Baltics - 12 June 2012 (1)

Travelling to Riga

I was up at 04.00, slightly earlier than planned, but it took all the extra time to repack because of the need to dry our clothes the evening before.

Inside a Lux Express Bus

Most people were already downstairs and eating the packed breakfast.  Ian had done a sweepstake on what would be in the packs, but no one could have predicted the buckwheat kotelets which were in my box.  They looked like meat, which put me off, and they tasted bad as they were ice-cold.  This was a repeat of the usual problem where people cannot tell the difference between vegan and vegetarian.  I would have been happy with what the others had, with a slice of cheese replacing the meat.  Luckily, Sarah liked the kotelets, so I was able to offload them onto her.

Valka/Valga

We set off for the bus station at 06.00.  Despite coming all the way from St Petersburg in Russia, the bus arrived on time.  If only the no.10 bus could do that here in Poppleton!  The bus driver gave us a sticky luggage label for our ticket and put our bags on board.  As we embarked, a man checked our passports and gave us a bottle of water.

I was very impressed with the bus, which was run by Lux Express.  There was so much leg room that my feet didn’t reach the foot rest.  May found a way to adjust her seat so that it was further from mine – a great idea if you were sitting next to an over large person.  Some seats were around tables, like in train carriages.  These were mostly already occupied by Russians.  There was an on-board toilet and tea and coffee making facilities for the journey.  All this for just LVL11.40!  (Included in the cost of our tour.)

Railway in Valga/Valka

As we left Tartu, we passed some picturesque houses in quirky styles, which May said were typical eastern European architecture.  Then the scenery reverted to lush, well-watered, green fields.  We spotted hedges made from Christmas trees, grown close together.  There were some woods, which were all made up of tall straight fir or birch trees.  The fir trees were often cleared at the bottom and didn’t have many branches until the very tops.

Railway in Valga/Valka

There was a five minute stop at the border town of Valga/Valka.  The buildings here were more austere, an obvious relic of the cold war, and there were some army vehicles.  I climbed up to the bridge over the railway line to stretch my legs.

Once over the border, we tried to spot the differences between Estonia and Latvia.  Many of the gardens had dogs, but that was about it.  We passed a roadblock, when two women came aboard to check our passports.  Apparently Latvia is like Belgium in that there is a legal requirement to carry official identification with you at all times.

Anyone for Coffee?

We got stuck in a jam caused by some roadworks with single alternate lane traffic lights and Ian decided to get some coffee.  We all placed our orders and found him to be an excellent attendant.  The coffee wasn’t that bad either – except for the very last mouthful.

I nodded off for a bit, as did most other people.  I woke up at another slow stretch which was caused by an overturned lorry.  People were shovelling out the woodchips it was carrying.  It must have been very dramatic and scary when it went over.

At last, we crossed a wide river – the River Daugava – and entered Riga.