Friday 19th September
Flew into Tallinn, Estonia; it looks lovely from the sky, very green! I made it to my hostel and the town has a nice vibe to it. The UK was interesting and great to take it a bit easier for a while but it's nice to be back in Europe. I went out and explored the old town around my hostel a bit before finding dinner. They definitely embrace their medieval history here, there are a lot of themed restaurants around.
Saturday 20th September
I am meeting my tour (Baltics Adventure with Tucan Travel) today but realised that we don't actually see any of Tallinn as part of the tour so I went out and did the free city walking tour. Wow, the biggest one ever, there was literally about 80 people on the tour! It was very good though, we saw the main sites and heard about the history of Tallinn and Estonia. I haven't been to a country like this before so it was interesting to hear, it is a bit of a blend of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. Fun facts... Estonia is actually the least religious country in Europe (although they still have lots of impressive churches). They also invented Skype and are really advanced in terms of doing everything online... eg they can vote online (something I've always thought is surely something we can do)!
I moved to the hotel to meet my tour and although they had my name so I could check in, reception didn't have any information about meeting my tour (a little concerning). So I chilled out at the hotel (and caught up on this blog) before giving up and heading back into town to find some dinner. I found this little takeaway sandwich place attached to a supermarket so I just grabbed something there which turned out to be fantastic! Just a chicken teriyaki roll/bap but done very well, I love those little random finds/surprises.
When I got back to the hotel there was finally a note to say the tour was meeting in the morning so I enjoyed my private room (thought I would have a roommate from tour but apparently not) and finally had a good nights sleep (after 4 nights at noisy hostels and very little sleep!).
Sunday 21st September
Met up with the tour at breakfast, it's a small group (13) and a lot older but still mostly Australians. 8 of them had actually been on tour already (in Russia) and it seems as though everyone will be finishing at different times. I didn't realise this tour is actually a 40+ day tour but there are lots of different starting and finishing points.
We are off to Riga in Latvia first thing today, so it's straight onto a bus.
Once we arrived in Riga, our tour guide actually left us as he was specifically for the Russian leg, so we are meeting our new tour guide tonight. After a traditional Latvian lunch at a cafeteria style restaurant, I went for a walk around the city centre, which is lovely. As usual, a lot of churches and a nice river front. There is also a canal running through the city with a really lovely green area. Lots of statues around the city too.
Our new tour guide, Andy, took us to a cool basement restaurant for dinner, it was massive but you would never know it was there if you just walked by. Tried same traditional food but it wasn't overly fantastic (barley risotto and 'grey peas' [they were more like beans/lentils in an onion and bacon sauce served in a bread bowl]).
Monday 22nd September
Most of our group started the day with the free city walking tour. A very cold, wet tour but good. Our guide was an interesting guy and very passionate about his city. Like Tallinn, lots of history of the back and forth of the country between communism and facism. Honesty I didn't know a great deal about the Baltic countries so it is good to learn - they certainly haven't had an easy recent history.
Another group dinner tonight at the same place as I went for lunch yesterday. It's a nice, relaxed place with tasty, traditional food and we got more of a chance to get to know each other (not having the usual tour bus you don't get as much of a chance to talk).
Tuesday 23rd September
Another bus trip today to Vilnius, Lithuania. Once we arrived we did our orientation tour with the group through the old town. We saw a small chapel with an elaborate virgin Mary which apparently people come to from all over for it's healing powers. We also went to the Republic of Uzupis. Although not an actual country, they have their own constitution and stamped my passport. Is really a cool little artistic area and quite pretty on the river.
The 'Baltic Chain' ended here (a line of people which ran non-stop from Tallinn, through Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania, consisting of 2 million people). It was done to represent that the people of the Baltics didn't support communism and to celebrate their freedom (basically).
We had a traditional dinner of Zeplins (massive dumplings)... not great but you've got to try these things. Our hotel here has an amazing view over the old town - one of the best views I've had!
Wednesday 24th September
Today most of us ventured out of town to Trakai where there is an old medieval castle on an island. I was a bit hesitant to go (I've seen a lot of castles on islands) but I'm glad I ended up going. It was a nice day trip and the castle was actually quite different to the others that I've seen and they had a museum which was actually quite different too. On the way back we just jumped onto the first bus headed to Vilnius which ended up being the local bus so we got a nice scenic drive back to town. There was still a bit of daylight left when we arrived so I walked through town and up the hill that is right in the middle of the city (so of course has a fort on it). As I was walking up, a whole bunch of hot air balloons were sailing up and around the hill, such a nice sight!
l have not been getting much sleep lately as I found my roommate and she snores! Its starting to take it's toll so I'm hoping I can change rooms when some of the group leave in Warsaw.
Thursday 25th September
This morning we had a tour of the KGB Museum. Very interesting but horrible. Again, not a history I knew that much about so glad I went but not exactly a pleasant morning.
This afternoon is our bus to Warsaw, Poland (8+hrs). Thankfully these buses have personal entertainment systems!
Friday 26th September
We said goodbye to some of our tour group today but most were still around for the day. Seeing we arrived so late last night we did our orientation walk with the group before some of us did the full free city walking tour. Warsaw is a big city with a lot of history, especially in regards to WWII and the Warsaw Uprising of 1939. Then there's Marie Curie, Choplin and countless other interesting facts and stories. This is definitely a city that you could spend a week in and still have things to see. A few of us went to a Perogi restaurant for lunch (Perogis are the Polish version of the dumpling and much closer to what we are used to so we all wanted to try them!) More like ravioli, we were not disappointed... yum!
Thought it was important to also do the Jewish city walking tour, so joined that for the afternoon. Again, a good tour leader that is very passionate about what he does. He took us all through the Jewish Ghetto from WWII and to other important places. After such a big day of walking I was even more thankful to change rooms tonight and get a good nights sleep.
Saturday 27th September
I'm glad we have another full day in Warsaw, so have a chance to explore more on my own. I went to the Marie Curie Museum (more of a small exhibition in the building where she was born but still interesting). Found the Apple festival (stall after stall giving away free apples, apparently they are trying to revive the industry that is suffering with the Russian sanctions in place).
I had a good walk around the city and made my way to the Uprising Museum. The museum was massive, such a detailed exhibition too. I ended up spending quite a few hours there until they closed early for some event that was on (looked like they were seeing up for a concert... bizarre place to have it but anyway).
Tonight we had our official welcome dinner for the new members of the tour (I am now the youngest in the group significantly!). More perogis... I am enjoying the Polish food). Warsaw has a massive fountain which is an attraction in itself but over summer they have their 'water, light, sound' show where they set a big water and laser show to music. It was the last show for the year tonight so we went down to watch. It was great, they even had a projection of dancers on a large fan of mist which I've not seen before. Not a bad replacement while at home everyone was at Riverfire.
Sunday 28th September
An early start for the train to Krakow this morning. As soon as we arrived you can see the difference between Warsaw and here. After WWII, they completely rebuilt Warsaw true to how it was, which means that while the architectural style is old the buildings are relatively new. Krakow however escaped the war unharmed so the buildings are original.
We started as usual with our city orientation walk. I really like Krakow, the old town is really nice and as it's Sunday they have all these markets set up in the giant square. We had lunch and a quick look around before most of our group met for our tour of the salt mines. With little time in Krakow I wasn't sure whether to bother with the salt mines but everything I read said it was not to be missed. I have to disagree. It was impressive and definitely something different but I wouldn't stay unmissable. The best part was the underground church/cathedral. That was definitely a 'wow' moment, a full church made of salt over 100m underground. It was quite late by the time we got back so it was the local food, zapiekanka for dinner. Basically it is half a baguette toasted with toppings. Simple but delicious!
Monday 29th September
We had a little bit of time this morning to see some more of Krakow. I checked out one of the churches (which had a free audio tour, very high-tech) and the Royal Castle.
This afternoon we had our tour of Auschwitz. This is my third concentration camp but it still gets to you being there. The tour guides are really passionate about the history and the stories they tell. Definitely a long, unpleasant afternoon but very glad l went.
Once we got back it was a quick dinner and then onto our night train to Prague. This was my first night (sleeper) train and I didn't find it too bad.
Tuesday 30th September
An early arrival from the train so after breakfast we did our orientation tour with group. Having been to Prague before and not really loving it, I am keen to see if my opinion changes this time. l didn't really do the touristy stuff last time so decided to do the city walking tour. While l waited for that I grabbed some lunch and did some people watching which was pretty fun - there are so many buskers around it makes for a lovely atmosphere with music, dancers, giant bubbles etc. The tour was good, took us around to some of the main areas in the old town and we got lots of history.
Wednesday 1st October
We have heard a lot about Kutna Hora and the Sedlec Ossuary ('bone church') so a group of us decided to again do the out-of-city day trip. It was one of those adventure days, with too many people trying to plan and read the maps etc but it was a good day and we saw everything we wanted to see and more. The bone church was very impressive albeit weird! It was made because there was an excess of human remains from a cemetery which grounds were blessed with soil from the 'holy land' so everyone wanted to be buried there and there was obviously limited space. So after 12 months their bones would be exhumed to make room for the next person. Someone then came up with the idea of using the exhumed bones for decoration in this church. Not sure what the people would think of their skulls being used as candelabras etc but it does make for an interesting church.
We walked through the actual town of Kutna Hora and had lunch by the plague column. Then found our way to St Barbara's Church. Extremely impressive, was definitely a 'wow' moment coming around the corner and seeing it! We missed our bus back to get our train so another walk through town and a bit of a longer trip (3 trains) we did make it back to Prague.
A couple of the girls that had left our tour in Warsaw (Alex & Kirsten) had made their own way to Prague so I caught up with them for dinner in the main square area. Prague is pretty at night with all the buildings lit. Our walking tour guide told us the story of (supposedly) how the Royal Palace was lit. The Rolling Stones were drinking with the president and asked why such a big, beautiful monument wasn't lit up at night. This was just after the fall of the Soviet so the answer was as simple as the fact that it wasn't their first priority when putting the country back together. So The Rolling Stones paid and organised for it to be done!
Thursday 2nd October
I really felt like I needed to see the big tourist things today (I can't leave Prague a 2nd time without doing them). So this morning it was off to Prague Castle. It is enormous, almost like it's own little city. When we arrived there was a big entourage coming in and we figured out a representative from Mozambique was visiting the President. I watched some of the changing of the guards and then checked out some of the main buildings including the St Vitus Cathedral, the old Royal Palace, St George's Basilica and Golden Lane (a mini medieval city within the castle walls).
Before I headed back over the river I walked up to the largest metronome in the world. Unfortunately it isn't actually a working metronome and it seems to be the place for kids to hang out and drink etc so it's definitely not the nicest area.
After lunch (where I was served traditional Czech goulash with a smile! Shocker!) I explored the Jewish quarter. I went to the various synagogues which make up the Jewish Museum, where they have exhibitions on the Jewish faith and from the wars. I also went through the old Jewish cemetery (again limited burial space caused problems but because the Jewish believe that you can't disturb remains once buried, they buried people on top of each other. So over the years the land was built up and there is said to be people buried 14+ deep).
We all meet up for a group dinner again before our night train again.
Friday 3rd October
An early arrival into Propad, Slovakia followed by another train to Nový Smokovec, a little town in the Tatras Mountains. After breakfast and getting settled in our lovely hotel, it was time to start hiking. I decided to do the hike up to Popradské pleso (lake). I set off by myself up the pathed road and was welcomed with a bit of sunshine and beautiful scenery. After a long while I took one of the offshoot paths into the forest and found the lake that I was headed to anyway. Another 'wow' moment, absolutely stunning! The crisp, beautiful lake at the base of the mountains. The trees are starting to change colors too which is a novelty and something that I've always loved. I ran into a couple of my group as l walked around the lake and they had taken a different route up and found the monument to all fallen hikers in the Tatras. So I continued back along that way and found it too. l made it back to the lake for lunch and found Barbara and Janina again. So I joined them for the hike back down to Strbské Pleso. The way down was more of a proper hike and was absolutely stunning. The fog was starting to fall so it got quite cold and dark along the way. We took it very slow so by the time we finally got down you could barely see anything in front of you. We ran into more of our group at the bottom and together we managed to find the train back (which we were lucky to do, we had no idea where we were and couldn't see buildings right in front of us. We never did find the 2nd lake!). The fog made for a great atmosphere though and would have made awesome photos but most of mine came out a bit blurry.
We made it back just in time for our group dinner at a small local restaurant. I'm glad we did too because it was really good. We all shared a traditional Slovakian platter with sausages, schnitzel, perogi style cheese dumplings and a cheesy pasta thing (basically macaroni cheese but very nice).
Saturday 4th October
After such a massive day yesterday and the bit of a cold I have developed I decided today was a relax day. I took advantage of the beautiful, quiet surrounds and had a totally 'off' day. No exploring, no planning, no thinking. Just reading, some lunch & relaxing!
Sunday 5th October
Straight onto our minibus to Budapest, Hungary this morning. Our usual orientation walk this afternoon, but a bit more detailed as some people were off again first thing tomorrow. We walked through the city to St Stephen Basilica, then continued down to the water for a great view of Buda (we stayed on the Pest side of the river). We crossed over the Chain Bridge and walked up to the Royal Palace. The Matthias Church was closed for renovations but Fisherman's Bastion (fort) is impressive, as is the view back over the river and Pest. Budapest is a beautiful city. Another one that I didn't really have any expectations of but made for a great surprise.
Everyone that is continuing on another tour had their meeting this evening but afterwards all of our group, plus a few newbies that are joining Andy (our tour guide) met back up for dinner. Apparently 'ruin bars' are big in Budapest (basically they are old abandoned buildings from the Soviet era that have been converted into bars) so I joined the new group to check one out after dinner.
Monday 6th October
0fficially finish tour this morning but still have today in Budapest. I really like this city and think I've had enough of the horrors of the 20th century in Eastern Europe so l just spend the day just exploring the city a bit more. I found a new monument to the victims of the Nazi occupation however found at that there has been protests about it all year (even before it was erected) as it is of the German empirical eagle rather than the Nazi swastika and therefore people are angry that it is not historically accurate and therefore not appropriate. So people have made their own monument of rocks, photos and personal possessions in front of it.
After that I made my way down to the Parliament building which is extremely impressive. Then I just wandered through town and up to 'Hero's Square'. There is a massive park behind the square with it's own castle so I had a look around there and found the big baths. I didn't know Budapest was so famous for thermal baths but apparently they are very good.
I had lunch at a place just known as the Book Cafe but it is this beautiful big ballroom that looks like it's part of a museum or art gallery that was originally built in 1902. It's now a cafe upstairs from a bookstore (hence the name) but with a live pianist and the surrounds it was a lovely place to have a late lunch!
After chilling at the hotel for a while (finally a bath tub!) I met up with the last Tucan people still here for dinner. A lovely relaxed day to finish up another tour.
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