Don’s Wanderings Part 2

Hi Everyone
 
When I last wrote I was about to fly from Sweden to Estonia. Well the flight was in the late afternoon and took just over one hour. The airport bus dropped me at the Old City in Tallin, the capital of Estonia and I had an interesting time finding the hostel where I was to stay. Interesting because the buildings in the old city have lots of character and because there is no pattern to the streets and street signs were not always easy to find. Anyway after finding and settling into the hostel I spent the evening chatting to the other backpackers at the hostel.
Most of the next two days were spent exploring the old city of Tallin. It was great just wandering, admiring the old buildings and catching up on the history of Estonia. Surprisingly I chatted with a couple of Estonian students both of whom had visited New Zealand. I didn’t come across any Kiwis during my visit.
 
On the Sunday I went to a Baptist service in English at a large church…there were only about 12 people…the speaker was an American and was very good….the Estonian service had about 300-400 congregation and I enjoyed listening to their singing. Their choir was practising for a special anniversary Sunday service to be held the following week. I recognised some of the tunes.
On my last afternoon in Tallin I went around the city on the hop on, hop off bus and saw the rest of the city….it was just like any other modern city.
 
On Tuesday 16 Sept I took a bus to the Lahema National Park. I thought I was being dropped at a small town bus station after couple of hours to change buses. Instead I got dropped at a bus stop on the main road with no sign of a town anywhere. I tried to get the bus driver to explain where I was to get the next bus but he had no English. He unloaded my bags and took off. Just as he was getting on the bus I noticed he had unloaded a bag which looked like mine but was not mine. I tried to signal to him to stop but he roared off. So I was in the middle of nowhere with a suitcase which was not mine and my suitcase was on the bus!!!! An elderly man riding by on a bicycle explained I would need to walk to the next village about 2.5 km. Eventually from the village I got a bus to the country mansion where I was to stay. When I arrived the lady at the desk said she had, 10 minutes before I arrived, received a phone call from the lady who had my suitcase….later the lady travelled 60km to bring it back to me. She was very kind and had used her intelligence to work out where I might be staying.
 
After a bad start I had a relaxing time for the rest of the day admiring the Sagada Mansion where I was staying and walking in the National Park. Next morning I had more bus problems. I walked 1.5 km for a bus that did not arrive. I phoned the Mansion House where I had been staying and they apologised because they had given me wrong information. One of the staff, a kind lady, came and picked me up and took me to a town 30 km away to connect with a bus to Tartu where I arrived late afternoon.
 
Tartu is considerably smaller than Tallin and I spent a couple of days there exploring the city, Like Tallin it has many old and historic buildings. While there I also visited the former KGB headquarters and the cells where they kept prisoners and tortured them. So my stay in Estonia came to an end. I enjoyed the Estonian people I had contact with. They were pleasant and helpful
From Tartu in Estonia I travelled to Riga in Latvia. Riga is larger than Tallin and has a very extensive old city area where I seemed to get lost in several times. There were many old and large Churches with spires reaching to the sky, On the Sunday I went to a Lutheran English service in the Cathedral. Again the speaker was a youngish American. There were about 40-50 people present and lunch at a local restaurant followed. One of the more interesting museums I visited was the occupation museum which told the story of the various occupations on Latvia by the Russians and Germans up until 1991 when Latvia gained its independence from Russia. Russians are not loved in the Baltic countries although there are still many Russians living in the countries…approximately ¼ to 1/3 of the population.
 
After three days Riga on Monday 22 Sept I travelled to Sigarda….., a very beautiful country town in central Latvia. It is known as the Switzerland of Latvia. Finally I got some fine weather and walked some 12 km each day exploring old castles, former mansions of the rich, parks and reserves. The autumn colours were magnificent and I had a nice B & B with pleasant hosts for the two nights I was there. From there I caught a train back to Riga and went on by bus to Siaulai in Lithuania.
Siauliai is a small city with some nicely designed churches and buildings. I stayed in a night in a hotel there to get some peace and quiet after being in hostels. The main tourist attraction is the Hill of Crosses some 12km from the town. Once again I was dropped off by a bus some 2km from the Hill of Crosses. Had an invigorating morning walk to the small hill covered with thousands of crosses of all sizes and ages. Many are for freedom fighters killed in of Soviet oppressions. It was an awe inspiring sight as the gentle breeze seemed to whistle through the crosses.
 
Next stop was Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. Again the old city was fun to just walk around and relax in. There were many differently designed and beautiful churches and a Fortress/Castle provided a good viewing point of the city and surrounds. On Saturday afternoon 27 Sept in the morning I went by train to Trakei (about 1 hour journey), a pleasant country town, to visit a reconstructed castle. There are several old castles around the town. The main castle is on a small island in the centre of a small lake. The castle had been carefully reconstructed and seemed to be a popular place for weddings….there were three receptions/services while I was there. I returned to Vilinus late afternoon after a pleasant day.
 
On the Sunday I went to an English service at a Lutheran Evangelical Church. The service was good and following the service there was a brief organ recital by one of the cities best organists. The music was great so I went to hear her play again in another huge Church in the afternoon. Following the Church service most of the congregation, who were largely Americans, went to restaurant and drank coffee and chatted for a couple of hours. They were a friendly lot with very varied backgrounds. Spent the rest of the day relaxing in the old city and watching a festival outside the City Hall in aid of children with cancer .
 
On 29 Sept I flew to Prague via Frankfurt. In Prague I stayed with Marian Dinga and his wife and 18 month old daughter. Marian visited me in New Zealand in 2001. He is completing his PhD and working at a bank part time. I’ve been to Prague several times and it is still my favourite European city…Budapest and Vienna are a close second. Besides exploring the city I met several other friends from times past. I also visited an interesting and disturbing presentation at the main museum concerning the occupation of Czech by the Soviets in 1968. We are lucky in New Zealand being far away from many of the word’s trouble spots. I am finishing this letter while travelling on the train from Prague to Innsbruck,Austria via Frankfurt. We are running quite late so I may miss my connection to Munich???? I will spend a couple of days in Innsbruck with a friend (Mario is a pilot) before going on to Frankfurt and flying to Egypt, late Saturday night, where I will be going on an Intrepid tour for 15 days. Enjoy the Spring.
 
Best Wishes
 
Don.