http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/fiona-adam/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from fiona adam en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:58:35 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:58:35 +0000 As per usual the blog begins with an apology for its tardiness especially as we are both home now but as mentioned previously the Ukrainians aren't too hot on their public internet access and frankly we became somewhat lazy. But here we are SimferopolSimferopol does not warrant much review in fact we became bitter and twisted by remaining for the night. It has no merits upon which a recomme http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ukraine/Krim/Yalta/blog-316422.html Again we must begin with apologies to our regular readers for the lateness of todays entry. We have made it to the Crimea but the lack of internet facilities in the resort town of Yalta is quite astounding...more on this southern tip of the Ukraine at a later date though as we must fill you in on one of the most interesting places we have visited thus far...Minsk Belarus All the guidebooks inc http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belarus/Minsk-Voblast/Minsk/blog-312471.html Finally LithuaniaSo we left Riga again hoping that as nice as the city is we wouldn't have to return at least not under similar circumstances... It was back to our old friend Eurolines where for once the bus driver wasn't annoyed that we actually had baggage when travelling internationally and even whipped out some baggage tags which proved useless because it was still very much a save and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-310423.html Oh dear. As 'regular readers' may have noticed its been some time since we updated the blog. There is a valid excuse...apologies in advance for the lengthiness of this torrid tale.So as our bus to Klaipeda a Lithianian coastal town wasn't until quarter to eight in the evening we decided to spend some time browsing round the uberretro shop in the Hotel Fontaine. Full of sovietera trinkets and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Latvia/Riga-Region/Riga/blog-309851.html Rainy TimesIn the morning we headed into town for some more pastry loving and to make the trip to the tourist information office to get some idea of how to reach Liepaja. With the next bus at 3pm we had a bit of time to waste and inventively did so by drinking copious amounts of coffee and a lunchtime beer. Cautious of the fact we had no idea where the bus station was we headed off early and event http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Latvia/Kurzeme-Region/Liepaja/blog-308563.html Venta FallsGot up in the morning and headed out to the nearby pastry shop to stock up with lots of delicious goodies actually considering setting up an export business purchasing these amazing bites for less than 20p and selling them to the desperate foolish british public for about two pounds they'd still be amazing value at that. After monching down some of the aforementioned tasty goods we he http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Latvia/Kurzeme-Region/Kuldiga/blog-308558.html Happy with our flying visit to Parnu we boarded the evening bus to Riga and promptly fell asleep only to be woken by the terrorinducing braking of the driver Apparently latvia has one of the worst records for road accidents in europe...the journey provided much evidence to that effect. Arrived unscathed and eventually found the hostel which is actually hidden behind a bookcase in a bar proba http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Latvia/Riga-Region/Riga/blog-307784.html A super early start why schedule a popular bus route at 7.45 am We were somewhat taken aback to discover we would be travelling to Estonias most popular seaside resort by minibus rather than the spacious coach which had brought us to Kuressare but it was nice and air conditioned. The journey went quite quickly and we arrived in Parnu with plenty of time to kill before our evening bus to Riga http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Parnu/blog-307774.html Kuressaare Saaremaa IslandWe left Tallinn somewhat earlier than we would have liked and headed to the excitingly named Autobussijam to catch our bus to the island of Saaremaa. The 4 hour jaunt involved a short ferry crossing which was vastly more pleasant and relaxing than any dover to calais trip has ever been. A sleepy drive past tumbledown farm shacks and through lush green forests brought u http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Saaremaa/Kuressaare/blog-306816.html Ghostwriter Firstly in response to James comment we have not taken a ghostwriter with us on holiday but as a joint blog it would be rather annoying to have to do otherwise... perhaps I fiona shall take up the royal we in future...Day Two The day started late as we slept in still rather knackered from the Stansted epic. Met up with Andres a former Jasmine di Milo colleague and went for lunch a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-306108.html Day OneThe trip started ridiculously early due to having to spend an exciting night at Stansted airport... Dramas also occurred early with a horrendous nosebleed on the coach to the airport for Fiona... Tissues were salvaged from kind foreigners.Finally we boarded the plane...nice to see that for once it wasn't overpopulated with stagbound revellers. Fortunately the obligatory screaming baby was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-305721.html