Let’s start with a few facts…. [as at Saturday 28 July when this was written]
:: Total countries visited: 27 on tour, 13 in the camper van
:: Total days on tour: 127 to date
:: Photos taken so far: 6,490 (that’s only about 50 photos a day….)
:: Kilometres travelled to date in the camper van: 9,083km in 47 days
:: Diesel purchased: 1,034 litres. (Best price NZ$2.00/litre in Lithuania, worst price NZ$2.82/litre in Norway)
:: Total days since I last wore long trousers: 71 (and then only because we went out for dinner)

Now, our recent travels…..but first, I need to go back to my youth. I remember three things from the 70s (actually, I remember a lot more than that, but here are three that are relevant to this blog entry):
1. a huge slogan painted in white paint on the south facing brick wall of a two storey flat in Cumberland Street, North Dunedin when that part of the one-way system still ran north, which read “FREE LATVIA!”
2. the National Geographic Atlas, a constant source of wonder to me as a youngster (and it still is today) which had, on maps from the late 1940s until after 1992, some wording in red letters on the maps of the Baltic area, alongside the three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which read, from memory, something like this: “Annexation by the USSR of these countries not recognised by the USA”
3. the TV show “Colditz”

The last item I mention only because right now, we are free camping in the village of Colditz with the famous castle just over there….right above us. Tomorrow morning we will pay it a visit which we are looking forward to with some interest. We will also go to the local church and see if we understand the proceedings just as easily in German as we would in English, this time without having a 10 year old Lawren snoring her head off beside us as she did once in a Berlin “kirche” many years ago.

The first two items, however, were the lead-in to a quick trip through the Baltic States in our camper van, nicknamed “Whirlwind” for this part of the tour due to the fact that we spent just over 5 days there, and in that time were in 5 separate countries from Finland to Poland. We didn’t know a lot about this part of the world, so to visit albeit briefly and learn more was too good an opportunity to miss. Whilst the visits were quick they were a very important part of our travels so far, and we made the most of every moment.

The student graffiti artists will be pleased to know their message got through eventually and Latvia is now free, and these days maps can be published with the three countries showing as the proud independent nations that they are, and always have been really, despite being the frequent pawns in other powers’ political machinations. Interesting that we saw a Millennium monument in Klaipeda in Lithuania – but not one which celebrates the same Millennium as we recognised in 2000 but instead it commemorates 1000 years of the existence of their own country in 2009. Lithuania was once the largest country in Europe – they’ve been important, and they’ve been around a long time, so occupations by the Soviets are really just inconvenient blemishes in a much bigger picture.

So, in the spirit of whirlwind tours here’s a quick summary of a week in the Baltics…..
Tallinn, Estonia: our arrival port on the ferry from Helsinki, and a wonderful city. It is such a mixture of architecture from the 11th Century to the 21st, encompassing all styles including of course the mid-20th Century “Soviet Concrete Functional”. We stayed in a facility that had buildings of that nature, namely the 1980 Olympic Yachting base, although they weren’t too bad, having been built for an international audience that might actually care about their surroundings. The much more interesting parts of the city though are not the Soviet ‘gifts’ nor the ultra modern shopping and transport centres and the new hotels springing up everywhere to accommodate the thousands of tourists who now visit – buildings that wouldn’t look out of place in any capital city anywhere – but of course, the beautiful Old Town. The churches, the restaurants, the shops, the old city wall, the winding and narrow cobblestoned streets – it is all just so amazing, and makes Tallinn a place you could wander around for days if not weeks, just soaking it all in.
By complete contrast, we also enjoyed a tour of part of one of those USSR style buildings – Estonia’s first skyscraper – the 23 floor Viru Hotel built in 1972. This is the famous “KGB Hotel” so named because the KGB through their stooge tourist agency Intourist had the place built and were the only occupants of the 23rd floor which is where they housed all their surveillance equipment for snooping on guests who were of interest to them. That pretty much included everyone so 68 rooms in the hotel are now known to have had microphones and cameras hidden in them in all sorts of ingenious ways. The Hotel is now quite normal, but last year they opened a Museum on the 23rd floor which pretty much exhibits the rooms as the KGB hurriedly left them in 1992 when the Baltic States gained their independence (again). Old reel to reel tape recorders, microphones inside curtain rods, telephone bugs – it’s all there and it’s almost funny, if it wasn’t so true. And, in keeping with the humorous side, you’ll see in the photos attached that the recording room was behind a locked door….but not one with no marking on it which you’d think would be normal when you’re trying to be inconspicuous. No, this one had signs in Russian and Estonian announcing “THERE IS NOTHING HERE”.
Riga, Latvia: within the EU, borders are no longer relevant so often the only evidence you’re entering a new country will be the weedy rusting remains of a former border control post beside the road. However, we knew we’d reached Latvia because the road narrowed considerably, and also became extremely rough and potholed. The opposite happened when we left Latvia….so Estonia and Lithuania have relatively good roads, but the Latvian ones in-between are generally speaking, rubbish! However, for 99% of our overnight stay in Riga, we had a perfectly good time – again, Riga is that wonderful mixture of the old and the new, and is desperately trying to create an image for itself that is uniquely Latvian, rather than being another example of “former Soviet”. It has good reason to do so – after all, just like its neighbours Latvia is a very old and proud country, and the Soviet influence is really quite short term, historically speaking. Note that I use the term Soviet rather than Russian because the two are quite different, and have had quite separate influences over time. We took the city tour by bus and canal boat which was a great way to see the place, especially as the tour came with an audio commentary narrated by a woman in heavily accented English – an accent that would have gone down very well for one of the bad guys in Get Smart, or maybe a villian in a James Bond movie! We also did some supermarket shopping which was an eye-opener….not only are the bad old days of queuing for staple items such as bread well and truly over but, again like its neighbours, Latvia has huge supermarkets stocked with every conceivable item (except disinfectant!) and is an extremely cheap place to shop. Especially after 3 weeks in Scandinavia, of course.
Oh, and the other 1% of our stay?? Our GPS system wanted us to turn left on our way out of the city, which we did without noticing the overhead sign that showed the lane was straight ahead only. Just around the corner however we were pulled up by two cops and eventually received a “protokol” which is apparently Latvian for “ticket” and were fined €30 on the spot. Interesting story though: initially the fine was 20 Lats (about €28) but through the not inconsiderable language barrier it appeared that the fine had to be paid at a Bank, only this was Saturday afternoon. So I spoke on the cop’s cellphone to the Inspector who had a good command of English and agreed the fine could be paid in Euros instead (we’d spent the last of our Lats) and paid in cash on the spot. So naturally the cops grabbed the cash and bunged it in the glovebox and were ready to call it quits at that point! “Hold on, where’s my Protokol” came a voice from….oh yes, me! Another lengthy exchange where neither party made any progress until eventually Inspector English was called again, and to my surprise he was totally on my side and said in a stern inspector-like voice “Let me speak to the policeman again!” – the end result was a ticket was issued which I can’t read, and the cops left with €30 that they personally can’t spend!
Klaipeda, Lithuania: not the capital this time but instead a coastal city of around 180,000 people which had a very nice old town (where we enjoyed both a good walk around and a nice lunch including the traditional potato dumplings) and a newer part of town with modern shopping areas alongside row after row after row of identical Soviet housing complexes. The emphasis here though wasn’t so much on the city but on some of its people as we were visiting friends from Dunedin who have lived for many years in Lithuania where they are developing a Church and, among other things, have an involvement with an orphanage there – and we were able to assist in a small way with their Sunday activities with the kids. We’re not able to go into too much detail but suffice to say it was a rewarding and extremely worthwhile visit. And that evening our friends let us take them out to dinner so we went just north of the city to a truly delightful beach resort town named Palanga, and enjoyed a lovely evening at the “Piano BARbeque” where the wine was great, the food was excellent and the live piano and sax music was outstanding!

So that’s it – our flying trip through the Baltic States. Not always the most comfortable of places to be – for me at least I found it hard to shake off the feeling of having been there before after being in the USSR in the bad old Communist days – but for all that, some really interesting places to see and things to do, and above all, some wonderful people to meet. In some parts of Europe, the Estonians/Latvians/Lithuanians have a bad name for a variety of reasons but all the bad guys must be in those other parts rather than at home as almost everyone we met during our visit was charming and keen to make our visit an enjoyable experience. In the end, even the cop in Riga wasn’t too bad!

Have a look at a few photos in the Baltic Countries album here. And while you’re at it, there’s a few of the subsequent week in Poland here, if you’re interested.

P.S. So, if you’re old enough to remember, are you now having trouble getting the first few bars of the theme to “Colditz” out of your head?? Me too!