Wednesday, 11 May 2011
NRN-TLL
Beautiful Day
It rained overnight complete with thunders. I didn’t sleep well as usual of course. Finally got up at 0450 to perform prayers and freshen up before checking in my bag. I had an early morning flight today, one of the few this morning. One of the best things about travelling solo is you can sit in any empty seat. I settled in and slept practically the whole flight.
We landed at Tallinn Airport about 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. Yes, I travelled from the Balkans to the Baltic! To get to the city, you need to take bus #2. Buy your ticket at the kiosk in the airport (it costs less than buying it from the driver). I did that but missed the bus and had to wait a while for the next bus out.
I stopped at the third stop and walked to the bus terminal. Left my suitcase at the left luggage (the cost is based on the weight of your bag; my 15-kg bag cost €0.96 in storage fee, pretty cheap I thought). Then I walked to the city, heading for the Old Town.
The Old Town of Tallinn, dating back from the 13th century, with its winding cobbled streets, courtyards and churches, is what keeps most visitors occupied. Superbly well-preserved, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I checked out St Catherine’s Passage before heading for the Town Hall Square. Next I climbed up Toompea Hill to the Castle Square (the castle is now the Parliament) and checked out the views if the Old Town and surrounding areas from the observation platforms. You can even see the port of Tallinn from Toompea Hill.
Having exerted my energy, it was time for lunch. Now, Estonia is not a cheap country. Tallinn is only 70 km south of Helsinki and fancies itself as a Scandinavian country - in fact, I find the language more similar to Finnish than Russian or Slavic. However, fret not for you can dine decently in the city. I had lunch at Karja Kelder at Vaiker-Karja. You can have soup and steak set for only €3.50. Unfortunately, the soup had meat and it wasn’t fish steak when I went so I ordered some cheese soup with shrimps and a plate of spaghetti instead. The pub provided free WiFi and I caught up with news there. Actually, Tallinn and Estonians are pretty much tech-savvy and WiFi coverage is wide. They were the people who invented Skype among others.
After lunch, I headed to Viru Hotel to perform prayers. I debated whether or not to visit Kadriorg, a palace by Peter the Great for his wife Catherine I (‘Catherine’ is Kadri in Estonian). As it was almost 4 pm, I decided not to and instead returned back to the Old Town.
I returned back to the bus station after 6 pm, exhausted. I rested, read my novel and had some light dinner. My bus to the next destination was at 2200. It was a modern coach, very comfortable and clean, unlike the previous coaches I’d been on thus far in this trip. The coach would take me across two country borders and trip (scheduled to take almost 9 hours) only cost me €14! I saved on accommodation and the coach delivered me to my next destination. Neat.
Thursday, 12 May 2011
TLL-RIX-VNO-KUN-VNO
We arrived at Vilnius, Lithuania, at 0615, 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. It was already bright and sunny when we pulled over at the bus station. I needed Litas though, the local currency, and as the exchange office would only open at 7 am, I headed over to the train station across the street. I studied the train times to Kaunas and the airport and then went to use the bathroom. A wise thing too as the bathroom at the train station was free but the one at the bus station wasn’t. And you need to haul your bag up and down the stairs to get to the bathroom at the bus station whereas there was an escalator going up and down at the train station.
I decided to take the bus to Kaunas instead as the bus service is more frequent so headed back to the bus station. The exchange office had already opened by then (€1 = 3.45 Litas). I left my bag at the left luggage at the bus station (3 Litas) and bought bus ticket to Kaunas (20 Litas one way).
The journey to Kaunas took about 1.5 hours and from the bus station, I walked to the Old Town. It was more like a cross-country trek. I reckon the Old Town was easily at least 3 km from the bus station. I walked along the leafy Laisvės Alėja (Kaunas’ most famous walking street) before turning into Vilniaus before reaching the Old Town Square. Then I walked to the Nemunas River before turning back to Kauno Pilis (Kaunas Castle). Alas, it wasn’t opened so after some Kodak moments, I walked back.
I wanted to reach Vilnius by 2 pm so I walked back to the bus station. My poor suffering feet now had blisters all over them. I would hope I have developed leg muscles by now!
We reached Vilnius at 2.20 pm and after getting advice from the Tourist Information Centre at the railway station, I took trolleybus no. 2 to the Old Town. However, the advice given was misleading and I ended up walking in the hot afternoon heat back to the Old Town to find my guest house.
I finally found my guest house at Bernardinu street. It was very charming and provided practical amenities. After showering, I set off in my flip flops to explore the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I headed for the Cathedral Square first and spotting the Higher Castle atop a hill behind the square, I decided to climb up (if you don’t already know me by now, I have a weakness for buildings, old and new, and ruins) – despite my flip flops. There wasn’t much to see of the castle though (unless you want to climb up to the tower at a cost but even then, I think it was closed until end of May 2011) but you’ll be rewarded for the climb with the bird eye’s view of the Old Town.
I gingerly made my way down those damn cobble stones and set off for the Old Town. Vilnius has dozens of churches and they seemed to be everywhere you turn.
Vilnius is not a cheap city either and I had despaired of finding a decent dinner when I stumbled onto a kebab place. The lady assured me the meat is halal (she told me her husband is Turkish although I noticed the cross on her pendant) but as she was running out of meat, she prepared me a cheese-and-vegetables rolled bread anyway. It turned out to be good surprisingly although the melted cheese did make a mess.
I returned to the guest house and rested. It had been a long day. But I was very glad, pleased and thankful that my dream of covering the Balkans (except Serbia) and the Baltic had been fulfilled. I can now tick them off my to-do list.
To be continued
NRN-TLL
Beautiful Day
It rained overnight complete with thunders. I didn’t sleep well as usual of course. Finally got up at 0450 to perform prayers and freshen up before checking in my bag. I had an early morning flight today, one of the few this morning. One of the best things about travelling solo is you can sit in any empty seat. I settled in and slept practically the whole flight.
We landed at Tallinn Airport about 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. Yes, I travelled from the Balkans to the Baltic! To get to the city, you need to take bus #2. Buy your ticket at the kiosk in the airport (it costs less than buying it from the driver). I did that but missed the bus and had to wait a while for the next bus out.
I stopped at the third stop and walked to the bus terminal. Left my suitcase at the left luggage (the cost is based on the weight of your bag; my 15-kg bag cost €0.96 in storage fee, pretty cheap I thought). Then I walked to the city, heading for the Old Town.
The Old Town of Tallinn, dating back from the 13th century, with its winding cobbled streets, courtyards and churches, is what keeps most visitors occupied. Superbly well-preserved, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I checked out St Catherine’s Passage before heading for the Town Hall Square. Next I climbed up Toompea Hill to the Castle Square (the castle is now the Parliament) and checked out the views if the Old Town and surrounding areas from the observation platforms. You can even see the port of Tallinn from Toompea Hill.
Having exerted my energy, it was time for lunch. Now, Estonia is not a cheap country. Tallinn is only 70 km south of Helsinki and fancies itself as a Scandinavian country - in fact, I find the language more similar to Finnish than Russian or Slavic. However, fret not for you can dine decently in the city. I had lunch at Karja Kelder at Vaiker-Karja. You can have soup and steak set for only €3.50. Unfortunately, the soup had meat and it wasn’t fish steak when I went so I ordered some cheese soup with shrimps and a plate of spaghetti instead. The pub provided free WiFi and I caught up with news there. Actually, Tallinn and Estonians are pretty much tech-savvy and WiFi coverage is wide. They were the people who invented Skype among others.
After lunch, I headed to Viru Hotel to perform prayers. I debated whether or not to visit Kadriorg, a palace by Peter the Great for his wife Catherine I (‘Catherine’ is Kadri in Estonian). As it was almost 4 pm, I decided not to and instead returned back to the Old Town.
I returned back to the bus station after 6 pm, exhausted. I rested, read my novel and had some light dinner. My bus to the next destination was at 2200. It was a modern coach, very comfortable and clean, unlike the previous coaches I’d been on thus far in this trip. The coach would take me across two country borders and trip (scheduled to take almost 9 hours) only cost me €14! I saved on accommodation and the coach delivered me to my next destination. Neat.
Thursday, 12 May 2011
TLL-RIX-VNO-KUN-VNO
We arrived at Vilnius, Lithuania, at 0615, 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. It was already bright and sunny when we pulled over at the bus station. I needed Litas though, the local currency, and as the exchange office would only open at 7 am, I headed over to the train station across the street. I studied the train times to Kaunas and the airport and then went to use the bathroom. A wise thing too as the bathroom at the train station was free but the one at the bus station wasn’t. And you need to haul your bag up and down the stairs to get to the bathroom at the bus station whereas there was an escalator going up and down at the train station.
I decided to take the bus to Kaunas instead as the bus service is more frequent so headed back to the bus station. The exchange office had already opened by then (€1 = 3.45 Litas). I left my bag at the left luggage at the bus station (3 Litas) and bought bus ticket to Kaunas (20 Litas one way).
The journey to Kaunas took about 1.5 hours and from the bus station, I walked to the Old Town. It was more like a cross-country trek. I reckon the Old Town was easily at least 3 km from the bus station. I walked along the leafy Laisvės Alėja (Kaunas’ most famous walking street) before turning into Vilniaus before reaching the Old Town Square. Then I walked to the Nemunas River before turning back to Kauno Pilis (Kaunas Castle). Alas, it wasn’t opened so after some Kodak moments, I walked back.
I wanted to reach Vilnius by 2 pm so I walked back to the bus station. My poor suffering feet now had blisters all over them. I would hope I have developed leg muscles by now!
We reached Vilnius at 2.20 pm and after getting advice from the Tourist Information Centre at the railway station, I took trolleybus no. 2 to the Old Town. However, the advice given was misleading and I ended up walking in the hot afternoon heat back to the Old Town to find my guest house.
I finally found my guest house at Bernardinu street. It was very charming and provided practical amenities. After showering, I set off in my flip flops to explore the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I headed for the Cathedral Square first and spotting the Higher Castle atop a hill behind the square, I decided to climb up (if you don’t already know me by now, I have a weakness for buildings, old and new, and ruins) – despite my flip flops. There wasn’t much to see of the castle though (unless you want to climb up to the tower at a cost but even then, I think it was closed until end of May 2011) but you’ll be rewarded for the climb with the bird eye’s view of the Old Town.
I gingerly made my way down those damn cobble stones and set off for the Old Town. Vilnius has dozens of churches and they seemed to be everywhere you turn.
Vilnius is not a cheap city either and I had despaired of finding a decent dinner when I stumbled onto a kebab place. The lady assured me the meat is halal (she told me her husband is Turkish although I noticed the cross on her pendant) but as she was running out of meat, she prepared me a cheese-and-vegetables rolled bread anyway. It turned out to be good surprisingly although the melted cheese did make a mess.
I returned to the guest house and rested. It had been a long day. But I was very glad, pleased and thankful that my dream of covering the Balkans (except Serbia) and the Baltic had been fulfilled. I can now tick them off my to-do list.
To be continued
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