Russia Estonia Latvia Lithuania Poland Czech Slovakia Hungary

19th July 17
Got organised for the ferry (Princess Anastasia) to St Petersburg. Boarded at about 3.30. First impressions of the boat not bad. Mistake.
$400 (two nights + ferry cost)

20th July 17
Both woke with aches and pains having spent the night on the most uncomfortable mattresses in history. Then our first brush with Russian bureaucracy. They had the passenger list before we left Helsinki, but it still took more than an hour and a half to clear immigration. Absolutely no systems, with everyone just pushing and shoving. Nightmare. Found our way to the hotel, which was pretty cheap, so I wasn’t expecting too much. Hopped on the train out to Catherine Palace. Cost of the train for a 30 km trip just over NZ$1.00 each. Hardly a surprise that the train was such a piece of crap. But once you get there, what an extraordinary park and palace, photos black sky but only one heavy shower. The wealth and opulence is just staggering. The revolution is really no surprise. The surprise is that it took so long.
Hotel $67.88


21st July 17
The day in St Petersburg, to be back onboard for a 7.00pm sailing. Fantastic old buildings but lacks enough green spaces to be called a beautiful city. Caught the metro to Peter and Paul fortress then walked back through the old city. Climbed the tower of St Isaac Cathedral which gave a great view over the city. At this stage I went back to the Hotel to collect our bag, and experienced my second round of Russian beauracratic bullshit. They already had copies of our passports and entry certificate, but absolutely refused to hand over our bag without a copy of the visa. We didn’t have a visa because we didn’t need one. Multiple phone calls later I was allowed to take my bag. Frustrating. Back on the boat for another night on those mattresses. That these beds stand out only shows that even at the budget end of the market our accommodation so far has been pretty good.

22nd July 17
Back in Helsinki first thing in the morning. Back to pick up the car and get to the ferry to Tallin. A very smooth crossing in light winds and because it’s all EU, into Estonia with no border control at all. Ferry travel is so easy. Ferry + car $141.37 (Euro 77.57)
Airbnb $50 night

Photos: Catherine Palace x3 (where's Wally?),the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood , Winter Palace x2, Canal

23rd July 17
Into the old town tourist part of Tallin. Not particularly large crowds and an absolutely beautiful day. One of my favourite towns so far. Finished off with late afternoon wine and nibbles in the garden back at our accommodation. Perfect.

24th July 17
Back into town by train, to avoid the week day parking hassles. Another cloudless day. Made our way across town and had lunch in the Park of Kadriorg (Presidential Palace park). Coffee and chocolate cake in a quaint little café, and home.

25th July 17
Heading south for Riga. Approximately a 300km day. Flat straight highway that becomes a bit monotonous, so went out to the secondary coast road and had lunch at the beach. Really shallow, but the little kids on the beach didn’t seem to mind. Michele full of a cold. Crossed the Latvian border, again not an official anywhere to be seen. Highway driving here is appalling. Playing chicken seems to be a national pastime, and if you drive a bus or truck, even better. Accommodation is the 6th floor of a Soviet era apartment block. The area, building exterior and hallways are dreadful. Worn concrete floors, flickering lightbulbs, if there is one at all, but inside the apartment it is quite nice and modern. Quite a surprise and feel safe walking around area as just people like us , not rough or bad behaviour.
Airbnb $38.75 per night

26th July 17
Michele barked half the night, so a quiet day planned.

Photos: Tallin (Estonia) old town x6, Accomodation Riga(Latvia)

27th July 17
A 15 minute bus ride into Riga hopping off outside the city markets which are held in and around a cluster of old Zeplin hangers. Explored the old town before heading back to the market to buy what we need for dinner. Still getting to terms with the inconsistency in cost of stuff. Fruit and veges moderate to expensive. Meat (pork and chicken) really cheap and diesel less than a euro a litre, which is about a third less than we were paying in UK.

Photos: Riga Market,Riga x2,Cesis x2,roads Latvia

28th July 17
Drove out to Cesis, about 50km out from Riga. Had a short shower of rain, but other than that a pleasant day. Most of the highways and motorways are quite good, but some of the secondary roads are rough. More patches than road.

29th July 17
Left Riga heading for Vilnius. Stopped at Rundale Castle, still in Latvia, and then the Hill of Crosses over the Lithuanian border. Dead flat, straight roads make driving easy, but the locals driving is still pretty dodgy at times. Arrived at our apartment which is another soviet era block in an area of high rise apartment. They look really run down and seedy from the outside, but we've seen no trouble, and inside they are reasonably comfortable, just a bit small.Airbnb $43.67Photos: Rundal Castle, Hill of Crosses

30th July 17
Had the day out at Trakai, island castle and lakes. It's where the locals go boating, swimming and picnicking. Really nice place, with another fabulous day topping 27 degrees. Drove around to the Hill of Angels, a permanent installation of carved wooden Angels.

31st July 17
Caught the bus into Vilnius to take a look at the old city. Way too many churches for a town this size. Sweltering heat in the morning, then a thunder storm and rain mid afternoon. Had to seek refuge in a cafe. Terrible. Hopped on the bus to go home and the driver wouldn't sell us tickets, then inspectors hopped on and wouldn't let us get off without a ticket. In the end just hopped off without paying. All a bit weird. The next 2 days are travelling days down the eastern side of Poland, heading for Kraków.
Photos: Trakai x2, Hill of Angels (man in middle not an angel)

Photos:Vilnius Gate of Dawn, Street homage to poets & writers, Vilnius

1st August 17
Out of Lithuania and into Poland, heading for Bialystok for the night. About a 300km day and HOT. They'd opened a couple of fire hydrants in the town square and the kids were enjoying that, and the ice cream vendors were struggling to keep up. Bialystok is a really nice small town, and our unit was right in the heart of it, so quite nice to go for an after dinner walk in the city, when the temperature dropped to an acceptable level as did some sightseeing in the afternoon but so hot.
Airbnb $44

2nd August 17
Heading for Lublin about 300km south. Still flat with massive areas of grain production. I suspect we caught every small farmer on the back of a tractor, towing a trailer of grain to the local silo. Lublin was another pleasant surprise. Poland generally has been a pleasant surprise, appearing to be more progressive than either Latvia or Lithuania and cheaper.
Airbnb $32

3rd August 17
To Kraków for 4 nights. Car air conditioning working overtime. Met out landlord and spent an hour with him fixing all the world’s problems. A socialist/green politician he was really interesting. The temperature topped 36 degrees, so a slightly uncomfortable night.
Airbnb $35.50/night

4th August 17
Went to Auschwitz for the day with some trepidation. David came away feeling not much better educated than I had been, and at an emotional level, found the presentation too focussed on facts and figures concerning the running of the camps, rather than focussing on the humans stories of the victims. I walked away from Daccau a blithering mess 30 years ago, but Auschwitz barely touched me. For me, an opportunity lost. Michele abit the same as David but think it was because Auschwitz 1 was originally Polish army barracks they were reasonable buildings but Auschwitz II-Birkenau built as death camp and as such was worse, it was the displays for hair, shoes, pots, personal belongings and photos of some of the people that were there and length of time they survived after arriving (Females 3-6mths and males 6-12mths in most cases) that made it real, also a Israel group of girls with large Israel flags draped over there backs and maybe being prepared abit more mentally, it was good that preservedRelatively cool at only 30degrees.

Photos: Last page Lublin x3, Auschwitz This page Auschwitz

5th August 17
Woken by the church bells calling us to 6am Mass. Caught the bus into Kraków. Small navigation error by catching the bus on the wrong side of the road and ended up heading out of town, but life's an adventure. Wandered the old town down to Wawel Castle. Still struggling with some of Polands prices. Two good paninis and a couple of doughnuts - less than $6. Seriously hot.

6th August 17
Drove south out of town to Niedzica Castle, which sits on a lake created by a dam. The weather not as good as we'd hoped so not really a picnic day, but nice driving through the small towns up in the hills, on the secondary roads. The villages, and to some degree the countryside on main roads are ruined by sheer volume of billboard advertising.Photos: Kralow x2,Niedzica Castle, Polish countryside

7th August 17
Heading for Zacler just over the border in Czech Republic. Long drive.
Airbnb $52.50/night

8th August 17
Drove out to Adrspach rock formations near Treplice. A walk through a labyrinth of rock formations. Some of it was really steep stair cases. A nice change having a quiet, nature day.

9th August 17
From Zacler to Prague via Kutna Hora. Visited the Sedlec Ossuary which is possible the wierdest place I’ve ever seen. A church, ornately decorated with tens of thousands human bones Up to the other end of town for a nice afternoon in the old village.
Airbnb $60.80/night Photos: Adrspash Rocks x2, Sedlec Ossuary

10th August 17
The day in Prague, which lived up to the hype. Spent the day on the eastern side of the river, taking in the town square and surrounding areas. Big crowds and scorching weather.

11th August 17
Thunderstorm, so a day at “home”. Michele was supposed to do some work but the internet is a joke. Can’t even open emails on the Ipad.

12th August 17
Headed for a different Teplice, near the German border. This ended up as a research mistake. Enough said.Countryside was nice.

13th August 17
Back to Prague to see the Castle, cathedral and town on the western side of the river. Still the crowds, but a much more tolerable temperature. Walked far further than intended, but enjoyed it all. Prague biggest old city been to and well kept, plenty to see at each turn.
Photos: This page Kutna Hora x2 , Next page Prague

14th August 17
Prague to Cesky Budejovice, via Karlovy Vary. Nice spa town,built for the Russian elite late 19th century, and still heavily influenced by the Russians. Signs in Russian, prices in roubles etc. Headed down towards Cesky Budejouvice, through rolling hills countryside and some nice little towns, that we didn't have the time to explore. Can't do it all. Another scorcher with not a cloud in the sky.
Airbnb $53.50

15th August 17
Three months on the road. Spent the day in Cesky Krumolov which is a particularly picturesque old town and fortress. 32 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. One of us (can't say who) went and had a manicure and pedicure. Blew the days budget at $28.
Photos: Karkovy Vary x2, Cesky Krumolov x3, Cesky Budejovice

16th August 17
250km +/- to Olomouc. Stopped at Telc for its UNESCO town square and Chateau/castle. More impressive in pictures than in reality. Next stop, Trebic which should have been a half hour drive, but because of roadworks was an hour diversion. A wander through the old Jewish quarter, which failed to demonstrate well, the issues of segregation which had gone on for 400 years. This Far East, not a lot of English spoken (none ?).
Airbnb $65.50

17th August 17
The sights and highlights of Olomouc. An active old town which is still generally functioning on a daily basis, rather than just a tourist trap. No bus loads of Asian tourists here. Heavily influenced by the Catholic Church, with churches and cathedrals everywhere, and a Basilica on the hill. Out of town to the Javoricko caves. The caves were ok but the local road trip to get to them was something special. Didn't understand a word of the commentary (see previous paragraph). To the Bouzov castle but decided against a full tour where we couldn't understand a word of what was said.

18th August 17
Olomouc to Trencin, Slovakia via Kromeriz , large bishop chateau with lovely garden.Town square had market on but with temperature in the 30’s at 10am too hot to do much browsing.
Airbnb $40.33 per night

19th August 17
Drove to Banska Stianvnica drove around town and had look (Slovakia spa town), no parking/too steep/too hot so decided to climb a hill instead????? Which was a Christian pilgrimage point and Calvary hill climb. Went to big Castle (Bojnice) nice small town, then on to Cicmany which had wooden houses with painted patterns on them-different from what we have been seeing.

20th August 17
Raining so slow start to the day, then Drove to Selec a traditional village but just drove through as not much to stop and see, then on to Trencin Castle walked up to top of Castle on top of big hill so got our exercise and into town(very small).

Photos: Telcx2 , Caves, Olomouc, Hill,Kromeriz ,Bojnice Castle,Cicmany

21st August 17
Drove up to Tatranska Strba in the foothills of the Tatra mountains. Called in on Vlkolinec, a traditional mountain village, wooden homes. Google girl sent us up a mountain track that we later found out was a mountain bike track after we redirected. Little car not happy, and neither was its driver.
Airbnb $49.67/night

22nd August 17
A slow start to the day before heading for Levoca, an old town with almost completely intact city wall, Unesco certification and one tourist bus in the entire town. Just no western tourists here. On to Spris castle ruin, one of the largest castle ruins in Europe, impressive and could see for miles. 10 minutes down the road drove through a Romany shanty town on the way home. The poverty and squalor was appalling. Photos:Vlkolinec, Levoca,Spris Castle, Esztergom basilica

23rd August 17
A day in the mountains. Drove up to Stary Smokovec which is a ski resort by winter and a mountain walking are by summer. Walked for about an hour up a fairly rough steep track, had a rather disappointing lunch and back down for a wander through the resort shops,nice to be in mountains.

24thAugust 17
Long drive through to Budapest, through the border mountains.
Airbnb $61.40/night

25th August 17
Headed north to Esztergom, to look at the basilica and surrounding town. Huge, built above the river it can be seen for miles on the plains below. On to Visegrad and it's castle ruins towering above. Drove back via the river and then another attempt to get a printer cartridge. Finally success.

Photos: Stary Smokovec, Esztergom basilica x2

26th August 17
A day on the Pest side of Budapest. Beautiful old architecture on much wider streets than most old cities. Many similarities with Prague, with the city split by the river with a magnificent castle and cathedral high on the hill on one side. What Budapest doesn't have is the crowds. Another day in the 30s with no cloud cover, so very hot and tiring. Dinner was a home cooked traditional goulash given to us by Eve, our accommodation owner.

27th August 17
Back to see the Buda side of the river. Earlier start to avoid some of the heat of the day. Fail. Mid 20s by 9 o'clock and several hills to climb on this side. Left the city early afternoon and headed up the river to Szentendre, a little riverside town and market. Too hot to really enjoy but had little look, I'm not keen to get into the river for a swim, so back to the comfort of the cars air conditioning.

28th August 17
A quiet day at home, relaxing and catching up on some of the day to day stuff, including resting tired old bones.
Photos: Budapest, Szentendre

28th August 17
A quiet day at home, relaxing and catching up on some of the day to day stuff, including resting tired old bones.

29th August 17
Moved on from Budapest, heading for Bratislava. Thoroughly enjoyed Budapest and the surrounding areas. Lovely city, our hostess, Eve was great, and the apartment and garden were without doubt the best we have stayed in so far. The trip was uneventful, but still stinking hot with a stop at the Pannonhalma Benadictine monestary, absolutely amazing library 40,000 books. Followed the river into Bratislava. Knew about the locks, but hadn't realised how big the locks and dykes are.
Airbnb $62.67/night

30th August 17
Into the city by bus. Caught the right bus, just heading the wrong direction. Whoops. Enjoyed the city, although the heat was again a draining factor. Beautiful simple castle and grounds. The river was again a disappointment, as was the accommodation. Another soviet block, but unfortunately this one is not in a good area.

Photos: Pannonhalma Benadictine monestary x2, Bratislava castle x2, Bratislava

31st August 17
Headed for Devin castle ruin which isn't as interesting as the locals would have you believe, walk around town and nice pizza lunch. Back down the river to a canoe and Watersport area at one of Hungry/ the dyke overflow points, and sat in some shade in 33 degrees, reading our books.

General comments Hungry/Slovakia/Czech/Poland/Lithuania/Latvia/Estonia better developed countries Hungry/Poland & Estonia , most roads bad, grafitti Latvia/Lithuania & Slovakia, felt safe in all but one felt a little unsure Slovakia.Poland country side most affluent with new buildings in country villages. Czech had alot of nice villages and market squares.