Friday 16 September 2016 This morning we drove to Pushkin, named after the eminent author and home to his 19th century wooden house, 25km south of St Petersburg. Formerly 'the Tsar's Village', the royal estates were built here, including the summer residence of Catherine the Great, a majestic palace styled in blue and gold rococo. The gold on the outside of the palace is just yellow paint because even Catherine decided that to have that painted in real gold might be a bit over the top! … [Read more...]

Thursday 15 September 2016  Today we meet local guide Natalya again to continue our exploration of St Petersburg. We walk along to the Metro Station near to the main Muscovskiy train station that we arrived at yesterday, and around Plaschad Vosstaniya (Resurrection Square) to the entrance to the Metro. Although the metro system is much simpler overall here than it was in Moscow, it is not that well suited to where we will be going as it involves lots of walking deep underground to connect to … [Read more...]

Wednesday 14 September 2016  We arrived in at St Petersburg's central Moscow Railway Station at 6.40am and were met by a bus to transfer us and our bags to our hotel (the Ibis St Petersburg Centre)- which we were somewhat surprised to discover was actually only a couple of hundred metres down the road. We had to drive around the block to get there and it probably would have been faster to walk! At that hour our rooms weren't ready for us but we could go in and have some breakfast. After … [Read more...]

Tuesday 13 September 2016  There is chaos in the hotel this morning as the hotel is fully booked. We had to wait until 9.00am to hear whether we could extend our room till 9.00pm, so Gill and I had to pack our suitcases and take them down to reception to store in case we couldn't extend our room (we were able to extend our room so had to take the bags back up again). Everyone seems to be leaving at 9.00am so the lifts are absolutely chaotic: we used Ieva's tip to push the Up button and go up … [Read more...]

Monday 12 September 2016  We arrive into Moscow by train at 8.40am this morning. Most of us had slept pretty well on the train, although Dermott thought the tracks must have been made from cobble stones because it was rough at times. I bought tea for our cabin from Olga the stewardess and we shared some muesli bars - perfect to tide us over. Thankfully we do have a bus to transfer us from the station to the hotel; it is Monday morning and the traffic is bad but we are heading out of town. It … [Read more...]

Sunday 11 September 2016 We have a free day today and there is the option to go to Dudutki - the Belarusian Museum of Folk Crafts. Although it sounds interesting, we ask what else there is to see in Minsk itself. Ieva says that she is going to do some sightseeing in Minsk and we are welcome to join her if we wish. Most of us do. We get to have a sleep-in and relaxing start to the day. We are supposed to check out of our rooms in the morning and leave our bags in reception as we are due to … [Read more...]

Saturday 10 September 2016  We have an early start for a long day’s drive out through the countryside to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Mir Castle and Niasvizh Palace. As we head out into the countryside we see more farming activity and lots of people fishing around lakes, with camp chairs set up in the reeds. Andrei tells us more about Belarus along the way: 3 years maternity leave (although not a lot of money); retirement for men at 63 (but life expectancy is 66); retirement for … [Read more...]

Friday 09 September 2016  Today we have a relatively short drive to the Lithuanian-Belarus Border. Belarus is in a country grouping with Russia and visas are required so we definitely have to go through passport control here. The Lithuanian side is easy – first the driver gets out and shows his papers and then a guard walks through the bus with a dog (both look fairly friendly). Then we drive a bit further and have to all get out an present our passports at the counter (apparently … [Read more...]

Thursday 08 September 2016 Hotel Panorama is conveniently situated on a little hill just out of the main Old Town area of Vilnius and as the name suggests has a wonderful panoramic view over the city. Our room has a panoramic view of the magnificent castle that is the railway station, built in times that they wanted their grandeur to be known for ever. But as we go out to the lifts on the 5th floor there is a breathtaking view of the city and its many domes. The hotel is very … [Read more...]

Wednesday 07 September 2016 Today we travel to our third country on this trip - Lithuania- and visit the Hill of Crosses and Trakai Castle on our way to the capital Vilnius. We have a trip of 300km in a mini-bus (unfortunately not so comfortable as the previous one). On the way we detour through an area that was the Duchy of Courland during the Romanov era and see a magnificent castle that just appears out of nowhere - an enormous fairytale palace. The Baltic States were the primary … [Read more...]