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May 8, 2009
Bus: Eurolines, Riga, Latvia - Kaliningrad, Russia
The bus to Kaliningrad left Riga last night at 10PM.. arriving at 7AM in Kaliningrad city. The bus only stopped twice, once about 00:45 at Šiauliai in Lithuania, then again at 3:15 at the Russian/Lithuanian border at Sovetsk. First we were stamped out of Lithuania (stayed on the bus), then drove across the bridge to the Russian side where everyone had to get off and go through immigration. There was a long line of cars waiting here at the border even at 3:30AM! The buses get preferential treatment however and it only took about 30 minutes to get everyone stamped and back onto the bus. I had gotten a dual-entry Russian visa, once for St. Petersburg, the other entry was for Kaliningrad. We were soon on our way again through the night, I did manage to sleep for most of the trip.

Kaliningrad is an exclave of Russia.. it was part of the Soviet Union and was separated from the rest of Russia when the Baltic states became independent. Originally it was known as Konigsberg and was part of Prussia; it was damaged heavily during WWII by British bombing raids, then the Soviets took it over and began a program of de-Germanification. Koningsberg was once a famous city, home of Immanuel Kant and an the seven bridges of Koningsberg mathematical problem (http://supernet.som.umass.edu/facts/kbridge.html), though only two of the original bridges remain standing (Honey and Wood bridges). The Russian Baltic fleet is anchored nearby; during Soviet times Kaliningrad was pretty much off limits to foreigners. Coming into town I could still see alot of old damaged buildings, these were more German style than Russian.

The bus arrived at the station around 7AM.. though it wasn't where I was expecting it to be; next to the southern train station. I wasn't even sure where we were on the map, so ended up paying a taxi too much to take me to the train station. I'd hoped there was a left luggage department there where I could leave my backpack while I wandered around town all day. I was only in Kaliningrad for the day; that afternoon I planned to fly to Minsk in Belarus. That link had become a bit of a problem. Originally I had purchased a one-way ticket on Belavia from Kaliningrad to Minsk. However the day before I left on my trip I got an email saying that that flight had been cancelled; Belavia had put me on the flight a day earlier (May 7th) instead. My visa was only valid from May 8th though so that wouldn't work. I had to buy an extra ticket on airBaltic via Riga.. luckily there was a connecting flight late that afternoon that still gave me most of the day to explore Kaliningrad.

The train station was pretty much deserted, and since it wasn't even 7:30 no ticket windows were open. I decided to walk into town and see if I could leave my bags at a hotel instead. Along the way into town I crossed over to the island where the impressive Koningsburg cathedral is located. Immanuel Kant's tomb is located here. The island used to be heavily populated, but after damage during WWII was turned into a park and now only the restored church remains here. I crossed over the Honey Bridge; one of the original 7. It is covered by locks put here by newlyweds with their names engraved.. tradition says they will stay married as long as the locks remain closed.

Just across the river from the cathedral was the ugly H-shaped Dom Soviet, originally supposed to be the head government office.. but vacant for years. The Soviets had dynamited the German castle that once stood here, putting up their own building before discovering that the ground underneath was riddled with caves and tunnels, making the building unstable. It has stood vacant and unused ever since. There has been talk about rebuilding the castle but nothing yet has taken place.

I found a nearby hotel where I was able to have some breakfast and leave my bag while I walked around the rest of town. Kaliningrad doesn't have a lot of sites, mainly the cathedral and bunker where the Germans surrendered. There is also the Amber museum; Kaliningrad remains the worlds major producer of amber. Several cosmonauts hailed from this area (also Putin's wife is from Kaliningrad). There is a monument to the cosmonauts, I decided to walk up that way to check it out. It was quite a distance away.. much further than the LP map made it seem. But it was a nice walk, some of the leafy suburbs and museums are located in that area. The monument wasn't anything special, but it was Soviet style. I then walked back towards the east towards the northern railway station and new Christ the Savior cathedral. The plaza here was strung with a huge banner announcing May 9th as Victory Day (over the Germans), for many Russians the end of the Great Patriotic War is still a major celebration. I had seen some signs about it in St. Petersburg but here the banners were everywhere. I would be in Minsk, Belarus for Victory Day and I expected there would be parades, etc.

I continued on towards the Amber museum, passing through the huge central market. There were different rooms full of cheese, meat, spices, etc.. pretty well organized. I finally came to the Amber museum which is located in one of the old city wall bastions. There are hundreds of exhibits of the history of amber, explaining the old trade routes to Greece, products made from amber, also many samples of ancient insects trapped inside.

I'd been walking now for about 5 hours.. getting tired and was getting close to time to head to the airport anyway. I walked back to the center of town and the hotel where I had left my backpack via some crumbling Soviet apartment blocks. I found an internet place where I could checkin for my flight and printed out the boarding passes. I caught a cab (900R) to the airport about 40 minutes away, only to find that the airBaltic flights actually left from a different building.. had to pay another ripoff 300R just to go the short distance over to the other terminal. This wasn't a terminal so much as a couple of rooms for waiting and passport control.

We boarded the airBaltic Fokker 50 flight to Riga, the flight was about an hour and otherwise uneventful. We arrived in Riga, I was hungry by this point and hoped I could find a restaurant.. however the next flight to Minsk left from the gate right next to where we arrived.. it was a sterile area but no restaurants, just a vending machine that luckily took a 2E coin for a candybar.

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