From Russia with hate
The last couple of days have been different. We found an extraordinary art
ga
llery on the coast in a little village called Viinistu. As you arrive there are about 100 concrete suitcases by the quay (they represent the locals who fled the occupying Russians in 1944) which is a bit eerie. Just to up the weirdness factor, the art museum was set up by the ex business manager of Abba. True story.
When we were planning this trip (I say planning – "let's go travelling" was about the sum of it) we had in our fluffy little heads that we'd just drive across Finland and maybe just pop over to St Petersburg to see a bit of Russia on our way to Estonia. Of course, what with the two of us being so useless and Russian bureaucracy being so impenetrable, we never got our act together to organise visas – plus, you may have noticed, we've completely bypassed Finland altogether. Anyway, while we happen to be in Estonia, we thought we'd trundle over to the Russian border for a glimpse through the fence, as it were. For that we headed to Narva.
As you approach Na
rva things begin to change – the buildings become more dilapidated, the roads more potholed, the overtaking more suicidal – when you enter the city itself, you instantly feel uneasy. In Narva, everyone looks at you with suspicion. Especially if you turn up in a big tatty American van held together with gaffer tape. The city is right on the river that separates Estonia from Russia and there is one crossing. At each end of the bridge there is a queue of people being searched, questioned and generally hassled by each country's border guards. Not sure who or what they're checking for, it all seems a bit paranoid to me. Just to remind you that this pettiness isn't new, there is a medieval castle on each river bank facing each other where they used to sit and fire arrows at each other. It all seems a bit ridiculous. We paddled in the river on one side and waved to a fisherman on the other side and wondered, were you desperate to enter one or other of the countries, whether a simple 100m swim might not do the trick.
As a result of being a border town, there are a lot of Estonians and a lot of Russians living side by side. From our experience, the Estonians are the happier, friendlier more helpful of the two. The Russians are the grumpy ones who tell you that you can't park in the space they've just watched you manoeuvring into for 10 minutes.
We thought, as we were so near their country, that we might experience some Russian cuisine so we found a restaurant serving "traditional Russian dishes". It was called Old Trafford and had pictures of Man Utd players on the wall like Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs (I hope I'm not in trouble for telling you that). I ordered a "Russian-style" beef stew with "Russian-style" potatoes. What I got was surly service, a bowl of molten cheese with some beef thrown at it and no potatoes. It's nice to get a feel for the Russian way of life though.
We free-camped in a meadow by Lake Peipus last night which is the fifth largest lake in Europe (in your face Vättern) and is so big we couldn't see the opposite shore. Then today we've come over to the island of Saaremaa – and are camping in someone's back garden. They did invite us. We were bimbling around Kuresaare looking for what looked, on paper, to be the perfect campsite only to find it had been completely commandeered by a travelling circus. Seeing our plight, this couple pulled up and invited us round to their garden. So, of course, here we are.
ga
llery on the coast in a little village called Viinistu. As you arrive there are about 100 concrete suitcases by the quay (they represent the locals who fled the occupying Russians in 1944) which is a bit eerie. Just to up the weirdness factor, the art museum was set up by the ex business manager of Abba. True story. When we were planning this trip (I say planning – "let's go travelling" was about the sum of it) we had in our fluffy little heads that we'd just drive across Finland and maybe just pop over to St Petersburg to see a bit of Russia on our way to Estonia. Of course, what with the two of us being so useless and Russian bureaucracy being so impenetrable, we never got our act together to organise visas – plus, you may have noticed, we've completely bypassed Finland altogether. Anyway, while we happen to be in Estonia, we thought we'd trundle over to the Russian border for a glimpse through the fence, as it were. For that we headed to Narva.
As you approach Na
rva things begin to change – the buildings become more dilapidated, the roads more potholed, the overtaking more suicidal – when you enter the city itself, you instantly feel uneasy. In Narva, everyone looks at you with suspicion. Especially if you turn up in a big tatty American van held together with gaffer tape. The city is right on the river that separates Estonia from Russia and there is one crossing. At each end of the bridge there is a queue of people being searched, questioned and generally hassled by each country's border guards. Not sure who or what they're checking for, it all seems a bit paranoid to me. Just to remind you that this pettiness isn't new, there is a medieval castle on each river bank facing each other where they used to sit and fire arrows at each other. It all seems a bit ridiculous. We paddled in the river on one side and waved to a fisherman on the other side and wondered, were you desperate to enter one or other of the countries, whether a simple 100m swim might not do the trick. 
As a result of being a border town, there are a lot of Estonians and a lot of Russians living side by side. From our experience, the Estonians are the happier, friendlier more helpful of the two. The Russians are the grumpy ones who tell you that you can't park in the space they've just watched you manoeuvring into for 10 minutes.
We thought, as we were so near their country, that we might experience some Russian cuisine so we found a restaurant serving "traditional Russian dishes". It was called Old Trafford and had pictures of Man Utd players on the wall like Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs (I hope I'm not in trouble for telling you that). I ordered a "Russian-style" beef stew with "Russian-style" potatoes. What I got was surly service, a bowl of molten cheese with some beef thrown at it and no potatoes. It's nice to get a feel for the Russian way of life though.
We free-camped in a meadow by Lake Peipus last night which is the fifth largest lake in Europe (in your face Vättern) and is so big we couldn't see the opposite shore. Then today we've come over to the island of Saaremaa – and are camping in someone's back garden. They did invite us. We were bimbling around Kuresaare looking for what looked, on paper, to be the perfect campsite only to find it had been completely commandeered by a travelling circus. Seeing our plight, this couple pulled up and invited us round to their garden. So, of course, here we are.
Hello Will and Claire.
ReplyDeleteI work with Lynda and have enjoyed reading of your travels so far. Good luck with the trip.
неистовство безопасное \-/
ReplyDeleteНе понимаю!
ReplyDelete