Latvia

When we left you in our last blog we had just visited the town of Valga-Valka, split by the Estonian/Latvian border.  We hadn't gone much further south before we were signaled to pull over by a parked Police car.  They wanted to check our passports and Dale's drivers license.  Upon hearing that they wanted to see the passports, I was all ready to get the computer out to show evidence of the New Zealand Schengen waiver agreements, however this wasn't required and we were quickly on our way again.  After 3 months of no passport checks, we have just had two in quick succession.

Our destination was Cesis.  Our pamphlets described it as one of the best towns in Latvia, which we feel may have been stretching it a bit, however we enjoyed seeing the Victory monument, St John's church and seeing a building which during Soviet occupation (1945-1990) was a Cheka- a place where people were interrogated, tortured and killed.  The main attraction in Cesis is the castle.  There were several price brackets depending on what you wanted to see.  We chose to explore the castle ruins and climb the west tower.  The special twist to climbing the tower, is that you are given a candle lantern to take with you as it is dark in parts of the staircase.

Cesis Castle

We have come to realise that being away for so long requires us to take time out.  Not to relax- but to organise our New Zealand banking, and unfortunately at the moment, to organise our insurance claim.  So when we picked up a strong wi-fi signal the next morning in the countryside outside Cesis, we used the opportunity to catch up on things back home.  We also had an Australian couple in a UK registered motorhome pulled up beside us.  We had fun talking to Marilyn and Andrew as we had so much common ground, and we ended up talking to them for 3.5 hours!  They spend 6 months out of every year in UK and Europe and have done so for 7 years.  It sounds like the ideal retirement to Dale and I.

We had planned on seeing the Gauja National Park that afternoon on our way to Riga, but with limited time, we decided it was more important to reach Riga at a reasonable time.  We arrived about 6.30pm, with Dale doing well to negotiate the roads and traffic.  We had decided to stay at Riga City Camping for the night, as we needed the facilities and Matt and Sarah had arrived the night before.  It gave us the opportunity to catch up and say goodbye to them, as they are going at a faster pace than we are.

The following morning we moved the van 500 metres down the road to a secure, guarded car park.  We set off for the day sightseeing, and I tried to put my worry about the van to one side, as at least this car park was guarded and had a entry barrier.  The van was fine and we had an enjoyable day in Riga.  We visited two museums- the War museum and the Occupation museum, saw some lovely architecture and sussed out the central markets (located in old Zeppellin hangers).  We decided we would return the next morning and buy some meat and vegetables as the prices were once again good value.  It was a sunny day, ideal for sightseeing and we cracked out the shorts and t shirts again.

Dale cruising on the way to Riga

Traffic in Riga- 100 metres from the campsite, the parked cars on the right are blocking our lane

Riga

We set off at 8.30am the next morning and walked to the markets.  Like Tartu, we spent a similar amount and returned with vegetables, chicken, bread and pastries.  I commented to Dale how yesterday, when we weren't buying goods I felt slightly intimidated with the hustle and bustle.  But when we were shopping, it was a different experience.  We wanted to visit the Zana Lipkes memorial, located near the campsite.  We drove around a bit and found it.  It is very close to the guarded car park, but our time there was up, and we found a park near the memorial.  During WW2 the Lipskes family saved 55 Jews in their underground shelter, and by transporting them to other shelters in the countryside, with the help of friends.  The Germans never found the bunker.  The museum is located next to the Lipkes family home, where Zana's daughter in law still lives.  We were treated to a personal guided tour for 45 minutes and learned a lot about this amazing story.  We thoroughly enjoyed our experience and were happy to add to the donation box, as this attraction is free.

We left Riga and went to nearby Jurmala, a beach resort area.  We parked and walked through forest to the beach.  The sand was white, and we sat on towels in amongst the dunes to shelter from the wind.  Dale braved the chilly waters and had a swim.  I was starting to regret not putting on my togs, but it was pretty cold and I probably couldn't have swum for long if I did.  We spent a relaxing 2-3 hours there, and returned to the van to drive south to Jelgava, where we stopped for the night.

Jelgava was a town on the improve, they have had significant investment to improve their public space (riverside waterfront) and the works are still ongoing.  Where once you had a depressing sad soviet town you now get energy and vibrancy.  It is still a long way from being a must see tourist stop but is pleasant enough for a quick visit.

The Holy Trinity tower- the church was damaged in WW2, then blown up by the Soviets.  They kept the tower as it was useful for Military purposes.

At the top of the Holy Trinity tower

From Jelgava we headed to Rundale Palace which is one of the major tourist destinations in Latvia.  It was the summer residence of the Duke of Courland back in the day when such existed.  It is progressively being restored and 48 rooms, about 1/3, are open and they are also in the midst of the restoration of the formal french style garden which is coming on very well.  The entry fee is about right and we found we weren't gouged in the cafe in the garden which was nice as they usually hike the price as your sort of trapped. Tomorrow we will enter Lithuania.

Restored Russian Military vehicles at the Retro Auto museum, opposite Rundale Palace

Bauska Castle

Rundale Palace

Apples picked from the orchard next to Rundale Palace- yum!

Estonia

We left Helsinki on Tuesday night, after spending the afternoon at the City museum.  We were headed to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, 2.5 hours south on the ferry.  The crossing commenced at 9.30pm and we were one of the last to drive on the car deck, which was full to capacity.  We arrived at midnight and parked in a carpark near the old town for the night.  We set out the next morning for a day of exploring.  The old town is beautiful, we saw St Olavs church, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, and the town square which had a bustling souvenir market, which I really enjoyed.  We had decided to miss the tower at the St Olavs church, and instead seek out our own views over the city.  We spent the afternoon at the Museum of Occupations.  It focused on the three occupations of Estonia- 1940-41 and 1945-1990 by the Soviets and 1941-45 by the Germans.  They gained indepence in 1990, and joined the EU in 2004.  There were a number of interesting objects there, and over 3 hours of video- even we couldn't stay and watch it all!  It was sad to read the hardship and oppression these people have faced up until recently.

We arrived back at 5.30pm to find our van had been broken into.  We were overcome by anger and sadness.  I found myself confused as, only an hour before I was trying to empathise with the Estonian people, however they could have been any race.  The carpark was on a busy road and there was a security camera pointed right at the door they gained access to.  We reported everything to the Police, without much hope that our goods would ever be found or the perpetrators.  It turns out that it is a major problem in Tallin, and it seems there is a group of people going round targeting foreign vehicles.  We have heard on the news since, that the Police have since formed a new unit to patrol these areas.  Our netbook, my prescription sunglasses and some St Petersburg souvenirs (5 euros worth) were taken.  We tried to look on the bright side, as we still had our passports and other belongings.  We spent that night in a daze and slept outside the Police station- the only safe carpark in Tallinn according to the police.  We were joined at midnight by a French family in a German hire motorhome, who had also been broken into at the port and had their computer/s taken.

Broken mirror in the van due to the cupboard being forced open.

Meanwhile, our friends Matt and Sarah had arrived in Tallinn.  They spent 2 years working in London and are camping through Europe.  You can read their blog here: http://europebyyaris.wordpress.com/  We met up with them the following day and joined them at a campsite on the outskirts of Tallin.  They helped take our minds off the situation and it was great catching up with them.  That afternoon we walked to Kadrioru Palace and Gardens, and the following morning before check out we saw the St Bridgets Monastry ruins nearby.

Our next stop was the Lahemaa National Park, east of Tallinn.  The campsite in Palmse was a field behind a restaurant, with good facilities and we had it all to ourselves.  We visited Rakvere, as the campsite owner had told us about a secondhand computer shop.  At this stage we had already been to 2 malls, and were weighing up buying new, secondhand or online.  The shop didn't have any computers, and before heading home we saw the Rakvere Order castle and the Bull statue.  The following morning we headed to Vosu and Kasmu, which are on the coast.  The boys had seen on a map, that the highest concentration of erratic boulders are located on the Kasmu peninsula.  So after a walk around Vosu, a pleasant seaside community, we headed to Kasmu.  These 'erratic' boulders were formed 10,000 years ago when the glaciers retreated during the last ice age.  Some were around 20 metres in circumference, and we had a great time exploring along the coast and back through the forest to the van.

Sarah cooking at the campsite

Building new road

Boulders!

It was here that we said goodbye to Matt and Sarah.  They were headed back to Tallin, to catch the ferry and spend a couple of days in Helsinki.  We continued east and stayed the night just outside the National park.  The next day we headed east to the Russian border.  We went through Sillamae, full of Soviet style housing blocks and crumbling roads.  Right on the border, is Narva, Estonia's third largest city.  At this stage, we were still very uncomfortable about leaving the van.  We headed to the information centre, and then on to see Narva Castle.  The castle looks out on Ivangorod Castle, which is on the Russian side.  Next to the castle is the border checkpoint.  Upon entering Narva, we felt as though we were already in Russia, due to the vibe and outlook of the place, but it was interesting all the same.  Sadly, a lot of the roads and buildings are in disrepair, however that also means there are lots of roadworks!  We headed south to Tartu, Estonia's second largest city, that afternoon, as we had decided in advance that we didn't want to spend the night in Narva.

Border Crossing

Narva Castle (Estonia) on the left and Ivangorod Castle (Russia) on the right

The following day we solved our computer issue!  Dale had found a secondhand computer shop on the internet in Tartu, so we set about finding that.  We had seen the cheapest small laptops in the shops new for 300-350 euro, which we knew we wouldn't get back from the insurance company, as our netbook was 2 years old.  We ended up buying an old Acer Aspire one, and is the best for us considering the circumstances.  Dale did a great job bringing everything back up to date for us.  We have lost some photos from Denmark and all from Sweden, and we spent an hour or so re inputting our expenditure sheet into Excel.

In amongst this we managed a good walk around Tartu, a University city.  I felt it had a good vibe to it, and was full of University students.  It is known for it Town Hall, leaning art museum, main University building and a statue of two lovers kissing under an umbrella (which is in the Town hall square).  There is also a Botanic Garden worked on by the University students and ruins of a Dome church.  My favourite part of Tartu was the fun we had at the Market hall there.  We were parked in the carpark, so thought we would go in for a look.  We came out, having spent 11 euros, which got us 1kg mince, 4 drumsticks, 500g pork, onions, plums, pastries, bread, 10 eggs and 1kg potatoes.  Raspberries that we had seen at 5 or 6 euros in Helsinki were 1.80 euro!

Town Hall and Lovers kissing statue

Main University building

We finished our time in Estonia that afternoon by visiting the towns of Valga, Estonia and Valka, Latvia.  The towns are separated by the Estonian/Latvian border.  It is a fascinating place.  We saw the old border crossings, which recently were in force between 1990-2007, after independence and before both counties because part of Schengen.  They were also unified during the Soviet time.  Stopping here gave us an opportunity to walk between tourist information centres in both counties and to get some Lats at the ATM, for our venture into Latvia.

VISA FREE Trip to St Petersberg

So our trip to St Petersburg was very enjoyable but also provided our most stressful moments.  So a little background. There are 26 countries in what's called the Schengen Agreement.  That generally means there is a list of countries (including New Zealand and Australia) whose citizens are allowed 90 days per 180 within those 26 countries.  However New Zealand nationals due to prior agreements still in place with 16 of the 26 countries are allowed 90 days per 180 in each country without reference to the time spent in other countries.  As a result it is actually pretty hard to stay long enough to need a VISA.  So any Kiwi's looking into this, check the latest information on http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/new_zealand/eu_travel/visa/index_en.htm and make sure you know rights and don't pay for a VISA to exceed 90 days in Schengen unless you really actually need it. Anyway so now you know more about the situation than most European Border officials.

So Nicky and I are merrily bowling through ferry check in at Helsinki.  We get to passport control where the very stern Finnish man stamped Nicky's passport but then when going through mine, points at my Cherbourg entry stamp and says "which country".  So we say "France, we have been driving through many countries" to which he says something like "but all in Schengen more than 90 days".  It is about 98 days since we landed in France. Que panic! So I'm trying to explain the visa waiver which I last looked at nearly 5 months ago and I can't remember if Finland is on it (it is).  I'm not sure how much he understood or believed me but I think he figured he didn't want the hassle and let us through.  Having not had our passports checked since France I had got complacent and hadn't even considered that we had passed 90 days.  So we get on the ferry but they have no WIFI so I can't check the rules (I now have a PDF to solve that issue in the future).  So we are both bricking it that something is going to go wrong because we have 3 more passport checks before getting back into Helsinki.  We managed to sleep but we were super anxious about the Russians. In the end we get through the Russian side okay, no questions asked and once we get to the hotel I manage to reread the rules and confirm that we are on the right side of the law (huge weight off our shoulders).  So coming back we were armed with the response to any problems, so the main annoyance was the wait.  Passport control in both directions in Russia was terrible 1.5 hour queue arriving, for departure we arrived 3 hours early and still had a 40 minute queue.  Finland was fine departing but 1.75 hour wait on return. We had trouble when we got back to Finland.  First we got in the wrong queue so had to choose another, which turned out to be the slowest and as we got near the front the man in the booth just up and left and didn't return for about 20 minutes so we had to go to the back of another queue (there were people getting off the boat 1 hour after us and getting through customs before us).  So we finally get to a booth (by this time it has really thinned out mainly just the people that got caught in our queue).  Why not make one queue with those adjustable barriers, then split it near the booths as most rational countries do??? So hungry and frustrated I finally get seen and the girl asked me when I intended to return to New Zealand and when in said May she was taken aback, so she tried "when will you leave Europe" when I said "December when I go to Morocco" she became down right concerned. So I try and explain about the rules (as above) she asks a colleague who is none the wiser and then she has to call 'the office' as she says it sounds familiar but she doesn't know.  After a little bit it is decided the we'll have to be taken out the back to be tortured until we confess hehe JK.  The office guy says he knows New Zealand has a "contract" with Finland or something but he needs to look it up.  Anyway he said that he was happy the agreement exists with Finland and would stamp our passport and let us in but he hadn't been able to find a list of countries this exemption applied to (i.e the 16 I mentioned earlier).  Anyway who cares we were in and that was the main thing.

So that's our customs stories now our visit to St Petersberg.  So after finally getting out of the terminal in Russia we immediately found our 'city tour' shuttle bus which was supposed to have 2 stops before getting to the central city but went straight to the last stop St Issacs Cathedral (oh well that was our stop anyway).  You have to pay something like 50 euros for this to qualify for the VISA FREE stay but it is just a glorified airport transfer you could probably have got for 10 euro each way.

St Issac Cathedral

As we had our bag with us we had planned to do the Hermitage on day 1 assuming we could get in.  We had read about horrendous queues but as it was it didn't take too long to get a ticket and check in our bag.  The Hermitage is probably the most amazing attraction I have ever seen (not sure what the guy from Grimsby, England saw who rated it 3/5 on Tripadvisor, we made jokes about him) and good value for the ticket price.  The building itself could command the entry alone as there are so many rooms beautifully decorated.  If that wasn't enough you have one of the worlds best museums and art galleries inside.  Would have been good value at twice the price. Fortunately we had done our homework and got some recommendations of what to see off the internet.  Nicky had all the room numbers written down, so our first step was to match them to the map as there are 3 floors and 5 buildings involved (they tend to move stuff a bit so we didn't find everything but it was invaluable).  We spent 5 hours and you still rush past vast amounts of great things to get to the real gems and then you still don't have long enough with these.  We didn't even see the extra diamond and gold rooms (extra charge).

Winter Palace - part of the Hermitage (there are 5 buildings)

Our hotel which although located a little further out was new or newly renovated in 2011 as reviews suggested and exceeded expectations but best of all we got a free room upgrade.  After checking in and further VISA rule checking we had a fun encounter with the locals.  We went to the local corner shop/small supermarket for water (not supposed to drink their water apparently) and food.  Of course we couldn't understand much of the packaging and we were trying to make sure we didn't get sparkling (GAS) water as neither of us like it at all.  We thought we had it right but since their was an attendant we tried to ask and without any words other than GAS we managed to confirm that we had the NO GAS one.  She was so eager to help it was lovely.  It turned out she was from Uzbekistan and as is not uncommon she had half a mouthful of gold teeth (not sure dental hygiene was a top priority in the USSR).  Anyway she ended up collaring another customer, a young (mid 20's) local woman that did speak a little English (she said she had learnt in school).  This woman was also very excited to help and have a chance to try speaking English.  We only had a microwave available at the hotel so we were getting her to help us find food suitable for that.  She ended up behind us at the till as well and helped us sort out the payment which ended up being much more confusing than it needed to be because I couldn't see the number. It was quite nice actually because suddenly people were cheerful, smiling and laughing which we didn't really experience in any other situation.

The entrance to our hotel (in the courtyard behind the grill)

So on Day 2 we planned to go a bit further afield because we didn't have our bag, our first significant site was the Peter palace summer gardens which have been recently renovated and reopened May 2012.  They are free and we think possibly the top free attraction we have ever seen.  Since we were there on a weekend in late summer we were forever coming across bridal parties having photos.  This was nice but somewhat comical is the way Russian women pose for photos, it looks like they are all trying to put together a modelling portfolio, they sort of prostrate themselves all over anything and everything trying to make steamy sultry eyes at the camera (usually manned by the significant other but sometimes their children).  Also this brings me back to the Hermitage which had all these magnificent items on display. They generally have made them very accessible (limited barriers and glass etc) however that meant I observed rather more touching of objects while posing for photos than I would like.  I'm not sure how others feel but I find it the height of selfishness to touch items in any sort of museum/gallery setting.  These valuable and sometimes priceless artefacts are being preserved and displayed for the benefit of all and hopefully potentially for 100s of years to come but people are prepared to harm this by putting their grubby hands all over things or let their children loose pawing at everything within reach.  The Hermitage has a great collection of Greek and Roman sculpture and Nicky noticed someone just casually leaning on the base of one.  I'm surprised we don't hear more stories like the one from Italy about the American that broke the finger off a 600 year old statue.
So idealogical rant over from the summer gardens we moved to the Mikhailovsky Gardens (St Petersburg has a very pleasant network of green spaces near the central city).  Crepes in a park for lunch, YUM.  On to the Church on Spilled Blood which is the building in St Petersburg with the ice cream cone like domes that come to mind with Russia. It's no mistake that this is number 2 on Tripadvisor, both the exterior and the interior are something else.  I don't really know anything about the Orthodox Christian church but they sure make a good mural or mosaic.  From the church we went and got a taste of the Nevsky Prospect, the main street, and the canal which is crossed by Anichkov bridge before finishing with Peter the Great Monument and a long walk back to the hotel via Strelka where you get good views of the Hermitage and the Peter and Paul Fortress on the river.

Church on Spilled Blood

Fountain in the Summer Gardens - they were spectacular but the lighting made photos difficult

The plan for our final day was to see some things close to the hotel in the morning, come back to the hotel, have lunch and check out at 12.  That meant nearly 4 hours to lug our bag around in the afternoon until we caught the shuttle to the ferry.  We took some back streets towards where the Crusier Aurora is docked so we could get a bit more of a feel for the real St Petersberg.  The Crusier Aurora is famous as the ship that fired the first shot of the Russian Revolution.  We walked through the Peter and Paul Fortress and down to where the football stadium is before looping back.  We ticked off a couple more sights in the afternoon, Nikolay I monument and Yusupovsky Palace before buying some food to smuggle aboard (your not allowed food on the ferry - LAME).

Probably saw half a dozen abandoned cars around the place

Some buildings in Peter and Paul Fortress

That is the story of a trip we are both relieved is over and very satisfied with at the same time.
Nicky - Our trip to St Petersburg was very memorable and a fascinating experience.  Whilst we had problems with customs, it didn't take away from the impressive and beautiful buildings that we saw.  It is fantastic to see the building and restoration work that has been going on for the last 10 years.  My favourite part of the Hermitage was seeing paintings by Monet.  The Church on spilled blood is incredible, and it is unfathomable that this was used as a potato storehouse during the soviet era.  I'm really pleased we had this experience, as it was a great opportunity to experience a little piece of Russia.