THE END OF THE LINE

Crossing into Estonia we found the main roads to be mostly excellent with relatively smooth tarmac while the side roads were surfaced with limestone grit that sent up clouds of white dust as vehicles travelled along them.  Not that we saw many vehicles outside of the towns – we once saw two cars and a tractor at the same time!  We had not realised how much of these lands would be forested but we drove for days through endless pine, spruce, silver birch and the occasional oak or rowan. 

We crossed over to the island of Muhu on a smart little double ended ferry that could be sailed either “forwards” or “backwards”

Virtsu - Muhu Ferry

and then crossed to the much larger island of Saaremaa on a 2.5 km long causeway.  Saaremaa is a holiday destination much loved by Estonians but fortunately the main holiday season had ended and the sites were all nearly empty.  The only town of any size was Kuressaare with an impressive fort built on an artificial island. 

Kuressaare Castle

Touring Saaremaa, we came across many small villages with beautifully kept wooden houses.  In one – Kihelkonna – the bell tower of the church is about 100 metres from the church (across a road and somebody’s house and garden!)  Built in 1638 it is unique in Estonia and the bell is now rung automatically at 12 noon each day.

Kihelkonna Church and Bell Tower

On the north-west coast we found limestone cliffs about two metres high.

Limestone Cliffs

The highest apparently rise to 21 metres which is very unusual here as cliffs do not feature on the coast of any of these countries.  Further west hundreds of cairns have been built from the flat stones on the sea-shore.

Limestone Cairns

Some of the old windmills have been restored – this one is a typical design ...

Typical Saaremaa Windmill

... while others have found a new lease of life depicting two characters from local legend known as “Mama"

Mama

… and “Papa”.

Papa

Estonia is more densely covered in meteorite craters than anywhere else in the world.  The largest such crater in Europe is here at Kaali where a meteorite landed more than 3500 years ago.  Disintegrating as it did so it formed nine craters the largest of which is 110 metres wide and 16 metres deep.

Kaali Meteorite Crater

Heading for Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, we spent a night at Haapsalu, now a pleasant sea-side resort.  At the end of the railway line from St Petersburg which closed in 1995, the station (now a railway museum) had a 216 metre long covered platform – the longest in the Russian Empire. 

Haapsalu Station Railway Museum

At the end of the 19^th century it was a spar town famous for its curative mud and very popular with the Russian gentry including the composer Tchaikovsky and the Russian Royal Family.  One of the spar halls still remains unaltered and now houses a restaurant.

Haapsalu Spar Hall

And so to Tallinn, the oldest capital city in Northern Europe … but that will have to wait till next time.

A CITY WITH A SMILE ON ITS FACE

As we approached Cape Kolka we noticed how much better the roads were.  The coastal road still had 20 km of gravel surface until this year and the beautiful new tarmac is still being laid in places but most of it is excellent.  We passed through dense pine forest, stopping at the oldest operational lighthouse in Latvia. 

Oviši Lighthouse

The view from the top gives some idea of the size of the forest – the only other man made object visible being the one Russian radio telescope remaining from a group of three used to spy on Western satellites during the Cold War.  The others were taken back to Russia but this one was too large to move and is now used for radio astronomy.

Irbene Radiotelescope

Cape Kolka is not like the rocky outcrops we have seen elsewhere.  Like most of the land here it is sand with forest right up to the beach. 

Cape Kolka

From there we headed down the Eastern coast of what here is the Gulf of Riga, catching glimpses of the sea through the trees, to the capital city of Riga. 

 Riga

We were told that during the Soviet occupation no-one smiled but now it is definitely a city with a smile on its face!  The early twentieth century must have been a time of some prosperity here and many of the lovely buildings of the time, often decorated with elaborately carved figures, have been carefully restored.  This one is on the University of Economics.

Riga University of Economics

And nearby in Elizabetes iela ...

Riga - Elizabetes Street

... huge faces were carved at the top of the wall.

Riga - Elizabetes Street

Even the main Tourist Office was rather grand being in a building that once housed a Gentlemen’s Drinking Club – “The Blackheads”.

 Riga - Tourist Office in the Blackheads' House

But painful memories lie just below the surface.  We visited the Museum of the Occupation which gives a vivid and disturbing description of life during WW2 first under Russian and then Nazi rule when many thousands of people were deported to the Russian Gulags (work camps in Siberia), imprisoned or murdered by both the Russians and the Germans.  They included Jews, Roma (Gypsies), the elderly, young children, the mentally ill and those accused of collaborating with the enemy.

Riga - Museum of the Occupation

While we were there the streets and parks were crowded for a celebration of the 810^th Anniversary of the foundation of the city.

Riga 810 Celebrations

Like any other capital city there are areas that are quite run down and driving out through the suburbs reminded us of how much could still be done but even there people had a spring in the step and a smile on their faces.

Our route took us inland to Sigulda were we stayed a night by the River Gauja.  This is the Latvian winter sports area and Sigulda has a ski slope and toboggan track where the Russian Olympic Toboggan team train.  It is a lovely little town with three castles, one in ruins, one now housing a restaurant ...

Sigulda "New" Castle

... and one, a short distance away at Turaida, being a tourist destination!)

Turaida Castle, Sigulda

Between Sigulda and Cēsis (our next destination) we visited the Gauja National Park where an excellent nature trail wanders 5½ km through the forest.  As well as seeing many different mushrooms growing in the forest, there are large enclosures containing some of the wild animals that inhabit the forest there.  Among them are brown bears ...

Brown Bear

... and wild boar.

Wild Boar

We needed to stop and catch up so spent three nights at a very peaceful site on the banks of the Gauja River before heading north into Estonia.

A VERY STRANGE VISITOR ATTRACTION!

Šiauliai itself is a pleasant enough city but not very photogenic!  Perhaps the most unusual thing we found there was the largest sundial that we have ever seen.  The shadow is cast by a very tall column topped by a golden statue of an archer erected in 1986 to commemorate the 750^th anniversary of the battle of Saulė after which the town was founded. 

Šiauliai Sundial

There are some very strange things in Lithuania but perhaps the strangest is the Hill of Crosses a few kilometres north of the city. 

 

Šiauliai - Hill of Crosses

It is a mound rather than a hill which for generations has been a place of pilgrimage.  It is completely covered with thousands of crosses – small, large, expensive, cheap, made of wood, metal or even crocheted wool.  Some bear the names, photos, prayers or other mementos of dead relatives others commemorate a church pilgrimage.  Every week newly-wed couples arrive to add their crosses to the collection. 

 

Šiauliai - Hill of Crosses

Interspersed between the crosses (and sometimes practically buried beneath them) are sculptures large and small – mostly of the figure of Christ.  Although very odd it was a strangely moving place.

 

Šiauliai - Hill of Crosses

Crossing the border into Latvia we had our first taste of Latvian roads.  Some are excellent – for a short distance – but many, especially the side roads, are dreadful.  Where there is tarmac it is often severely potholed and many roads are just gravel.  In towns all over the countries we have visited so far, cobbles are widely used and in Lithuania many of the cobbles are being replaced with new ones giving a rumbly but otherwise relatively smooth ride.  In Latvia the cobbles are often very old and irregular.  On the positive side there is hardly any traffic on them!

 

The first city we came to in Latvia was Liepāja.  There are some shiny new buildings in the town centre but close by are streets of houses, many built of wood, definitely in need of some TLC. 

 Liepāja - side street in the city centre

Wood has been a very common building material throughout the Baltic States so far and many houses are very attractive.  We rather liked this one:

 

 Liepāja - lovely wooden house in need of TLC

After lunch by the sea we had a look at St Nicholas Maritime Cathedral (Russian Orthodox).  Originally built in the 17^th century, it was used as a cinema and sports complex in Soviet times.  Restoration is continuing – note the wooden scaffolding on the dome!

 

Liepāja - St Nicholas Maritime Cathedral

Inside were tables laden with pans which two old ladies seemed to be filling with water – we didn’t discover why!

 

Liepāja - inside St Nicholas Maritime Cathedral

The cathedral is in Karosta – a very poor part of the city which, for many years from about 1900, was a huge military base housing 25000 people.  It was used for this purpose by whichever regime happened to be in control of this country, most recently the Russians.  It is now largely derelict but one building, originally a military hospital but used since 1905 as a military prison for soldiers from the base who had broken the rules.

 

Karosta Military Prison

The regime was very harsh but it was intended to be corrective and so there was no torture or killing except during WW2 when for six months it was used by the German army and executions were not uncommon. 

 

Karosta Military Prison

Our tour guide occasionally played the part of the Prison Commandant who had absolute power over the inmates.

 

Karosta Military Prison

We headed up the coast to Pavilosta where we stayed two nights at the small marina.

 

 Pāvilosta Marina

It was idyllic and John decided he would like to stay there

 

 Pāvilosta

But with much more to see we travelled inland to Kuldīga which has the widest waterfall in Europe – 275 metres wide – but it is definitely not he highest at about 2 metres!

 

Kuldīga Waterfall

This quaint little town is typical of many here.

 

Kuldīga

Returning to the coast we quickly passed through Ventspils – a major and successful port where the buildings are bright, new and uninteresting – and spent two nights at a site in the forest a couple of hundred metres from a very long, deserted, sandy beach before travelling north to Cape Kolka.

TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE – WELL ALMOST!

On the Baltic coast between Poland and Lithuania there is a Russian enclave surrounding the port of Kalingrad.  We spent a night at Goldap just three kilometres from the border before travelling parallel with it to the east and into Lithuania.  There we headed north to Kaunas.  In Kaunas, Friday is obviously the day to get married.  In the main city square couples were going in and out of the Old Town Hall ...

Kaunas Old Town Hall

... and either into one of several waiting stretched limos or walking over to one of the nearby churches for a blessing.

Kaunas Unusual Stretched Limo

The little that remains of the old town is very pleasant. 

Kaunas Vilnius Street

Here as in much of Lithuania we got the impression that great efforts are being made to recover from the years of oppressive Soviet rule but it is quite a struggle.  The scale of the problem can be seen from the interior of one church where restoration work has now begun.

Kaunas St George's Church

An easy drive alongside the Nemunas  River (more huge barges!) ...

Barge on Nemunas Rive

... took us to Ventė with a campsite on the shore of the Curonian Lagoon

Ventė, Beach at Campsite Ventainė

At Vente we visited the Bird Ringing Station where each year thousands of migrating birds are caught in huge cone shaped netting traps, ringed and released. (The photo shows some of the smaller ones)

 Bird trap at Ventės Ragas Ornithological Station

 

Stretching 100 km (about 64 miles) north from the Russian enclave at Kalingrad is a spit of land – the Curonian Spit – little more than a sandbank, but 70% covered by pine forest.  It is 3.8 km wide at its widest and less than 1 km at its narrowest points.  The highest point is the 67.2 metre high Vecekrugas Dune (Old Inn Hill).  It cuts the Curonian Lagoon off from the Baltic Sea except for a narrow channel at the northern tip and there is one small town – Nida – and several villages along the Lithuanian part of the spit. 

We moved from Ventė to Klaipėda and next day took the ferry across to the spit with our bikes and then the bus 50 km south to the town of Nida almost on the Russian border.  

Fishermen's Cottages at Nida

There fishermen still smoke their fish in traditional ways outside their cottages. (A huge range of smoked fish is available here and is all delicious!).  The Churchyard at Nida had some strange wooden ‘gravestones’ whose design dates back to pagan times.

 

Grave markers in Nida Churchyard

From there we cycled 30 km along a superb cycle track back to the village of Juodkrantė and caught the bus back to the ferry.  Near our campsite was a railway line along which very long Russian goods trains passed regularly day and night transporting goods for export from Kalingrad.  Most of them look rather old to say the least!  The one in the photo had over fifty tanker waggons.

Russian Goods Train

Deep in the forest in the Žemaitijos National Park north of Plungė there are the remains of a huge Soviet nuclear missile base which was kept secret from the Lithuanians for many years until it mysteriously disappeared in 1978.  The remains have been excavated and are now  a museum which we hoped to visit as we moved on towards the Latvian border but it was closed for restoration work.  After weeks of lovely warm sunny weather, we had the first proper rain since we were in Germany as we spent a couple of nights outside the town of Šiauliai.

Tomorrow we should be going on into Latvia.