Results tagged “Estonia”

There are two castles on opposite sides of the Narva river located in Russia and Estonia. Not too long ago (prior to the collapse of the USSR), Ivangorod (literally, Ivan City) and Narva were considered the one and same city and people crossed freely between the two. To this day, many people living on one side of the river have family living on the other, to visit, they need a visa and to cross the border.

There is a hydroelectric plant located in Ivangorod (the Russian side), one third of its employees live in Narva and have to cross the border every day to get to work. Given the differences in prices of goods between Russia and Estonia, many Narva residents drive from Estonia to Russia with an empty fuel tank, fill up with petrol, load up on vodka and drive back into Estonia, selling the petrol and vodka in the process.

On the way to Ivangorod.

Big Christmas trees are big business.

I arrive in the evening and decide not to cross that night as I want to check out the castle on the Russian side first. There are only two hotels in the town, both are incredibly expensive. One is booked out, I get the pleasure of an old Soviet dump of a hotel for $30 USD. I steal a towel.

The fortress in Narva, photographed from Ivangorod.

The churches inside the fortress in Ivangorod. I briefly attend Sunday mass.

After the fortress, I begin what is usually a hassle free process, a border crossing. This time, it’s not so hassle free, and here is why…

The laminate is coming off my photo page, all thanks to a new years water fight back in Laos, in March.

The woman at customs tells me I have to go back to Moscow to get a new passport. I start contemplating how much to bribe, then realise I’ve spent the last of my roubles. The woman escorts me to the “naughty room” where I meet a couple of Americans that overstayed their visa by two hours, they’re afraid they’ll never be let out of Russia. An Uzbek man sitting quietly in the corner is summoned by the woman shortly and told that he has no permission to cross the border and to never return to the town again. The computers in the room have labels saying that no classified information should be viewed on them.

After a three hour wait, I’m freed, along with the Americans and told that I am no longer welcome in Russia on this passport. I figure I’ll get a new one in Canada.

The Ivangorod fortress from the Estonian fortress.   

I find Lenin hiding out in the corner of the Estonian fortress, posing as a gangster.

The museum in the fortress has an exhibition showing how women used to do the washing in Narva. Lovely.

I take out some money from the ATM while on the phone and proceed to grab some lunch. A man approaches me and asks me for my identification, I ask him if this is Soviet Russia, since when is there a passport regime? He shows my credit card that I left in the ATM and asks me if it’s mine. I sheepishly accept it and apologise profusely. I buy him a chocolate for his good deed. The bus ride to Tallinn is uneventful.

Tallinn old town is an amazing place to visit, the experience starts with a quick language lesson. Since I’m only one day into Estonia, I only manage to learn two phrases. Cheers (while toasting), pronounced tervisex, not turtle sex, terrible sex or nerdy sex, though after drinks, it becomes a game of creative mispronunciations.

The next and best phrase of all, how to say twelve months in Estonian. - “Cocks taste good”. If you don’t believe, check YouTube.

After the quick cultural lesson, it’s time for some sight seeing around Tallinn.

First stop, the oldest running clock in all of Europe. 

The town square.

Russian Orthodox cathedral.

My favourite building in the old town, reminds me of the Adam’s Family.

These colours of the houses remind me of Russian dachas.

Fat Margaret’s Tower.

Mini Peterhof (The Kadriorg Palace).

All in all, a very fun town, with a very active couchsurfing community.