Thread: North Eastern Europe

Inspired by Freezer post.
Im travelling through the Baltic countries for the next month. Would be nice to catch up with a local or someone else travelling. Just for a beer would be great, hunting would be amazing. I'm actually in Helsinki right now then onto Estonia working my way west to Poland with no fixed plan.

If people have suggestions of places to go please let me know. Always like different stuff. As crappy as it sounds would like to fire a full auto AK or something just because.

Many thanks in advance.
Aaron.


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@Savage1 may have a couple suggestions

Not that I'd ever get sick of our fine country but I reckon I could happily spend my days in Latvia Riga is beautiful and relaxed, and the people are nice. The stags and boars I saw running down the highway an hour or so south would keep anyone happy.

Poland is an eye opener. The camps are very sobering. A must see.

I visited both Estonia and Poland recently.

ESTONIA:

Tallinn's biggest appeal to me is the old town area if you're into old architecture. The Radisson Blu hotel located just outside the old town has an open viewing deck on the 24th (?) floor and offers panoramic views of the city, particularly over Tallinn Bay. The building to the right of the photograph used to be the KGB offices (see below):



Apparently the area of Maardu to the east of the city is to be avoided as it's inhabited predominantly by Russians and is a bit "edgy" - I didn't get to check it out for myself. Linnuvaatlustorn to the NNW west of the city is good for light nature walks or biking.

Solaris Keskus is a pretty decent mall and (can't remember the name now) there's a food outlet which has a massive variety of hot and cold foods, every conceivable Baltic fish etc. A. le Coq and Saku are the main beers.

I took a day trip down to Pärnu in SW Estonia. Highway 4 is the main road from Tallinn - it has hands down the largest concentration of speed cameras I have ever seen in my life. A ridiculous amount, the speed limit's also a very pedestrian 90km/h unless you're a Latvian or Lithuanian truck driver. An example of what the speed cameras look like is below:



When you get there, I really recommend lunch at the yacht club, particularly if fish is your thing. The Strand Spa and Conference Hotel also has a viewing deck at the top of the building which is open (has a bar there too) and is good for photo ops.

POLAND:

Firstly, Głębokie Gardło shot bar:



Warning! Ensure you are familiar with your flight times the next day before visiting! I had too good a time there and missed my flight to Vilnius The Pałac Kultury i Nauki (palace of culture and science) is a pretty interesting building - particularly at night, it was a gift from Stalin which given the history... he maybe could have dug a little bit deeper? Just saying...

The Warsaw old town is worth a look but unlike Tallinn's, it should be considered as "reconstructed old town" as it was pulverised by bombing during WW II. The Royal Castle is there and is worth photographing - particularly from the other side of the Vistula river (accessible by foot). Molly Malone's Irish pub was ratchet. Walking across the Vistula to Praga is the zoo - I didn't go in, just walked past it.

Near the zoo and directly opposite the red-brick cathedral (can't remember name) is a restaurant. I think it's called Rusalka - it looks kinda like a railway dining cart, I was really hungover and went inside because I'd seen people carrying tasty looking meals out the door. It was staffed by an old lady who spoke zero English so I had to bust out the Google Translate and she spent about 5 minutes rummaging through a pile of papers behind her desk and came out with an English menu which looked as if it never got used.

Long story short, the place was like a copy/paste of Soviet era - that funny pastel green that's so prevalent, the tables and chairs and I have to say, the cuisine as well. It was fine though - it was warm and what I needed lol. I came across an ANZAC Day Parade at the time which was pretty cool.

I only spent a couple of days in Warsaw and there was a lot of drinking - speaking of which, you won't ever go thirsty:

Thank you very much @Ryan @Pointer @Nibblet so far. Great help.
Almost everyone I've met so far has just done Tallin in Estonia so nice to hear of some other places.


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Take some pictures of the local ladies as well, or selfies with them. Apparently they are well worth the trip!

Estonian language https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddExbingf6Y

I'll try and get some time to write a message like Ryans.

One serious bit of advice, change your plans and hire a car and drive from Tallin through to St Petersburg to Novgorod, Moscow and then back to Riga, I stopped in a real soviet style town called Velykie Luki. Awesome trip and you're so close that you must do it, the roads are shocking which is half the fun.

Even jump in a car from Tallin and head to the border town of Narva and spend the day, it's true Estonia, walk around the dodgy streets etc. Google "hill of crosses", its, believe it or not, a hill of crosses, on the road between Riga and Vilnius which is worth a quick stop.

I have a fascination with Soviet Russian and the Bloc countries so can be biased when giving travel advice.

I'll post again soon.

Is it onerous getting a Russian visa? My hotel in Tallinn was spitting distance from the Russian embassy and there were always queues outside the door before it opened. I'd have loved to visit Russia but my travels took me west (way west) after Estonia.

I came into Russia via China, the visa was painful. Had to queue in person. After all that, arrested in Russia, jailed for a few days and deported!

@Pointer you gotta fill us in now!

Yeah been looking into visas but a month waiting time just a little to much. I will return with proper visa and do it well. This time was on a bit of a whim. Was meant to be learning to kite surf in Kenya.


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The Visa was all arranged by my employer but wasn't a hassle, but then they were applying for them all the time. Got mine through the London embassy.

I've got a mate that has kite surfed all over the world, he rated some place in the middle east somewhere, I can find out if you like.

Poland is beautiful...the language can very difficult but the people will go out of their way to help you...the gunshops are fabulous (rather sexist towards lady hunters , (I bought an ammo bag) ) ... deer signs along the roads...food delicious...

Originally Posted by 223nut

@Pointer you gotta fill us in now!

All I will say is the holding cells are communal. Two backpackers with all their possessions in a cell with a bunch of Russian petty crooks. After day two of no sleep, sitting on our packs, backs to each other, one guy got thrown in who could translate for us. He was a car jacker, the others were thieves except for one huge mother who was on leave from his vessel ando allegedly killed a fellow sailor in a fight but was too drunk to remember. This particular gent pulled a piece of lint-covered cheese out of his pocket and offered it to us for 'friendship'. I tell you what, when your big Russian murderer friend offers you the dirty cheese, you eat the fucking cheese and say 'spasibo'