Final fragments

We've now been back in England nearly two weeks - and it's taken this long to get over the feeling of disorientation and to start sorting out the jumble of impressions and memories of the last three months. It really was the most incredible experience, and I can assure everyone who is asking that we did have a brilliant time. I don't want to call it the trip of a lifetime, because hopefully it is the first of many, although possibly this, my first proper travelling experience of any length of time, will always be a bit unique. It's a part of the world I definitely want to go back to. Turkey fascinated me, and I really want to go back to explore parts of it outside Istanbul, such as Ephesus, Ankara and Cappadocia. I'd love to go back on a retreat to the Rila monastery in Bulgaria - just stay there for a couple of nights completely removed from the rest of the world up in the mountains. Romania also is an intruiging country: it would be great to go hiking in Trannsylvania in the summer, but also to explore more of the northern part of the country - Marmures - which is still very untouched, as well as to visit the city of revolutions: Timisoara. Budapest, of course, I would go back to in a flash for more opera, baths, cake and Danube romance. Little Olomouc in the Czech Republic definitely warrants another visit in the perfect Poet's Hostel (best one we visited I think). And I just fell in love with Poland as a whole - such incredible spirit and rejuvenation. The trip also made us both want to visit slightly more far-flung places such as the Ukraine and Molodova. Belarus looks interesting too, but perhaps when it ceases to be run by a communist dicatator whose KGB is still bugging most of the country.

And we didn't quite make it to the country which has had the greatest influence on this region in the last hundred years - Russia. All through the trip, it has felt as if it is looming in the background like a rather sinister but fascinating shadow. We stopped just on the border with Estonia, tantalisingly close to St Petersburg, which many other travellers in Tallinn were going on to. Apparently the Estonian border isn't the best place to cross because of the strained relations between Russia and Estonia, and we heard a couple of horror stories from other travellers about being stopped at the border and questioned for hours by border guards before paying them substantial bribes. In the hostel in Tallinn, I found a book on the last of the Romanovs and got hooked - it seemed a very appropriate final book to read on the trip, in a city where the Tsars came on holiday in the summer. The armadillo and the tortoise will one day team up again to explore Russia - it's a promise!

Twenty years on from the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, what can I say about our impressions of post-communist Eastern Europe? Firstly, it's really no longer possible to group together this part of the world under one name. There is such an amazing variety between the countries, as well as huge diversity within the countries themselves. A tiny Bulgarian village in the middle of nowhere has nothing in common with the bustling beauty of Prague. The difference in language alone is extraordinary - to go from Turkish, to Cyrillic Bulgarian, to Frenchified Romanian to bizarre Magyarian Hungarian is quite an experience.

But as a summing up makes generalisation inevitable, I would say that the overwhelming common feeling is that of rejuvenation - an incredible bounce-back spirit of survival in so many beautiful countries which have spent much of their history under Imperial occupation of one sort or another, then underwent Nazi occupation with all the horrors of World War Two and the concentration camps, then Soviet occupation which lasted for nearly fifty years. Cities such as Warsaw and Dresden which were almost totally destroyed have been lovingly rebuilt, and in most places there is a feeling of buzzing new life and new opportunities. Of course it wasn't all rosy. The real poverty we experienced in Bulgaria and Romania was pretty shocking - especially when you consider that these countries are now in the EU. Hopefully the financial help resulting from membership will be a big help. The huge prejudice towards the Roma in these countries, along with Slovakia, was also unpleasant to encounter, as was of course the massive social problems within the Roma communities themselves. And perhaps nastiest of all for a region with such a troubled Jewish history were the remaining traces of anti-Semitism which we found. Don't get me wrong - it's only traces, and we were also struck by the thousands of people under the Nazis who did take in and protect their Jewish neighbours. But nevertheless the occasional bits of anti-Jewish graffiti with swastikas, the dubious monument at the Hill of Crosses and the stations of the cross in a cathedral in Olomouc and again in Tallinn with anti-Semitic caricatures, struck an undeniably uncomfortable note. Some old wounds haven't quite healed up - especially in the former Sudetenland, as we found when we were in Liberec where the story of the evicted German community still isn't acknowledged. As we went on, it struck us more and more just how recent this is. For our generation, who learnt what little we know about this area in history lessons, after the Tudors, it was a striking realisation. In the Baltics of course, 1989 wasn't the end of occupation - there were still Russian tanks killing Latvian citizens in Riga in 1991, which was when they finally regained their independence.

So much still to see and still to learn. We have come home with lists of books, films and artists we need to investigate. I'm going to start by reading A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich to get an idea of the gulags to which so many people in Eastern Europe were sent. Wish me luck....

This will be my last post so goodbye and thank you for reading this blog. I hope it's been interesting to read and I'm sorry there were sometimes long gaps between postings - getting reliable internet access was sometimes rather difficult! We're both really glad we wrote it, as otherwise I think we'd have forgotten a lot of our adventures. To finish, I can only say again that this is not going to be the last of our adventures. Where to next? Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, the former Yugoslavia, the Dalmatian coast, or maybe further afield to South America or India? But that, in the words of Kipling, will have to be another story.

News Flash

Our special correspondent in London is please to report that Sarah and Lucy arrived safely back on British soil last night and were taken away by their respective families to be fed fish and chips, washed and put into bed. They are said to be glad to be back home, although some what confused: it is alleged that Lucy thanked the ticket collector on the Stansted Express in Estonian, although this story has not been confirmed. It is hoped that reflections on the end of the trip will be posted in the next day or so, and that being the case, regular readers of this blog are encouraged to stay around for a little while longer, if they feel so inclined.

Another day, another country

You would think that the last day of an incredibly busy three months would be spent relaxing in the sunshine, possibly with a beer and reminiscing about days gone by. However, we decided to take in one more country by travelling to Finland and back. Varro kindly gave us a lift to the ferry terminal in the morning and helped us with the tickets and check in and we were soon on the rather impressive katamaran which was taking us to country number thirteen. I was very excited about the sea crossing, Sarah rather less so, but we both agreed it was great fun to arrive in the heart of a capital city by boat. We got out right on to the main Esplanada, a lovely boulevard of Art Nouveau buildings and incredibly posh shops and cafes. Our day in Helsinki was absolutely lovely. We explored the Orthodox and Lutheran cathedrals (the latter is much more impressive on the outside than the inside), wandered round the docks admiring the beautiful yachts and wandered in bookshops which had whole sections devoted to the Moomins.

Perhaps the highlight was visiting the Atheneum Art Gallery, which had a special exhibition on the Kalevala: the Finnish legendary cycle about the folk hero Vaininaimen (sp?). The original poems are ancient, but the cycle itself is a 19th century construction built up when Finnish nationalism and independence from Russian rule became hot topics. It was a wonderful exhibition, and really exciting to encounter a mythology with which we were completely unfamiliar. Lots of strange monsters, creation and rebirth legends, quests, nymphs, water giants, healing bees, the river of the dead....so many overlaps and also differences with other mythologies. I think it was actually a good way to encounter the legends, as the rooms took you through it motif by motif rather than as a continual story: probably a more authentic first experience of how the stories were told and understood. It left us both wanting to read the Kalevala....though possibly not in Finnish, as it's one of the most unusual languages in the world and apparently fiendishly difficult to learn.

We arrived back from Helsinki around nine at night absolutely exhausted and stuffed ourselves with a final meal of....you guessed it...pasta and pesto before tumbling into bed. A really memorable last day, which has left us with all sorts of new interests and questions. The best way to finish a trip which has been one new experience after another.

Eurovision, Baltic style

We arrived in Tallin in the afternoon and were rather impressed at our ability to navigate the tram system to the Old Town. Tragically, this sense of direction didn't last, and we spent an awfully long time searching up and down the medieval streets trying to find the hostel which had moved location since our guidebooks were published. Eventually, we found where we were supposed to be and dumped our bags for the final time on this trip.

Tallin is an interesting last place to stop as for many people, it is where they begin their trip and so the hostel was full of people beginning their journeys, and Lucy and I were quite sad to realise it was all over for us. A guy called Jonathan was staying in our dorm and was doing a very similar trip to us except in reverse and taking in Belarus and Ukraine, so we spent a lot of time sharing tips of Romania and Bulgaria with him. He also let us know that all museums in Tallin were open and free until midnight tonight, so after dinner we headed to the City Musuem. It was quite a bizarre museum, with a huge section on men's clothing, which we didn't really understand, but was nevertheless quite entertaining.

After a coffee in the Main Square, we headed back to the hostel to watch the end of Eurovision, a first for me. It was amazing to see how seriously it is taken here, proper cause for national pride! After complaining bitterly about the unfair voting, we headed to bed.

The following morning, we headed to the Cathedral for mass, a small and beautifully simple building just down the road from us. After joining in with the hymns in our best Estonian, we headed up to the Lutheran Cathedral, a very German building with lots of coats of arms and white-washed walls. We had lunch in a little artisan's cafe before heading to Kadriog, a district of Tallin with beautiful parks and a couple of art museums in the old summer palaces of the Tsars. By far the most interesting museum for me was the modern art gellery which took you through Estonian art chronologically and was a great way of seeing how historical events had been interpreted artistically. The park is very beautiful, and a wonderful place to just wander round and soak up the atmosphere. This district also houses the Song Bowl, where the Estonian song festivals are held. It is the biggest ampitheatre-type place I have ever seen. Song in Estonia, as elsewhere in the Baltics, played a huge role in the emerging national consciousness and later in the fight against Soviet oppression. A lovely evening spent at the Hostel, chatting with everyone about their travels, including one guy's experience of con men on the Russian border, which made me very glad that we chose not to go to Russia.

On Monday morning we said goodbye to Jonathan, who was heading to Tartu, and spent the morning exploring Tallin's Old Town and updating the blog. In the afternoon, we met up with Varro and his lovely family who are friends of Lucy's aunt and uncle. They gave us a really interesting tour of Tallin, including the school that Varro's mum founded in the 1980s as a counter to Soviet education which has lots of attached artisan's workshops. Varro also took us to see the Stalinist area, which was used to house the huge number of Russians who were moved here under the communist regime. That evening, we had a lovely dinner with them and their friends and had a great time playing Narnia with their children. A really lovely family.

Reliving our student days

Between the capitals of Latvia and Estonia, we stopped off for two nights at Tartu - a university town in Estonia about three hours on the road from Tallinn. It's a loveable little town which has an atmosphere very like Durham or Cambridge as there are lots of students around, sitting around in cafes having deep conversations. There must have been something in the air, as Sarah and I started having terribly meaningful conversations, not mentioning train times or bowel movements once. I think we covered the nature of language, contemporary art, the origins of the novel and feminist theology. Not bad for one afternoon.

There isn't a huge amount to do in Tartu if you aren't a student, so we just spent the day exploring the old town, wandering in the botanical gardens and parks, and drinking coffee. The town has some great quirks though: the main statue of the town square isn't the ubiquitous Man on Horse but two lovers kissing under an umbrella while water spouts over the top of them. And there is all sorts of evidence of student pranks over the town, such as the granite bridge topped with an arc: apparently a necessary step before graduation is to walk over the arc, hopefully not falling into the river below.

In the evening we plummeted from our intellectual heights when we watched an extraordinarily silly film called Superbad with the guys at the hostel on a projector screen. The title says it all really. The following morning we feasted royally on pancakes for breakfast before catching a bus on to Tallinn.

The traditional seaside trip...

Freezing water? Check
Strong winds? Check
Slightly dodgy weather? Check

It is a relief to discover that at the same lines of latitude some things remain the same and our day trip to 'The Baltic Riviera' had just enough of the English seaside resort to make us nostalgic. Nevertheless, you don't get stiletto heels and designer sunglasses to quite the same extent in Bognor Regis. The resort of Jurmala is full of stunning summer homes and nice restaurants and we had a lovely lunch overlooking the beach, before doing our best windswept impression on a long walk up the beach. Heading back to the hostel, we had a very decadent evening of Poirot, which got me too scared to walk down the corridor alone...

The following day, we wanted to head to the National Park area of Sigulda, but missed the train by one minute, so had to wait for 2 hours for the next one. This gave us a great opportunity to explore Riga's covered market - the largest in Europe which is absolutely full of meat and fish and in which, it is incredibly easy to get lost. We finally made it to Sigulda and walked to the castle, where we had a picnic of sardines, bread and apples. After a further wander, we took a cable car across the gorge to a little village called Kirmulda. We went for a scramble through the woods there, humming 'We're going on a bear hunt' as we went. Returning to Riga, we headed back to the hostel for tea of bacon, eggs and cabbage (a surprisingly yummy combination) and watched more Poirot, with the light off, which was a mistake...

Our final day in Riga was spent doing important things like laundry and buying a fish. Seeing how big a part of our stay the fish tank had been, we decided to buy Karlis a fish on the proviso it was called Bob. Thus Bob the fish was bought and entered the House Hostel fish tank. At the time of writing, he was still alive.

After a late lunch of Russian dumplings, we headed to the station to catch the bus to Tartu and enter country number 12.

On Fish

Feeling much better, we headed to Riga the following morning and arrived at the House Hostel for lunch. Unfortunately there had been a death in the house; the beauty of the fish tank, an enormous angel fish had slipped off this mortal coil and it was a time for grief for Karlis, the guy who owned the hostel. After a suitable period of mourning (approx 5 mins), the discussion took a more philosophical bent and it was decided that in the long run, the death was fish karma for it being so mean to the rest of the inhabitants of the tank...

This set the tone for our stay in House, a whole lot of random conversations and a chance to really chill in a place which felt more like a friend's flat than a hostel. After settling in and having lunch, we wandered round the Old Town in an attempt to find a church for evening mass. We managed to spot a priest and after a restoring cappucinio headed in to a beautiful little church, with lots of Art Nouveau decoration. After mass we wandered back to the hostel through the park and got to see the Freedom Monument, which marked the fight for Latvian independance in 1919. During the Soviet occupation, putting flowers at the base of this monument carried the penalty of being exiled to Siberia. We returned to a super of Spaghetti Bolognase and a Beatles CD, which made us feel very hip.

On Monday morning, Karlis made us a breakfast sandwich which made a lovely change to our usual fare of nutella, bread and bananas. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed to the Art Nouveau district, a stunning area of Riga, with beautiful buildings from the turn of the century which was when Riga was primarily extended. It is full of 'beautiful people', classy restaurants and cafes and it was lovely to just sit outside and soak it all in. Afterwards we headed through the parks to the Musuem of the Occupation of Latvia, which takes you through life for ordinary Latvians during both the Nazi and the Soviet occupation. It was an excellent museum, with particularly good sections on the lives of deportees and intellectuals in exile. Again, we were struck by just how difficult it was to be in this region in the twentieth century.

That evening, Karlis (who used to be a chef) cooked us a delicious stirfry and we sat and drank wine and discussed more 'fish' issues. Afterwards, we introduced him to the hilarity of Michael McIntyre, which I think he greatly appreciated.