through the doors for a shoot out in the street.) But there seems to be a revival. Must be lots of money to be made being a house painter here right now.     

Finished our time in Lithuania with a trip to the Curonian Spit. A 100 kilometre long, 3 km wide piece of sandy land shared between Lithuania and what we call Little Russia. The bit of Russia on the Baltic Sea.  A ten minute (expensive) ferry to cross to it and more money to enter the National Park. Lots of pine trees, lots of sand, lots of Shags in a noisy forest nesting site, some pleasant little settlements on the lagoon, freezing water, great smoked fish,  but otherwise, coming from NZ Godzone, we were not that impressed.

Incidentally one thing that has given Joanna a little thrill is that she has legitimately joined the Seniors Brigade, at least in this this part of the world. Sixty is the age to get the discounts and there are lots of them. Very satisfying – there has to be some compensation for getting old!!

Continued N up the west coast crossing into Latvia and stopping at one of the noted sea side resorts, Liepaja, long long sandy beach, loads of beach cafes and very few people. Drunk a coffee while a group of locals searched for an Iphone lost in the sand (they did find it). It is hard to get the season and/or time of day to visit correct, too few people and there is no ambience and too many place is spoilt. However the weather was on the mend and we found the little camp site beside a lake with the sailing school, stop and write up the Blog.