The JaYmes Escape

Apart from a raucous first night involving backpackers, beer and Russian karaoke, Vilnius has been fairly quiet compared to Riga. Everyone has headed North, East or South for the weekend leaving just me and a Canadian round-the-world cyclist in the hostel, and my secret plot to pipe illicit booze from nearby Belarus was foiled.

However I have seen the infamous Frank Zappa statue and the mind-blowing KGB museum, housed in the former KGB headquarters; political, religous and other ‘anti-soviet’ prisoners were incarcerated, tortured and executed here right up to 1987. Chilling stuff, and they show you where it all happened.

More sightseeing and photos tomorrow and I’ll probably be heading for Poland on Sunday.

I was originally planning to get the bus to Vilnius today but I got up too late and besides, I’m having too much fun here. The hostel I’m staying in is brand new and they opened the hostel bar on Sunday. To celebrate the opening the bar was free for the first night, I even helped them pour a few drinks. Even when paying half a litre of the local beer costs only 70 santimes (~70p) here - in most of the old town bars it’s one Lat (~one pound, Latvian currency is really easy for British tourists!).

Photos of me in the bar are in the gallery, and I’m definitely getting the bus to Vilnius tomorrow.

My bus from Tallinn broke down 20 miles outside Riga this afternoon, so I arrived over an hour late. It rained as well. Rain is nasty and boring, I much prefer snow. I want it colder with more snow.

Riga almost seems like coming home now; familiar places and friendly people have made it seem hospitable and comfortable, plus for some reason this internet place has given me ten hours credit for one Lat (~one pound)! I can use it whenever I want so maybe I’ll be back tomorrow…

Photos from Helsinki and Tallinn are now in the Gallery.

It’s almost a week since we said ‘Das Vidanya’ to St Petersburg and boarded the cruise ship to Helsinki. The contrast between those two neighbouring cities couldn’t be greater. St Petersburg is crowded, dirty, chaotic, cheap and spectacular. Helsinki is clean, spacious, highly efficient, expensive and simply elegant. St Petersburg is also a much bigger city with much more to do; there’s so much I think we could have stayed a month, though the tap water is so badly polluted I don’t think my skin would survive for that long.

The snow has followed us everywhere from Riga and we braved a 4 hour walking tour of St Petersburg in a full-scale blizzard on Sunday 21st. Our local guide took us to places that were well off the beaten track including Pushkinskaya arts centre, a soviet artists’ commune in a back alley near Moscow station, and a 1920s residential building shaped like a hammer and sickle that was built by communist families who came to be persecuted and ultimately executed by Stalin. On the Monday we visited the suburb of Pushkin, home to the Catherine palace and the recently replicated amber room.

In Helsinki it was a bit warmer, a mere minus two on the first day (as opposed to a low of -11 back in St P) but still plenty of snow. The highlight was definitely the sea fortress of Suomelinna (or Castle of Finland) which was originally built by the Swedes and has been a vital strategic stronghold in the Finnish gulf for several hundred years.

Tallinn is proving a great place to unwind. The medieval old town with it’s walls and towers looks incredible in the snow, and the christmas market in the town hall square has an enchanting quality that makes all big city christmas lights look totally garish and soulless. The Estonians are very hospitable and although (thanks to Easyjet) the place is crawling with Brits, they thankfully seem to be the more respectable kind.

On Thursday Alex is flying back to London and I’ll be on my own, so from now on I’ll have to ask passers by to take my photographs and try to get myself out to see the important sights. Thanks is due to Alex for making sure we got to Pushkin and Suomelinna, and for keeping my vodka consumption down to a respectable tourist level.

The St Petersburg photos are all up in the gallery and I should be able to add the Helsinki and Tallinn ones when I’m back in Riga at the weekend.

OK, so it’s taken me a while to do a post in St Petersburg but it’s been a mad week of sightseeing and tours. If Riga is cool then St Petersburg is a freezer, literally, the low is currently -11 celsius with a nasty wind chill. But this city is very spectacular, and it oozes creativity from every corner.

Off to Helsinki tomorrow - more details to come.