Baltic States -1 + Poland

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Good day,

Forgive me father for I have sinned... its been over a week since my last blog.. I thought we might see something before we report back to you, the trouble is now is that we have been so busy sprinting around europe that I might have forgotten what I was going to say...let me try to recall... or just check Heathers daily journal....

We made our way to Tallinn Estonia via hovercraft from Helsinki. short journey about a hour and a half and the fastest option they were a few... we quickly made our way (walking to the main square) no bother.... the old town is small and quite navigable in a day or so... well that what we had... Prices were much cheaper than Scandinavia. We decided to take a small walking tour of the city as the Funky bike tour was booked out much to Heathers disgust... I think the bikes were only thing funky about this tour.... and we only had an afternoon..

The walking tour was slow but interesting. We saw the off the beaten track side streets and the slow improvements that are been made post the communist era. They gained their independence only in 1991. Estonia has been occupied by the
Our Hotel was called "Uniquestay" but the only thing that was unique was that we had free internet in the room. Nice.... we booked the rest of our travel and accommodation before our scheduled trip to Russia.


The next day we took a short busride (only 5 and a half hours) to Riga, Latvia. Riga was quite a surprise as from our guidebook it gave the impression that it was a big industrial city (capital of the baltics but uninteresting from a cultural point of view) .... However we were pleasantly surprised. Yes it was bigger that Tallinn but it has beautifully manicured city parks. The price levels were much more in line with Ireland but I suspect there is jacked up prices for tourists. Had a nice $4 pint of guinness in De Laceys Irish pub. We took a city bus tour and saw some very nice neo classical architecture that was done around the early 1900s. Stone houses are gradually replacing all the wooden ones.. it was essentially a wooden city outside the old city walls. The highlight for me was going to shoot a Kalashinov gun in an underground bunker.There are lots of stag like excursions in Riga Heather took a safe distance in the background. I shot a revolver, a pistol, a magnum, a Kalashnikov and a pUmp action. Our escort told me that I was definitely a pistol man!(judging by what i hit anyway)

We decide to give Vilnius Lithuania a skip to save time on travel. Thats where the -1 in the title comes from. We fly directly from Riga to Krackow in Poland. 24 hours overland as opposed to 3 in the air! Krackow did not disappoint. Krackow essentially escaped ww two bombings and the old town is intact and beautifully preserved. Walking up towards the main square was like walking into Disneyland with the church towers right in your line of view. There are 2 must sees when visiting Krachow. A trip to Auswitz (the largest Nazi concentration camp) and the world famous salt mines. Both UNESCO protected. Auswitz sent a cold chill down my spine. It is a massive graveyard. Nearly 2 million people were killed here btween Setember 1940 and January 1945. 90% of them Jews from all over Europe. One of the greatest realisations fro me was the brutally cold efficiency of the murdering operation.. we saw rooms full of shoes, combs, hair, specs.Nothing wasnt used! The slat mines have been mined for over 800 years and go to depts of over 1000 feet. It is a huge labryinth of green caves (green gold in the middle ages) Over 7000 people visit this place on a daily basis!!

After a couple of days we headed to Warsaw . Warsaw was flattend during WW two, but they have made an impressive recovery. It is a huge openplan city with a small oldtown. Up to now, Heather had been covering all the cities by foot. We nearly walked the feet off us here. There a some nice parks and a nice perfectly old town square but apart from that it didnt have much appeal for us. We both aqreed that Warsaw was our least favourite city so far.

Onwards to the largest country in the World, the great Motherland Russia!

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