Moscow – Tver - Veliky Novgorod - St. Petersburg - Tallinn – Riga – Vilnius – Warsaw
September 6 – 19, 2013
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| Assorted Photos from Trip |
Flags of the Countries Visited
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| Tour Route & Pacing |
Russia and the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland were fascinating. They exceeded all expectations. I spent 14 days there during September 2013 learning about the region's unique history and culture, and its dark past under Nazi and Soviet occupation. I experienced interesting sights, amazing scenery, decent weather, friendly people, great food, and comfortable accommodations.
While the history of Russia--from the Cossacks, Tsars, Bolsheviks, Red Army, Soviets, and Commonwealth of Independent States--is well known to most, that of the Baltic States is not. The best I can sum it up is that the Baltics have been at the geographic center of conflict amongst a variety of warring tribes, countries and empires throughout their history thanks to strategically-positioned seaports, fertile soil, natural resources, and proximity to major trade routes. Teutonic Knights, Mongol Tatars, native Baltic tribes, Ottomans, Napoleon, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union have all laid claim to the Baltic region for thousands of years. While control, borders and people have shifted across the region over the millennia, the countries have somehow maintained some semblance of identity and tradition.
I was most impacted by the atrocities committed against the Jews during World War II in Europe and Russia, as well as the relentless war against defenseless, independent-minded people in the Soviet Union under Stalin and his Communist successors. As we moved across Russia and the Baltics, we heard story after story about the misery people endured. The needs of the State came before those of individuals. People were deprived of basic human rights, kept in line through fear, and liquidated by the millions as "enemies of the State" up to the early 1990s.
The degree to which the ruling class can inflict such suffering on the masses is staggering and unprecedented. You can see the pain on the faces of people who lived through it. It just goes to show that individual freedom and self-worth should never be taken for granted and never relinquished without a fight.
Where are Russia and the Baltic States? The area we visited in Russia and the Baltic States are located in Eastern Europe. The Baltic States get their name because they touch the Baltic Sea to the west and north. They gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I, but came under Soviet rule after World War II. Starting in 1991, they gained their independence from Russia and became members of the European Union starting in 2004. Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia have a combined population of 47.5 million living in a space roughly equal to the combined size of California and West Virginia (188,000 square miles). By contrast, the Russian Federation has a population of 146 million living on 6.6 million square miles of land, or 1/8 the landmass on earth.
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| The area of our trip is indicated in red |
How Long Was Your Trip? When Did You Go? Where Did You Go? My trip took place from September 6-19, 2013--a total of 14 days.
The breakdown was:
2-1/2 days traveling back and forth from my home in Milwaukee.
1-1/2 days visiting Moscow.
1-1/2 days traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, stopping briefly in Tver and staying overnight in Veliky Novgorod en route.
1-1/2 days in St. Petersburg visiting the fabulous State Hermitage Museum, Peterhof, and a number of other historic sites.
7 days traveling through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. I was in each country and capital city long enough to gain an appreciation for its history and culture before returning home to the US.
Did You Do This on Your Own or with a Tour Company? I traveled with Gate1 Travel, the same our company I used for my Thailand & Cambodia trip in 2007, my Chile, Argentina & Brazil trip in January 2009, and my Greece trip in 2010.
I thought the itinerary hit all the major stops and was nicely paced. However, I could have used a little more time in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The time spent in Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and Warsaw was just right. Our tour director, Pawel, and driver, Adam, were both from Poland. They expertly guided us from country to country.
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| Tour Director and Driver |
My small tour group had 19 people. Eleven came from various parts of the US--Missouri, New York, California, Texas and Wisconsin (me). Three siblings and their spouses came from Ontario, Canada. One couple came from New Zealand. We were a very seasoned group of travelers. Nobody complained about trivial matters and everyone was punctual--rare for a tour group. We got along well.
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| Travel Group from US, Canada & New Zealand |
With Whom Did You Travel? I traveled with my friend Dave Marlo from St. Louis. We met on a tour of Thailand in January 2007. Since then, we've traveled together several times. While most tour operators offer a roommate finder service for single travelers who want to forgo the evil "single supplement," it’s always nicer to travel with someone you know.
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| Air Travel Map |
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| Ground Travel Map |
How Did You Get There and Back? All in all, I traveled more than 12,000 miles over the two-week trip.
I took the morning CoachUSA bus from Milwaukee to Chicago (80 miles) and then flew overnight 5,457 miles to Moscow via Amsterdam.
Once on the ground in Russia, I traveled by motorcoach over 1,364 miles from Moscow to Warsaw. In between, we visited the Russian cities of Tver, Veliky Novgorod, and St. Petersburg, followed by the Baltic State capitals of Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia), and Vilnius (Lithuania).
On the way home, I flew 4,989 miles from Warsaw to Chicago via Paris, and took the bus back to Milwaukee.
Where Did You Stay? We stayed in a number of 3- and 4-star hotels. Most were close to the center of town. They were modern, clean and comfortable. Each morning, they provided an excellent American and Continental breakfast buffet. When we had group dinners at the hotel, we feasted on hearty local delicacies.
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| Russia Hotels |
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| Baltic State Hotels |
What Was the Food Like? We found pretty much any type of food we wanted--just like anywhere else. All the fast food restaurants made it feel like being back home. However, we ate the local fare whenever possible, which was largely meat, potatoes, fruits and vegetables. I developed an appreciation for the local beers too.
How Were the People? The natives were friendly. We had no problems whatsoever. However, there was a language barrier outside hotels and restaurants since few people spoke English.
Was It Easy Navigating Your Way Around? Generally yes because we were either situated in the heart of town within walking distance to everything or shuttled around by motorcoach to each destination.
What Was the Currency? What Were Prices Like? We dealt with many currencies: Russian rubles, euros (Estonia), Latvian lats, Lithuanian litas and Polish zlotys. We exchanged money as needed. There were ATMs everywhere. US money was not accepted anywhere, except by our tour guide and driver. I also had no luck exchanging Russian rubles for other currencies outside Russia. Prices were high in Russia, but reasonable elsewhere, particularly in Lithuania. If renting a car, plan on spending at least $7 per gallon for gas.
Net-Net, What Did This Whole Trip Cost You? This was one of the more expensive trips I've taken--$4,722 in total, or about $337 per day. The upfront cost of the trip was $3,700, which included trip insurance, round trip airfare from Chicago, lodging, most meals, ground transportation and sightseeing. I spent another $1,022 on the ground, consisting of optional sightseeing tours, lunches and some dinners, my Russian visa and tips.
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| Expense Summary |
How was the Weather? We traveled in early fall, which meant jeans, sweatshirts and rain gear. Since the places we visited were situated roughly between 55-62 degrees north latitude, we experienced cool days (55-65 F) and nights (45-50 F). Some days were sunny, but most were cloudy. It rained only one day, but it didn't matter since it was a travel day.
Any Parting Comments? Yes. Travel is an adventure. It’s an opportunity to experience, learn and appreciate how people around the world live. While I’m always happy to come home at the end, I never come back the same person.
Following is a day-by-day account of my trip. Each day starts with an overview of what we did, followed by my daily journal. You can just read on or go back to the Table of Contents above and jump to a specific day or topic of interest.
Enjoy!
Itinerary: Depart the USA on overnight flight to Amsterdam.
About Russia from LonelyPlanet
For centuries, the world has wondered what to believe about Russia. The country has been reported variously as a land of unbelievable riches and indescribable poverty, cruel tyrants and great minds, generous hospitality and meddlesome bureaucracy, beautiful ballets and industrial monstrosities, pious faith and unbridled hedonism. These eternal Russian truths coexist in equally diverse landscapes of icy tundra and sun-kissed beaches, dense silver birch and fir forests and deep and mysterious lakes, snow-capped mountains and swaying grasslands. Factor in ancient fortresses, luxurious palaces, swirly-spired churches and lost-in-time wooden villages and you’ll begin to see why Russia is simply amazing.
Daily Journal
Weather: 75F and sunny in the US
It was a beautiful day for flying. I took the CoachUSA bus to Chicago from Milwaukee at 9:40 am. It arrived at Chicago O'Hare around noon. Dave's flight from St. Louis arrived at Chicago Midway around the same time. I milled about the International terminal until he arrived. We had lunch and checked into our KLM flight to Amsterdam at 3 pm.
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| Our Plane to Amsterdam |
Our full 747-400 took off on time at 4 pm for the eight-hour flight to Amsterdam. For once, we were not in the back of the plane. I had a nice window seat over the wing. Dave didn't get the aisle seat he requested so switched from the middle seat in our row to an aisle seat farther back. Just when I thought I would have an empty seat next to me, a rather large woman on her way home to Kenya took the empty seat so I got sandwiched in for the duration of the flight.
About an hour after takeoff, we had dinner. Then I donned my eye mask and ear plugs and tried to sleep. There was a 9-hour time difference between the central US time zone and Moscow and I needed to get as much sleep as possible so I wouldn't be a total wreck the next day.
Go to Table of Contents
Itinerary: Arrive in Moscow from Amsterdam and transfer to hotel. Balance of day at leisure. Overnight stay in Moscow.
About Moscow from Fodors
Cosmopolitan in flavor, Russia's capital exudes prosperity and vigor. From Stalin's carved-marble metro stations to the sprawl of modern business complexes, Moscow flaunts its ambition with a penchant for going over the top. It is an all-night-party town whose days offer endless opportunities for those who can keep up. A merchant capital by birth, Moscow was fashioned for big spenders, and money has always made the wheels go around here. Now counted as one of the world's most expensive cities, the only possible limit is the size of your wallet.
Daily Journal
Weather: 70 F and cloudy in Amsterdam.
I didn't get much sleep on the flight to Amsterdam thanks to the passenger sitting next to me, who kept bumping into me all night. But I did manage to sit still with my eyes closed for 8 hours, so it was better than nothing. We were flying over the western coast of Ireland when breakfast was served with about an hour to go until arrival in Amsterdam.
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| Early Morning Over Ireland |
We landed on time at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport at 7 am CET. It was dark, foggy and 55F, typical for this time of year.
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| First Glimpse of the Dutch Coast |
We milled around Schiphol during the 4-hour layover. At 11:15 am, we lined up to get on the full flight to Moscow. By 11:45 am we were on our way. I managed to sleep an hour en route.
Our flight landed on time at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport at 5 pm. We had traveled 3 hours and 1,339 miles across two more time zones. By 5:30 pm, we had disembarked, got through customs, fetched our luggage, and met our driver. It was partly sunny and chilly since it had just stopped raining.
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| Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport |
Our driver took us down a congested highway from the airport to our hotel in the city center. My first impression of Moscow was not the anticipated endless sea of gray concrete buildings, sorrowful old pensioners, and Lada automobiles. Quite the contrary--it was modern, colorful and vibrant. It looked a lot like any other large city. IKEA, McDonald's, and Ford were some of the businesses we saw. We arrived at the Marriott Grand Hotel in central Moscow at 6:15 pm. Only half of our travel group had already arrived, so we were not last for a change.
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| Drive to the Hotel in Moscow |
Following check in, we met our tour director, Pawel, in the lobby for orientation, a welcome drink, and dinner at the hotel. Dinner was steak, vegetables, breads, champagne and wine. It was first class like the hotel.
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| Grand Marriott Moscow and Dinner |
After dinner, we strolled down Tverskaya Street, where our hotel was located. We stopped at a convenience store to buy some water and snacks. Nobody there spoke English, but we managed. The streets of Moscow were all lit up in celebration of the city's founding over 800 years ago.
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| Pushkinkaya Square in Moscow |
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| Tverskaya Street in Moscow |
We stopped at nearby Mayakovskaya metro station for pictures. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most famous subway stations in the world. When Stalin built the Moscow Metro system in the 1930s and 1940s, he wanted it to be a grand masterpiece that the average person could be proud of. Each station is like a museum. Mayakovskaya station is an example of pre-World War II Stalinist architecture.
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| Dave Marlo at Mayakovskaya Metro Station |
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| Chris Trost at Mayakovskaya Metro Station |
After our stroll, it was off to bed at 9 pm, which was noon back home.
Itinerary: Morning tour of Moscow with stops at Red Square, the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, and Arbat Street. Afternoon tour of the Kremlin and Armory Museum. Evening tour of the Moscow Metro and Moscow at night. Overnight stay in Moscow.
World famous for the grand military parades staged here during the Soviet era, this was originally called the Torg, the Slavonic word for marketplace. Many suppose that the name "Red Square" has something to do with Communism or the Bolshevik Revolution. However, the name dates to the 17th century. The adjective krasny originally meant "beautiful," but over the centuries the meaning of the word changed to "red," hence the square's present name. The square is most beautiful and impressive at night, when it is entirely illuminated by floodlights, with the ruby-red stars atop the Kremlin towers glowing against the dark sky. There are five stars in all, one for each of the tallest towers. They appeared in 1937 to replace the double-headed eagle, a tsarist symbol that is again an emblem of Russia. The glass stars, which are lighted from inside and designed to turn with the wind, are far from dainty. The smallest weighs a ton.
Daily Journal
Weather: 55 F and overcast.
I didn't sleep very well but managed to catch a few hours of sleep and get up early for a delicious breakfast at the hotel. At 8 am, we met our local guide and Moscow native, Natasha, for a grand tour of Moscow.
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| Moscow Guide Natasha |
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| Sites Visited in Moscow |
The city was all abuzz. We learned that the Moscow mayoral election was taking place today and that the favored candidate was out on bail. It was also a national holiday because Moscow was celebrating its 866th birthday. Moscow is home to 12 million people.
Our city tour started with a 1-1/2 mile drive down Tbepchar Street, the main street in town, directly to Red Square. The architecture along the route was typical Stalinesque--drab and depressing.
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| Moscow Street Scenes |
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| Moscow Street Scenes |
When we arrived at Red Square, we learned that it was closed due to set up for holiday festivities. But at 10 am, it was opened to the public. We saw the Bolshoi Theater, Karl Marx statue, the Kremlin walls, GUM Department store, Lenin's tomb, and famous St Basil's Cathedral.
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| Red Square in Moscow |
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| Karl Marx Statue (Marx 1818-83) |
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| Bolshoi Theater |
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| Resurrection Gate (L) & State History Museum (R) on Red Square |
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| Street Leading to Red Square |
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| Street Leading to Red Square |
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| GUM Department Store |
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| Krispy Kreme Near Red Square |
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| Red Square |
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| Store Near Red Square |
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| Stores Near Red Square |
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| Stores Near Red Square |
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| GUM Department Store Near Red Square |
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| GUM Department Store Near Red Square |
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| GUM Department Store Near Red Square |
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| Lenin's Tomb on Red Square (Lenin 1870-1924) |
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| St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square |
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| St. Basil's Cathedral |
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| St. Basil's Cathedral |
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| The Kremlin Walls |
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| Imposing Stalinist Building in the Distance |
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| Bridge Leading to St. Basil's Cathedral |
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| St. Basil's Cathedral |
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| State History Museum (L) & Resurrection Gate (R) on Red Square |
After a two-hour visit to Red Square, we boarded our bus at 11:00 am and drove to Sparrow Hills for a panoramic view of modern Moscow. We drove along what the natives call "The Embankment." We saw a lot of the bland Stalinist architecture that is so common here. We passed Gorky Park, the Moscow River, the space shuttle that never flew, an interesting Peter the Great statue, and Moscow University. We stopped for photos at Sparrow Hills to see the new Moscow rising toward the sky.
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| Drive Along "The Embankment" |
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| Drive Along "The Embankment" - Moscow University (Top) |
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| Sparrow Hills View of New Moscow |
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| Sparrow Hills View of New Moscow |
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| Interesting Mirror Sculpture at Sparrow Hills |
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| Interesting Mirror Sculpture at Sparrow Hills |
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| Interesting Mirror Sculpture at Sparrow Hills |
After Sparrow Hills, we headed over to bustling Arbat Street for lunch. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe where I added another classic T-shirt to my collection. After lunch, we strolled the Arbat Street pedestrian mall and window shopped. Arbat is where all the nightlife in Moscow is concentrated.
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| Arbat Street in Moscow |
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| Arbat Street in Moscow |
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| Arbat Street in Moscow |
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| Arbat Street in Moscow |
After lunch, we drove back to the Kremlin where we toured Cathedral Square and the Armory inside its towering, red brick walls. The domed churches, cathedrals and bell towers were breathtaking. We learned that there are kremlins, or fortresses, in all Russian towns. Only the Kremlin in Moscow is capitalized because it's the main one.
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| Map of the Kremlin |
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| Trinity Tower at the Kremlin |
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| Trinity Tower at the Kremlin |
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| Trinity Tower at the Kremlin |
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| Cathedral of the 12 Apostles in the Kremlin |
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| Tsar's Cannon in the Kremlin |
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| Tsar's "Liberty Bell" in the Kremlin |
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| Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Kremlin |
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| Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin |
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| Cathedral of the Archangel in the Kremlin |
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| Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Kremlin |
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| Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Kremlin |
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| Church of the Nativity (L) and Church of the Deposition of the Robe (R) in the Kremlin |
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| The Armory Museum in the Kremlin |
Following the city tour, I napped for two hours back at the hotel, had a local beer at the hotel bar, and met the group for the night tour of the Moscow Metro and city at night.
The Metro was started in 1935 under Stalin with 11 stations and 7 miles of track. Today, there are 200 stations and 200 miles of track. Stalin wanted the metro to be a masterpiece so ordered that each station has museum-like qualities. They were beautiful.
Our circular tour of the Moscow metro started near the hotel at the Belorusskaya station and ended at the Smolensk's-Arbat station. Each station had something unique to offer. The Metro is the easiest way to get around since one in four people own a car in Moscow and traffic is terrible. The Metro serves nine million riders per day.
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| Moscow Metro with Tour Stops Circled |
Belorusskaya Station
Features national Belarusian motives, including rectangular pylons faced with pink marble and black marble in the passageway to the platforms.
Novoslobodskaya Station
Features stained glass, although under the ground.
Komsomolskaya Station
Features impressive mural mosaics of glorious Russian victories.
Kurskaya Station
The Hall of Fame of World War II.
Ploshchad Revolyutsii Station (Revolution Square)
Features magnificent sculptures of the Soviet people.
Smolenskaya-Arbat
Features gray marble pillars and walls faced with white ceramic tile.
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| Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Arbat Street |
After the Moscow Metro tour, we headed back to Red Square. Along the way, we passed through the neighborhood where writer Leo Tolstoy lived. He came here when he was 53. He was already a famous writer by then. He penned "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenna."
We stopped in a park along a river for night pictures of the Novodevichy Convent. The convent is the best-known cloister in Moscow. Unlike other cloisters, it has remained virtually intact since the 17th century. In 2004, it was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The reflection of the convent in the river and a good camera made for nice photos. The park also had a duck monument gifted to Moscow by former first lady, Barbara Bush.
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| Novodevichy Convent in Moscow |
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| Duck Monument Courtesy of Barbara Bush |
We got a major disappointment when we could not reach Red Square. The streets and square were closed because of a massive holiday concert. So we missed seeing St. Basil's and the other buildings on Red Square lit up at night. I found this picture on the Internet so you can get an idea of what it would have looked like.
On the way back to the hotel, we passed a monument marking the farthest point the Nazis penetrated Russia in 1941 during World War II, just a few miles west of Moscow.
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| Red Square in Moscow at Night |
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| Red Square in Moscow at Night |
Since we got back to the hotel earlier than expected, I had more time to catch up on my sleep before an early departure the following morning to the original capital of Russia, Veliky Novgorod.
Itinerary: Depart Moscow for Tver, an ancient trading port on the Volga River. The city offers fascinating treasures including Putyevo Dvorets, built for Catherine II, as a resting place on her journeys from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Tour Tver before continuing to Veliky Novgorod, founded over 11 centuries ago. Overnight stay in Veliky Novgorod.
Tver, on the Volga 90 miles northwest of Moscow, was the capital of an unruly mini-state that was Moscow's chief rival in the 14th and 15th centuries. Little evidence of Tver's medieval heyday remains, as it subsequently went through a series of upheavals. It was punished for rising against the Golden Horde, conquered by Ivan III, savaged by Ivan the Terrible, seized by the Poles and completely destroyed by fire in 1763. Tver experienced a renaissance when Catherine the Great made it one of her rest stops between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Today classical town houses from the late 1700s and early 1800s line the main street and riverbank of this mini-Petersburg on the Volga. In 1990, Tver dumped its Soviet name, Kalinin, after Mikhail Kalinin, Stalin's puppet president during WWII, who was born here.
Daily Journal
Weather: 62 F and partly cloudy in Moscow and Tver. 60 F and sunny in Veliky Novgorod.
I slept on and off all night. I got up at 2:30 am and went down to the hotel lobby to catch up on e-mail and my travel journal. I went back to bed at 4:45 am, but didn't sleep.
I got a wake-up call at 6:45 am, packed my luggage and set it outside my door for porter pick up at 7:15 am, had a nice breakfast, and met the group at 8:30 am for the 250-mile bus ride to Veliky Novgorod.
The drive took 8 hours because the main road was nothing more than a busy two-lane road with an occasional third passing lane. It's the same one that goes to St. Petersburg, where we went the following day.
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| The Road Between Moscow and St. Petersburg |
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| Shtyki Memorial (Monument to the Defenders of Moscow) |
The bus ride was a nice way to decompress and catch up on sleep after yesterday's heavy touring schedule and lingering jet lag. It was also a nice way to see the countryside and learn more about the people and country.
While I dozed in and out of consciousness, the green countryside zipped by. It looked pretty much like anywhere in the US with the small villages, farms, forests and lakes.
Our tour director enlightened us about Russia. Russia is the largest country in the world at 17 million square kilometers (6.6 million square miles), or roughly twice the size of either Canada or the US. It has a population of 140 million and 35-40 ethnic groups. Under Leninism, ethnic groups were not allowed to practice their religion. Otherwise, they were likely to find themselves at a Gulag (labor camp) in Siberia. Since the fall of Communism, people are free to practice religion again. We also learned about the World War II conflict between Hitler and Stalin, the robust black market, rampant corruption, the Trotsky-Stalin power struggle after Lenin's death in 1924, post-communist life in Russia (some like it, many don't), the school system in Russia (starts at age 7, ends at 18), and of course, Russia's love affair with vodka.
After 1-1/2 hours of driving, we stopped in Klin for a comfort stop. On the way out of town, we saw the house where the great Russian composer Tchaikovsky lived.
Around noon, we stopped for lunch in 18th-century Tver. This is where Catherine the Great stopped on her journeys between Moscow and St. Petersburg. We stopped at a local restaurant for a lunch of Borscht and beef stroganoff. Tasty.
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| Mmmmm Borscht |
After lunch, we drove down to the banks of the Volga River for pictures of Tver.
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| Tver Riverfront |
The bus was quiet after lunch with everyone sleeping. We still had four hours to go. The going was very slow since the traffic between Moscow and St. Petersburg was heavy. I managed to sleep 1-1/2 hours.
Someone inquired about the large number of small homes along the roadside known as dachas. We learned that dachas are seasonal or year-round second homes often located outside of the suburbs of large Russian cities. They have existed since the Soviet era and were originally designated only for recreational use by city dwellers and for the purpose of growing small gardens. Dachas were extremely popular because Soviet people did not have the freedom to buy land or build houses where they wanted. It is estimated that about 50% of Russian families living in large cities have dachas. They were originally restricted to not more than 25 m² (269 square feet) of living space, no permanent heating, and only one story. Dachas built in late 1980s and later are significantly larger because restrictions were liberalized.
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| Typical Dacha (Weekend Getaway Home) |
I managed to sleep another two hours before arriving at our hotel, The Park Inn Veliky Novgorod, around 7 pm. Veliky Novgorod means "Great New Town," but is actually one of the oldest towns in Russia. We were treated to a dinner of chicken Kiev, mashed potatoes and vegetables at the hotel restaurant around 7:30 pm.
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| Chicken Kiev - Very Buttery |
After dinner, I took a 30-minute walk and went to bed. The hotel was outside the city center so there wasn't much to see.
Day 5 – Tuesday, September 10, 2013 – Novgorod Tour, St. Petersburg
Itinerary: Morning tour of Veliky Novgorod, including St. Sophia Cathedral inside the Novgorod kremlin. Afternoon drive to St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city. On arrival, visit Peter and Paul Fortress housing the crypts of several Russian Tsars, and St. Isaac's Cathedral. Overnight stay in St. Petersburg.
About Veliky Novgorod from LonelyPlanet
One of Russia's gems, Veliky Novgorod is a beautiful town of solid old churches, peaceful tree-lined streets and a magnificent kremlin full of historic treasures. These attributes, coupled with the town's friendly, laid-back residents and its access to lovely countryside, make Novgorod a highly rewarding destination. The name means 'new town', but Novgorod was here by the 9th century, and for 600 years was Russia's most pioneering artistic and political center. Methodically trashed by the Nazis, it's a sign of the city's historical importance that its old kremlin was one of the Soviet government's first reconstruction projects. In a sense, Russian history began here. This was the first permanent settlement of the Varangian Norsemen who established the embryonic Russian state. By the 12th century the city, called 'Lord Novgorod the Great', was Russia's biggest: an independent quasi-democracy whose princes were hired and fired by an assembly of citizens, and whose strong, spare style of church architecture, icon painting and down-to-earth epic songs would become distinct idioms. Spared from the Mongol Tatars, who got bogged down in the surrounding swamps, Novgorod suffered most at the hands of other Russians. Ivan III of Moscow attacked and annexed it in 1477, and Ivan the Terrible, whose storm troopers razed the city and slaughtered 60,000 people in a savage pogrom, broke its back. The founding of St. Petersburg finished it off as a trading center.
Daily Journal
Weather: 65 F and partly sunny in Veliky Novgorod. 65 F and sunny in St. Petersburg.
For the first time on the trip, I slept well. I woke up at 6:15 am, had my bags outside the door for the porter, and was eating breakfast by 7:15 am. Our English-speaking guide, Natasha (another one), met us at 8 am for the tour of Veliky Novgorod.
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| Our Guide Natasha |
Novgorod has a population of 250,000, which is small by Russian standards. Novgorod was Russia's first capital. Novgorod has 48 churches, more than anyplace else in Russia. Most of the churches are UNESCO World Heritage sites. Composer Rachmaninoff was born near here and spent his childhood here. On the way to town, we saw the house he lived in. Upon arrival at the 11th-century Kremlin of Novgorod, we toured the grounds, including the outer walls and beach, St. Sophia Bell Tower & Cathedral, the clock tower, and the Millennium of Russia statue.
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| Outer Walls of Novgorod Kremlin |
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| Outer Walls of Novgorod Kremlin |
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| Outer Walls of Novgorod Kremlin |
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| Outer Walls and Beach of Novgorod Kremlin |
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| Lovers' Locks on Bridge at Novgorod Kremlin |
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| Eternal Flame of WWII Memorial at Novgorod Kremlin |
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| Clock Tower at Novgorod Kremlin |
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| Bell Tower at Novgorod Kremlin |
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| St. Sophia Cathedral at Novgorod Kremlin |
St. Sophia ("Gods wisdom") Cathedral was the greatest spectacle. It contains beautiful icons, frescoes, and tombs dating back to the early 11th century. The tombs were discovered when the cathedral's floors were raised to expand the church as its congregation grew. The frescoes are the oldest in Russia.
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| Main Doors of St. Sophia at Novgorod Kremlin |
Photos were not permitted inside the cathedral. Fortunately, there are people who can't follow the rules. Here are some of their pictures of the interior of St. Sophia.
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| Interior of St. Sophia at Novgorod Kremlin |
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| Interior of St. Sophia at Novgorod Kremlin |
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| Interior of St. Sophia at Novgorod Kremlin |
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| Interior of St. Sophia at Novgorod Kremlin |
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| St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod Kremlin |
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| St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod Kremlin |
The Millennium of Russia is a famous bronze monument built to celebrate the millennium of Norse leader Rurik's arrival to Novgorod, an event traditionally taken as a starting point of Russian history.
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| Millennium of Russia Statue in Novgorod Kremlin (Built 1962) |
At 9:30 am, we got back on our bus and drove two hours to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg is named after St. Peter. It was founded by Tsar Peter the Great in 1703 and constructed in the classic European style of the time.
Peter the Great captured St. Petersburg from the Swedes after conquering Tallinn and Riga from them.
The city is built on several islands and a swamp. The swamps had to be dried out and the islands connected to build the city.
The first building constructed was the Peter and Paul fortress on Basil Island. Following Peter the Great’s death, his wife Catherine and daughter Elizabeth continued to build St. Petersburg through the 18th and 19th centuries. Over 100,000 people died during the construction of St. Petersburg, which was the capital of Russia from 1703 to 1917.
Today, five million people live in St. Petersburg. Its name has changed three times. Following World War I, it was renamed Petrograd. In 1922, it became Leningrad. Finally in the early 1990s, its name was changed back to St. Petersburg.
The city suffered greatly during World War II when it was cut off from the rest of Russia by the Nazis for 900 days. Stalin’s plan was to evacuate the city and burn it down before the Nazis got there, but the Nazis got before he could do that. The winters during the siege were very harsh and many people died from the cold, and lack of food, medicine and electricity. At least one million people died defending St. Petersburg during World War II. Following the war, the city was completely rebuilt by Khrushchev and Brezhnev.
Although early St. Petersburg was starting to look like a great European city, outsiders considered the people to be barbarians because the culture was very peasant-like. To change the image of the city, Peter the Great demanded that the nobleman wear different clothes, shave off their beards, and speak French, not Russian. By the time Catherine the Great came into power in second half of the 18th century, most noblemen spoke only French, and knew no Russian, which caused problems managing servants and reaching out to the peasants.
Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, we stopped at Moscovskaya Square and met our local guide Natalie.
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| Our Guide Natalie |
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| Sites Visited in St. Petersburg |
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| Memorial to the WWII Nazi Siege of St. Petersburg |
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| Dancing Lenin at Moscovskaya Square in St. Petersburg |
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| Moscovskaya Square in St. Petersburg |
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| Moscovskaya Square in St. Petersburg |
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| Moscovskaya Square in St. Petersburg |
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| Moscovskaya Square in St. Petersburg Has a Crack Problem :-) |
We then went into old town for lunch. We had lunch at the famous Kupetz Eliseevs (www.kupetzeliseevs.com) grocery store, then strolled the nearby city streets and canals until it was time to meet the group at 2 pm.
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| Near Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Near Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Kupetz-Eliseevs Food Hall on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Kupetz-Eliseevs Food Hall on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Kupetz-Eliseevs Food Hall on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Kupetz-Eliseevs Food Hall on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Kupetz-Eliseevs Food Hall on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Kupetz-Eliseevs Food Hall on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Kupetz-Eliseevs Food Hall on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Kupetz-Eliseevs Food Hall on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Canals and Bridges Near Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
Our afternoon tour of St. Petersburg started at the waterfront where we saw some interesting buildings and statues, as well as Basil Island and the Hermitage in the distance. We also took an opportunity to shop at a cheaper souvenir store than the others we had seen. I took advantage of the free coffee, but passed on a shot of vodka.
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| Bridge Near Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg |
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| Along the Waterfront in St. Petersburg |
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| Along the Waterfront in St. Petersburg - The Hermitage |
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| Along the Waterfront in St. Petersburg |
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| Along the Waterfront in St. Petersburg |
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| Along the Waterfront in St. Petersburg |
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| Along the Waterfront in St. Petersburg - Basil Island |
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| Typical Russian Souvenirs |
After the waterfront, we drove over to Basil Island to visit St. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Tsars Peter the Great, his wife Catherine the Great, their daughter Elizabeth, and her husband Nicholas, are entombed inside the cathedral on the right side of the altar. Near the front entrance, a room contains the remains of the last tsar, Nicholas Romanov, and his family, who were assassinated during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.
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| St. Peter & Paul Cathedral on Basil Island in St. Petersburg |
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| Basil Island in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Peter & Paul Cathedral on Basil Island |
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| St. Peter & Paul Cathedral on Basil Island |
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| St. Peter & Paul Cathedral on Basil Island |
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| St. Peter & Paul Cathedral on Basil Island |
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| St. Peter & Paul Cathedral on Basil Island |
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| St. Peter & Paul Cathedral on Basil Island |
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| St. Peter & Paul Cathedral on Basil Island - Tsar Peter's Tomb |
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| St. Peter & Paul Cathedral on Basil Island - Romanov Tomb |
After Basil Island, we drove to St. Isaac’s Cathedral, probably the most beautiful baroque cathedral I have ever seen. St. Isaac's was ordered by Tsar Alexander I. It took 40 years to construct (1818-1858). Under the Soviet government, the building was stripped of religious symbols. Ironically, in 1931, it was turned into the Anti-Religious Museum, and the dove sculpture in the dome removed and replaced by a Foucault pendulum. On April 12, 1931, the first public demonstration of the Foucault pendulum was held to visualize Copernicus’s theory. In 1937, the museum was transformed into the Museum of the Cathedral. During World War II, the dome was painted gray to avoid attracting attention from enemy aircraft. With the fall of communism, the museum was removed and regular worship activity resumed.
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
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| St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg - Model Showing How Pillars Made |
After the visit to St. Isaac’s, we went back to our hotel for a buffet dinner. Dave and I went out for coffee near the hotel. Dave forgot his credit card, jacket and camera at the coffee shop, so we had to run back and retrieve them. Close call there. Then it was off to bed at 11 pm.
Itinerary: Morning tour of St. Petersburg and visit to St. Petersburg's most famous museum, the Hermitage. Afternoon excursion to Peterhof, Tsar Peter the Great's residence, outside the city. Overnight stay in St. Petersburg.
About St. Petersburg from Fodors
Commissioned by Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725) as "a window looking into Europe," St. Petersburg is a planned city whose elegance is reminiscent of Europe's most alluring capitals. Little wonder it's the darling of today's fashion photographers and travel essayists: built on more than a hundred islands in the Neva Delta linked by canals and arched bridges, it was first called the "Venice of the North" by Goethe, and its stately embankments are reminiscent of those in Paris. An imperial city of golden spires and gilded domes, of pastel palaces and candlelit cathedrals, it's filled with pleasures and tantalizing treasures.
About The Hermitage Museum from Fodors
Leonardo's Benois Madonna…Rembrandt's Danaë…Matisse's The Dance…you get the picture. As the former private art collection of the tsars, this is one of the world's most famous museums, virtually wallpapered with celebrated paintings. In addition, the walls are works of art themselves, for this collection is housed in the lavish Winter Palace, one of the most outstanding examples of Russian baroque magnificence. The museum takes its name from Catherine the Great (1729-96), who used it for her private apartments, intending them to be a place of retreat and seclusion. "Only the mice and I can admire all this," the empress once declared. Today's Hermitage is one of the world's richest repositories of art. It was continually enlarged with tsarist treasures and acquisitions, all later confiscated and nationalized, along with numerous private collections, by the Soviet government after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. With more than 400 exhibit halls and gilded salons, it's impossible to see everything here in a single day. Since you probably only have a few hours, be sure to take in the major attractions, which include Egyptian mummies and Scythian gold, the splendid halls of Russian tsars, the Peacock Clock, the great paintings of Leonardo, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Velázquez, and the outstanding collection of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.
About Peterhof from LonelyPlanet
Peterhof is elegant former summer residence of Tsar Peter the Great. It was his Russian recreation of Versailles. It is famed for its palaces, extensive baroque gardens, terraces of gilded statues and fountain cascades on the Gulf of Finland. It is perhaps St. Petersburg's most famous and spectacular imperial estate. The Grand Palace, filled with fascinating and elaborate interiors, sits on top of a high seashore ridge overlooking a vast park, adorned with fountains, statues and pavilions. The park's unique fountain system was designed in the 18th century and doesn't require the use of any pumps to operate the fountains. There are three major cascades and over 140 fountains in the park.
Daily Journal
Weather: 56 F and cloudy in the morning. Sunny and 65 F by the end of the day.
For some reason, I woke up at 4:30 am. I decided to go for a pre-dawn, 8-mile run through the heart of St. Petersburg before traffic and pollution got bad (and it was). I enjoyed another delicious breakfast at the hotel, then met the group at 9 am to continue our tour of St. Petersburg. We did some sightseeing around town before our group’s 10:30 am appointment at the State Hermitage Museum.
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| Sites Visited in St. Petersburg |
The first stop was the blue and white St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral, a major Baroque Orthodox cathedral in the western part of central St. Petersburg. It was built from 1753-1762 and is closely associated with the Russian Navy, serving as its main shrine until the Russian Revolution. The cathedral consists of two separate churches. The lower Saint Nicholas Church is located on the first floor, while the upper Epiphany Church is on the second floor. The altar of the upper church was consecrated in the presence of Catherine the Great. The upper church also houses numerous memorial plaques dedicated to the crews of sunken Soviet submarines. The main shrine of the cathedral—a Greek icon of St. Nicholas made in the 17th century with a portion of his relics—is in the lower church.
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| St. Nicholas Cathedral in St. Petersburg |
The next stop was a point in town where luck comes to those who can find all seven bridges at the confluence of several canals. We also took the opportunity to shop for souvenirs at a nearby shop.
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| Seven Bridges in St. Petersburg |
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| Seven Bridges in St. Petersburg |
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| Seven Bridges in St. Petersburg |
Our final stop before the Hermitage was the beautiful Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, or the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ as it is officially named. The Church was built from 1883-1907 on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated and was dedicated to his memory.
On March 13, 1881, as Tsar Alexander's carriage passed along the embankment, a grenade thrown by an anarchist conspirator exploded. The tsar, shaken but unhurt, got out of the carriage and confronted the presumed culprit. A second conspirator took the chance to throw another bomb, killing himself and mortally wounding the tsar. The tsar was taken back to the Winter Palace where he died a few hours later.
Architecturally, the Cathedral differs from St. Petersburg's predominantly Baroque and Neoclassical designs and intentionally resembles the 17th-century Yaroslavl churches and the celebrated St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.
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| Church of Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg |
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| Church of Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg |
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| Church of Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg |
On the way to the Hermitage, we passed a yellow building along a canal where the notorious Grigory Rasputin was assassinated. The mysterious Rasputin, a peasant who claimed powers of healing and prediction, had the ear of Russian Tsarina Aleksandra after curing her only son’s hemophilia. The aristocracy could not stand a peasant in such a high position and considered him "the dark force" that was ruining Mother Russia. To save the monarchy, several members of the aristocracy attempted to murder Rasputin on the night of December 16-17, 1916. The plan was simple. Yet on that fateful night, the conspirators found that Rasputin would be very difficult to kill. He seemed superhuman. First they poisoned him with wine and cakes. But that failed. Then they shot him. That didn’t work either. When Rasputin tried to escape, they shot him again. That worked. The conspirators wrapped him in a blanket and dumped his body in the river. The autopsy revealed he died from drowning, not gun shots.
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| Place Where Rasputin Assassinated in St. Petersburg |
It was a mob scene at the Hermitage when we arrived. Thousands of people were waiting their turn to get in. We eventually got our turn to enter and spent the next several hours on a guided tour that hit the high points of the museum.
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| Waiting for Our Appointment at The Hermitage Museum |
The State Hermitage Museum is a sprawling, 5-building palace complex containing three million items, of which only 20% are exhibited. The Western art collection is the largest exhibit. It’s a virtual Who's Who of art. It was greatly expanded by German-native Catherine II. The Hermitage was originally the tsars’ Summer Palace where royalty could escape. The buildings housing the museum are themselves quite exquisite. The museum houses a vast collection of paintings, sculpture, and furniture from all parts of the world spanning ancient times to modern day.
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
We strolled the opulent rooms and galleries of the museum. It was simply stunning.
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
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| The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg |
The tour ended in the Western Art galleries. It contained rooms brimming with paintings and sculptures from the world's most famous artists.
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| Hermitage - Da Vinci - Benois Madonna |
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| Hermitage - Da Vinci - Madonna & Child |
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| Hermitage - Raphael - Ave Maria |
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| Hermitage - Raphael - Madonna w/ Beardless Joseph |
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| Hermitage - Michelangelo - The Crouching Boy |
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| Hermitage - El Greco - The Apostles Peter & Paul |
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| Hermitage - Rembrandt - Danae |
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| Hermitage - Rembrandt - Old Man in Red |
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| Hermitage - Rembrandt - Return of the Prodigal Son |
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| Hermitage - Renoir - Portrait Actress Jeanne Samary |
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| Hermitage - Monet - Pond at Montgeron |
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| Hermitage - Monet - Steep Cliffs Near Dieppe |
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| Hermitage - Van Gogh - Thatched Cottages |
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| Hermitage - Part of Picasso Collection |
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| Hermitage - Gauguin - Two Tahitian Women & Dog |
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| Hermitage - Matisse - Game of Bowls |
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| Hermitage - Matisse - The Dance |
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| Hermitage - Part of Matisse Collection |
After the Hermitage, we had lunch before setting off for Peterhof in the southwest part of the city. Along the way to Peterhof, we passed the Presidential Palace where state events are held and dignitaries stay. Bush and Putin met there.
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| Presidential Palace in St. Petersburg |
We arrived at Peterhof midafternoon. Peterhof is a baroque and classical style summer palace with beautiful gardens overlooking the Gulf of Finland. It was built by Tsar Peter the Great. It was occupied by the Nazis during the siege of St. Petersburg during World War II, and was bombed by the Nazis when they left. Much of what we saw was restored.
Our Peterhof visit started with a palace tour, followed by a tour of the gardens and fountains surrounding the palace.
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| Peterhof in St. Petersburg |
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| Peterhof in St. Petersburg |
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| Peterhof in St. Petersburg |
The gardens were as beautiful as the palace. The fountains are gravity-powered by a system of canals and locks located on higher ground above the palace. The fountains are surrounded by beautiful gold statues and flow out into a canal that cuts through the dense woods and into the Gulf of Finland.
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| Peterhof in St. Petersburg |
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| Peterhof in St. Petersburg |
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| Peterhof in St. Petersburg |
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| Peterhof in St. Petersburg |
Peter the Great didn’t much care for the pomp and circumstance of being a tsar so lived in a modest Dutch-style house overlooking the gulf below the castle.
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| Peterhof in St. Petersburg |
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| Peterhof in St. Petersburg |
We returned to the hotel at 6 pm, had a drink at the bar, then went down the street to a nice pizza restaurant for dinner.
After dinner, we ran into several members of our group (David and Linda, Manny and Ann) and joined them for an after dinner drink. By 10 pm, I was exhausted from an eventful day of touring and went to bed.
Itinerary: Morning border crossing at Narva, Estonia. Continue to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, situated on the southern coast of the Finnish Bay. Afternoon at leisure. Overnight stay in Tallinn.
Although it is the smallest of the Baltic countries, Estonia makes its presence felt in the region with its lovely seaside towns, quaint country villages and verdant forests and marshlands, all of which set the scene for discovering many cultural and natural gems. Yet Estonia is also known for magnificent castles, pristine islands, and a cosmopolitan capital amid medieval splendor. It's no wonder Estonia is no longer Europe's best-kept secret.
One of Europe's most enchanting cities, Tallinn is a heady blend of medieval and modern, with narrow, cobbled streets set beneath the spires of 14th-century churches, and a wild mix of restaurants, cafes, boutiques and nightclubs hidden in the carved stone walls. The World Heritage-listed Old Town has plenty of distractions for even the most ambitious itinerary. Although large art museums are nonexistent, you'll find some historic gems that illuminate both Tallinn's medieval past and its long gray days under the Soviet yoke. Meanwhile, its growing gallery scene showcases Estonia's most creative 21st-century artists. Color isn't limited to the art world. The flare of the streets is decidedly fashion-forward, with Tallinn's boutiques bearing the imprint of rising Estonian designers. This contrasts with the centuries-old artisan traditions of glassblowing, weaving and pottery, all of which make Tallinn such a shoppers' paradise. Tallinn's cafe culture is hard to match. Art-Deco patisseries, cozy, candlelit anterooms and breezy, sunlit patios are the settings for strong coffee and people-watching, a fine prelude to the city's alluring restaurants and bars. Decadent old-world dining rooms, charming wine cellars and super-stylish bistros provide the backdrop to exquisite dishes from every savory corner of the globe. Tallinn's nightlife rages until the morning, with steamy nightclubs, slinky lounges, expat bars and colorful gay clubs, all hidden inside the Old Town walls. Culture seekers can sate themselves with choral concerts, classical recitals, theatre (human or puppet) and plenty of pop, rock and jazz. Outside the medieval quarters, there's lots to see. Delve into the past at Peter the Great's Kadriorg Palace, a baroque masterpiece surrounded by idyllic woodlands. Or when the summer sun arrives, make like a local and head to Pirita or Väna-Jõesuu for a slice of beach action. There are also coastal islands and a bizarre old cliff-top military base. But don't stop there. You'll find plenty more to discover in this vibrant city.
Daily Journal
Weather: 75 F and sunny.
I slept well last night. I got up at 5:15 am, put my luggage outside the door for the porter, and went to breakfast. A Japanese couple who tried to take my table when I went for more coffee became our breakfast guests when I refused to move to another table. They were pretty surprised when they came back from the buffet line and Dave and I were sitting at the table. But we made small talk with them and all was fine in the end.
At 8 am, we boarded the bus for the 7-hour, 225 mile drive to Tallinn. The route involved a two-hour drive to the Russia-Estonia border, one hour at the border for the Russian authorities to process our exit from Russia, an hour for lunch, then three more hours of driving for a midafternoon arrival in Tallinn. The road was another three-lane road with an alternating passing lane. The traffic was heavy and we saw several terrible accidents along the way. Just west of St. Petersburg, we saw an accident involving several badly damaged cars. Our guide told us that poor Russian drivers and alcohol are big problems here. We saw another accident involving a truck and a massive elk about 15 minutes before the Russian border. Several cars hit the truck after it hit the elk, which was lying dead in the road blocking all traffic.
When we reached Ivangorod-Narva on the Russia-Estonia border, a female Russian border guard came on the bus and checked our passports. We then moved forward to a holding area where we sat for 15 minutes. Then we disembarked with luggage and went through Russian immigration. After that, we got back on the bus and proceeded to the Estonia border where another guard came on the bus to review our passports again.
Several members of our group said they felt like a giant pall had been lifted when we left Russia and entered the European Union.
There were two old fortresses across from each other at the border. The fortress on the Russian side was built by Duke Ivan III. The fortress on the Estonia side was built by the Danes and Swedes.
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| Russian Fort (T) & Estonian Fort (B) at the Border |
We stopped for lunch at a shopping mall in Narva. There are 200,000 people in Narva, of which 96% are Russian. That explained the long line of Russians at the border trying to get into Estonia.
Estonia is 17,462 square miles, close to the combined size of Vermont and New Hampshire. Estonia borders the Baltic Sea's Gulf of Finland on the west and north, Russia on the east, and Latvia on the south. Fishing, farming and tourism are major industries. Estonia has 1,000 freshwater lakes. The terrain is very flat since Estonia lies in the heart of the Great European Plain. The countryside looked much like Wisconsin--farms, lakes, forests and rolling hills.
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| Typical Estonian Countryside |
1.5 million people live in Estonia. 40% are Russian. The native Estonian people and language are Euro-Finnish, very close to Scandinavians. Helsinki is just 50 miles away across the water. Estonia was not as Sovietized as Latvia and was able to join the EU and adopt the Euro with help from Finland. Historically, Estonia was always controlled by others, first by the Danes and the Swedes. Later on it was independent for a period of time, but after WWII, it became part of Russia. It regained independence after the collapse of Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Estonia joined NATO and the EU in the early 2000s and adopted the Euro in 2012.
Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and a major Baltic seaport. Tallinn means "Danish City." 250,000 people live in Tallinn. The city is split between Upper Town and Lower Town, and resembles a typical German medieval city.
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| Tourist Map of Tallinn - Places We Visited Circled |
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| Good Signs Help Find the Sites |
We arrived at our hotel in the medieval Upper Town around 3 pm and had the rest of the afternoon to explore on our own. The weather was gorgeous so we spent our time exploring the entire town and taking pictures. We started in the southern part of the Lower Town and quickly found ourselves on Toompea Hill in the Upper Town. We admired Toompea Castle, the ancient city walls and towers, Kiek in de Kök, Freedom Square, and a variety of awe inspiring streets, cathedrals, churches and viewing platforms.
Toompea Castle was erected on the foundations of the crumbling eastern wing of a fortress built on the site in the 13th and 14th centuries. Eye-catching for its late baroque facade, the castle was built between 1767 and 1773. The history of Toompea is the story of the rulers and conquerors of Tallinn, each of whom molded and reinforced the castle to suit his needs and tastes. Today the castle is home to the Estonian parliament. The blue, black and white of the national flag can be seen flying atop the 147-foot-tall tower as a symbol of Estonia's independence.
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| Toompea Castle in Tallinn |
The Tallinn Town Wall, with 1.2 miles of its original wall and 20 defensive towers still standing, is one of Europe’s best preserved Medieval fortifications. The walls give Old Town its fairytale charm. Work on the town's defenses began in 1265, but the current outline of the wall dates to the 14th century. By its heyday in the 16th century, the wall was 1.5 miles long, 45-50 feet high, up to 10 feet thick, and had 46 towers.
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| Tallinn Town Wall |
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| Hidden Passage Under Tallinn Town Wall |
Kiek in de Kök is a massive, 125-foot-high cannon tower whose name literally means "peek into the kitchen." Medieval guards joked that they could see right down the chimneys and into the kitchens of the houses below. Nearby is a fascinating system of hidden tunnels that run underneath the old bastions of Toompea Hill. Kiek in de Kök was built in the 1470s, but was quickly expanded and strengthened until the walls were 13 feet thick. The investment paid off since, in the late 1500s, Ivan the Terrible's forces managed to blow a huge hole in the top story without bringing the tower crashing down. During post-war repairs, a row of four cannonballs was placed in the south side of the newly patched stone wall as a memorial.
Freedom Square was opened in 2009. From the last days of the tsars and through Estonia's first period of independence, this open area at the edge of Old Town had been a place of national symbolism and civic pride. The large pillar with the cross that dominates the west side of the square is the Monument to the War of Independence, commemorating Estonia's hard-fought struggle in 1918–1920 to free itself of foreign rule.
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| Freedom Square in Tallinn |
We then went through a passageway in the wall to explore the town further. The first sight we came to was St. Nicholas Church. It was founded by German merchant settlers around 1230. The sturdy church was designed to double as a fortress in the days before the town wall was built. The building survived the Reformation looting of 1523, but wasn't so lucky in the 20th century when it was destroyed by World War II bombs.
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| St. Nicholas Church in Tallinn |
Next we wandered down some narrow streets and through the city walls again to Upper Town on Toompea Hill.
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| Lower Town in Tallinn |
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| Old Wall Leading to Toompea Hill in Tallinn |
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| Old Wall and Tower in Tallinn |
We walked past the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral since it was part of tomorrow's tour and visited the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin (Dome Church). It was established sometime before 1233, and repeatedly rebuilt since. The church displays a mix of architectural styles. Its vaulted main body dates to the 14th century, while its Baroque tower was an addition from the late 1770s. Historically this was the church of Estonia's elite German nobles. The interior is filled with elaborate coats of arms from the 17th to 20th centuries, as well as burial stones from the 13th to 18th centuries.
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| Dome Church in Tallinn |
We then walked north to the Patkuli viewing platform for some breathtaking photos of Tallinn. We then wandered over to the Kohtuotsa viewing platform, which was the better of the two. It sits on the east corner of Toompea Hill with unforgettable views of the medieval neighborhood against the backdrop of the more modern section of Tallinn. From here you can see most of the Tallinn's spires.
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| Tallinn from Kohtuotsa Viewing Platform |
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| Tallinn from Kohtuotsa Viewing Platform |
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| Tallinn from Kohtuotsa Viewing Platform |
After exploring Upper Town on Toompea Hill, we walked from the viewing platforms to a long, descending street called Pikk Jalg. It led to the narrow, cobblestone streets of Lower Town, where we admired the architecture and shops.
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| Pikk Jalg Street in Tallinn |
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| Pikk Jalg Street in Tallinn |
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| Pikk Jalg Street in Tallinn |
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| Pikk Jalg Street in Tallinn |
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| Lower Town in Tallinn |
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| Lower Town in Tallinn |
Eventually, we reached the bustling Town Hall Square. The square is surrounded by elaborate merchant houses. It is a natural magnet for tourists. Historically it served as a market and meeting place, and was the site of at least one execution resulting from a dispute over a bad omelet. In the center of the square is a round stone marked with a compass. From this spot, with a little stretching and bending, you can see the tops of all five of Old Town's spires. Notable buildings around the square include the Town Hall and the Town Hall Pharmacy.
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| Town Hall Square in Tallinn |
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| Town Hall Square in Tallinn |
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| Town Hall Square in Tallinn |
After Town Hall Square, we came to St. Catherine's Passage. It is considered one of the most picturesque of Old Town's lanes and is home to St. Catherine's Guild, a collection of craft workshops where artists use traditional methods to create and sell glassware, hats, quilts, ceramics, jewelry, hand-painted silk and other wares. The workshops are housed in small, 15th- to 17th-century rooms and set up in an open-studio fashion so visitors can watch the artists work.
After walking the town, it was time for a break and some people watching. We stopped for a few beers and jalapeno poppers at Arizona Saloon, located in the winding maze of streets adjacent to Town Hall Square.
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| Enjoying Estonian Beer and Snack at Arizona Saloon in Tallinn |
After our rest break, we met our group around the corner at the Peppersack restaurant for a traditional Estonian dinner featuring pork and chicken specialties.
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| Peppersack Restaurant Off Town Hall Square in Tallinn |
After dinner, we walked through the enchanting streets of Lower Town back to our hotel and promptly went to bed. We gained an hour traveling here from Russia so used the extra hour to catch up on much-needed sleep.
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| Streets of Old Town in Tallinn |
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| Streets of Old Town in Tallinn |
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Itinerary: Morning tour of Tallinn, including the Kadriorg and Pirita districts, and walking tour of Old Town. Afternoon drive to Riga, capital of the Latvian Republic. Overnight stay in Riga.
If you're yearning to hit Europe's untrodden jackpot, cash in your chips in Latvia. Still undiscovered by the tourism masses, this sizzling Baltic sexpot is poised to become the continent's next A-list star. A country in transition, hell-bent on shedding its stalwart old-Soviet image, the Latvia of today is vibrant, enigmatic and altogether mesmerizing. Refreshingly unpretentious, Latvia manages to tantalize even the most jaded traveler. Many arrive expecting little and leave overwhelmed, certain they've uncovered long-buried treasure.
Daily Journal
Weather: Sunny and 60 F.
I slept well again last night. I got up at 5 :00 am, put my luggage out for the porters, and went to breakfast.
At 8 am, we met we our English-speaking guide Tiami for a tour of the Tallinn new and old towns.
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| Our Estonian Guide Tiami |
As we drove through new town on our bus, we learned that half of Tallinn was destroyed in WWII, so the new town contains many characterless "Stalinist Classical" style communal apartments and buildings. We ventured east of downtown to the Kadriorg and Pirita districts.
In Kadriorg, we drove through a neighborhood with the oldest houses in Tallinn, constructed entirely of wood.
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| Wooden Houses in Tallinn's Kadriorg District |
We then drove farther east to Pirita where we visited the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds and the Marina. The Tallinn Song Festival Grounds were founded in 1869. Initially, only men were allowed to sing at song festivals while the women stayed home to tend to the farms. Eventually, women were allowed to sing in festivals too. It was here in 1988 that the Singing Revolution, a massive, musical demonstration against Soviet rule, set Estonia on its road to independence.
The grounds feature an outdoor concert arena, built in 1959, and a number of indoor halls. The park hosts several large concerts and festivals throughout the year. Every five years, the park is home to the Estonian Song and Dance Celebration, which draws 34,000 performers and 200,000 spectators. At the rear of the seating area sits a bronze monument of Gustav Ernesaks, an Estonian composer and "father" of singing.
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| Tallinn Song Festival Grounds |
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| Tallinn Song Festival Grounds |
We then headed over to the Marina area for a panoramic view of Tallinn. The Marina area was built on reclaimed land for the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympic Games. The yachting competitions were held here.
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| Panoramic View of Tallinn from the Marina |
We then drove 4 miles back to Old Town. Upper Town is where the landlords lived. Lower Town was the merchant area that was part of the Hanseatic League starting in the 13th century. Timber was the major export. Skype is also an Estonian export.
We had a two-hour walking tour and then an hour for lunch before setting off on the 4-1/2 hour, 190-mile drive to Riga, Latvia. Our walking tour followed virtually the same route as our self-guided tour yesterday. I won't repeat yesterday's journal, but simply add new sights and pictures.
One of our stops today was the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and Estonia Parliament building atop Toompea Hill in Upper Town. The spectacular, onion-domed cathedral is Estonia's main Russian Orthodox cathedral. Built in 1900 when Estonia was part of the tsarist Russian empire, the cathedral was originally intended as a symbol of the empire's dominance, both religious and political. The cathedral was dedicated to the Prince of Novgorod, Alexander Nevsky, who led the famous Battle of the Ice at Lake Peipsi in 1242, which halted the German crusaders' eastward advance. It was deliberately placed in this prominent location right in front of Toompea Castle, on the spot where a statue of Martin Luther previously stood. The church is richly decorated in a mixed historicist style. The interior, filled with mosaics and icons, is well worth the visit.
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| St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn |
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| St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn |
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| Estonia Parliament Building in Tallinn |
We continued wandering through Toompea Hill and came back to the viewing platforms where we had admired the panoramic views of Tallinn yesterday.
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| Patkuli Viewing Platform in Tallinn |
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| Patkuli Viewing Platform in Tallinn |
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| Kohtuotsa Viewing Platform in Tallinn |
We then wandered down to Lower Town and strolled through the narrow streets to Town Hall Square.
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| Street Artist in Tallinn |
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| Tallinn Lower Town |
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| Tallinn Lower Town |
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| Town Hall Square in Tallinn Lower Town |
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| Old City Gates in Tallinn Lower Town |
After the tour, we had a lunch break, then boarded our bus for the 190-mile, 5-hour journey south to Riga, Latvia.
Just after we left our hotel for Riga, a crazy man walked out in front of us and stopped our bus dead in its tracks for 15 minutes in heavy traffic. Our driver phoned the police, who never showed up, while a woman on the sidewalk pleaded with the crazy man to get out of the way. Eventually, some men from the nearby train station came over and physically removed the man and we were back on our way.
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| Crazy Drunk Man in Tallinn Taking on Our Bus |
After traveling down the Baltic Highway for an hour, we stopped in Halinga Vald, Estonia for lunch. We then drove south to Parnu, a popular Baltic Sea resort town, then down the Baltic Sea coast all the way to Riga. At 4 pm, we stopped at the border for a comfort stop, then entered Latvia. There was no border crossing procedure.
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| Border at Estonia-Latvia Border |
Latvia is a little larger than Estonia at 25,000 square miles, roughly the size of West Virginia. The population is about two million. The people are called Latvians, or Livonians. The language is part of the Baltic language group, not Euro-Finnish like Estonia.
Our route to Riga took us through the post-glacial lakes district along the Gulf of Finland. The countryside was very pretty with small towns, lakes, thick forests, farms and rolling hills. Like Estonia, it reminded me of the Wisconsin countryside.
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| Latvian Countryside |
Through its history, Latvia was occupied by Teutonic Knights (Germans), Swedes, Russian tsars, the Bolsheviks, the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union again until gaining its independence in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Latvians despised the Soviets, who were very cruel, and largely viewed the Nazis as liberators during WWII even though the Nazis shot thousands of Riga Jews in 1941. After WWII, Riga was heavily Sovietized, unlike Tallinn and Vilnius, Lithuania. After 1991, much of the Soviet construction was demolished and old Riga restored. Riga's architecture has tremendous German influence. Jugendstihl (Art Nouveau) is the popular architectural style. Vienna, Munich and Riga are the three Art Nouveau cities in Europe. Richard Wagner lived and died in Riga.
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| Art Nouveau Buildings in Riga |
Around 5:30 pm, we arrived at our hotel in Riga, one of the tallest buildings in town, with a beautiful view of the city.
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| View of Riga from Our Hotel |
After checking into our hotel, we ventured into Old Town for dinner. We stopped at a park across the street from our hotel and took photos of the canals and boats, as well as an interesting bridge covered in padlocks, something recently married couples do for good luck.
After dinner, we returned to the hotel for a glass of wine in the bar with our group, and then it was off to bed.
Itinerary: Morning tour of Riga featuring the city's architecture encompassing Art Nouveau, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Classic facades. Afternoon at leisure. Overnight stay in Riga.
Riga has always been the big boy of the Baltics, a metropolis with a big-city atmosphere hard to find elsewhere in the region. Funky and vibrant, it pulsates with a magnetism that traps travelers long after their planned departure date. Set on a flat plain divided only by the 1,600-foot-wide (500m) Daugava River, the city answers the quaintness of Tallinn and Vilnius with impressive Art Nouveau architecture of its own, a historic old quarter and large parks. You won't want to leave once you're settled into a candlelit bar or lost on winding, sun-dappled or snow-covered cobbled streets. Riga manages to couple its toy-town cuteness of steeples and turrets with a glitzy nightlife and thriving restaurant scene. Business is booming, with eager backers pouring much-needed money into its infrastructure. Old Town may be a UNESCO World Heritage site, but this fairy-tale city, once dubbed the 'Paris of the East, ' is building so fast that UNESCO has warned Riga it may withdraw its protected status due to the number of glittering glass hotels and business centers springing up faster than mushrooms after the rain. With lavish beauty, timeless elegance and a restless fusion of old and new, Riga has a charm as potent as the Riga Black Balsams liquor it's known for. Fewer than half of Riga's residents are ethnic Latvians (41.2% at last count), with Russians accounting for 43.7% of the population. Despite Latvians being a minority in their own capital, ethnic harmony prevails in the city, with street- and shop-talk a natural blend of Russian and Latvian.
Daily Journal
Weather: 74 F and mostly sunny.
I slept well last night. I got up at 6:30 am and went for a 6-mile run through Old Town Riga and over the Daugava River for a panoramic view of the city.
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| View of Riga from Across the Daugava River |
Upon my return, I had a quick breakfast and met our group and local guide Lelda at 9 am for the three-hour tour of Riga.
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| Lelda Our Guide in Riga |
The tour was very comprehensive and informative. It covered the Art Nouveau neighborhood near the hotel, crossed the river, like I did on my morning run, for a panoramic view of Riga, and wound its way through the quaint streets of Old Town.
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| Tour of Riga with Sites Visited Circled |
Riga is the capital of Latvia. Latvia has 2.1 million people, of which 700,000 live in Riga. The Livonian tribes settled Riga 10,000 years ago. German crusaders took over in the 12th century, Poles in the 16th century, Swedes in the 17th century, and Russians in the 18th century. Latvia became independent after WWI, was taken over by the Germans in WWII, and became part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991. Latvia joined NATO in 2004. It joined the European Union in 2004, and will adopt the Euro in 2014.
The first stop on the tour was the Art Nouveau district bordered by Alberta and Elizabetes Streets. The area contains several blocks of exquisitely maintained buildings with Art Nouveau facades of various design. The buildings were constructed at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The area has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the most famous architects who lived in the area was Michael Eisenstein. When the Soviet Union took over Latvia at the end of WWII, it confiscated the buildings and painted them in plain colors to shield the working class from the excesses of the wealthy middle class. Some years later, the buildings were returned to their owners, who have lovingly maintained them to this day. The area is the only one in Latvia that did not suffer from the recent global real estate market collapse.
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
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| Russian Embassy in Riga's Art Nouveau Area |
We then drove west over the Daugava River for a panoramic view of Riga. We stopped exactly where I did on my morning run. We continued to a nearby park that featured the Soviet-built WWII Victory Monument. The monument commemorates the Communist "liberation" of Riga from the Nazis in WWII. Built in 1985 to lionize the Red Army and to dishearten and annoy the Latvian populace, the monument consists of a tall concrete obelisk adorned with five golden stars symbolizing the five years of WWII. Alongside are bronze statues of Mother Russia and soldiers advancing with their weapons raised.
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| View of Riga from Across the Daugava River |
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| Soviet Victory Monument in Riga |
We crossed back over the river and got off the bus and continued our tour of medieval Old Town on foot. Our first stop was the town square featuring the House of Blackheads and St Peter's Church.
The House of Blackheads is where the merchants-to-be had their guild. It was built in 1344, but was embellished and expanded in the 16th, 17th and 19th centuries. It was destroyed in 1941 during WWII and its ruins completely demolished by the Soviets in 1948. But it rose from the ashes in the late 1990s in keeping with the medieval saying above its entrance that states "if I should fall, build me again." It is a Gothic building with a Dutch Renaissance facade and was used to house single members of the merchants’ guild who were also notorious revelers in their day.
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| St. Peter's (L) and The House of Blackheads (R) in Riga |
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| St. Peter's (L) and The House of Blackheads (R) in Riga |
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| St. Peter's (L) and The House of Blackheads (R) in Riga |
In front of The House of Blackheads is The Statue of Roland, the patron St. of Riga. It is a replica of the original, erected in 1897, which sits in St Peter's Church.
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| Statue of Patron St. Roland in Riga |
St. Peter's Church, dating to 1209, is Riga's oldest church. Besides its ensemble of architecture, the church has an elevator to the tower from which you can see all of Riga.
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| St. Peter's Church in Riga |
We then wandered around the corner to Doma Square. It features the Dome Cathedral, built in 1207, a number of well-preserved, medieval buildings, and an interesting statue based on the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale, "The Bremen Town Musicians."
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| Doma Square in Riga & Dome Cathedral |
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| Doma Square in Riga |
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| Doma Square in Riga & St. Peter's Church |
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| Riga's Version of "The Bremen Town Musicians" |
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| Doma Square Church with 2-1/2 Windows |
After Doma Square, we proceeded down the narrow, colorful, cobblestone streets to Wagner Street where the great composer Richard Wagner lived. Wagner took money from the locals to live. When pressed for repayment, he fled to Holland, but promised to write an opera for Riga as repayment. It was no surprise that the name of the opera he composed for Riga was called "The Flying Dutchman."
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| Easy to Get Lost in Riga |
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| Between Doma Square & Wagner St. in Riga |
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| Between Doma Square & Wagner St. in Riga |
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| Between Doma Square & Wagner St. in Riga |
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| Between Doma Square & Wagner St. in Riga |
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| Between Doma Square & Wagner St. in Riga |
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| Between Doma Square & Wagner St. in Riga |
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| Where Composer Richard Wagner Lived on Wagner St. in Riga |
We continued through the streets to colorful Livu Square featuring lively bars, restaurants, shops and ancient guild houses. The main attractions are The Great and Small Guild Houses and the famous Cat House across the street.
During the centuries of German economic domination, the guilds were Riga's power brokers. The Great Guild house dates to 1384 and was the home of the merchants. The Small Guild House held the city’s artisans. Across from the Great Guild House is the House of the Black Cat, or the Cat House. It is most famous for the two statues of black cats on the roof. The legend has it that a disgruntled tradesman, who was not accepted into the Great Guild, built this house and put the cats on it with arched backs and tails pointing toward the Great Guild to express his anger.
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| Livu Square in Riga |
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| Livu Square in Riga |
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| Great Guild on Livu Square in Riga |
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| Cat House Across from Great Guild on Livu Square in Riga |
We then passed several classic Art Nouveau buildings constructed by the Free Masons.
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| Art Nouveau Building in Old Town Riga |
Next we came to Three Brothers, a charming group of residential houses each from a different century, the oldest dating back to the 15th century. A brass band plays out in front and tries to guess the nationality of the passing tour groups, and then plays their national anthem.
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| "Three Brothers" Houses in Riga |
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| Another Pretty Square in Old Town Riga |
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| Another Pretty Square in Old Town Riga |
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| Another Pretty Square in Old Town Riga |
Next we passed St. Jacob's Church (aka St. James Cathedral), a Gothic and Romanesque style church built in 1225. Several hundred years ago, married couples frequented the street because, according to legend, if the bell rang while passing the church, it meant that the husband was cheating on his wife. The men in town eventually got upset with the bell ringing and cast the bell into the river. Ten years later, the townswomen secretly went to a neighboring village and had a new bell made, and the tradition continued.
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| St. Jacobs (aka St. James) Church in Riga |
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| St. Jacobs (aka St. James) Church in Riga |
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| St. Jacobs (aka St. James) Church in Riga |
As we neared the end of our tour, we passed a cluster of interesting sites.
The first was the Swedish Gate, a hole in the city wall made when the Swedes controlled Riga. It is the last remaining gate from the old city walls. It was built in 1698 to celebrate the Scandinavian occupation of the city. The apartment above the gate belonged to the city executioner, who would put a red rose on the window ledge on the morning before a head rolled.
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| Swedish Gate in Riga |
Just beyond the Swedish Gate were the Old City Wall, Jacob's Barracks and the Powder Tower.
The Old City Wall is the oldest remaining portion of the Old Town fortifications, the rest having been progressively knocked down because artillery made them obsolete. The wall here was built between the 13th and 16th centuries and restored during Soviet times, giving it a new appearance.
St. Jacob's Barracks, the yellow buildings across from the Old City Wall, were built in the 18th century. They was used by various armies until 1997.
The Powder Tower dates to the beginning of the 14th century. It was leveled to the base by invading Swedish troops in 1621 and rebuilt in 1650 with 8-foot thick walls to protect its valuable contents.
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| Old City Gate (L) and Jacob's Barracks (R) in Riga |
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| Powder Tower Near Old City Gate in Riga |
Our penultimate stop was Kronvalda Park near our hotel. We walked past the bridge with the padlocks on it at the same time a wedding party was there. Our guide told us that, according to Latvian tradition, a groom must carry his bride over seven bridges on their wedding day. At the last bridge, the couple attaches a padlock and throws the key into the water. This is supposed to lead to a long, happy marriage. The divorce rate in Latvia is as high as anywhere else, so it doesn't really work.
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| Padlocks on Bridge in Kronvalda Park |
The last stop on the tour was the Freedom Statue, also known as the Latvian Statue of Liberty. It celebrates the end of Soviet rule.
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| Monument to Freedom in Riga |
Following the tour, we went to Old Town and had a few beers and Black Balsam, the Jaegermeister of the Baltics. It tasted like cough syrup.
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| Livu Square in Riga |
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| Streets of Old Town Riga |
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| Beers and Balsam Shots on Livu Square in Riga |
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| Beers and Snacks on Livu Square in Riga |
We then went back to the hotel for a nap before dinner at a specialty rib restaurant in Old Town. Dinner was good, but the giant roasted garlic side dish didn't quite agree with me the next day.
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| Roasted Garlic with Ribs at Dinner on Livu Square in Riga |
Upon returning to the hotel, I packed my bag for tomorrow's drive to Vilnius, Lithuania and went to bed.
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Itinerary: Morning drive from Riga to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Afternoon visit to the KGB Museum. Overnight stay in Vilnius.
Rebellious, quirky and vibrant, Lithuania is Europe's best-kept secret. Shoved successively between Russian pillar and Nazi post, tenacious little Lithuania stunned the world when it played David and Goliath with the might of the Soviet Union and won its independence just over a decade ago. Today the nation that vanished from the maps of Europe is back with a vengeance. It's part of the EU, was the first of the 25 EU players to give the European Constitution a stamp of approval, and is a fully fledged 'n' fighting partner of NATO, home no less to four F-16 military alliance jet fighters used to police Baltic skies.
This is a country with a colorful history, once boasting an empire stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Its raw pagan roots fuse with Catholic fervor, the Polish inheritance that sets it apart from its Baltic brothers, to create a land where Catholics and Orthodox mingle happily in the forest to pick wild berries and mushrooms from nature's altar.
Daily Journal
Weather: 60F and overcast.
Wow, I slept well again last night. Got up at 6:30 am, showered, packed my luggage and set it outside the door for the porter, and went to breakfast.
At 8 am, we boarded the bus and departed on the 182-mile, 4-hour trek to Vilnius, Lithuania via the Baltic Highway.
While en route, we had a discussion about the cruelty of Soviet forced labor camps in Siberia (Gulags). Russian Nobel Prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote a three-volume book about them ("The Gulag Archipelago") based on eyewitness accounts and personal experience. A 2011 movie by Peter Weir called "The Way Back" recounts similar cruelties in Soviet Gulags. The Peter Weir movie is about three Poles who escaped a Gulag and crossed the Himalayas from Siberia into India in the 1940s. Many of the camp scenes were taken directly from Soviet archives and memoirs, such as starving men scrambling for garbage, tattooed criminals playing cards for the clothes of other prisoners, narrow barracks, a logging camp, and vicious Siberian storms.
We also heard about Stalin's reign of terror from the 1920s until his death in 1953. Stalin’s extremely brutal 30-year reign as absolute ruler of the Soviet Union involved so many atrocities--including purges, expulsions, forced displacements, imprisonment in labor camps, manufactured famines, torture and mass murder--that the complete death toll will likely never be known. Stalin was considered by most historians to be an amoral psychopath and a paranoid with a gangster’s mentality. He eliminated anyone who was a threat to his power, especially former allies. He had absolutely no regard for the sanctity of human life. According to a book by Georgian historian Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev, the death toll directly attributable to Stalin’s rule amounted to some 20 million lives, plus an estimated 20 million Soviet troops and civilians who perished in WWII, for a total of 40 million. Medevedev's accounting included the following tragic episodes: 1 million imprisoned or exiled between 1927 to 1929; 9 to 11 million peasants forced off their lands and another 2 to 3 million arrested or exiled in the mass collectivization program; 6 to 7 million killed by an artificial famine in 1932-1934; 1 million exiled from Moscow and Leningrad in 1935; 1 million executed during the ''Great Terror'' of 1937-1938; 4 to 6 million dispatched to forced labor camps; 10 to 12 million people forcibly relocated during World War II; and at least 1 million arrested for various “political crimes” from 1946 to 1953. Medvedev’s 20 million estimated non-combatant deaths is likely conservative. Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, claimed the true number of Stalin’s victims might have been as high as 60 million.
Around 9 am, after an hour on the road, we cruised over the Latvian border into Lithuania and stopped to pay a bus road tax and use bathrooms at a border gas station.
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| Border Crossing from Latvia to Lithuania |
Lithuania spans a total area of 25,174 square miles, slightly larger than West Virginia. It is the largest of the Baltic States. Its population is 3.2 million. The capital is Vilnius where 560,000 people live. The majority of the population is native Lithuanian. The other ethnic groups include Poles, Russians, and Belarusians. The Lithuanian language is in the Baltic language group, similar to Latvian. The Baltic tribes that settled the area have been here for thousands of years.
The Teutonic Knights (German) expanded into Latvia and Lithuania in 1230 and brought Christianity. The southern region was abandoned after the Tartars looted it and kicked the Russians into neighboring Belarus.
Later in the 13th century, a nobleman in the south organized Lithuanians and adopted Christianity, becoming their first king and diffusing justification by the Teutonics to attack the south of Lithuania. That lasted two years and paganism returned. The Teutonics attacked Lithuania in the 14th century, along with Ukraine, Belarus, and northern Poland. In first half of 14th century, Poland and Lithuania joined forces against the Teutonics and built castles and trade.
Eventually the Teutonics were crushed in the Battle of Grunewald. The aging leader of combined Poland-Lithuania, who was a Polish king and Duke from Lithuania, did not oppose Lithuania's desire for independence and Lithuania became independent again.
That lasted almost two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled Lithuania from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory. In the aftermath of World War I, Lithuania declared its independence when the empires of Germany (Wilhelm), Russia (tsar Nicholas II), and Austria (Franz Josef, Hapsburg Dynasty) collapsed.
Starting in 1940, Lithuania was occupied first by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end in 1944 and the Germans retreated, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. On March 11, 1990, a year before formal break-up of the Soviet Union, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare its independence.
Prior to the global financial crisis of 2007–2010, and now in its aftermath, Lithuania has had one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union.
During WWII when Germany invaded, the Nazis exterminated the large Jewish population in Vilnius, about 100,000, at a camp in the forest. The story of the massacre was recounted in the book "Blood Land." After the war, Russian Communism arrived with heavy socialization and collectivization. After Stalin died, liberalization slowly progressed, and in the 1980s, a movement like Poland's Solidarity started and the country gained independence before the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Lithuania joined NATO in 1998 and the European Union in 2004.
The Lithuanian countryside was similar to Latvia and Estonia with lots of small towns and farms. It could easily have passed for the Wisconsin countryside.
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| Lithuanian Countryside |
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| Downtown Vilnius, Lithuania |
We arrived in Vilnius at noon. The Vilnius Marathon was just wrapping up so we had to get off the bus and walk a few blocks to our hotel.
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| Vilnius, Lithuania Marathon |
We checked in to our centrally-located hotel and strolled around the old town until our afternoon excursion to the KGB Museum, a former KGB prison. The marathon finish line was right in front of the white Riga Cathedral, so we watched some people cross the finish line around the 4-hour mark.
We then walked a short distance to the Upper Castle on the hilltop overlooking the city to see Gediminas' Tower, the restored castle remnants, and panoramic views of Vilnius.
Gediminas' Tower is the only remaining part of the Upper Castle in Vilnius. The first fortifications were built of wood. Later in 1409, the first brick castle was completed.
Although the switchback trail leading to the Upper Castle would not have been a great physical challenge, we opted to take the funicular to the top.
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| Upper Castle in Vilnius, Lithuania |
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| Upper Castle in Vilnius, Lithuania |
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| Upper Castle in Vilnius, Lithuania |
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| Upper Castle in Vilnius, Lithuania |
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| View of Vilnius from Upper Castle |
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| View of Vilnius from Upper Castle |
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| View of Vilnius from Upper Castle |
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| View of Vilnius from Upper Castle |
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| View of Vilnius from Upper Castle |
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| View of Vilnius from Upper Castle |
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| View of Vilnius from Upper Castle |
We descended from the Upper Castle and joined thousands of other people at a street market coinciding with the marathon. There were lots of food and crafts for sale. The honey and bees wax candles were a favorite amongst the local bee population that hovered around them. We stopped for lunch at one booth and enjoyed some local fare and Lithuanian beer. Delicious.
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| Street Market in Vilnius |
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| Street Market in Vilnius |
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| Street Market in Vilnius |
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| Street Market in Vilnius |
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| Street Market in Vilnius |
We strolled past the marathon finish line again on our way back to the hotel in time to see the kiddie race.
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| Kiddie Race at the Vilnius Marathon |
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| KGB Museum in Vilnius (Museum of Genocide Victims) |
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| KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Basement Prison at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Solitary Confinement at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Interrogation Room at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Interrogation Cell at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Prison Cell at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Holocaust Memorial at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Prison Cell at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Toilet at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Priests Imprisoned at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Torture Chamber at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Basement Prison at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Cold Showers at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Prison Cell at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| Communal Toilet at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
At 2 pm, we met out group at the macabre KGB Museum (aka The Museum of Genocide Victims) where thousands of Lithuanians were interrogated, imprisoned and killed for anti-Soviet resistance following the communist occupation after WWII.
Many of those who feared for their lives hid in the forests with help from friends. About 100,000 Lithuanian anti-Soviet resisters were killed.
Even after the fall of communism in the early 1990s, former KGB employees are still afraid to show their faces and many former KGB agents are still working for the Lithuanian government.
The most important part of the exhibit is the KGB prison in the basement. It was established in the autumn of 1940. At that time, the prison contained 50 cells. Only at the beginning of the 1960s, when the anti-Soviet resistance was broken, were most of the cells used to house the KGB archives. The remaining 23 cells were still used for the imprisonment of dissidents and human rights advocates.
The prison is now as it was when the KGB left it in August 1991. There were 19 common cells, the rooms of the duty officer and the guards, the search and fingerprinting rooms, a padded cell where prisoners were tortured, solitary confinement cells and courtyards where prisoners were taken for exercise.
There was no heat in the basement and the half-naked, lice-infested prisoners nearly froze to death in winter and when forced to endure 45-minute cold showers to control lice.
Another important part of the exhibit was the execution chamber, which depicts the procedure for sentencing people to death,and the inhuman treatment of dead bodies. A glass platform has been installed over the sand floor, and under it are some objects like prisoner shoes, buttons, and glasses discovered at a burial site in a nearby town. Meanwhile, a DVD depicting executions in the room played nearby showing prisoners being shot in the back of the head upon entering the room and their dead bodies pushed up a ramp and loaded on to a waiting flatbed truck outside. Chilling.
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| Execution Chamber at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
The upper floors of the museum, where KGB offices once were, have exhibits depicting the history of the Soviet assault on Lithuania, including the systematic destruction of the Lithuanian government in 1940-41 and the beginning of persecutions, the Nazi occupation from 1942-1944, the Lithuania-Russian partisan war against Nazi Germany in 1944, the Soviet suppression of armed anti-Soviet resistance after WWII, the deportation of Lithuanian people to Soviet prisons and labor camps from 1944 to 1956, KGB operations from 1954–1991, anti-Soviet resistance from 1954 to 1991, and lastly, the “Singing Revolution,” which resulted in the reestablishment of the independent state in the 1990s.
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| KGB Staff Uniforms at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
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| KGB Staff Office at KGB Museum in Vilnius |
After the museum, we stopped for a beer at the Roast & Beer Pub, where we struck up a lively conversation with a local patron of Swedish decent.
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| Lithuanian Beer |
We returned to the hotel for dinner then took a leisure stroll around Vilnius at night. Little did we know that we would retrace several of these steps the following day on our guided tour of Vilnius. The town was beautiful at night.
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| Old Church in Old Town Vilnius |
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| Old Church in Old Town Vilnius |
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| Old Church in Old Town Vilnius |
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| Old Church in Old Town Vilnius |
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| Old Church in Old Town Vilnius |
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| Old Church in Old Town Vilnius |
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| Vilnius University in Old Town Vilnius |
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| Lithuania Presidential Palace in Old Town Vilnius |
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| Old Church in Old Town Vilnius |
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| Hotel in Old Town Vilnius |
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| Busy Vilniaus Street in Old Town Vilnius |
When we got back from our walk, I bypassed our group in the bar and went straight to bed while Dave joined them for a night cap.
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Itinerary: Morning tour of Vilnius. Afternoon visit to Trakai Castle. Overnight stay in Vilnius.
Bizarre, beautiful and bewitching, Lithuania's capital seduces visitors with its astonishing Old Town charm. Its chocolate-box baroque skyline littered with the spires of Orthodox and Catholic churches are intoxicating, decadent and fragile - so much so that UNESCO has declared this, Europe's largest baroque old town, a World Heritage site. But there's more to this devilishly attractive capital than meets the eye. There is an underlying oddness that creates its soul. Where else could there be the world's only statue of psychedelic musician and composer Frank Zappa? Or a self-proclaimed, unofficial, independent republic inhabited by artists and dreaming bohemians? Where else is there the spirit of freedom and resistance that existed during Soviet occupation? There are reminders of loss and pain everywhere, from the horror of the KGB's torture cells to the ghetto in the center of all this beauty where the Jewish community lived before their mass wartime slaughter. Strange bars glow inside dark courtyards and medieval archways frame the life of the narrow, cobbled streets through which change has swept with panache. Using foreign cash and local vision, this stylish little city has big plans. But new business and infrastructure, even a skyscraper skyline, won't disguise the curious charm of eccentric, soulful Vilnius.
The centerpiece of Trakai, the old Lithuanian capital, is its picture-postcard Island Castle atop an island on Lake Galv. The painstakingly restored red-brick Gothic castle probably dates from around 1400, when Vytautas needed stronger defenses than the peninsula castle afforded. The castle is furnished with excellent collections of armors, furniture and decorative objects.
Daily Journal
Weather: 60 F and mostly sunny.
I slept well again. I got up at 6:30 am, ran 6 miles (got a little lost but found my way), showered, and went to breakfast.
At 8:45 am, we met our local guide and departed for the three-hour tour of Vilnius, which was founded in 1362. It lies at the confluence of the Neris and Vilnele rivers.
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| The Neris and Vilnele Rivers |
Vilnius has a perfectly preserved Baroque Old Town, which is where the tour focused.
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| Vilnius Old Town with Sites Visited Circled |
Our first stop was St. Peter and Paul Church, a masterpiece of 17th-century Baroque architecture, famous for its exceptional interior containing around 2,000 stucco figures. It was built by Hetman Mykolas Kazimieras Pacas, who wanted to perpetuate Vilnius' liberation from Russians. The Church acquired its present appearance in 1676. Later it was adorned with stucco and frescoes, and at the beginning of the 19th century, a Rococo pulpit.
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| St. Peter and Paul Church in Vilnius |
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| St. Peter and Paul Church in Vilnius |
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| St. Peter and Paul Church in Vilnius |
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| St. Peter and Paul Church in Vilnius |
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| St. Peter and Paul Church in Vilnius |
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| St. Peter and Paul Church in Vilnius |
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| St. Peter and Paul Church in Vilnius |
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| St. Peter and Paul Church in Vilnius |
We then went to the Vilnius Cathedral built in 17th century. Inside is the St. Casimir chapel featuring a painting of Casimir with two right hands. The artist had not been satisfied with his work, and after several attempts to get the hand painted just right, gave up and left the second right hand in the painting and called it a miracle. The Vilnius Cathedral, aka The Cathedral of St. Stanislav and St. Vladislav, is the most important place of worship for the country‘s Catholics. Many prominent Lithuanians are buried in the vaults of the Cathedral. Ancient walls of earlier churches on the site dating to the 13th-15th centuries, and the oldest Lithuanian fresco painted in the 14th century, have survived in the vaults of the Cathedral.
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| Vilnius Cathedral |
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| Vilnius Cathedral |
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| Vilnius Cathedral |
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| Vilnius Cathedral |
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| St. Casimir Chapel in Vilnius Cathedral |
We continued our walk through Old Town making stops at the Presidential Palace, Vilnius University, and the former Jewish Ghetto, ending at Old Town Square.
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| Easy to Get Lost in Vilnius |
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| Streets of Old Town Vilnius |
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| Streets of Old Town Vilnius |
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| Streets of Old Town Vilnius |
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| Streets of Old Town Vilnius |
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| Old Town Square in Vilnius |
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| Streets of Old Town Vilnius |
We walked north through Old Town Square passing the Church of St. Nicolas along the way. St. Nicolas is the oldest church in Lithuania. Its Gothic features have been preserved almost unchanged. During the last years of paganism in Lithuania, the church was built by a German community living in Vilnius. Although Gothic, the Church of St. Nicolas acquired some Baroque features in the 18th and 19th centuries when new windows, a tower, a vestry, Baroque altars, organs, and a Rococo organ choir loft were added. From 1901 to 1939, the church was the only one in Vilnius at which mass was celebrated in Lithuanian. During the Soviet occupation, a sculpture of the guardian of Vilnius, St. Christopher, by Antanas Kmieliauskas was erected next to the church. It was an act of resistance since the city’s coat of arms picturing St. Christopher was banned under the Soviet regime.
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| Church of St. Nicolas in Vilnius |
We continued our walk through the narrow, winding streets, eventually coming to a wall on Literatu Street on which small artworks and dedications to the local literary community were mounted.
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| Artist Wall in Vilnius |
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| Dedications to Writers on Artist Wall in Vilnius |
We then came to The Church of St. Anne, a masterpiece of the late Gothic period. Popular legend has it that Napoleon Bonaparte was fascinated by the beauty of the church and wanted to take it back to Paris in the palm of his hand. St. Anne’s Church has survived to the present day without change for over 500 years and has become a symbol of Vilnius.
Next to the Church of St. Anne is the Church of Bernardine. It was built around 1525 in Gothic style. In the 1770s, Baroque altars and confessionals were built though only the altar remains today. During the Soviet occupation, the Church was closed and converted into a warehouse. After Lithuania regained its independence, the Franciscan monks came back from the underground and took the church over again.
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| Churches of St. Anne (L) and Bernardine (R) in Vilnius |
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| Churches of St. Anne (L) and Bernardine (R) in Vilnius |
We then boarded our bus and drove to a spot outside town for panoramic views of Vilnius.
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| Old Town Vilnius |
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| Old Town Vilnius |
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| Old Town Vilnius |
We then returned to Old Town, entering through the Gate of Dawn. On the way in, I accidentally hit my new camera against a post and shattered the view screen, so had to use my back up camera for the balance of the trip.
The Gate of Dawn is one of nine defensive gates built in Vilnius from 1503 to 1522. It was the tallest of the gates and most prone to attack. In 1799, Russian invaders destroyed the defensive walls and gates of Vilnius, except for the Gate of Dawn. It is thought that they were afraid to demolish it because a sacred painting called "The Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Mercy" hung inside the chapel within the gate.
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| Gate of Dawn in Vilnius |
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| Gate of Dawn in Vilnius |
We continued walking north through the center of Old Town admiring the sites. We stopped at the Church of the Holy Spirit, one of the oldest and most lavishly decorated late Baroque churches in Vilnius. It was built in the 15th century, but extended and reconstructed from 1679 to 1688. The inside of the church is a profusion of Rococo faux marble, stucco, frescoes and paintings. The church is famed for its crypt with 2,000 mummified corpses from the 17th-18th centuries. It is thought that among them there are victims of the plague and Napoleonic Wars. Near the altar is a glass case containing the covered bodies of martyrs Anthony, John, and Eustathios, who died in 1347. The three youths were arrested for preaching in public and ordered to consume meat during an Orthodox fasting period. When they refused, they were tortured and executed.
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| Streets of Old Town Vilnius |
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| Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius |
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| Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius |
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| Three Martyrs at Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius |
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| Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius |
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| Basilian Gate in Vilnius |
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| St. Casimir Church in Vilnius |
Following our visit to the Church of the Holy Spirit, we returned to the bus and our hotel. We went down the Vilniaus Street pedestrian mall near our hotel and had lunch at a nice Asian restaurant with incredibly poor service. I lost track of the number of times I had to go inside to ask for bar service or our food. They had somehow lost our order despite not being very busy. After a 1-1/2 hour lunch, we got back to the hotel just in time for our afternoon excursion to Trakai.
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| Model of the Island Castle in Trakai |
After boarding the bus at 2 pm, we drove 30 minutes and 15 miles west of Vilnius to Trakai, the first capital of Lithuania. We toured the beautiful island castle in Trakai, which is surrounded by six lakes. Trakai is also a major tourist town featuring Crimean style homes with their traditional three windows facing the street.
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| Typical Crimean-Style Homes in Trakai |
Trakai once rivaled Vilnius as a hub of political and military power. It was a military stronghold that occupied a crucial ring of castles that protected the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the expansionist Teutons.
The construction of the stone castle was begun in the 14th century by Kestutis, and around 1409 major works were completed by his son Vytautas the Great, who died in the castle in 1430. Successors added onto the castle in the late 14th and 15th centuries. The castle was completed just before the Grand Duchy's crushing victory over the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Gruenwald.
As Vilnius grew in importance, Trakai lost its significance and was destroyed by Cossacks during the 1655 Russian invasion. In the late 19th century, interest in the castle ruins grew, but it was the Soviet authorities who sanctioned its reconstruction in the 1950s, a process which wasn't completed until 1987.
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| Island Castle in Trakai, Lithuania |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Statue at Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Peaceful Surroundings at Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Foot Bridge to Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
We toured the various floors, rooms and museums inside the castle. Afterwards, I took a stroll around the castle grounds.
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Museum in Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Spiral Staircase in Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Museum in Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Museum in Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Museum in Island Castle in Trakai |
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| On the Trails at the Island Castle in Trakai |
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| On the Trails at the Island Castle in Trakai |
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| Island Castle in Trakai, Lithuania |
Upon returning to Vilnius, we went for a walk through the winding streets of Old Town behind our hotel, stopping at a local beer garden for some Lithuanian beers.
In the evening, we went to an area near Town Hall Square and enjoyed a nice Lithuanian dinner of Zeppelins, potato pancakes and dumplings. Delicious.
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| Potato Pancakes and Zeppelins in Vilnius |
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| Sausage Filled Dumplings in Vilnius |
After dinner, we returned to the hotel, packed our bags for tomorrow's drive to Warsaw, and went to bed.
Go to Table of Contents
Itinerary: Depart Lithuania and cross the border into Poland. Continue to Warsaw. Balance of day at leisure. Overnight stay in Warsaw.
About Poland from LonelyPlanet
Poland’s roots go back to the turn of the first millennium, leaving a thousand years of twists and turns and kings and castles to explore. History buffs of the WWII vintage are well served. Tragically, Poland found itself in the middle of that epic fight, and monuments and museums dedicated to its battles, and to Poland’s remarkable survival, can be seen everywhere. There’s a growing appreciation, too, of the country’s rich Jewish heritage. Beyond the deeply affecting Holocaust memorials, synagogues are being sensitively restored, and former Jewish centers have set up heritage trails so you can trace this history at your own pace.
Daily Journal
Weather: 60 F and rainy.
I slept well again last night. I got up at 6:30 am, showered, packed my suitcase and left it outside the door for the porter, and went to breakfast.
At 8:00 am, we departed Vilnius for the 8-hour, 284-mile drive to Warsaw. There would be no sightseeing today.
After two hours, we stopped at the border in Lazdija, Lithuania. Those who exchanged their Lithuanian money for Euros prior to going into the snack shop discovered Euros were no good there. I tried exchanging my Russian rubles for Euros but the currency exchange would not accept them.
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| The Border Crossing from Lithuania to Poland |
Just before we crossed the border into Poland, our guide announced that it was my birthday today and everyone sang. It was also the 74th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland.
At 10:30 am, we crossed the border into Poland and gained another hour on the clock. We were still 180 miles from Warsaw.
Compared to other Baltic States, Poland is big--120,000 square miles (approximately the size of New Mexico) and 450 miles across. Poland's population is 38 million, and mostly Poles. The population fell 2 million since 2004 because many people moved to Ireland and Great Britain for work.
Our route took us through the lakes district of NE Poland. It looked like Wisconsin with rolling farmland, horse drawn carriages and dense forests. Much of Poland is flat because it lies on the Great European Plain. The largest Polish population in the US is Chicago with one million. Poland borders seven countries.
Our route down the two-lane, R61 highway was slow going due to numerous farm vehicles, small towns, commercial truck traffic and steady rain.
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| Somewhere in Poland Several Hours East of Warsaw |
About two hours into Poland, we stopped at a restaurant in Lomza for a traditional pork lunch.
Two hours later at 3 pm, we arrived at the Hyatt Regency Warsaw, next to the Russian Embassy in the Diplomatic Quarter.
Warsaw has two million people. It was 90% destroyed during WWII, which resulted in one million deaths. Before the war, 350,000 Jews lived in Warsaw. An additional 150,000 Jews came when ghettos were created in 1940. The Jewish population fell dramatically in 1942 when they were deported by the Nazis to concentration camps in Treblinka.
We had a few Polish beers at a cafe across the street from the hotel before returning to the hotel for dinner. Then it was off to bed.
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Itinerary: Morning tour of Warsaw. Afternoon visit to Wilanow Palace. Optional Chopin concert in the evening. Overnight stay in Warsaw.
About Warsaw from Fodors
The geographical core and political center of Poland since 1611, Warsaw will doubtless shock the first-time visitor with its bleak postwar architecture. Yet amid the drabness you will find architectural attractions, such as historic Old Town, rebuilt brick by brick after the war according to old prints, photographs, and paintings. Also impressive is the wedding cake-like Palace of Culture and Science, Stalin's early 1950s gift to the city. Warsaw also has lovely churches and monasteries and interesting monuments and museums, and it bustles with activity during the summer with theater, book, jazz, and classical music festivals.
Daily Journal
Weather: 60 F and overcast.
I slept well last night. I got up at 6:30 am, showered, and went to breakfast. At 9:00 am, we met our guide Ewa and departed for the 3-hour tour of Warsaw. Since I saw most everything in Warsaw five years ago, I only rode along to the center of town. Dave continued on the tour while I visited a few sites on my own.
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| Areas of Warsaw Covered by Tour |
Warsaw was totally destroyed during WWII, so nothing is more than 60 years old. The historic buildings were reconstructed to look like they did before the War. The Soviet Union took control after the war and rebuilt Warsaw according to the Communist plan comprised of wide avenues, ugly gray buildings, and communal apartments, all to honor the common worker.
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| Warsaw Street Scenes |
We learned of the civilian uprising, a demonstration of Polish resolve, which took place two days before the Russians were set to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The Russians ultimately decided not to help the Poles since both Poland and Germany were its enemies. Russia just let them kill each other since it would make the task of taking over Poland easier.
Warsaw fell to Nazi Germany in 63 days and along with 60% of the population. The Polish resistance used the sewer system to move about. We stopped for photos at The 1944 Uprising Memorial, which commemorates the popular uprising. It shows uniformed members of the Polish resistance emerging from a sewer.
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| 1944 Uprising Memorial in Warsaw |
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| 1944 Uprising Memorial in Warsaw |
On the way over to the former Jewish Ghetto area, we learned that, after the War, the Soviets invaded Poland on September 17, 1949, and controlled the country for 44 years. We stopped at the Monument of Those Killed and Murdered in the East. It was created to honor the memory of Poles who were expelled to labor camps in Siberia and to the victims of the Katyn massacre. It was unveiled in 1995 on the 56th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s attack on Poland. The monument presents a pile of crosses on an open rail car which sits on a set of tracks. Each rail tie is inscribed with the name of a town where crimes were perpetrated against the Poles by the USSR. It was covered in Polish flags to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland.
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| Monument of Those Killed and Murdered in the East in Warsaw |
I left the group in the Jewish Ghetto and ventured on my own to the Palace of Science and Culture. It is a massive, brooding and inescapable structure towering over the heart of Warsaw. For years, it was the tallest building in Poland and Warsaw's most prominent landmark. It was built in the early 1950s as Stalin’s "gift of friendship" from the Soviet Union to the Polish nation. It was built entirely with Soviet labor and material as a symbol of Soviet dominance over Poland.
The Poles want to tear it down but don't have the money to do it. It still stands as a reminder of the Soviet occupation but is being surrounded by taller, more modern buildings. I went to the observation deck on the 30th floor for a birds eye view of Warsaw.
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| Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw |
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| Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw |
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| Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw |
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| Views from the Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw |
I then walked 7 miles south back to the hotel, cutting through the lower end of Old Town and Lazienki Park, getting a shot of the Chopin statue in Lazienki Park before reaching the hotel.
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| Farmers Market in Central Warsaw |
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| Chinese Lanterns in Lazienki Park in Warsaw |
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| Chopin Statue in Lazienki Park in Warsaw |
Meanwhile, the rest of the group continued their tour of the former Jewish Ghetto, Old Town, New Town, and Lazienki Park. Based on Dave's pictures and my 2008 Poland trip journal, here is a rundown of their stops:
In the Jewish Quarter, they stopped at The Museum of the History of Polish Jews and The Ghetto Heroes Monument.
The Museum of the History of Polish Jews opened its doors to the public in April 2013. It currently functions as an educational center with a rich cultural program, including temporary exhibitions, films, debates, workshops, performances, concerts, lectures and much more. The opening of the Core Exhibition, presenting the thousand-year history of Polish Jews, is scheduled for early 2014.
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| The Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw |
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| The Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw |
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| Wooden Synagogue at The Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw |
Nearby was the Ghetto Heroes Monument, which lies in a peaceful park in the northern part of the former Ghetto. The monument is a memorial to the thousands who lost their lives in the ill-fated Ghetto Uprising of 1943. One side of the monument depicts a crush of doomed but defiant insurgents. The other a scene of martyrdom. In the northwest corner of the park is Willy Brandt Square with another memorial marking the visit of German Chancellor Willy Brandt to this spot on December 7, 1970, when he famously fell to his knees in a gesture of contrition for Germany's crimes against Poland.
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| Ghetto Heroes Monument in Warsaw |
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| Ghetto Heroes Monument in Warsaw |
The group's next stop was Old Town. They visited Royal Palace Square, St. John's Arch Cathedral, Old Town Square, and the Barbican.
Royal Castle Square is dominated by the red brick Royal Palace and a number of interesting buildings. The Royal Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This massive brick edifice, now a fantastic copy of the original that was blown up by the Nazis towards the end of the war, began life as a wooden stronghold of the dukes of Mazovia in the 14th century. Its heyday came in the mid-17th century, when it became one of Europe's most splendid royal residences, and during the reign of Stanislaw August Poniatowski (1764-95) when its grand Baroque apartments were created. It then served the tsars, and in 1918, after Poland had regained its independence, it became the residence of the president. Today it is filled with period furniture, works of art, and an army of old ladies watching your every move.
In the middle of Plac Zamkowy stands the Sigismund III Vasa Column. This 72-foot- high monument to the king who moved the capital from Krakow to Warsaw was erected by the king's son in 1644 and is Poland's second-oldest secular monument. It was knocked down during WWII, but the statue survived and was placed on a new column four years after the war. The original, shrapnel-scarred granite column now lies along the south wall of the Royal Castle.
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| Royal Palace Square in Warsaw |
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| Royal Palace Square in Warsaw |
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| Royal Palace Square in Warsaw |
St. John's Arch Cathedral is one of the oldest churches in the city and the main church of the Warsaw Catholic archdiocese. Originally built in the 14th century in Gothic style, the Cathedral served as a coronation and burial site for numerous Dukes. The church was rebuilt several times. In 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, invading Germans drove a tank loaded with explosives into the cathedral and destroyed a large part of the building. Following Poland's collapse, the Germans drilled holes into the walls for explosives and blew up what remained of the cathedral, destroying 90% of its walls. The cathedral was rebuilt after the war based on what the church was presumed to have looked like in the 14th-century, not on what it looked like just prior to WWII.
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| Streets of Old Town Warsaw |
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| St. John's Archcathedral in Warsaw |
The Old Town was rebuilt from the foundations up because, after WWII, it was nothing but a heap of rubble. The monumental reconstruction, which took place between 1949 and 1963, aimed to restore the appearance of the town in its best times, the 17th and 18th centuries. Every authentic architectural fragment found among the ruins was incorporated in the restoration. In 1945, Old Town Square was just the walls of two houses sticking out of the rubble. Today it is a harmonious blend of Renaissance, baroque and Gothic styles.
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| Old Town Square in Warsaw |
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| Old Town Square in Warsaw |
The Barbican, which is located on the north end of Old Town and divides Old Town from New Town, is a redbrick, semicircular defensive tower topped with a decorative Renaissance parapet. It was partially dismantled in the 19th century, but reconstructed after WWII.
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| The Barbican in Warsaw |
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| The Barbican in Warsaw |
The group returned to the hotel in early afternoon. At 2:30 pm, we went on the optional excursion to Wilanow Palace, a baroque royal palace located in the southern Wilanow district of Warsaw. It was built for the Polish king John III Sobieski in the late 17th century and enlarged by subsequent owners. It survived hostile invasions and two World Wars without losing its authentic historical qualities. We toured the palace and gardens and returned to the hotel.
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
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| Wilanow Palace in Warsaw |
Around 5 pm, we went to dinner at the Kocham Cactus Blue Tex-Mex restaurant near the hotel.
Then I went for a walk while Dave went to the optional Frederic Chopin concert at the Porczyski Gallery, which featured a beautiful art collection.
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| Artwork at the Porczyski Gallery in Warsaw |
Alas, my trip was all but over except for the long journey back to the US tomorrow. I packed my luggage and went to bed at 7:30 pm. Our wake up call was at 3 am for a 7 am departure to Paris.
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Itinerary: Fly Warsaw to Chicago via Paris.
Daily Journal
Weather: 50 F and overcast in Warsaw, 60 F and mostly cloudy in Paris, 70 F and rainy in Milwaukee.
I went to bed early last night so wasn't too tired after the anticipated wake-up call came at 3 am. By 3:45 am, our Canadian tour group members, Dave and I had our box breakfasts from the hotel and were on our way to Chopin International Airport. We arrived at the airport 20 minutes later and sailed through check-in with more than two hours to spare before our 6:50 am flight to Paris.
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| Early Morning at the Warsaw Airport |
We departed Warsaw on time and arrived on schedule at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 9:15 am. Our Air France A320 was packed and I slept most of the way.
During the 4-hour layover, I sorted through and consolidated Dave's pictures and mine--all 4,000 of them. At 1:30 pm, we left Paris for Chicago O'Hare. A former colleague from Assurant, Kara Eulgen, and her husband were on our flight. 9-1/2 hours later and three lousy movies later, our Airbus 330 arrived 30 minutes late--4 pm--in Chicago. Fortunately, the 4:20 CoachUSA bus to Milwaukee was also 20 minutes late, so I had enough time to clear customs, retrieve my bag, and get to the bus stop in time to catch it.
As I stepped off the bus in Milwaukee, it started to rain, so I walked under the overhead expressway for several blocks. I still got caught in the downpour for the last three blocks and was soaked by the time I walked in the door at 7 pm.
I did a few loads of laundry, backed up my pictures, and read all my mail over the next few hours. Then it was time for bed and time to dream about the next great vacation with good memories of the last one still fresh in my memory.
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