Once the Peter and Paul Fortress was capable of defending the delta of the Neva River, Peter the Great began his grand project of the westernization of Russia by creating a European city on the banks of the Neva. It is said that over 200,000 Russian serfs – effectively, slaves – died while dredging, channelizing … Continue reading
St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 in a swampy area on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Finland by Peter Alexeyevich of the house of Romanov, Tsar of Russia, known to history as Peter the Great (1672-1725). To defend his new city from the Swedes, with whom he was at war from 1700 to … Continue reading
We spent our first day in St. Petersburg resting and relaxing in and around the hotel. After all, there was a Nespresso machine in our room and we could have stayed at the breakfast buffet in the hotel until time for a midnight snack. Breakfast was included with the room and was incredible (who ever … Continue reading
Our taxi ride from Pulkovo Airport to our hotel in the city center of old St. Petersburg took about 1/2 hour. On the way, we passed the Grand Hotel Europe where we stayed for a few days in 2002 when we visited this city with Dale’s mom. The final several blocks of the ride down … Continue reading
I always knew that the Kremlin was a place and I assumed it was a particular building in Moscow, perhaps the residence of the Russian (or Soviet) Head of State, like our White House is the residence of our President. I was wrong; it is much more than that. According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, a “kremlin” … Continue reading
On our second full day in Moscow, I went on the Soviet Moscow walking tour with my guide, Joel, who I suspect is one of the few Mexican-Russians in Moscow. Our destination was outside of the city center about 6 miles to the north. Our first stop was the Cosmosnauts Alley, Monument to the Conquerors … Continue reading
We spent our first full day in Moscow with Tina, our guide for the “Must See Tour.” Surfacing from the Metro at Revolution Square, we were greeted by this guy, who, in case you don’t recognize him, is one of the famous Marx brothers: Groucho – no, wait, that’s Karl. Karl Marx (1818-1883) was the master of … Continue reading
Not wasting any time in Moscow, we went on our first tour after dinner: 3 hours in the Moscow Metro (Моско́вский метрополите́н). Dale arranged all our tours through Happy Moscow Tours and we were lucky enough to have Ludmila as our tour guide on two occasions: the Moscow Metro; and, the Kremlin (in her other … Continue reading
We had a noon flight to Moscow, Russia, so we only had time in the morning for breakfast and packing – not going to be needing those biking shorts anymore on this trip. We were flying on the Russian government-owned airline, Aeroflot (Аэрофлот in Cyrillic), one of the oldest airlines in the world, having been … Continue reading
We hopped in the van in Kaunas on the final day of our cycling tour of the Baltic countries and drove for about an hour to Elektrenai on the edge of Lithuania’s “Lake District.” Again the description of the ride was a little inaccurate. For about an hour, we cycled along a road heavily used … Continue reading
Our eighth biking day – and third day on our own along the Lithuanian coast – started with loading our luggage into a local taxi for transport to the Nida ferry dock. We all rode our bikes there and waited for the ferry to take us across the Curonian Lagoon to Ventė on the mainland. … Continue reading
Having spent the night in a very nice hotel just opposite the ferry landing in Klaipėda, the Old Mill Hotel, we awoke rested and ready for our big biking day: 68 km, about 42 miles, an all-time long bike ride for us. But, first, we had to wait for the hand-cranked, swivel bridge to open … Continue reading
We arrived in Šventoji on the northern end of the Lithuanian coast at 4:00 in the afternoon after riding in the van all day from Rīga. After some debate (given the lateness of the day), we decided to join those of our group that wanted to ride bikes from here to our hotel in Klaipėda, … Continue reading
In Rīga the next morning, Monday, we greeted our new van drivers and loaded the bikes onto the trailer behind the van we and the two German couples in our group climbed aboard. About an hour later we crossed the border into Lithuania. Since both Latvia and Lithuania are in the EU’s Schengen Area, there … Continue reading
From Tallinn to Rīga we have been transported by bus with our luggage stored below and the bikes in a trailer behind. For the most part, we have boarded the bus in the morning and been taken to where we begin our day’s bike ride, then we are picked up at an arranged destination later … Continue reading
Our fourth biking day was the shortest distance (about 13 miles, 21 km) and the best ride so far; good weather, too. Most of the day was spent in Latvia’s Gauja National Park, the country’s largest, which takes its name from the Gauja River that flows through it. After cycling through the town of Sigulda, … Continue reading
As I mentioned in my last post, our third day of biking was to start in Otepää, Estonia, billed by our tour operator, Baltic Bike Travel, as the “Estonian Switzerland.” Having now completed the ride, I’m mystified as to how they settled on this description. For the most part, we peddled through countryside and vegetation … Continue reading
Our second biking day was billed as a day of “cycling along the lakeshore” of Lake Peipsi, the boundary separating Estonia from Russia. Let’s just say that while technically correct, the description of the ride was a bit of a stretch, although the day did have a promising start on the waterfront at Mustvee. Unfortunately, … Continue reading
Wednesday morning, we met our fellow cyclists and boarded the Baltic Bike Tours charter bus to Lahemaa National Park (see those double vowels?). Twelve of us are on the unguided tour, but we are traveling half the way with another group of about the same number who are on a guided tour. We will be … Continue reading
Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is 235 miles nearly due east of Stockholm. We will be biking through all three of the Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, over the next two weeks, then we’ll be going to Russia for another week (Moscow, and St. Petersburg), followed by a couple days in Helsinki, Finland (on … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 