Blogs from Narva, Estonia, Europe

Söin asunnossa aamupalan. Laitoin kaasulämmittimen päälle, jotta oli lämmintä vettä pestä itseäni. Telkkarista tuli vain venäjänkielistä ohjelmaa. Pääsin liikkeelle klo 11. Kävin katsomassa rautatieasemaa. Laiturille ei päässyt, kun ei ollut junaa. Turistineuvonnassa osattiin venäjän lisäksi myös viroa. Keskusaukiolla oli Paul Keresin muistomerkkinä shakkipelilauta. Linnaan olisi maksanut sisään 14 € ja opastettu kierros olisi alkanut reilun tunnin päästä. Kävin katsomassa rantakatua. Sillalla mentiin rajan yli kävellen ja autoilla. Vanhakaupunki oli sikäli ankea, että se oli liki täysin tuhoutunut sodassa, ja jäljellä oli vain raatihuone. Kävin parissa ostoskeskuksessa. Söin hotellin lähellä ja kävin illalla vielä irlantilaisessa pubissa. Siellä oli virolainen tarjoilija. Muuten kaupunki on hiukan erikoisen oloinen: liki kaikki puhuvat venäjää, mutta liki kaikki tekstit ovat viroksi.... read more

Hello my fellow travellers! Well, today I unfortunately wasted pretty much half the day waiting for Roman. As I said yesterday the plan for today was to go to Narva Joesuu and visit a ghost town on his recommendation. While waiting for this he played some FEAR 3 with me watching, I knew he liked the game and I wanted us to get along and bond so that's what I did. After that we watched first a Russian action movie called Brothers 2 and then a Swedish comedy called Cockpit. So pretty much a very slow start to the day, granted, I didn't really feel like there was a great many places to visit in Narva so I just tried to enjoy the slower pace. The problem is that once the time came rolling around to ... read more

Narva is the closest Estonian town to St. Petersburg so it was quite natural that I decided to visit it. The tickets were a bit expensive despite the very short distance, mere 150 kilometers, covered within about 2 hours and a half on SimpleExpress bus. Narva is the largest Russian-speaking Estonian town, very important in the development of relations between the two countries. Its official date of founding is the construction of Narva Castle in 1223. Narva was seized by Russian troops in 1558, when Ivan the Terrible wanted to make Narva a major port on the Baltic Sea. It was Ivan the Terrible who built the Ivangorod Fortress opposite Narva. Soon Sweden and Russia started a war and the Swedes managed to capture it. Peter the Great took Narva in 1704. I think after that ... read more

Narva in SE corner of Estonia 15 & 16 August 2014 The roads continue to be fantastic in Estonia. We have seen EU signs next to new road surfaces, indicating the European Union funding assistance the country receives, remembering that it is a member of the EU and its currency is the Euro. We arrived in Narva around 11.00am and even though we have seen many castles and manors over the past 2 years, Nava is the home to the 13th century Rakvere citadel, where visitors can play knight, eat medieval style food, shoot a bow and arrow, ride horses and learn from thematic rooms in the castle, from torture chambers to astronomy exhibits. This was yet another interesting site. The 'west yard' was full of activities, with a camp fire burning and kids having a ... read more