By car in the Baltics: Latvia and Lithuania. Traveling by car in the Baltics. Estonia. Latvia. Lithuania To the Baltics by car

We decided to go to the Baltic countries. The vacation was only two weeks, so we carefully selected where to stay and which hotels to spend the night in. I had to order directly. You cannot apply a reservation from Booking to a visa. We planned to leave via Estonia, so we submitted papers to its consulate to obtain a visa sticker. We didn’t want to deal with getting a visa sticker for our passport ourselves, so we decided to do everything through Pony Express. Of course, the pleasure is not free, but there is no need to get sour in line and worry. We got a visa without any problems.

We left Moscow early in the morning. Four of us went on a trip: my wife and I and our children. We drove along Minka. Of course, this is some kind of detour, but the road is simply superb. It’s just that there were cameras everywhere, but we didn’t violate them, we kept the normal speed. We entered Belarus at about 10.30, and at Orsha we turned towards Vitebsk. A couple of hours later we entered the Russian Federation again and stopped to visit the grave of A.S. Pushkin in the Pushkin Mountains. Then we went to Pskov. We spent the night there. In the morning we walked around the Pskov Kremlin. In the evening we headed towards Estonia. We visited Izborsk and the Pskov-Pechersk Lavra.

Traveling around Estonia

The border was crossed at the point “Kunichina Gora/Koidula”. Not many people. We passed control quickly and even dropped into Duty Free. We moved towards Tartu, which we arrived in the evening. Here we stayed at the Aleksandri Hotel. We went sightseeing. In the evening we walked around the Old Town. The next day we planned a visit to the observatory and botanical garden. We spent the whole day in the beautiful town, and then went to Tallinn. We arrived safely and checked into the GoHotels Shnelli hotel. We spent several days in Tallinn. We managed to visit an ethnographic village and a zoo, as well as a maritime museum. We admired the Baltic Sea. Three days later we went to Virtsa on a ferry, with the help of which we crossed to Mukha Island. From there we reached the island of Saaremaa along the dam. We visited the Lutheran Church, the city of Kuressaare, the Bishop's Castle and the Panga Rock. The windmills (Angla) were especially impressive. We took the same ferry back to Virtsu.

Late in the evening we went to Pärnu, where we spent the night at Aisa Hotell. I must say, the hotel is so-so. It is somewhat reminiscent of Soviet hotels, and the furniture, in my opinion, has remained from those times.

Traveling around Latvia

The next morning we left hospitable Pärnu and reached the border with Latvia. By noon we reached Cesis. We rested a bit, walked for a walk, refreshed ourselves and moved towards Sigulda, where we ended up in the evening and from there it was a stone's throw to Riga.

Of course, in Riga we were most interested in the Old Town.

I won’t describe the sights; a lot has been written about them without us. But the atmosphere of the city requires special attention - cafes all around, live music flowing from everywhere, the staff is welcoming. We found time to visit Jurmala. Also a wonderful city.

Traveling around Lithuania

After staying in Latvia for three days, we went to Klaipeda, Lithuania, where we stayed at the Memel Hotel. The next morning we went to the Curonian Spit. We went to the maritime museum and walked along the spit. The views of the sea and the Curonian Lagoon were amazing to the core. We saw gray herons.

The next day we arrived in Palanga. I liked this city even more than Jurmala. And the next day we set off towards Vilnius.

In Kaunas we examined the castle.

In Vilnius we rested at the Carolina Hotel, a wonderful place in the very center. The rooms have plush carpets, light furniture, and a buffet breakfast. The hotel restaurant served dishes of national cuisine. We walked around the city to our heart's content, so much so that by the evening our legs simply gave out.

Lithuania has a very interesting feature - cards are not accepted everywhere, so it is better to have cash with you, especially if you are going to a museum, for example. After resting in Lithuania, we set off on the return journey. We reached the border with Belarus quickly, since the distance is short. We crossed the border in half an hour, and that was even with tax free registration. We went around Minsk along the ring road. And then along the Minsk-Moscow highway we flew home.

A little about mobile communications

Last year in the Baltics we used the Cellhire SIM card. The card is international. 200MB of Internet cost 1,350 rubles. We paid 750 for the card itself. Simka worked in all the countries we needed, but the quality of communication, alas, let us down: we needed communication constantly, and the network was lost several times when crossing borders (in Poland it was not available for two days at all, we barely left » on offline maps). So this time we read the reviews and bought a SIM card from the Italian Vodafone, the tariff was called . It turns out to be a significant improvement over Cellhire. For €3 per day we got 25 minutes incoming and outgoing, as well as 50 SMS plus 500 MB of traffic. I was very pleased with the quality of the connection: the network was never lost anywhere, the speed was stable at 3G. So while traveling around the Baltic states we were always in touch, and in the evening we also went online. It’s not very comfortable to travel without the Internet - without Google maps, sometimes you can’t figure out how to get to this or that attraction, and in general it’s easier to plan excursions. We didn’t have much time to surf the Internet, so there was enough traffic.

Finally, I got around to writing a text about our road trip route around the Baltics.

The total length of the route is 2975 kilometers, but taking into account trips within cities and to nearby attractions, we covered significantly more - 3672 kilometers. I’ll say right away that you should hit the road only if you have a love for traveling by car, and if you are traveling with a child, it is advisable that he shares this passion.

Our daughter, fortunately, is growing up as a tireless traveler, and takes long trips more than favorably - after all, during this time you can listen to a whole bunch of fairy tales!

So, the route broken down by day:

In the morning we leave Moscow along the M-1 highway and drive towards Smolensk (380 km). To save time and nerves, I highly recommend using the Odintsovo toll bypass.
We have lunch in Smolensk (I highly recommend the Peter Push cafe @restoran_peterpush on Lenin Street, 14) and move further towards Belarus. There are no borders between countries, even the most formal ones.
We didn’t like any of the hotels in Minsk, so we spent the night in the “Quiet Courtyard” agro-estate in Lagoisk (306 km from Smolensk)

We have breakfast and go to Minsk (distance from Lagoisk - 40 km).
There we went to the zoo @minsk_zoo_official (Tashkent street, 40), had lunch and moved towards the border with Lithuania (191 km to the Benyakoni crossing point)
We cross the border and go to Vilnius (distance from the border - 53 km), where we settle in for the night

The third day takes place in Vilnius - we have already been here, so we did not repeat the inspection of the historical center. Instead we visited:
Open-air museum “Park of Europe” (Joneikishkiu village, LT-15148)
Cafe with a huge game “World of Dwarves” (Laisvės pr. 88)
Interactive “Toy Museum” (Shiltadarzho str., 2)

We begin to move towards the sea. We leave Vilnius towards Trakai, but on the way we stop at a wonderful corn maze (Vilnius–Trakai 16 km)
Having got out of the labyrinth, we go to Trakai and walk around the castle there (the drive is only 11 km)
From there we go to Kaunas for a walk and lunch (the journey is 87 km)
After Kaunas we continue driving to the sea. Our correspondent office on the coast was the town of Sventoja (250 km from Kaunas)

We come to our senses after a busy day and explore the surroundings. We went to the beach in the morning, and then went to the entertainment complex HBH Palanga (Zhibininkai, Lepu 23). You can easily hang out there for the whole day.

In the morning - the sea, and then we go to the dinosaur park DINO.LT (Radailiai, Klaipeda region). After the lizards, you can have lunch and take a walk in Klaipeda or Palanga, they are very close.

We have breakfast and go to the old port of Klaipeda, where we take a ferry to the Curonian Spit. In this part of the spit you should definitely visit the Lithuanian Maritime Museum, it is beautiful.
We return by ferry, get into the car and drive towards the border with Latvia. Again, there is no border between countries.
We spend the night in the small but wonderful town of Liepaja (from Sventoji to Liepaja - 61 km)

We walk around Liepaja, swim, if the weather permits, and go to Riga (the drive to the capital is 216 km)
There we went to the Latvian Museum of Nature (4 K. Barona St.), had dinner and went to bed

This day takes place in Riga - we dedicated it to a walk through the huge open-air Ethnographic Museum of Latvia (10 Bonaventuras Street).
Then I recommend stopping by for lunch or dinner at one of the restaurants of the Lido chain - it’s delicious, cheap and very colorful

We have breakfast and go to wander around the historical center of Riga. To appreciate all the beauty of the city, we climb the tower of St. Peter's Church (Skarnu St., 19).
Then we leave the capital and go to Cesis to look at the local castle (88 km)
Afterwards we say goodbye to Latvia and leave for Tallinn (the journey is 300 km)

We walk around Tallinn, although one day here, of course, is criminally not enough.
We went to the Tallinn Zoo @tallinnzoo (Ehitajate tee 150 / Paldiski mnt 145), the medieval restaurant Olde Hansa @olde_hansa (Vene 1) and went to Pirita beach 15 minutes from the city center.

In the morning we walk around Tallinn, and then we move towards the border with Russia - it was more convenient for us to leave through Narva (211 km). Don't forget to sign up for the email queue!
Once at home, we go to rest and sleep in Veliky Novgorod (distance - 272 km)

We have breakfast, walk around the Novgorod Kremlin and head towards Moscow. I would use paid Leningradka as much as possible, because it saves a lot of time.
We have lunch and stretch our legs in Tver (387 km from Novgorod)
The last push to Moscow (176 km)

It so happens that PRTBRT often broadcasts from the Baltic countries - one of its editorial bases is located in Latvia. We often look at how our friends and acquaintances travel around Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and clutch our heads. That’s why we decided to write this column about how to truly experience these small countries, where you really have to look for the flavor.

Do not take the route Tallinn - Riga - Vilnius at once

For several days you just walk around the Old Towns of the three capitals, drink, eat, stare and spend money, and then say: yes, I was in this Baltics, everything is the same. Although all three cities are unique and very different, this can only be understood by visiting each one separately.

During a trip to three capitals, you will remember some passages, but everything will stick together into one lump of cathedrals, towers, food and booze. And at the same time, each city has its own face and its own unusual places that you most likely will not see. Simply because the “three (five, seven) days - three cities” format does not imply anything other than an endless race and walks in the Old Town together with British lovers of cheap flights to stag parties and getting drunk, old people and tourists from ferries.

Advice: Don't be fooled by the size of the countries - each is best viewed individually. Therefore, do not try to travel around everything during the allotted vacation time.

Old town of Tallinn

But if you do go, don’t spend all your time in the Old Town

As already mentioned, each city has its own face and its own places of power: in Tallinn this is the Telliskivi district, which is located outside the Old Town. In Riga, for example, the best bars have never been located within the Old Town: just go for a walk along Krisjan Barona Street and turn into small streets. This is where the most interesting places and establishments will be, such as the editor’s favorite bar - Taka or the city's most current dance floor - Piens.

In the Old Town there is average entertainment, typical bars and restaurants, of which there are many in any city in Eastern and Northern Europe from Krakow to Stockholm. This is not why you come to see the country.

Advice: If you know that there is no life in the Old Town, then there is no need to rent housing there either. Look for apartments on Airbnb or hotels near places of power: you will save both time and money.

Telliskivi district in Tallinn

Another cool place outside of the old town of Riga – Kaņepes Kultūras centrs

Don't linger in cities

You won't get to see the country in cities, so be sure to plan to visit alternative or out-of-town attractions.

    From Tallinn you can easily go to see the quarry in Rumma (there is still room to climb through, don’t be scared by the fence), and then go to the island of Saaremaa, where there are almost more attractions than in all of Estonia.

    From Riga you should definitely go to Irbene - a ghost town with a huge radar, spend the night on Cape Kolka, see the seaside Ventspils and Liepaja. Who even knows about the existence of the Mark Rothko art center in Daugavpils? The famous artist was born in this city.

    From Vilnius you should definitely go to the Hill of Crosses, visit the Europos Parkas landscape park - an analogue of the Russian Nikola-Lenivets, explore Klaipeda and cross the border with Russia on the Curonian Spit.

All three countries have many opportunities for diverse tourism: alternative attractions, eco-farms and national parks - plan your route so that you can stay in the capitals for one or two days, get acquainted with the main places and cultural life, and then go deeper!

Countries are replete with craft, family-run productions of everything from cheese to amber. A fair is held annually in Latvia, where you can buy not just handmade things, but modern and beautiful accessories and clothes. It’s nice to use such things not because they are crafted, but simply because they are convenient and beautiful.

Mountain of Crosses

Quarry in Rummu

But if you are still delayed, be sure to travel out of town at least one day

If it’s already late and you stay in each of the capitals for three days, then don’t be sad: there are many interesting places around each of the cities:

    near Vilnius - the beautiful Trakai Castle;

    from Riga you should definitely go to Jurmala or the Kemeri National Park;

    From Tallinn, go to Laachema National Park.

By the way, the locations from the previous paragraph also apply to this: this is the Baltics, and you can go back and forth to any place within one country! The main thing is not to be lazy and plan. It’s entirely possible to rent a car for one or two days, or find a driver using BlaBlaCar, use Lux Express buses, or maybe even stop hitchhiking. In summer, Estonia is overrun by friendly Finns, and Latvia and Lithuania are overrun by Poles and Germans (and less wary tourists in Russian cars).

Kemeri National Park

Spend more time searching

Not all good hotels, campsites and guesthouses are available on the usual booking sites. For example, the editor’s favorite campsite Saulesmājas with barrel houses on Cape Kolka (another chic Latvian location - the meeting place of the waves of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga) appeared on booking.com only in May of this year!

Or another great option is the Klaukas glamping site in the area of ​​Sigulda and the Gauja National Park. And this is just what is on the surface - there are dozens of such places, but you will have to prepare well and search.

Camping Saulesmājas

Don’t forget that these are already different countries

If in the minds of the older generation this is still a homogeneous Baltic region, then the modern traveler is struck by striking differences: Estonia and especially Tallinn are full-fledged Northern Europe, Lithuania gravitates towards Poland, and Latvia is still at an undefined crossroads, but with European features. At the same time, each of these countries has preserved unique original places and cultural features. Understanding this simple fact will help you take a different look at these neighboring countries and choose the one that is closer in spirit for a full-fledged trip!

Check tickets to Tallinn, or maybe Riga or Vilnius


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Are you planning to go to Europe with your family or company, but ticket prices are skyrocketing? Don’t rush to get upset - consider auto tourism. It has many advantages.

Firstly, by car you can move along any trajectory and are not limited in time. Secondly, if there are at least two of you, gasoline will be much cheaper than tickets (accordingly, the more of you there are, the better the price!). And thirdly, you don't have to worry about overweight luggage.

And if you are still in doubt, read below the real story about how we went to travel around the Baltics.

For the first time, we decided to start small and go for a few days to the Baltic states - Latvia and Estonia. Here it must be said that we only had cars with studded tires, and not all EU countries allow you to drive on such tires - check this point when planning your route.

To travel to Europe by car you will need...

1. Reliable car.

2. Green card for a car (like our MTPL) - costs about 2,500 rubles, can be issued in advance, at any insurance company in your city, or immediately before leaving the Russian Federation. As you approach the border, you will now and then come across points with corresponding signs, and cards are also issued at some border gas stations.

3. Schengen visa. Here a surprise awaited us. It turns out that now almost all embassies are switching to working with intermediaries. That is, you, of course, can do without them, but then you will have to make an appointment at the consulate to submit documents two or three weeks in advance and plus 10 days to obtain a visa, but you will save 25 euros on Pony Express services.

4. Navigator. We downloaded Sygic, which took us from house to house, that is, to the rented apartments. In addition to its main functions, it can be used in pedestrian mode - it will show nearby attractions and give brief information about them.

5. Good company. After all, you will have to spend a lot of time nose to nose: if in the city you can still scatter to different places, and on the plane sit at different ends, then in the car you will not be able to get away from each other. And it’s even better if this company has a second driver whom you trust - the road is much easier if you change the wheel every two to three hours.

By the way, about the road. There are several options for traveling to Europe: the choice depends on the specific route. Our first destination was Riga, so we chose the Novorizhskoe highway with the border crossing at the point Burachki (Russia) - Terekhovo (Latvia). Judging by reviews from friends and Internet blogs, the highway was reconstructed just a couple of years ago. We did not have a single complaint: neither with the quality of the coating, nor with the markings, nor with the signs. There was only one imperfect, but short-lived site in the Pskov region; it did not cause any serious inconvenience.

Having left Moscow at 4 am, we were already at the checkpoint at 11. On the way there was a feeling that we were alone on the track. Only in the rearview mirror sometimes someone’s headlights could be seen, and every five minutes oncoming cars rushed by. We were third in the queue at the border, but ten minutes later there was already a decent tail of cars behind us - it’s not even clear where all these people came from. When going through control, it’s mainly the driver who has to fuss: he takes all the passports, shows the car, and fills out the documents. Passengers can at most be asked to get out of the car, and even then not always. Having settled the formalities in about an hour, we moved on.

On the other side of the border, the asphalt has become noticeably worse, but still of acceptable quality. By the way, fill your tank full before the border - a liter of 95 gasoline in Latvia costs approximately 1.8 euros. The next 300 km to the capital of Latvia took us about 5 hours - there are many settlements on the highway and the speed drops to 50, and sometimes to 30 km/h. That is, the entire journey, taking into account crossing the border, stops at gas stations and lunch, took about 13 hours. For comparison, the Moscow – Riga train takes 16.5 hours.

Parking in the centers of European cities is paid, so think in advance about where to store your car. We had an agreement with the owners of the rented apartment that they would give us the keys to the courtyard of the house, which helped us save a lot of money and not worry about the safety of our transport. By the way, the apartment itself with all amenities for four people, a 10-minute walk from the Old Town, cost about 50 euros per night.

Of course, we immediately went to the Old Town. Having reached St. Peter's Church and appreciating its scale, we realized that we were pretty hungry from the road. Having looked around, we went into a cafe with local cuisine - what a knuckle there was! I can honestly say that it was the most delicious dinner of the entire trip. I wanted to order mulled wine, but the waiter suggested trying a hot drink based on Riga balsam and blackcurrant juice - delicious! The bill for dinner at a restaurant in the center is about 20 euros per person - this is meat with a side dish and a drink. Some, but not all establishments automatically include a 10% service charge.

You can save a lot on food if you eat at home or in establishments similar to our “Mu-mu”, for example. In the latter case, a very hearty dinner will cost about 10 euros. But we figured that we would lose some of the flavor by not exploring the local cuisine.

After walking around the evening center a little more and thoroughly tasting mulled wine in the central square, we went to rest.

The next morning, we left the car and went to Jurmala by train. The fact is that the station is located right next to the Old Town, the train takes only 20 minutes, and we decided not to bother. And the price of gasoline again... Jurmala is a resort on the coast of the Gulf of Riga. In the very center is the Maiori station, where we got off. Previously, it was here that New Wave, KVN and other festivals took place. A very cozy town with beautiful architecture and pine trees. On the beach in winter, the wind, of course, knocks you off your feet, but the streets themselves are quiet and nothing interferes with your walk. I can imagine how great it is here in the summer! This place is especially suitable for a family holiday.

Returning to Riga and armed with a guidebook, we headed back to the Old Town. If you wish, then on the square near the House of the Blackheads you can hire a personal guide who will take you around the city and tell you everything in detail. Unfortunately, we were not able to go up to the observation deck of St. Peter's Church: due to the heavy snowfall it did not make sense. The next morning we wanted to go to a 20-minute organ concert in the Dome Cathedral. So we went in to buy tickets. As it turned out later, this was a very right decision - right before the concert there was a huge line at the box office. Having walked further and looked into the Cathedral of St. James, we found ourselves at the end of the service and the organ was just playing. “Oh, my 10 euros were wasted, I wasted my money,” I thought. True, it turned out that the organ of the Dome Cathedral sounds much cleaner, even in my amateurish opinion. But if you want to save money, this is quite an option.

The day after the concert we went to Tallinn. There are about 300 km between the cities, and this journey took about five hours. Crossing the border is purely formal: you drive through the checkpoint without stopping at a low speed, and that’s it – you’re in Estonia. The route immediately changes noticeably - the road surface becomes better, there are many more cameras, and gasoline is cheaper (about 1 euro per liter). In Tallinn, we also parked in a closed courtyard of a house with the prior permission of the owners. The price of the apartment is comparable to Riga housing - 50 euros for a spacious apartment within walking distance from the historical center.

On Town Hall Square, following a very tasty smell, we ended up in the medieval tavern “Three Dragons”. In all seriousness, no electricity or cutlery - you have to drink the soup from a cup-bowl! The choice of dishes is limited to one type of soup, boar ribs and sausages for main course; there are also pies with various fillings and drinks. Prices are reasonable for a tourist center: dinner with sausages - 12 euros, with ribs - 20 euros. Of course, I wanted to try something unusual, and I chose boar ribs. The portion is very large and quite enough for two young ladies. Objectively, the meat was cooked well - not tough, very juicy. But it has a very specific marinade, it gives off sweetness. And sweet meat is... not my thing in general. Although the surrounding men drank beer with pleasure.

In the morning we decided to catch up and went to the observation deck in the Fat Margaret Tower in the Old Town. To get to the top, you need to buy a ticket to the Maritime Museum for 6 euros. Good news - if you are traveling as a family, the ticket will cost you 12 euros for everyone. The prospect of walking through a boring specialized museum did not please us at all, but what a surprise it was when it turned out to be extremely fascinating. There are interactive exhibits, real masts with sails from sunken ships, and ship models. In general, it will be interesting for both big and small; for boys it’s a paradise. You can also go to Hydroharbour, the second part of the museum, and climb on a real submarine there!

In principle, a couple of days is enough to explore the historical part of both capitals. If you want to travel outside the city or delve into the study of museums in more detail, of course, it is better to allocate more time.

The return journey to Moscow took us approximately the same 13 hours through the Luhamaa (Estonia) – Shumilkino (Russia) checkpoint. A couple of differences from the Latvian border: it is better to book the border crossing time in advance - you will spend about an hour. It is unknown how long you will have to wait in line. And you also have to pay a service fee of about 5 euros per car.

Total:

In total, we spent about 12 thousand rubles on the road for gasoline for a sedan with a 1.6 engine and an automatic transmission. For three people it turned out to be much cheaper than tickets.

Green card (insurance) – 2500 rubles.

Service fee at the Estonian border is 5 euros.

At five o'clock in the morning on January 3, Moscow saw us off with a little plus, rain and highway mud. If you believe the promises of roadside stands, repairs at Novorizhsky ended in November. But in fact, it turned out that it continued into January. Where once it was possible to drive 110 km/h, we trudged 60, sometimes less. There are minimal warning signs, zero lighting in places, and there are potholes and cracks in the asphalt. Thus began the trip from Moscow to the Baltic states.

    We drove a Renault Sandero 1.6 16v, standard equipment. There are essentially no additives for a long journey, like an armrest or something else. The wheels are shod with Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 with 190 studs each. The noise is higher than with conventional 90-120 studs, but safety is a priority over acoustic comfort.

    Route: Moscow - Burachki checkpoint - Riga - Tallinn - Tartu - Kunichina Gora checkpoint - a shitload of kilometers along the country roads of the Pskov region - Moscow. The length in both directions is 2500 km. Travel expenses, including a green card, gasoline, paid parking in Tallinn, a couple of toll sections of the road - 10,500 rubles. The amount is based on the euro exchange rate at the beginning of January 2014, approximately 48 rubles per piece.

After Volokolamsk the road became better, the repairs were completed. It started snowing. Finally, January, winter! You just can't see a damn thing. But in the Rzhev area it was light and cheerful. The snow gave way to rain, which was where it all began, and then it cleared up completely. However, the joy of good visibility was immediately replaced by the Pskov region. I used to honestly think that we had no worse roads than in Voronezh. Only then I had not yet been to Pskov. Sorry, region sixtieth, it’s better to remove all your roads from the maps. Erase. With a limit of 90, we drove along the federal highway at 60 km/h, sometimes no more than 50. They shook us so much that the chime rattled for a long time.

Suddenly there is a good road about 50 kilometers to the border. We were delighted. They thought it all started just outside Vyborg before Finland. But suddenly - holes again, in the best traditions. We were shaking, driving and repeating “now, we’ll cross the border, we’ll enter Europe, and there we’ll take off on a wide, flat surface, just wait a little longer.” Yes, already!

The Russian guys were still on our side in no hurry to let anyone out. They really started to work only when a big guy in a uniform with big stars on his shoulder straps came out of a large building, looked at the line, turned to his people and shouted something. After that, yes, there is a lot of running around and accusations of those crossing the border being slow. That is, having created a queue and allowing everyone to relax, they suddenly jumped up as if stung and began blaming everyone except themselves for the slowness. At the same time, there are no instructions or incentives to action anywhere. Nothing. The border is set up in the worst possible way. Write somewhere at the entrance the order or at least a set of tips, I will follow them. But I don’t communicate with customs officers every day - time after time I stupidly forget what to do and where to submit which documents.

The Latvian side also did not excel in the speed of registration. Before leaving I read a bunch of reviews. Everywhere it was written “there was only one car in front of us” or “the border was empty, we cleared customs in 15 minutes.” There were about twenty cars between us and Latvia that day, and we stood in lines for a total of two hours.

But in the end they moved in. The road, to put it mildly, is not Europe. Well, that is, it’s no longer Pskov, but not yet the more severe Finland. It’s not even what begins after Vyborg, if you go to the deer and elk to snowboard and ski. We passed one roundabout, then another. We confidently followed the navigator to Riga, laughing at the signs that beckoned us to Zilupe. Suddenly the road ended. Under the wheels there was clay, trampled sand and gravel, which bounced and tapped some kind of trash on the bottom. This could have been avoided by turning to the funny Zilupa earlier, but we trusted Sygic installed on the iPhone. Therefore, we drove 30-40 kilometers off-road at a speed of 30-40 km/h. But follow the signs to Riga.

Things got better after Rezekne. It's even easier - in the Jekabpils area. Well, after Ogre, Europe has finally arrived - with the long-awaited wide road surface without potholes.

All the time before this we had been looking at the devastation reigning on the roadsides. They were seriously afraid to stop for a snack, a rest, or even to go to the toilet; they joked about the cannibal tramps who still lived in this broken-down “once splendor.” The entrance from Russia to Latvia is simply beautiful in nature. The old houses are abandoned and seem to have been looted. Broken cowsheds, rusty skeletons of equipment, frankly old foreign cars and the opportunity to refuel with relatively inexpensive gas instead of the cheapest gasoline.

Closer to Riga, the landscape improved, we even decided to stop at one of the gas stations of the ubiquitous Lukoil. Coffee for one euro, inexpensive candies, snacks, gasoline, gas, not very convenient toilet.

By the way, about gas stations. In New Riga, back in Russia, there are literally a bunch of gas stations with normally priced gasoline. Not 60-80 rubles per liter, but 2-2.5 times cheaper. We filled it full, and the next time we filled it only when leaving Tallinn. Therefore, only ten and a half thousand rubles were spent on travel expenses.

It’s also worth filling up with fuel before leaving Russia because the next gas station may be hundreds of kilometers away. Roads in Latvia are not as well developed as in Central Russia; you can drive for a very long time before you come across anything.

If you want coffee, stock up in Russia too. Go to the toilet immediately after customs. On the road from Moscow to Riga on the Latvian side, things are somehow especially unimportant. A cafe, a gas station, or just a stall with a parking lot for truckers can be found here once every 50-100 kilometers. And then in most cases you will have to make an inconvenient exit from the highway to the left. And if you turn right, you will still have to drive far from the main road. They don't build cafes right on the road here. Often you need to turn and move away a kilometer and a half. The locals seem too lazy to go to work in the morning and return in the evening, so they open cafes on the ground floors of their houses on the outskirts of still “living” villages.

Riga

The capital of Latvia greeted us with a cold wind, evening lights and the huge Daugava, which we also call the Western Dvina. I probably haven't seen anything so impressive since childhood. Well, that is, I saw the sea, many seas. But these are huge salt lakes. You look into them, where the water merges with the sky, and you understand that this is how it should be. But the river is a completely different matter. For example, the Moscow River is small and unimpressive. Voronezh reservoir? More, but also not the same, especially since it’s too artificial. The last time I was so impressed by the Don was in the Rostov region. Even earlier, perhaps, Cherepovets Sheksna. The Daugava is so wide and deep that ferries docking right in Riga can easily fit in it. Huge multi-deck ships carrying hundreds of cars, buses and thousands of people in one voyage.

At the hotel parking lot we were met by a truly Russian security guard. Instead of telling us where to park, he didn't even tell us where we couldn't park. Chewie simply asked, in our own way, “Have you seen a cone here?” “No, sorry, brother, we didn’t notice, especially since we didn’t even hit him. We’ve covered 1,100 kilometers today, and we can’t see much of it anymore.” That is, I wouldn’t mind if he pointed out that it’s forbidden to park here. But this bastard asked a clarifying question in the tone of a Russian granny.

Well, for example, in Moscow you can often hear “Young man, would you like to give me your seat?” instead of “Make room for me, please.” Or an irritated “Would you like to move?” instead of the normal “Move over, please, I’m cramped.” I hate clarification questions with tricky tricks. They're annoying, bitch. Well, say normally what needs to be done instead of stressing others and making them think. Leave less freedom to act when you want to achieve something for sure.

But the guys at the reception made me happy. Two bright Balts, similar as brothers, but, apparently, just colleagues and friends for a long time. They tamed our linguistic rage and gave us dozens of smiles in just five minutes of communication.

In Riga we stayed at the Islande Hotel. A good hotel with an endless array of advantages. Who needs a good number, this is there. It's close to the old town, just cross the bridge. If you feel like taking a walk around residential Riga, then that’s no problem - you should go in a different direction from the historical center. Only there is almost nothing interesting there. Ordinary gray streets of any provincial Russian city. That’s why we walked across the bridge every day, like going to work.

We don't really like museums; they are usually about ancient or recent history. Often boring. Sometimes interesting. In Riga in January there is basically no indoor space. There are no exhibitions, no artists coming. The poster, which we opened literally for five minutes before leaving Moscow, only listed a semi-church performance with an organ, and a museum of occupation open 365 days a year. In the second, kind guides talk about how Latvians were squeezed by the iron fist of the evil empire of the USSR. Therefore, we preferred the narrow streets of the old city and therefore ended up at the annual Sherlock Holmes parade, which happened on January 4th.

It was amazing. We walked among the crowd of people of that era. Tramps, policemen, detectives, a couple of Lestrades, just a few hipsters dressed up in tweed, ladies in fluffy dresses, children in funny visors, warm coats, striped knee socks and patent leather shoes. Everyone mixed up.

All this to the rhythm of drums, along the central streets, with warning traffic closures. And no one complained, everyone, literally all the people around looked out of the windows and greeted the fans of the famous, albeit fictional, detective. They watched us from houses, from cars, someone got out and joined us to walk together to the square where the participants of the procession gave a concert. We decided not to stay there and moved on.

Small, cozy Riga is beautiful. The center is good for walking. There is no favorite Starbucks, but it doesn’t matter, because there are plenty of good coffee shops that replace it in Latvia. Everywhere there is coffee to take away, to take with you, even at any kiosk like our Soyuzpechat. Or Rospechat, whichever is more convenient.

As we understand, there are no particular national dishes in Latvia. Well, that is, they exist, but they rather resemble something between the richer Estonian and Lithuanian cuisines. A little from there, a little from here. It’s easy to understand, just go to Piejura. The menu of the restaurant with Baltic kuna is full of Estonian and Lithuanian dishes, but there are almost no Latvian ones.

And then the wild coast of Jurmala happened, which is only 12 kilometers from the center of Riga. The calm winter sea is beautiful. The Baltic Sea with the clouds hanging over it evokes only admiration and a desire to sit with your butt in the sand and look at the horizon. Local residents or tourists who have come to breathe the barely salty air, people with dogs, with children, just children, will be running behind and in front. The light surf will slowly drive the waves back and forth, and you will sit, peering into the thin strip connecting the shallow sea and the heavy sky.

The central walking street of Jurmala did not evoke even close emotions. An ordinary Russian village with wooden one- and two-story buildings and a huge hotel with a casino built in the middle of it. Pugacheva was not there. Kirkorov in those days, they say, was on fire in Abu Dhabi. The promenade in the rainy winter was not very good. Back to Riga!

    Yes, the Baltic water is not salty at all. I tried.

Well, as soon as I got there, three attractions happened at once. First, we came to a couple of houses that together played the role of 221B Baker Street in the famous Russian TV series. It is interesting that the front door was the door of one house; it is located a little further in, in an alley next to another house, which was used as the home of Holmes and Watson.

The third house and, concurrently, the second Riga architectural celebrity is the same one on Flower Street from “17 Moments of Spring”. The windows are just like windows, without flowers or even funny irons.

Well, for dessert - a monument to the Bremen musicians:

On our last evening in Riga, another wonderful thing happened to us - we managed to sign up at the Wood Religion Barber Shop. It’s like the Moscow “Goldfinch” and “ChopChop”, only more soulful and interesting. Well, look for yourself what they do, on their facebook page. I got my hair cut by Diana Payton, she sometimes comes to Moscow and comes on tour. Before meeting her, I honestly had no idea that hairdressers go to other cities to give haircuts to order. I heard that tattoo artists do this, but I didn’t think that the phenomenon applies to people in other professions.

By the way, about people. All the Latvians we met on the trip turned out to be pleasant and friendly. There was no such thing as someone not showing me the way, not smiling, or even telling me to go fuck myself. Everyone speaks Russian. Yes, at the very beginning the parking guard at our hotel tried to spoil the impression, but that was just one case. Exception.

True, Diana said that this attitude towards Russian tourists is now due to radicals who left to work in England and Ireland. Or whatever they call them, rednecks in our opinion. They defended their right to live and work in any EU country, after which they spat on their country and flew off to scrub the toilets of Western Europe. In Latvia now there are only adequate people who understand that in order to get something, you need to work somehow. To get more, you need to work with your head. You can earn decent money and live well anywhere. “We opened a business,” Diana said, referring to her salon.

Tallinn baby!

Tallinn began with the road to Tallinn. Almost immediately after Riga there is a wonderful place called Saulkrasti. It’s fucking beautiful there, Riga residents go there on vacation in the summer. Not to Jurmala, oiled by the director of KVN and vulgarized by the baggy outfits of the prima donna of all Rus', but to quiet Saulkrasti, where I even wanted to stay for two or three months.

The border between Latvia and Estonia in the Ainaži region cannot be called a border. It seems to be there, even the houses of the border guards are somewhere off the road. Only they are all neglected and overgrown with thick, tall windbreaks. Not a single person, not an extra sign. Drive without slowing down. Just remember that beyond this imaginary line begins another state with slightly different people, but the same currency, the same price tag for gasoline and all sorts of liberties for which you can be punished.

Afterwards, already in Estonia, there was a coastline, a forest, a forest and a coastline behind sparse trees, fields, huge pieces of furniture standing right in the middle of these fields. That is, you drive and are surprised to see a chair about five meters high installed by someone in a field. We drove around the city of Pärnu, again there was a forest, darkness on the road, only the polite low beam of cars driving south.

Tallinn. A city with rain, poor roads, deep puddles on the roadsides and insufficient street lighting. This is how the second capital planned on the way met us.

The hotel is the same four-star, the room is more modest. The underground parking is paid, it contains only St. Petersburg numbers. Upon entry, they demanded 15 euros per night for the car, to which they received the answer “10 euros are written in our reservation.” We paid as we booked, but there was an unpleasant aftertaste. Moreover, right in front of the hotel there was an open parking lot for 2 euros per day, and a little further, across the road, a multi-tiered closed one for only 5 euros. In Tallinn, you have to pay for everything, always and everywhere. The city is noticeably more expensive than Riga.

Euroopa is located between the port and the old town, but still closer to the piers. The room's windows may look out onto the sea and moored ferries, or onto an unpaved cheap parking lot or a one-story shopping center.

Estonian breakfast is much more modest compared to Riga. But there were more fish, which made me very happy. We love to refuel in the morning and go for a walk for the day. This way you get to know the city better. Not wandering around museums, not staying in restaurants, pretending to be a gourmet, but simply looking at the streets and discussing the people walking towards you.

It doesn't matter with the latter in Estonia. No open disrespect was noticed, but some hostility was often felt. We even saw the contempt of native Estonians for the Russians, who decided to stay in the country after the collapse of the USSR and never learned Estonian to a decent level.

Imagine the situation - a Russian aunt is standing there dispensing pizza by the pound. A couple of Estonians, a mother and her over-aged son, approach her. They say something to her, vaguely twirling their fingers around first one piece and then another. Unhurried locals watch as the store employee carefully puts the pieces into bags, weighs them, and makes price tags. Then they raise their tone and start telling her that she didn’t give them what they asked for. Moreover, all the time while she was putting their order into bags, while she was weighing, packing and gluing stickers, all this time the mother and her adult son, who was long overdue to go shopping on his own, were clearly discussing the actions of the saleswoman. They saw what she was doing and didn’t even think to stop her. Probably the locals still have too much free time.

There doesn’t seem to be anything like this in relation to tourists, or we didn’t really notice it. But you still feel something. Some kind of coldness. I saw Estonians as unfriendly. Such serious, focused and often even impetuous guys who still seem to be trying to overcome the Soviet stereotype of “talleko li to Tallinna?” Estonians are like Russians. Only they are so Russian, you know, like the Moscow Limita, who cares. No time for a smile and kindness. Sad principles operated even in our hotel.

In the old center, which is logically designed for tourists, the atmosphere turned out to be a little more cheerful. There is a lot of Russian speech. It seems that residents of the Pskov and Leningrad regions, in principle, do not care where to go for a couple of days - out of town for a barbecue or to Tallinn for some other need. Go shopping or just wander around the city.

The Old Town, it must be admitted, is more interesting than Riga. But, at the same time, it is more incomprehensible, more confusing and smaller. If you wish, you can see it all in a few minutes by climbing one of the towers or walking along the numerous observation platforms. By the way, there are sites that will give a head start to some towers that are always paid and not open at all times of the year. In winter, it seems like only two are open, in old churches. Access to the sites is 24/7 and free.

There are a couple of places in the center that all guests of the Estonian capital should definitely check out.

Firstly, this is the old Town Hall Pharmacy, the first mention of which dates back to 1422, when it was already owned by its third owner. That is, the pharmacy was open before him.

Afterwards, it’s worth having a snack at III Draakon, which is very close to the first attraction. Either a restaurant or a tavern has only candlelight, poor lighting. We were offered a simple menu - stew, pies, coffee. The walls are masonry, the tables and benches are rough, made of massive boards. Even though all this is in the city center, Three Dragons is cheap. And who needs more comfort, around the corner, in the same building of the city hall, there is a more cultural restaurant. The same owners, only more lordly conditions.

Residential, real Tallinn, which we were lucky enough to see, begins behind the old town, just if you draw a line from the port to the southwest. The low-rise city is much lower than the center, which is traditionally located on a hill.

You can hardly hear the Russian language here. In general, there is a problem with any language other than Estonian. The Northern Balts are less concerned than Latvians about understanding someone and having someone understand them. If you want to ask an Estonian for directions, do it in Estonian. If you can’t, take a navigator with a detailed map of Estonia or at least a specific city on your trip.

We haven’t been to Tallinn’s Vykhino or Strogino, and we haven’t even visited Severnoe Butovo. The area that starts from the old town is similar to all Russian cities. It’s like low-rise Voronezh, some blocks of which were once rebuilt by poor landowners. Therefore, the house is only two levels, plus a damp, cold basement with modest windows looking out onto the sidewalk.

But in Tallinn these houses are not being prepared for demolition. They are not brought to a state in which they are first covered with green netting for a year or two, and then razed to the ground. Each one has antique-style plastic double-glazed windows, each one is patched up and painted. People live in these houses. Walking in such an environment is much more pleasant than in dilapidated Russian cities. There are square Soviet monstrosities evenly stained with gray plaster, but this is rare.

They break a lot in Tallinn. However, this refers rather to an industrial zone that is no longer needed. For example, the owner of one between the port and the old city found the money for the complete demolition of unwanted workshops and warehouses and the construction in their place of a beautiful modern quarter with shops on the ground floor, offices on the middle floors and apartments on the top. It looks like this:

The next morning it was time to go home. It was not difficult to leave Tallinn. Quite annoying paving stones, a minimum of takeaway coffee outlets, incessant rain, gloomy people in Russian and unreasonably high prices for everything in Moscow took their toll. Leaving Riga, heading not to Estonia, but back to Russia, would be much more difficult. I would like to stay there. But not in the Estonian capital.

On the way to Moscow we passed through Tartu and really regretted spending three whole days in Tallitsa. It would be nice for a couple to just see the city. There would still be time left not just to look, but to see the beautiful city on the Emajõgi River (or Omovzha in Russian).

A short return border crossing, slightly delayed by the Estonian side, who refused to speak Russian and barely spoke English. Paid entry into Russia, half a kilometer of good road and... hello, Pskov country roads. We were shaken again, thrown from side to side, we covered the road out loud and to ourselves. But you know what? In almost every village where people still live, almost everywhere we met someone, they waved and smiled at us. And we smiled back. They say Russia is a gloomy country. But it turns out she's not all like that. And when you understand this, when you see a boy of about twelve standing on the side of the road, and behind him are a couple of other friendly older guys, and they are all happy to see you, a stranger, it becomes more pleasant to return home.