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 Poland with Wieliczka and Krakow on the way out and Częstochowa on the way back, Slovakia, Belarus, Russia divided between Moscow and the Golden Ring and St Petersburg with the residences, and finally Estonia
Day 128 Jun 2006
0/539 - Vienna - OMS motorway service area in the direction of Bratislava
Departure at 7.30 Motorway at Osoppo and we still haven't come off it. Principessa, as usual, threw up at the start and Schizzo hid under Tina's front seat and came out after 100 km. Then they get used to it and calm down again and have long sleeps.
At the Austrian border I buy vignettes for 10 days at € 7.60 Normal traffic with a diversion before Graz onto a normal road for about 40 km on a mountain road, the scenery is beautiful but with twist after turn, sultry weather broken up by showers and storms, the Austrians are very diligent when it rains, they drive at 80 km/hour, right now we are stopped for the night at an OMS service area, after filling up with diesel and petrol (today the air conditioning worked without interruption) we settled into the space reserved for caravans, dinner with pesto pasta: before leaving I picked all the basil and following a recipe I filled two jars with this wonderful condiment.
Salt-carved sculptures in Wieliczka Mine, warm light on historic figures
Day 229 Jun 2006
329/868 - Dolny Kubin - Tatra Mountains - Car park in the square
Quiet but sultry night. We take the A4 again, busy at first then clearer, exit no. 43 in the direction of Bratislava, normal road, they are building the motorway alongside, at the border you pay the vignette (sk.150 = € 3.50), changed € 50.00. Arriving in Bratislava it's almost impossible to park in the centre, we found a car park under the castle, near the bus terminus, convenient both for the centre and for visiting the castle. Under heavy, persistent rain we visit the beautiful historic centre, small but very interesting, we go back to the camper for lunch with the idea of visiting the castle in the afternoon, at 3 p.m. given the continuing bad weather and the impossibility of seeing those magnificent panoramas from the top of the bastions, we give up and set off again; besides, my foot hurts and I don't feel like walking, this morning's slog was enough for me.
We leave Bratislava crossing the bridge again and taking the E75 in the direction of Nitra/Trencin/Zelina then onto the E70 in the direction of Martin/Kralovani, on the motorway at first then on a normal two-lane road, impossible to overtake, an accident involving three cars in a pile-up blocked traffic for quite a while, despite the rain you can admire beautiful woods in a succession of mountains and hills. Now we are stopped in a little square in Dolny Kubin, a very quiet spot, we had dinner with spaghetti with fish sauce, prepared before leaving and put in sealed jars, cherry tomatoes in salad, fruit and to finish some sweet treats.
White baroque church with two green towers, in Kraków
Day 330 Jun 2006
176/1044 - Krakow - Parking
Last night we were very tired and by 10 p.m. we were already in the world of dreams, this morning departure at 6.30, mountain road through woods and small villages, we crossed the border without problems, with Poland the landscape changes: fewer plants, more meadows, road entirely patched, a continuous vibration…. After the border, not finding a bank to change money, we are forced to fill up with diesel using euros; here the petrol station attendant cheated us: he gave us an exchange rate of 1 to 3 when in truth it was 1 to 4.
Before Krakow we visit Wieliczka with its rock salt mine (40+40+10 for photos), very interesting, the visit lasts two hours, the guides are only in Polish or English, here photos are endless, I took about 60 shots, many of which I'll then have to delete, you queue to get the ticket, then you wait for the indicated time to enter in a group with the guide and then you wait a long time to go back up in the two stacked lifts of the miners of the time, I ask myself……. in August when there will be more traffic: how will they do it??? Among the various tourists we met two couples who will do the Russia tour with us, in the afternoon we left them at the car park, we'll see each other further on, their intention is to visit the Auchwitz concentration camps, a place that doesn't appeal to me.
We were looking for the campsite our new friends told us about, but, not finding it, we settled in a car park (90 sl. for 24 hours) right by the castle opposite the Hotel Sheraton on the riverbank, a very beautiful spot and very close to the centre.
Kraków Rynek arcade with stone columns, hanging lanterns and rattan café chairs
Day 41 Jul 2006
104/1148
Last night at a certain point the car park emptied and we spent a quiet night, this morning with umbrellas and windbreakers we ventured out in heavy rain towards the centre, a very beautiful city with characteristic and very interesting sites, at the Czartoryskich museum (33 sl.) we were able to see and admire Leonardo da Vinci's "Lady with an Ermine", at the entrance in addition to the tickets I had to pay for the camera, it was useless as you can't use the flash and the glass covering the most important paintings reflects and prevents you from taking the photo. On the big square a stage had been set up where very good children performed folk dances in magnificent costumes. After lunch, without the rain, a visit to the castle ( sl.) with its imposing cathedral.
On the way back, departure from the car park with a small problem: at the moment of payment (90 sl.) the attendant asked us for the entry ticket, on arrival it hadn't been given to us, probably an oversight on their part, after a small discussion he accepted the 90 sl. without giving us a receipt and we set off for Terespol. We crossed the bridge again in the reverse direction from our arrival, turn right where the signs for Terespol are, at a certain point a roadworks site with its diversions and lack of signs made us lose our way, after much wandering around they point us in the right direction. Road sometimes patched alternating with smooth asphalt but always with the ruts of heavy vehicles. We stop for the night in a lorry park of a petrol station.
Ceramic and glass stalls lit up in Kraków's Cloth Hall market
Day 52 Jul 2006
395/1543 - Terespol - Camping Pod Deboni (40 sl.)
Eventful night, first a group of rowdy youngsters and then a truck with a very noisy load of cows. The bumpy road continues, at a service station I fill up with diesel and water, which I later found to be of very poor quality. Nice weather. Along the road we find a supermarket (LIDL) open even though it's Sunday, we stocked up on fruit, vegetables and tins of food for the cats, there was everything: salad from southern Italy, peaches from Romagna, wine from the Castelli and many other things at a ridiculous price, there was no point in stocking up before leaving, here you find everything. ADVICE: stock up on groceries in Poland, you spend a quarter of what you would in Italy and there is everything.
At a car park we find three other crews who are part of the group, we decide to continue together and not to go directly to the car park indicated by Sanpietroburgo.it but to stop at the campsite on the outskirts of the city. A quiet spot on a lawn with large pine trees, electricity hook-up, water, not trusting what I had loaded previously I emptied the tanks, washed and refilled them, everyone had dinner together under a shelter and good night.
Stained glass window with Madonna and red hearts in Kraków cathedral
Day 63 Jul 2006
6/1549 - Terespol - Parking (40 sl.)
After sorting out the campers and letting the cats graze, we head to the parking area for the meet-up with all the others, with loading/unloading, power and water. When we arrive, three other campers are already there. Unfortunately, one of them has already had a bad experience: at the parking area, where we also stayed, in Krakow, he was robbed at his camper — after forcing the door, they took his camera, phone and PC…… the trip is off to a bad start for them!!! During the morning several campers arrived. At first we got worried, there seemed to be too many, but then the situation was cleared up: there are two groups, ten of them belong to a club and will go with their own guide and will have an itinerary staggered from ours; our group has 15 campers.
Towards evening Hugo arrives, our guide, who explains in detail the itinerary and the various problems we will run into and the common rules we will have to follow for the smooth running of the tour. He assigns the column numbers by draw; we got number one. Tomorrow we'll be first and the day after tomorrow last, it will rotate. From us and two other crews signed up for the Giro Camper he asks for an extra 110 €, because the pre-arranged dinners were calculated at that figure per person and not per couple. We willingly accept the mistake, knowing that these dinners or lunches are sometimes not the best, but being together in company makes up for the poor quality or quantity of the food served. Today the weather is nice.
Yellow cloister of the Jasna Góra monastery in Częstochowa, green roofs, seated tourists
Day 74 Jul 2006
10/1659 - Brest - Hotel Intourist Parking
Departure before 8, at customs at 8.30, entry into Belarus at 14.30, all the time under a scorching sun. I turned on the generator for the air conditioning to get a bit of relief, above all for the cats, whose fur wasn't exactly ideal for it. For lunch, canned food, since we had to leave at any moment. For customs, Hugo asked us for all the photocopies of the documents; some didn't have them and he promptly managed to make them. ADVICE: make at least 5 copies of all documents — passport, vehicle registration, international and regular driving licence, and if applicable the animals' health documents. After the border we got to know Alessia, a Belarusian girl who will help Hugo escort us on this tour. 5 km and the first diesel fill-up, Hugo pays for everything and will give us the expense note
Here the journey continues in "BELARUS"
Gilded baroque altar with crystal chandeliers inside the Pauline Monastery church in Częstochowa
Day 827 Jul 2006
513 / 6298 – ITALY – Majano – HOME
After the first stretch still under construction in Vienna we take the motorway again that will take us home quickly, the interruption found on the way there was no longer there. The trip to and from Russia is over, it was a great experience, we visited interesting countries and places, of Russia, such a large and vast nation we have only seen a part, I hope that in the future it will be possible to visit it easily far and wide without so much bureaucracy and various constraints.
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