RETURNING THROUGH THE BALTIC COUNTRIES

The weather has been wonderful. It has been around 25 to 30c not the usual weather for summer here.  We have been told there is some rain expected and getting a little cooler.

We are now travelling back through all three countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania They all have a real mixture of buildings. There are the soviet era ones which have been left to fall apart and the new housing going up in the country towns.

In Latvia we saw many soviet communal farms left to disintegrate. In Lithuania they seem to have removed a lot of  these derelict buildings.

Driving along the lake in Estonia we passed an old guard tower which reminded us that Russia is just across the water from here and to pay attention to which road we took so we didn’t stray across the border.

All along the lakeside road are places to buy smoked fish. So guess what we had for lunch.

We had a soviet occupation experience in two countries. First we travelled to Tartu before leaving Estonia.

We visited the KGB Museum.

It is in a building that the soviets took over from an Estonian family and it became the KGB headquarters in this region. When Estonia gained Independence in 1991 it was given back to the descendents of the original owners who gave the basement area, where the prison rooms were located, to the town to use as a museum. It must be hard for older people who went through the occupation to still see this building everyday. 

The information was provided in English with different aspects in each of the cells.

The experience was very moving, also a DVD  with English sub titles gave information and an interview with a man who was incarcerated in these rooms for 7 months of interrogation before being sent to a camp in the north of Russia. While we were there an old Estonian woman was giving a talk to a group of students. The guide told us she had been sent to a prison camp in Siberia during the soviet time and was telling them of her experiences.

I don’t think the Baltic countries were happy with Churchill who handed them over to the Soviets.

Our next experience was in Latvia as a tour of the Nuclear Bunker built for the Soviet Latvian Parliament in case someone pushed ‘The Button’ the elite 250 people would be rushed to this facility from Riga. It was in the forest with an old hotel which was a vacation hotel as a disguise in the 1980’s.

Everything was intact as when Latvia returned to a republic in 1991 the facility was immediately closed and kept secret until 2003 and was reopened and used as a museum from 2005.

The equipment is still the same as when it was closed.

This is a plan of the underground with a Russian inscription above. Maybe you can read Russian and decipher it for us.

This was a map showing all the community farm groups in Latvia. We saw many of the derelict buildings belonging to the groups, they had been left to disintegrate and new farm buildings have been built.

Of course there is a bust of Lenin for the photographs.

There were two rooms with maps and some equipment in which we could look but not take photographs.

 The dining room and kitchen were still intact with pictures on the walls showing the paranoia about spies.

Time for kids to play with the gas masks, then it was back to reality.

On our way south we passed through a town which couldn’t agree which country they wanted to be in when the time came for freedom. So it was decided to make the border between Estonia and Latvia through the middle. So now there is the Estonian town of Valga and the Latvian town of Valka. Which also means if you want to shop in both towns, one side you need Euros and the other Lats.

Without knowing where we were driving, we could tell which country we were driving in. Estonian roads are not bad, Latvian roads are one continuous rumble over bumps and Lithuanian  wins hands down for the condition of their roads. These in Latvia were like patchwork quilts done by a madman.

This is one solution to re sealing a road. Do the two strips where the car tyres go. Notice the car headlights on. It is compulsory to have headlight burning when driving day and night.  We really like this rule and wish it was compulsory at home as it makes all vehicles very noticeable in any driving conditions,

While writing about roads, before leaving home Kevin was reading about the drivers in each country. While driving through these three countries we think Lituania have the worst drivers. Maybe it is because they have reasonably good roads. We like the system of road signs. Lithuania and Poland have great clear signs when a road is coming up for people to turn off of the main road.

We crossed the border between Latvia and Lithuania on a very small country road with the bumps and potholes on one side and the bitumen starting right at the border. We were very surprised to see the old border buildings still there.

We still cant make head or tail out of the signs.

And shopping takes longer. Here I was looking for butter not margarine. In the end I saw a picture of cows on the packet and decided this must be butter.

On our journeys into the cultural side we visited Rundale Palace near Bauska with its beautiful painted ceilings and  figurines.  

The gardens were beautiful also. It reminded us of the chateaux in the Loire Valley.

Our next stop was Vilnius the capital of Lithuania. The caravan park once again was where the buildings used for Expo were. They had a really neat way of providing facilities which are usually only used in Summer. They have a row of buildings like shipping containers. They are very modern and there are showering facilities one each for male and female. One for a laundry, One each for toilets. One to use for an office and another for a small shop. Easy to lock up until the next season.

We spent the day wandering around the old town. They have their very own leaning tower.

Saturday and the weddings are taking place are all over town.

 

The bachelor boys and a very unique glass of beer.

We visited the Amber Museum. Real natural Amber is really beautiful especially the pieces with insect inclusions. There is a wide variation in colour.

Another wedding at the famous St Anne and Bernardine Church.

One has to be careful walking along footpaths here. This part of the footpath was taken over by the apartment in the basement so they could have some flowers.

We tried out a Lithuanian speciality, potato and pork pancakes. Really yummy

And coffee and cake at McCafe

Right opposite McDonalds was this lovely buildings which surprisingly had Marks and Spencers as one of the occupants and St George slaying the dragon at the top.

Our next interesting place was  Druskininkai in Grutas. 

When nearly 50 years of Soviet occupation finished there was the big question of what to do with the Soviet Era statues which were in almost every square. Many were crushed, melted with blow torches or beheaded, others lay in a junk heap. An enterprising fellow called Viliumas Malinauskas put a plan to the Lithuanian Government to gather all the statues and put them in a park. Lots of Lithuanians were against having them on show again but the idea of giving younger generations an insight into their country’s tragic past won and Grutas Park now has a collection of almost 100 huge statues.

During communism, the larger the population, the bigger the statue was made to go on show. And I mean BIG!! 

This fellow was huge as you can see by the building.

He looks quite small when you see him insitu. That’s him up the top of the pedestal.

Stalin also got a place along with commentary.

While in Druskininkai we went to see the indoor snow fields.

Once into the balcony area overlooking the ski runs it was freezing cold. This is the 120M section of the ski run. On the bottom section 170m were learner snowboarders.

We talk to everyone we can along the way and have some interesting times. While walking past a very overgrown cemetery in Estonia we came across an old man and his sons. They were clearing the family plot. The old man said his church had disappeared and no one looked after the cemetary anymore. He wanted to be buried in the family plot so his sons cleared all around and put a seat there. It was very sad to see, but he seemed happy about it all.

On Sunday we travelled along this road through the forest. There were groups of people selling strawberries and something else we couldn’t make out that were bright yellow. We stopped to to see what this lady had. She couldn’t speak any English but wrote the price in the sand. We paid the equivalent of $3 for all these blueberries. We gave the mushrooms a miss as I was not sure how safe they were. We have since found out they are delicious.

She also wanted to sell us one of these and gave us a demonstration. As far as we could make out they are put near the door to keep the flies away or used as a switch.

Our next destination is Warsaw in Poland.