Road trip: 36 European countries

Day 77 Riga

31/5/2015

We did a pretty comprehensive tour of the Riga sights today.First on the list was the Riga Art Nouveau architecture museum:a particular feature of Riga is its considerably greater concentration of buildings in this design style,built between about 1895 and 1910,than any other city.The museum,in a carefully restored apartment in an Art Nouveau building ,gave a good introduction to the phenomenon. Everything was Art Nouveau from the period furniture to the staff dressed in Edwardian costume The useful explanatory film split the style into at least 3 distinct periods within this narrow timespan,all a bit different,and it was really helpful starting point before walking the streets and spotting the various sub-styles.One can wander central Riga and nearly every other building is Art Nouveau, but to appreciate them one has to be looking up the whole time above the shop fronts.

After the museum we found an (unrelated) Art Nouveau café which had a marvellous relaxed atmosphere and served its coffee in a random collection of period Art Nouveau cups.

Other interesting museums we visited were firstly the Latvian museum of Occupation,detailing the period mostly between 1939 and 45 but also the Soviet era afterwards,till independence in 1991.Then we visited the Latvia War Museum which had some more of the same ,but started with the medieval period and worked forwards.It all provided me with an even more detailed understanding of the really confused but horrific period of terror in WW2 in the Baltic States,when Latvians were conscripted into the opposing German forces and the Soviet forces simultaineously (the former from German –occupied Latvia,and the latter from the many Latvians who had fled the German occupation )and probably had to fight against each other.It was also pretty confused after WWI as well with the western allies allowing the German forces to remain in occupation after the armistice and through1919 as a bulwark against the Bolsheviks in Russia .The War museum ended with brief notes on those exiled ethnic Latvians who had made military careers of note in their adopted countries,but it wasn't quite up to date as it didn't deal with joining NATO.

We called into the historic cathedrals in Old Riga,the Doma,which is Lutheran,and considered the main cathedral, dating back as far as the 13th century,and also the Russian Orthodox and Catholic ones.

The highlight of a lunch of Latvian dishes was more local beer ,and finally a digestif of Riga's notorious bittersweet and jet black liquor,Black Balsam.

Examples of Riga's Art Nouveau buildings

A whole street of the things...

Day 75 Bauska to Jurmala

30/5/2015

(actual date 29.5.15)

today's route ( 105 km)

Today I dipped my toes in the Baltic.I moved on a further 90km and reached Jurmala,which is essentially a long pine clad sand spit to the west of Riga,about 20km long and 1km wide,separated from the mainland by the Lielupe river. Jurmala has been a beach and spa resort since the early 19th century (which was when Riga was the third largest city in the Russian empire after Moscow and St Petersburg)and its particular feature,other than the white–sanded (and Blue flag)beach which runs its whole length,is the collection of historic wooden villas,and pleasure halls of various descriptions,ranging in date from the 19th century to the Art Nouveau period.

It has always been a fashionable resort,something in the league of maybe,Deauville on the French channel coast,or the Venice Lido.Some of the guides describe it as the Cote D’Azur of the Baltic,but that may be overstating it a bit. It continued as a beach and spa resort through the Soviet era,when a whole series of sanatoria were built to administer various health therapies. These are still in evidence,but several are now just stark abandoned shells.It has moved on from there,and there are some swanky beach and spa hotels ,which apparently still attract the rich and famous,and it is still popular with Russians. Although some of the old wooden villas are empty and falling down,and quite a few are rather tatty,there are some very smart ones but also big flashy modern houses glimpsed through the trees,at the end of closed gated roads.I followed a walking guide I picked up at the information office, that took me round a few typical streets.

Typical late 19th/early 20th century wooden villas at Jurmali

The weathervane on this one dates it to 1913

There is a 2 Euro toll to get into Jurmala:as I approached I saw some cars stopped at ticket machines to the right of the road but before I realised what they where,I was heading over the bridge and it was too late.Having later stopped and looked up the situation on the internet it appeared that I had fallen into a classic tourist trap.To be stopped by the local police without a toll ticket is a 60 Euro fine,and they specifically target foreign vehicles as Latvians all know about the toll and aren't caught out by it.I passed 2 motorcycle cops waiting by the side of the road after a few hundred yards but I think my disguise as a goods vehicle saved my day.Subsequently I managed to safely drive back out of the town across the bridge,turned round,and bought a toll ticket ! There are two campsites on the coast at Jurmali:I tried both, and both ,although open were completely deserted. The second one I tried was in the grounds of a derelict Soviet sanatorium, and was empty, with no staff and it seemed insecure.Returning to the first one,a caretaker did appear on a bike on my second visit and I paid him,although I had met some Germans leaving earlier who had managed to spend the previous night there without seeing anyone to pay. My Lonely Planet guide is sadly out of date here, as it advises that it is a good campsite with its own waterpark, and cabins.I even picked up a flashy brochure for it in the Tourist Office,so perhaps it’s not Lonely Planet’s error entirely. The waterpark ,however was derelict, all the tubes removed and the pool empty and crumbling.I think market forces must be at work here,as I saw that there is a monster new waterpark at the other end of the town.Other than a biker couple in one of the cabins,I was in splendid isolation for some time, until at 7pm what looked like an unsupervised party of about twenty 14 year olds turned up on foot to stay in the cabins, which I suspect will lead to a noisy night, and finally one Latvian campervan arrived late in the evening and disgorged a large family.What the campsite does have is access to the beach 200 yards away,to a beautifully quiet section.Apart from the odd walker it’s deserted, although it has been a sunny day.I had a long walk down the beach,and dipped my toes,although the sand seems to be so gently shelving that you’d have to wade out hundreds of yards to be able to swim(seagulls were bobbing like ducks 100 yards offshore,able to reach the bottom by just dipping their heads)

Day 76 Jurmala to Riga

30/5/2015

today's route (40 km )

The most notable feature of today was picking up a temporary 5th Crew member at Riga airport, in the form of my cousin Julian who had bravely agreed to support the expedition for the weekend.

We established ourselves at Riga City campsite .This is on a former industrial site ,so not the most scenic camping but it's only 25 minutes’ walk across the river Daugava to the heart of the Old Town.

We were able to wander the relatively compact centre and make plans as to what we wanted to see in more detail the next day,before adjourning to a Latvian brewhouse to sample a range of what turned out to be very good home-brewed ales.Julian renewed his acquaintance with a stag party that had been on the same plane out from London,all dressed in lederhosen apart from one in Bavarian drag-nothing like blaming another nationality for your drunken antics !We also saw several of a vehicle which must exist elsewhere,although I had not seen them myself before-pedal bars.The party of about ten sit facing inwards ,on a pedal vehicle ,to a drinks bar running down the middle ,and all pedal and drink at the same time,while a guide steers the vehicle round the streets.Other than this one group ,Riga was very peaceful ,remarkable for a Saturday night when it has a reputation as a bit of a drinking capital.Maybe the stag groups have moved on elsewhere now.

The House of the Blackheads.The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga.

We had some drinks at this place: it brews its own beer.

This was the venue for our evening meal . Both buildings have beautiful Art Nouveau decoration

Day 74 Pajiesmeniai, Lithuania to Bauska,Latvia

28/5/2015

today's route ( 60 km )

I have been able to slow the pace down a little today and am camping only about 40km north of where I was last night.It wasn’t long this morning before I was in Latvia, and I headed for Rundale Palace which is not far over the border,and about 70km south of Riga.

This is a fantastic place.It was built around 1738 for the Duke of Courland ,as a summer residence,by the same architect who built the the Tsars' Winter Palace in St Petersburg,Bartololomeo Rastrelli.It has to be the Baltics’ premier country building.

Courland was a semi-independent Duchy,but it was finally absorbed into the Imperial Russian empire in 1795:The building of the palace had been interrupted in 1740 when the Duke was appointed regent of Russia,but his political opponents had him sacked and imprisoned in Siberia.However,Catherine the Great had him pardoned 22 years later,and he returned to complete the building around 1762,Rastrelli still being around to supervise this.In 1795,though,the Duchy was dissolved and the estates gifted to a Russian Prince.

Rundale palace

One example of the restoration: the "white room", which was the ballroom.

You may recognise some of these rooms as film locations in the BBC's adaptation of "War and Peace"

The building is a remarkable story of restoration:It started suffering not long after its completion, when Napoleon’s troops were quartered in the building in 1812,and they knocked it about a bit. It was returned to the Russian princes but neglected.In WWI,the Germans used it as a military hospital,and it became a school after that.It survived damage in WW2 but in the post war period was used as a grain store by the local communists.Some restoration began in the 1950’s but the work began seriously on the empty building in the 70’s using historically accurate methods and materials,aided by Rastrelli’s very detailed plans,and although some rooms were opened in 1981,it has taken till last year to completely restore it to its former glory,and it is now fully open.In this process it has been filled with appropriate 18th century furniture from all over Latvia, and elsewhere,often original furnishings reclaimed from museums,and many portraits of the Dukes’ families, and others, have been collected. Some have been donated by descendants of the family who have provided material from France and Germany.

The Baroque gardens, also designed by Rastrelli, were too far gone to restore and are being completely rebuilt from scratch to the original plans.The Lime walks,hornbeam hedges ,rose garden (using English roses supplied by David Austin)and parterres are all in place.

Incidentally, I had previously only seen the name Courland mentioned in connection with the German retreat from the Russian front in 1944/45.Army Group Courland held out in this peninsular ,the "Courland pocket", right up until the German surrender,having been bi-passed by the main Russian advance.I was pleased to be able to put this region into a different historical perspective.An interesting pub quiz fact is that the Duchy of Courland apparently actually briefly acquired some overseas territories in the 18th century,in Trinidad and Tobago,and Gambia.

I retraced my steps a few km back to the town of Bauksa where I planned to camp overnight on a rural camping field in the outskirts.I called in at Bauksa Palace which is an attractive sight as one crosses the bridge into town.I was expecting to be underwhelmed after Rundale, but it is a different prospect.It is another castle that has been rebuilt from an old ruin:It was the 16th century residence of the Dukes of Courland and in that period a palace was built inside the medieval castle. Only a few walls were left of the whole place: part of the ruin has been left, but the palace has been comprehensively rebuilt but does look pretty authentic and scenic ,although somewhat of a pastiche. It houses a history museum ,with exhibits from bronze age, through to the 16th century, which it dwells most on. Unfortunately most of the captions were in Latvian alone.There were a group of female guides in 16th century costume: I went round alone and was passed from one to the next.I asked one who spoke a little English if they had a lot of visitors, being rather embarrassed by my personal guided tour being conducted in sign language, and she said “many”.A party of 20 did actually arrive just as I was leaving.

Bauska Palace

The wholly rebuilt 16th century Ducal palace

Day 73 Vilnius to Pajiesmeniai, north Lithuania

27/5/2015

today's route ( 250 km)

The day started with a pre-arranged visit to Renault Vilnius to have a check-up performed on the van.On the motorway two days earlier it had inexplicably stalled at 90kph,but immediately restarted on the hard shoulder and has run OK since.I spent some time yesterday trying to locate an appropriate garage,and having spoken with the nearest main dealer I could find, an Opel franchise(Opel and Renault vans are one and the same vehicle)I arrived after some trouble finding it because my sat-nav address a was wrong, only to find that they felt they couldn't help. I was told that there was some subtle difference in the fault codes: frankly I didn't believe this, but had no choice but to search again, and 3 miles further round the ring road was a proper Renault dealer.They gave me a booking for a check-up for the next morning.

Having settled into the customer waiting area to read Lithuanian car magazines, I suspected I might be there a while, but things moved surprisingly quickly.They could find no fault code in the system,and also checked the pressure of the fuel injectors,which were apparently flowing fine.For something to do they changed the fuel filter,but were overall very helpful,all spoke perfect English and at £35 all in,for a visit to a main dealer in a capital city,it was very reasonable indeed.All this just took an hour,but it was pouring with rain,and had been all night.The forecast said that the weather was better in the north,which encouraged me in my plans to head onwards, and the forecast proved correct.

I headed up north almost to the Latvian border where it stopped raining,more or less,and I visited the small town of Birzai,where there is an old 16th century star fortress,which also featured a residential palace added in the late 16th century for the local Duke.As part of the defences an artificial lake was created on one side,of some considerable size.A treaty was signed in this castle in 1701 between Tzar Peter I of Russia and King Augustus of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth ,against Sweden ,during the course of The Great Northern War,a historical event I had never heard of .But 3 years later it was captured by the Swedes and the whole place razed.Like many historic places I have come across round here, the palace was rebuilt from a ruined shell in the 1980’s,and now features an eclectic local history museum ranging through bronze age artefacts,medieval weapons,Tzarist Russian era photographs of local gentry,to Soviet era town sporting memorabilia.The staff(at least twelve),easily outnumbered the visitors(2)It was very clear that although all the young people speak excellent English,the older generation ,like the ladies who ran this place,usually do not speak a word,and we communicated by sign-language.

The housing situation in Lithuania is apparently in difficulty, with the country's legacy of poor quality communist era housing now all falling apart and needing urgent massive investment. Despite Vilnius having an attractive Baroque centre,the suburbs are dominated in by ranks of drab grey-brown Soviet era blocks of flats.As I drove up north on the A2 motorway,my earlier impression of the relative poverty of the countryside was re-inforced.There were quite a few smallholdings of tatty buildings with a horse and two cows tethered.Many of the villages seem to have unmetalled roads running though them,and I was surprised to see that some of the signed exit slip roads from the motorway led directly onto unmetalled roads.In the small country town of Birzai,much of the accommodation was of poor quality apartment blocks,and there was not really a clear-cut town centre,although after some searching I found a nice and modern café-bakery.

The Palace and star-fortress of Birzai with its defensive lake,best seen from this aerial view on an interpretation board.

Birzai star fortress,from the ground

The modern reconstruction,from a couple of ruined walls,of the 16th century Ducal palace.

I headed back a few km to the main road ,to a village camper stop in Pajiesmeniai,which features in my German guidebook.This is another place where the owners(the husband Dutch-it seems to be the rule that these out of the way camper stops have at least one foreign owner)use their lawn as a campsite and there is a toilet and shower in an outhouse.They were very welcoming and I was invited in for tea and cake ,where I also met 3 student volunteers on the little farm they run,2 from Holland,one from China. We had a wide-ranging chat and I was able to confirm the impressions that I had made myself,that the main European shopping chains have not yet reached Lithuania.This must be the first country in Europe where I have not seen an Aldi or a Lidl. Apparently the cost of electronic goods is more here than in western Europe and the standard of living and earnings very low:cheap European clothing chains do not seem to have moved in and apparently everyone,at least in the countryside ,buys all their clothes and other goods in second hand shops.What I had earlier taken to be Soviet-style drab old fashioned clothes shops with no window displays are in fact second-hand shops.Whereas I have seen big European clothing adverts like H&M ,Tesco clothing etc,all over Hungary and Poland ,there are none here that I have seen.I was also made aware of the damaging effect on the country that free European migration has had,with the population dropping from 3.5 million before independence,to 2.5 million,and this has taken the form of a brain-drain,with all the young able graduates tending to leave,producing a demographic time-bomb with the elderly left behind.And it seems that once gone,they are not expected to return.This is somewhat at odds with some of the economic articles I have read that suggest that although Lithuania has its challenges it has been doing reasonably well relative to some other EU countries.

On the other hand I was told that it is a really nice place to live,that the local people are particularly supportive to one another,and it is still a part of the world where people leave their doors unlocked.Also there is no shortage of space in this relatively underpopulated country and boundary disputes are unheard of .I heard of some interesting local traditions, especially in wintertime when stock-car racing on the ice of the frozen local lake becomes a regular event.

I got the impression that what they prize most of all is their independence and given they are independent now,no-one is complaining much about the economic situation.

A village bus: still a degree of Soviet-era infrastructure in evidence.

Day 72 Vilnius

26/5/2015

26.5.15

I explored the centre of Vilnius today.In the very compact old city there is still the medieval street plan but the notable feature of the city is its numerous Baroque grand buildings which include several cathedrals(Catholic,Russian orthodox etc) ,Vilnius University, and buildings such as the president’s palace.I started in Cathedral square,with the cathedral being one baroque example,built in the mid 18th century.Up above it on the conical Gediminas Hill is the one round tower which remains of the medieval castle where, in the 14th century ,Grand Duke Gediminas was based.I climbed to the top ,from where there is a good view over the city.

Next to the cathedral is a recent complete reconstruction of the Grand Ducal Palace,which was knocked down in 1801 when the Russians took over the country.Someone with more ambition than sense had the great idea of completely rebuilding it as it would have been,and this work took from 2002 till 2013,and cost hundreds of millions of Euros.

The modern reconstruction of the former Grand Ducal palace,in Cathedral square,Vilnius.The red stoned castle is behind,up on Gediminas Hill

One of many baroque churches

Vilnius' Catholic cathedral ,of Saints Stanislaus and Ladislaus

The Gate of Dawn,a gate with its own Catholic shrine

In the square at midday I came across an address by the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite. According to a bystander I asked, this is an annual event on Georgia’s independence day,and the intention is to express solidarity on the two countries’ independence from Russia.Apparently the reverse ceremony is performed in Georgia on Lithuania’s day.Today,the square was filled by children holding a massive Georgian flag, symbolically surrounded by several huge Lithuanian flags.The Georgian ambassador, then Prof.Vytautis Landsbergis,who was head of state at the time of Lithuania’s independence,and who is now an MEP,also both gave a short address.The bystander I spoke to said that while this event took place every year it was particularly meaningful just now because of concern regarding the war in Ukraine, and fear regarding Russia's intentions.For the TV cameras,the president then went over to the giant flags and the dignitaries held the two countries’ flags together.This square was notable in an event I only dimly recollect,one end of a continuous human chain linking Tallinn,Riga and Vilnius ,in amass protest about Russian occupation in the final days before the 3 countries' independence.

To put all this in perspective, though,I see that on the president's website congratulations were also issued to President Kirchner of Argentina, noting Argentina's independence day yesterday.

The Lithuanian President making her address

the Georgian flag symbolically surrounded by the Lithuanian one

Zeppelins

I had a good lunch outside a perhaps touristy but good restaurant on the main old street, which supposedly specialised in traditional Lithuanian food.I noticed the Georgian male dancing troupe who performed earlier in the square, had been sent in there for lunch too, so it seemed a recommendation. I had a pickled herring starter with beetroot cream, and then “Zeppelins” which are a traditional massive dumpling of potato flour, filled with venison mince and smothered in butter sauce.

I visited a small Museum of the Holocaust: it pulled no punches, especially in explaining how the Lithuanian paramilitaries did most of the exterminations themselves , and didn’t seem to need much encouragement from the Nazis. The Ukrainian forces employed by the Nazis also were an unpleasant bunch. What I hadn’t realised was that when the Nazis and the Russians signed the non-aggression pact in 1939,not only did the Russians move into eastern Poland and start executing anyone they didn’t like, they did the same in Lithuania too,only to be ousted briefly by the Nazis before returning to continue inflicting more terror. Among the heroes in this dreadful time was “the Japanese Schindler”,the Japanese consul who ,defying orders from Tokyo,issued visas to about 3000 Jews who were then able to escape. Like the pigs replacing the farmers in 'Animal Farm', the same building in the centre of Vilnius was used by the Russian NKVD,then the Gestapo in 1940-44,then the KGB thereafter to interrogate and execute people, and is now a museum.

Day 71 Gizycko, Poland, to Vilnius ,Lithuania

25/5/2015

today's route (325 km )

I am now in the most recently pagan country in Europe(converted to Christianity only in the 16th century) but I am here too early ,really,a month before the Summer Solstice,which is apparently still a big thing.

The start of my journey this morning was a 90 km drive through the Masurian lakes countryside on a windy country main road, that I had pretty much to myself.This is an attractive area, with smaller farms and less good farmland.In terms of scenery it rivals,for example ,such semi-wild areas as the lowland of Scotland. While not driving through a forest the road was lined by a nearly continuous avenue of trees the whole way. Intermittently I would pass through a village or small town, usually on the shore of its own lake. I didn’t see any bison, or wild boar, although both are around here,the latter much the more numerous. Several shops and restaurants had life-sized bison models standing by the road to ensure you get the message.What I also noticed was the largest number of storks nesting on telegraph poles that I have seen for a while. Considering that they were nesting in Spain in March,they are getting off to a later start here.I also saw one enormous brown ostrich like bird in a cornfield.I had to look this up .The only thing I could find online to explain this is that there are now a small population of feral Rheas breeding in Germany: could one have got this far? I didn’t imagine it!

On reaching Suwalki I joined the main road from Poland into the Baltic states. This is a recently renewed road but is single laned and predictably there was a continuous column of lorries in both directions, suggesting to me that it is need of a further rebuild-but the drivers were all flooring it and running at a steady 90kph.

I did see a difference on crossing the border into Lithuania.For a start the gently rolling landscape of Poland flattened out noticeably, although the same patchwork of corn, oilseed rape and forest continued.The most obvious difference was that a large majority of the rural houses mostly had grey corrugated sheet roofs, faded by the sun and giving the rural villages a unique bleached look, almost like weathered wood, which blends them into the woodland. Some of the houses look quite basic.And I saw a novel farming practice:in unfenced fields groups of ten or so cattle were each tethered by their horns to a peg in the ground.

At Kaunas I turned right and joined Lithuania’s one (I think) motorway towards Vilnius, but just before arriving there I detoured to see Trakai castle. It dates from the 15th century and is in a picture-postcard setting on a little island in an attractive lake,(around which is a small national park) and it is accessed across a long footbridge. It had fallen into ruins ,though, and has been restored several times in the last couple of centuries, the most thorough being in the 1950’s,when it was comprehensively rebuilt in a 15th century style,and it is now very touristy.Having said that ,it is very photogenic.

Trakai castle,near Vilnius

Day 70 Torun to Gizycko, Masurian Lakes region

24/5/2015

today's route (300km )

I decided to have a rest from cities today and spent a fair part of the day driving north-east,heading for Poland’s exit. It was an enjoyable drive, a sunny day ,with good roads at which a steady 90kpm could be maintained ,except going through towns and villages, where there is a mandatory 50kpm limit. In Poland people mostly seem to drive very sensibly: I’ve just seen 2 or 3 idiots overtaking at dangerous speed. Speed limits seem to be taken by the majority to be advisory, rather than compulsory, and the driving speed tends to be appropriate for the road conditions, rather than slavishly constrained by the speed limit, which in my view is sensible. Though there are quite a view speed cameras, my satnav gives warning of them.Even so, there are usually signs warning of their presence anyway. What there is a definite absence of is any traffic police. In the more authoritarian countries of the Balkans,and Bulgaria,Romania,and to an extent,Hungary,they are all over the place.I don’t know whether this is because Poland is a naturally more libertarian country ,or whether the police just have some proper work to do.

Poland apparently still has about 16% of its population working in agriculture(UK 1.5%.France and Germany 4%,EU average 4.8%), but it seems to be a very modern intensive agriculture now, and the rural villages look well off, with new agricultural machinery for sale in small town industrial estates.It looks as if the economy is doing well,judging by the standard of the vehicles on the roads,the houses,which are generally smart,the modern light industrial belts on the edges of every town,and the road infrastructure which is at least on a par with the UK,and certainly better than Italy’s.My visit here has also been easy because everyone I have spoken to speaks very good English, which was not necessarily the case in Hungary,Slovakia and the Czech republic.

Driving north east from Torun it’s a patchwork of mostly flat but gently undulating countryside,with huge tracts of bright green young corn,and yellow oilseed rape,forming a pattern with areas of darker green woods and forest.The forest sometimes is just a couple of fields away, but often you get a view across this landscape for miles.

My destination was the Masurian Lakes region of northeast Poland.This is an area of scenic beauty with a mosaic of hundreds of lakes of all sizes, dotted through a largely forested area. It is a very popular holiday destination,with the lakes hosting all kinds of watersports, together with cycling,walking and camping,and probably hunting.

I only had to deviate 20km from my route to visit my “dark tourism” destination of the day, the Wolfsschanze (Wolf’s Lair) which was Hitler’s bunker and command and control centre for the Eastern front in WW2.It was the location of the failed assassination attempt on Hitler by Colonel Claus von Stauffenburg in 1944, which was featured in the film Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise.

The Wolfsschanze is at a place called Gierloz, about 8km east of the town of Ketrzyn, formerly the East Prussian town of Rastenburg.I had always wondered about why it was built here, in what is now Poland, but even before the German conquest of Poland in 1939 it was well inside East Prussia ,as well as the whole Masurian lakes area,and East Prussia generally was one of the most heavily fortified areas of Germany at that period.

Hitler's command Bunker

The interpretation of the site is a bit basic

One of many bunkers at the Wolfsschanze,being reclaimed by the forest

The price ,in Zlotys, of the various vehicle rides

Marina on Lake Kisajno

The Germans had a go at destroying the place shortly before the Russians overran it, and some bunkers are in bits, others look more or less intact, including Hitler’s bunker.The shell of the brick-built operations room ,where Von Stauffenburg’s bomb went off, still exists too. But after years of being ignored, the forest has overrun the place, giving quite an eerie feel,maybe like lost Aztec temples in the jungle.One good thing has come of them,because they are now home to huge colonies of at least 4 species of bat.In the film Valkyrie,the base is depicted as being in the middle of a midge infested pine forest,but it’s actually quite a pleasant deciduous forest with beech and birch.For the people who aren't in a contemplative mood when they come out of the bunker area, you can take rides in a number of WW2 German vehicles sitting in the carpark,originals or replicas I'm not sure.

I moved on 30km down the road to a campsite/marina/cabin location on the shore of lake Kisajno, by the town of Gizycko, which is a large irregular shaped lake 10km x 10km at its widest,and there are a large number of yachts in the marina.I’m about 30km from the Russian border here (that’s the border of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad,that city being formerly the East Prussian capital Konigsberg.)
The yacht club had a cheerful bar which extended out onto a wooden deck by the waterside, and which served food ,which made for a relaxing location in which to pass the evening.

Day 69 Poznań to Torun

23/5/2015

today's route (160 km)

I stopped en-route to Torun to have a look at Gniezno.This, my guidebook tells me, is an ancient town and where King Boleslaw the Brave was crowned the first king of Poland in 1025.The town has none of the splendid architecture of Poznan or Wroclav but has a pleasant enough central square. Its striking feature is the 14th century cathedral, although its brick construction gave me the impression that it was much less old.It has bronze doors from the 12th century.Outside is a statue of King Boleslaw, erected in 1925 to mark the 900th anniversary of his coronation, and this would have been just 6 years after the town was returned to Poland after a couple of centuries under the Prussians.I didn’t stay any longer than to have a coffee. Across a little lake from the cathedral is a huge modern “Museum of the Origins of Poland” which I gave a miss to, having read quite a bit about the subject, and bored you with it already.

Gniezno Cathedral,14th century

King Boleslaw the Brave (+ admirer)

Gneizno

My route then left the main Poznan-Gdansk dual carriageway and took a lesser road to Torun.

Torun is a well preserved city of medieval origin that survived WW2 intact.It is on the bank of the Vistula (Visla in Polish), which has grown considerably in size since I left it in Krakow,it having passed through Warsaw and next it heads on to the Baltic.It seems wider than the Danube was in Budapest,and has three big bridges across. I was camped just across the river, although it seemed a long walk across the bridge.(There is a tram system in the main city but none run across the river).Torun was originally a Teutonic Knights base, and it developed into a trading city as part of the Hanseatic league.It is now a Unesco World Heritage site.

Its most striking feature is the brick construction of many of its historic buildings.It has several huge 14th century cathedrals: on the river frontage its brick city wall has also survived ,with several old gates into the city.As in other cities in Poland ,I find that the age of these big cathedrals is surprising,which I put down to their brick construction which in England one would automatically associate with a much later era.In common with other Polish cities it has a big central market square with the 15th century town hall in the centre.Unlike Poznan and Wroclaw the buildings are toned down a bit-the central square is not so vividly multi-coloured,but the similar buildings line many of the medieval streets heading away from the square and the sights are not confined to a restored main square alone.

Torun,on the bank of the Vistula. Its 14th century gothic churches are: Church of St John(big one in the middle),Church of the Assumption of our Lady(Grey roof ,mid left) and St James's church(double pointed tower on the right)

Church of St John

Church of St James

Medieval streets run throughout the city centre

14th Century Town Hall

Much tourism is based on this city being Nicolaus Copernicus’s home:a statue is in the square and a house nearby,supposedly his, is much visited.The other thing holding the local tourism together is gingerbread (Pierniczki),apparently a local speciality,and quite a number of shops sell it,claiming to be THE traditional shop.I tried some ,but didn’t find it particularly pleasant.It comes in various shaped soft brown cookies,glazed with a sugar crust,and some have a filling.They didn’t taste particularly of ginger ,but just brown cake, very similar to German Lebkuchen

Torun gingerbread (Pierniczki)

What I really would recommend ,however ,is Polish apple cake (Szarlotka).This seems a staple in every café,and is made of a shallow 1cm sponge base with the bulk of it being grated or chopped apple,held together somehow to make a cake about 5cm tall,with some caramel on the top,served warm with cream and ice cream.There seem to be various versions,some with a crust on top,and some with meringue.

Polish apple cake (Szarlotka).

Day 68 Wroclaw to Poznań

22/5/2015

today's route ( 195 km)

Today I drove 200km north to reach Poznan. It was a four hour drive, because although the road links Poland’s 4th and 5th cities, it is still in many places a single lane highway, although judging by the earthworks underway it will shortly be dual carriageway all the way. It was a pleasant enough and easy drive, with no hold-ups despite the low average speed. The countryside is fairly flat, but agricultural, with quite dense woods beginning a mile or two away beyond the fields.

Poznan has a German spelling too, Posen, but the city was part of Poland at the outbreak of WW2, unlike Wroclaw, and is in the region known as Greater Poland.(actually ,in Polish, Poznan seems to be pronounced “Posen” anyway)

The campsite in Poznan is much more upmarket that the one yesterday in Wroclaw, which had very basic toilet facilities. Today’s site is part of a four star hotel/cabin complex on the shore of Lake Malta. This is an artificial lake created as a recreation area in 1952 by damming a small river. The name comes from the fact that the land that it was created on had belonged to the Order of St John(knights of Malta) It was one of the earliest purpose made 2000 metre rowing courses constructed, and has hosted several rowing and canoeing World Championships. In fact, I am here a week early, as it is currently being prepared for the 2015 European Rowing Championships, to be held here next weekend.( On reflection, maybe it’s best I’m not here then, as there might be no camping spaces). There is also a huge water fun park, and a ski slope hill by the lake .This is the first campsite I’ve been on, since the one in El Escorial in Spain,with a very visible security patrol. I’m not sure whether this is a good thing, or shows the place is at risk of bandits. Given there is a security guy sitting in the shade on a stool 20 yards from my van, it’s probably good. For railway buffs there is a miniature steam railway running right past my van, going from the city end of the park, to the zoo, and it whistles every time it goes past. I am assuming it won’t be running at night!

Lake Malta (Poznan)

European Championships next week !

A good tram system operates, although with not quite such a perfect convenience of station location compared to yesterday in Wroclaw: I actually had to walk 700 metres! But once at the station I whisked into the centre of the city in just 7 minutes.

Poznan turns out to have a very similar restored historic centre to Wroclaw's ,albeit giving the impression of just being on a slightly smaller scale. The official city population is however not much smaller than that of Wroclaw. It suffered severe damage in WW2 but the old town square (Stary Rynek) has been well restored. There is a town hall (Ratusz) a bit like Wroclaw’s, which survived the war apart from the top of its tower, and dates from the mid-16th century. It contains a small town museum which I visited, although the interior of the building was more interesting than the exhibits. Unfortunately I was there after midday, as apparently at that hour, the two mechanical goats above the town clock butt their heads together 12 times, echoing some old city legend.

The square is lined with similar colourful buildings to that of Wroclaw, although Poznan seems to go in for much more abstract mural decorations on its building fronts, whereas Wroclaw’s building facings have rather lower key German style murals and friezes. Poznan’s square is virtually one big out-door café, every building being a cafe, bar or restaurant (or all three together) and all the seating areas merge together. It is a bright and friendly space.Currently it is even more of a big café as there is a food and beer fair in progress, with extra bench seating out, and rows of little Christmas market type wooden huts around the square, some selling hot food ,others foodie delicacies, and quite a few run by competing artisanal microbreweries.Of course I had to taste and buy some of the wares. Poznan has a University with about 130,000 students (a quarter of its population)and seems a lively place. The city apparently has a reputation as a centre for European trade fairs, but its historic centre seems much more fun than that would imply.

Poznan's market square,Stary Rynek

Stary Rynek

This strangely painted arcade of buildings was originally a fish market

Stary Rynek

I'm picking up a few samples at the food fair

The 16th century Town Hall (Ratusz)

Just out of the town centre, the double spired Poznan Cathedral is on a large island between two branches of the river Warta(German :Warthe, which is a tributary of the Oder).The island is known, like Wroclaw’s ,as Ostrow Tumski (simply “Cathedral Island”).The cathedral houses the tomb of the wonderfully named King Boleslaw the Brave(992-1025)

1.5 km north of the old city centre is the remains of a huge early 19th century Prussian citadel fortification. (Posen was part of Prussia from 1793 until the end of WW1, when it became Polish again after the treaty of Versailles).Here, in February 1945, 20,000 surrounded German troops held out for a month against the Russians. Unsurprisingly there is barely anything left of the citadel, which is now a park, just a huge grassed crater, surrounded by a bank. One small area of remaining bastion houses the Poznan army museum, which I visited, but in the end it wasn’t really worth the walk over as it had just quite a small exhibition of how the local Polish forces faired during the fall of Poland in 1939, with some German and Polish weaponry, and no English translation. (It was, however, free)