Russia……… a country that has always fascinated us, but that we could neither could nor wanted to visit on our own. This nation, unfortunately, is still not ready for "do-it-yourself" trips: there are no equipped rest areas for campers, let alone campsites, there's still too much bureaucracy at the borders, you lose hours and hours, the signs are in Cyrillic and only rarely did we see anything written in English, the police can stop you for nothing and if you don't pay the bribe – sometimes a bottle of wine is enough – they make things very difficult for you with considerable loss of time, very few people speak English, and for now they aren't interested in tourism.
For this trip we had already signed up four years earlier with CC La Granda, which was one of the first camper clubs to organise trips to this destination; unfortunately at the last moment I realised my passport was about to expire and I didn't have time to renew it. This year, after many postponements, we made up our minds: we turned to the agency we had been with in Libya, Girocamper; the cost was fairly high at € 3,460, departure and arrival Tarvisio, duration 30 days. After sending the deposit and then the balance in June, 15 days before departure the agency informed us that, having not reached the minimum number of participants, the tour would not take place, but redirected us to the Russian correspondent (sanpietroburgo.it) which, gathering all the various fragments from other clubs or agencies, managed to complete the necessary number to make the trip.
Instead of Tarvisio, the departure will be at Terespol on the Polish/Belarusian border and the end will be Narva on the Russian/Estonian border; only on this stretch will we be followed and assisted by guides: an Italian speaking Russian and a Belarusian speaking Italian and Russian, all at the price of € 1,750, practically half. We accepted immediately; the itinerary before and after Russia we'll do on our own, visiting anyway the places listed in the Girocamper programme.
I have divided this trip by countries, the Slovakia, with Poland partly on the way out and Częstochowa on the way back, Belarus, Russia divided into Moscow, the Golden Ring, St Petersburg, the Residences, and finally Estonia
Day 122 Jul 2006
154 / 4491 – ESTONIA – Vosu – Camping
Departure scheduled for 8:00, Martina arrives at 8:30, we ask her for a refund of what we paid yesterday and she immediately gives us the money back, she sorted it out with Alessia. We set off through the SPB traffic, I think the guide lost the way several times, after various turns we always ended up back at the same point, at a petrol station just before the border, we fill up, even though there was a fuel limit for export, I fill three jerry cans, the price difference between Russia and the rest of Europe is remarkable and this reserve will save me quite a bit.
At the border I'm the first, leaving Russia doesn't cost us much time, the bad part comes at the Estonian border: a woman in uniform, pretty, 1.80 tall, red-haired, besides the passport and the vehicle documents, wants to check the chassis number, by coincidence I knew where they were, I point it out to her and after a mock check she gives me back the documents and lets me go. FREE…….. that was the impression I had entering Estonia, without realizing it I let out a long sigh of relief and felt more cheerful, what perhaps saddened me most were the many elderly people begging, the sad people, the men drunk in the evening and the police constantly extorting you, even just for a bottle of wine.
Two crews had less luck: a couple with two children were held for hours because the older son had his father's photo on his passport, while the nine-year-old daughter was only registered on her mother's passport but without a photo (as European rules require) and only after countless phone calls between their command and probably our embassy were they released along with another crew who initially couldn't find the plate with the chassis number, then when they found it, it turned out that two numbers had been transcribed reversed (63 as 36), they too were released after various interventions by Martina. ADVICE: check the position of the plate, clean it and compare it with the registration document.
By late afternoon with the remaining crews, many preferred, for various reasons, to return to Italy, it was decided to head towards the coast, we stopped at a lovely campsite frequented by many Germans, collective dinner at a long table, by popular demand I had to make the crostata again, having run out of both butter and jam I asked who had some……….. I was overwhelmed with butter and jars of jam. While we were having dinner I noticed that the Germans were looking at us with a certain envy, they: accustomed to tins and ready meals couldn't conceive that even while travelling you can eat steaming and appetizing pasta and finish with a dessert baked in the camper's oven. Everyone to bed at midnight.
Tallinn's Gothic town hall with its spire rises above the colorful square
Day 223 Jul 2006
348 / 4839 – LITHUANIA – Paid parking
In the morning bad news reaches one crew, the daughter, in Italy, is unwell and has been hospitalized, nothing serious but the grandchildren need their grandparents and can't be alone, they immediately set off accompanied by another crew who will travel back with them. A bit sad about the departure of these very nice friends, we also set off towards Riga, we stop at the EuroPark, paid parking. We visit the old town, very beautiful and characteristic, we have lunch at an outdoor restaurant without spending much, in the afternoon the remaining crews decide to follow the sea and visit an important island, my wife and I decide to head back, we leave the happy company and set off on the road home. The border with Lithuania practically doesn't exist.
Towards evening when we were already looking for a place for the night's stop, we notice in a parking lot by the sea two crews who had set off alone at the border, we stop but they set off again, they want to go to Vilnius to visit it the next morning, we are in a nice paved spot by the sea where we witness a wonderful sunset, there's light until late, many people leave the beach at 21:30, for the night they ask us for € 12, the guard after closing the barrier will sleep in a little house near us.
Pikk Hermann tower in Tallinn among leafy trees, limestone walls in sunlight
Day 324 Jul 2006
471 / 5310 – POLAND – Augustow - Camping Bartek
This morning to get out we had to wake the caretaker so he would open the barrier for us. The roads in Lithuania and Latvia are not the best, the only motorway is under construction with many worksites and the alternating one-way traffic with long waiting intervals delays the journey a lot. Long before the customs post with Poland a very long queue of trucks begins, you drive overtaking on the left hoping no one comes in the opposite direction, very few formalities and you enter Poland, you pay the vignette even for Austria as well. We change money, for 100 € they give us 385 zl. We found a campsite just after the border and stop, we meet an Italian crew who are also heading back after visiting the three Baltic republics, after a nice chat, dinner and then off to bed.
Medieval stone tower with red roof and ivy, Tallinn
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