Europe By Camper - Travelling Europe By Motorhome

Ligatne Soviet Nuclear Bunker

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might have picked up a tendency towards Soviet history and in particular abandoned / derelict buildings. I've also always wanted to visit a Cold War bunker but never really given it the necessary investigation to go and see one of the UK's ROC posts or similar installation.<br />
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This particular bunker was only declassified in 2003 and was never actually used although it was staffed until Russian Soviet powers fully withdrew from Latvia in 1992 and could hold up to 250 people. Much is still not known about the bunker since all who worked there signed strict non-disclosure agreements and since independence have been unwilling to break them. The contents of the bunker remained relatively intact, despite the Soviet tenancy to destroy everything on their withdrawal from Latvia, the bunker which cost almost twice Latvia's current GDP remained untouched with only classified information being removed by retreating troops.<br />
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The building itself is pretty unassuming except for the small now unmanned guards hut on entrance - it is in use today as when it was built as a Rehabilitation Centre formally for Soldiers but laterally in the years proceeding Latvia's independence it was opened up to the public. The centre has onsite living accommodation and like so many aspects of Soviet hardware it didn't exist on any maps.<br />
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Finding the bunker, for us at least, proved challenging. Recognising the signs such as the raised air turrets in the car park and on my brief walk around the grounds locating some blast doors I found no other sign of how as a tourist you're meant to get in! I decided to queue at the reception desk along with people getting repeat prescriptions as Sophie waited apprehensively in the car park. Getting to the front of the queue I noticed some gas masks on sale in a glass cabinet and knew I was in the right place.<br />
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The entrance fee was 3 LVL (£3.80) per person, but the upshot was it had to be accompanied by an English speaking guide a further cost of 20 LVL (£25) unless of course I wanted to join a Latvian tour at 3:30. Not wanting to miss out, the tour was booked for half an hour later and I went back to justify the cost to Sophie. As it transpired a Swiss-French couple turned up and were happy to take an English tour so we split the cost of the guide between us and so the four of us journeyed 9 metres below ground to start the bunker tour.<br />
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The first room we visited was the communications room - all high end equipment for it's day. The bunker itself relied upon a direct connection to the main communications bunker at Sigulda since there were no antenna's mounted on the top of the rehabilitation unit. There was also a direct line to Moscow which remained active until the mid 90's when 'by accident' a farmer put his Rotavator through the hard line and the phone went dead - although apparently accidents like this were common in Soviet times. In Latvia there are lots of underground cables linking the various bunkers and Cold War installations but nobody knows where they are since no records were made, or at least left, regarding their locations. </div>
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The next room was a mixture of a telecommunications servers and Cipher machines. A machine operators log left in the room indicates the equipment was tested daily right up until 1992 and it is believed to be still connected to the network. If the other bunkers were operational, although most were ransacked or are now partly submerged, a message could still be sent.</div>
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This is where an operator worked with a buddy 24 hours a day. This room was the command control centre for the whole country and each light on the machine represents a region in Latvia. If a message came through it was the operators job to write it down and relay it to the highest authority as quickly as possible. </div>
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The phone in the plastic box is the one I mentioned earlier with the hard line connected to the Kremlin. It is in a perspex case to make it impossible for listening devices to be attached.</div>
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The board room had some relics put in place for the benefit of tourists, most notably a status of Stalin and a large map of the region showing the location of the Soviet State Farms taken from the Ministry of Agriculture.<br />
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The most interesting room we were not allowed to photograph since the information held within it is still relevant today. The room contained a large number of maps each depicting a variety of scenarios such as what would happen if a Dam was bombed, a particular area suffered Nuclear fallout and in what direction troops would rally in the event of an invasion. Also the main generator room was off limits for photography - although still fully functional the generator used something like 12 litres in 3 minutes and was supplied by a 35,000 litre tank.</div>
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There were some more formal rooms which gave an insight into relative luxury the top brass were afforded compared to their lower ranked counterparts.</div>
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The canteen was re-created and Soviet style meals are available to large tours, fortunately we had just eaten lunch!</div>
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Finally, I think I have found a way to get Sophie to empty the chemical toilet in our van!</div>
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It's hard to believe that the tour lasted just over 2 hours as in reality it felt like 30 minutes. The tour guide spoke excellent English and without him we would not have been able to see or appreciate as much as we did. With hindsight I wish I had taken some more pictures but I didn't want to miss out on what the guide had to say and I have tried to transcribe as much as I can remember here - errors and omissions excepted!</div>
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A totally fantastic tour and defiantly unmissable in my view for anyone with even a remote interest in Soviet Cold War history. </div>
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Ligatne Soviet Nuclear Bunker

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might have picked up a tendency towards Soviet history and in particular abandoned / d...

Latvia - Cesis

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Located in the Guaja National Park our first major destination in Latvia was Cesis. Although just a sidenote in our Eyewitness guide, Lonely Planet described it using an unusually personal tone saying how they "really liked" Cesis we made it our first major stop-off.<br />
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Having raised some eyebrows with the locals as we parked our van in the main street (it was free parking, what were we supposed to do!) it was clear that this clean and well presented town has not yet made it as a major destination for tourists. We made our way to the Castle we had spotted on our way in making a brief de-tour to the ATM machine to get to grips with yet another alien currency.<br />
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At the entrance we stared at the prices. £1.70? No, can't be right. Maybe it's £17? We approached the desk clutching a 5 LVL note and concious of the fact we hadn't looked at the phrase section in our guide book since crossing the border we asked for two tickets in the typical brit-abroad way. "Sure, where you guys from?" said the girl behind the desk.<br />
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The price was indeed £1.70 each and as we walked into the court yard we were handed a candle in a wooden lantern. We wandered around the grounds, this 11th century castle and grounds was seriously impressive and we'd have paid £10 or more to get in. It was not over-restored and the candle indeed came in handy for the narrow spiral staircase up to the top and really added an authentic feel to the experience (the kind of authentic that usually costs £17 per person back in the UK!).<br />
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 The visit was topped off with a climb down a steep metal staircase into the Dungeon below the castle which is something unseen anywhere else we have visited and got some bemused glances from onlookers as I climbed down the hole!<br />
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The gardens were equally impressive and was home to another Russian Orthadox church and a pair of Black Swan's with 6 grey signets.<br />
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We spent the night Wild Camped in a little car park in the town centre (57.31262,  25.2737) figuring it was only polite to have something to eat locally we managed to eat two courses with drinks for £18.<br />
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Latvia - Cesis

Located in the Guaja National Park our first major destination in Latvia was Cesis. Although just a sidenote in our Eyewitness guide, Lo...

Estonia in a Motorhome - Our Summary

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We've been in Estonia 10 days and have travelled 634 miles so while we're hardly qualified to write a book on the place I think we can just about muster up enough credibility to write a blog post on it.<br />
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We entered via Tallinn from Helsinki on a Viking Line Ferry, a two hour crossing costing £89 for our 6m van booked 3 days prior. The ship itself is like a cruise liner, with a self service buffet serving everything you can imagine for 89c per 100g (they weigh your plate at the till!) or a huge well stocked duty free shop not to mention the free on-board Wifi.<br />
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You can read all of our blogs from Estonia by clicking here:<br />
<a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Estonia">http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Estonia</a><br />
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<b>Our Five reasons you should visit Estonia:</b><br />
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<b>1.)</b> <b>The vast majority of roads are excellent</b> and are obviously in receipt of a great deal of EU investment as proclaimed by the road signs at the beginning of every new patch of tarmac. I suspect if you read an account of Estonia 12 months ago things will have vastly improved since then and the only poor roads we drove across were ones currently being replaced. Granted, there are some 'gravel tracks' but these are on par with what you find off the main roads in Sweden and Finland but you'd expect that for a country of it's size.<br />
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<b>2.) The whole country is excellent value </b>especially compared with Scandanvia. Diesel is £1.05 a litre (July 2011) and you can have a meal outside of Tallinn for about £6 for a main course and £1.50 or less for a 500ml beer or large glass of wine. Furthermore, supermarkets are not only incredibly cheap but stock a huge range of foods of a quality that seriously rivalled our shopping experience for the past three months. You know all those perfect apples in Tesco, well the Estonian's have the wonky ones that taste just as good at a fraction of the cost! 500g meat (chicken, beef, pork) about £2.50. Bottle of beer about 70c. We even saw imported Baked Beans cheaper than home! If you visited Stockmann in Stockholm (massive Selfridge-esque department store) do so in Tallinn, prices are about half for all but the top branded western products and the selection of beer and wine on offer will blow your mind especially after a beer deprived tour of Scandinavia!<br />
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<b>3.)</b> Estonia, with the exception of Tallinn and it's Baltic Cruise Liners that dock here, appears on the face of it <b>relatively unexplored </b>by all but the Finns for whom it is on their doorstep. The tourist information is extensive (thanks again to EU funding) and I made a point of asking how many English the agents had seen - the answer is very few! Entrance fee's, if applicable, are often under £4 per person.<br />
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<b>4.) Estonia is changing, fast!</b><b> </b>Many of the places that would be tarted up as major pay to enter destinations are still awaiting investment in a very authentic and still visitable state.If you fancy seeing some Soviet history as it has been left now is the time. Sillamäe for example was a Uranium mining complex and a closed town that did not exist on any official maps, today it stands with large boards awaiting EU investment to turn it into a major tourist attraction into the Soviet era. <br />
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<b>5.) </b>If Wild Camping is not your thing (and we managed it every night) <b>there is a network of excellent value 'camping areas' </b>which are not fully fledged sites but camping grounds that are willing and able accommodate motor homes  for a fee of between €7 and €10 a night. Some of those are listed <a href="http://en.camping.info/estonia/campsites">here</a> but you can see many on the most popular routes. Not accept full facilities, but do expect excellent local hospitality, produce and warm greeting.<br />
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We really enjoyed our time in Estonia and will continue to blog as we travel south through the remainder of the Baltic States, Latvia and Lithuania.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Click <a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/p/wild-camping-gps-poi.html">here</a> for our Wild Camping POI's.</span></div>
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Estonia in a Motorhome - Our Summary

We've been in Estonia 10 days and have travelled 634 miles so while we're hardly qualified to write a book on the place I think w...

Parnu

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEFR_IR_EN-6ZlEMU1jCKhnoOr56imXpVWRfN89-dsFXXqzXveoC10Ee3BNO7HcDRikY9tnS9eg7Z0-XqSRur2XUyt7rs-4h3Ax_TIx5hTVkYUQpX_9JSCM9Mb3aEdG13liA09Vbdp5BM/s1600/Observation+Tower.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEFR_IR_EN-6ZlEMU1jCKhnoOr56imXpVWRfN89-dsFXXqzXveoC10Ee3BNO7HcDRikY9tnS9eg7Z0-XqSRur2XUyt7rs-4h3Ax_TIx5hTVkYUQpX_9JSCM9Mb3aEdG13liA09Vbdp5BM/s200/Observation+Tower.JPG" width="200" /></a>After visiting the observation tower near Haaja we decided we wanted to go back up the west coast of Estonia to visit Parnu before entering into Latvia. Not only was this popular seaside resort positively buzzing with Estonian's looking to soak up some sun but we were also gifted heat in excess of 40c and found ourselves sat with our air-con running trying to decide when we were going to face the heat!<br />
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 We found somewhere to park up for free next to the river (GPS: 58.38767
  24.49373) and found some shade to watch what turned out to be some sort of speed boat race on the river although I can find no mention of it online.<br />
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We failed to mention on our last blog post that we visited a rose garden on our way out of Poltsamaa which had a collection of 900 different rose varieties which are in bloom from mid June to September. The entrance fee cost just under 2 euro each to visit - here are a couple of photos from our album. </div>
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We sat and planned our route through Latvia as well as writing a sort of summary to Estonia, you'll see in the next post!</div>

Parnu

After visiting the observation tower near Haaja we decided we wanted to go back up the west coast of Estonia to visit Parnu before entering ...

Sillamae, Narva & Tartu

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Estonia is so far living up to all our expectations and it is clear from the offset that the country has benefited from substantial EU investment - and I say that not in a cynical way but there are signs everywhere proclaiming that fact! The majority of roads we've driven on so far have been excellent with the lesser ones currently undergoing major improvements.<br />
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We drove from Tallinn across the top, stopping at the Lahemaa National Park to take in a seven mile walk (about eight with de-tours!) to see the boulders in the sea and some of the abandoned soviet military buildings who's construction is dated as recently as 1985 are reminders that Estonia only declared it's independence 21 years ago.<br />
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Spending a night in the park, we carried on to Narva stopping on the way at Sillamae, a fascinating town with a dark history in the extraction of uranium for Russian nuclear programs. The town itself was off limits and didn't exist on any maps, the plant is still visible on the skyline with many of the original buildings derelict it is clear that they are gearing up for the area to be a tourist attraction in years to come.<br />
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We did a 'big shop' since we had let the cupboards run down when touring Scandinavia, we did a big shop which came to £30 including several KG of meat and several liters of beer. We're starting to like this place!<br />
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From Narva we peared back across the impressive castle on the Russian border at Ivangorod Castle dating back to 1400's and at the stern looking border guards inspecting vehicles arriving back in Estonia from Russia.<br />
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Today we find ourselves in Tartu a pleasant town with a vast choice of places to eat at incredibly minimal prices - beer from €1 and main courses from just €5. Despite having done a big shop we stopped out for tea and was able to have three courses and two rounds of drinks for €30 which could have been less had we plumped for one of the cheaper restaurants but the ones in the sun had a bit of a monopoly.<br />
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The weather has been incredibly hot and humid especially overnight, we're looking forward to the predicted downpours in the days to come to clear the air a bit!<br />
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Overnight Location GPS: (58.37936, 26.72834) - Tartu - small
  carpark close to the town centre near the river. Other motorhomes joined us.
  Free between 6pm and 8am or 1 euro an hour after that. Cheaper day parking
  can be found close by.</div>

Sillamae, Narva & Tartu

Estonia is so far living up to all our expectations and it is clear from the offset that the country has benefited from substantial EU inve...

Scandinavia in a Motorhome 2011

We've now been 82 days on the road and have travelled what seems an incredible 8,000 miles from home in the UK to our present location here in Tallinn, Estonia. From here we will continue south but this seems a good point to stop and reflect on the trip so far and to summarise the Scandinavian leg of our trip.<br />
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We were surprised not only that everyone spoke perfect English but also a complete lack of English people full stop, never mind people, British motor homes of which we saw 3 in all our time there.<br />
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We have wild camped every night with the exception of one on an ASCI campsite in Sweden to collect some post from home. There really is no need, in our opinion, to pay for camp sites since each countries respective motor home clubs are heavily focused on wild camping and it's less of a case of finding somewhere to stop as it is pitching up with other vans if going it alone is not your thing. Water is freely available from fuel stations and dump stations are frequently spotted along the main routes.<br />
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We've probably made a lot of the costs in my posts since we are pretty price sensitive (read as tight Yorkshire folk) and so Scandinavia presented some challenges however careful stockpiling of food and filling up with fuel on the right side of the borders can make all the difference should you be in a similar position.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">View our Wild Camping POI's <a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/p/wild-camping-gps-poi.html">here</a>.</span></div>
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The price of food and diesel steadily increases as you journey up through Norway so pack as much as you are willing or able to take. If you find yourself running short, Rema 1000 have outlets throughout Scandinavia and Willy's in Sweden provided stop gaps. Milk, Bread, Meat and Veg we found to be the most expensive with the latter of diminishing quality as you head north in Norway as the challenges of transporting it increase.<br />
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Fuel prices cheapest to most expensive: Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway. A curiosity is it tended to be cheaper in an evening and varied by as much as 20p between stations so fill up when you see it cheapest rather then when you are empty. Be aware that there is no LPG in Finland and very limited supplies in Sweden - mainly from bottle refilling depos.<br />
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Norway was by far our favourite and dwarfed the others by comparison, although Stockholm was fantastic for a city and ranks somewhere in our top 3, if you want any further information you can get in touch with us via the <a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/p/about-us_01.html">About Us</a> page.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Denmark</b></span><br />
<b>17 Days, 1157 Miles (68/ Day).</b><br />
<b>Diesel Max: £1.34 / Min: £1.19. LPG: 75p</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skagen</td></tr>
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Denmark was the first country we visited on entrance from Germany and serves as a good introduction to touring in Scandinavia. It is well equipt for motor homes, with a belt of fresh water and waste disposal sites along it's main motorway (link provided in our <a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/p/country-guide_01.html#Denmark">Country Guide</a>) but also carries the greatest number of "No Camping" signs something not seen elsewhere on this trip, an alternative is usually to be found not far away.  The landscape is largely flat and the first island Jutland provides some interesting sights but the journey to Skagen was in itself unrewarding and would be something I would miss out if we did it again.<br />
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<b>Copenhagen</b><br />
Copenhagen was a pleasant re-introduction to touring capitals for us if not a bit watered down compared to some places we have visited with food prices enough for even the most hardened stop out to find themselves serving beans on toast back in the van. The Danish pastry's are not to be missed however!<br />
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Wild Camping in a PVC is possible in Copenhagen (GPS: 55.66527, 12.52946) on one of the streets outside the Carlsberg Brewery - I dare say you could manage it in a coach built also.<br />
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<b>Links:</b><br />
Read all of our posts from Denmark, including a detailed summary here:<br />
<b><a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Denmark">http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Denmark</a></b><br />
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Read our Country Guide on Denmark here:<br />
<a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/p/country-guide_01.html#Denmark"><b>http://www.europebycamper.com/p/country-guide_01.html#Denmark</b></a><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Sweden</span></b><br />
<b>14 Days, 1121 Miles (80/ Day)</b><br />
<b>Diesel Max:£1.44 / Min: £1.22. LPG: 83p (only available from specialist Gas retailers)</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stockholm</td></tr>
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In fairness we probably didn't do Sweden justice as we sling shotted around Stockholm from Malmo and into Norway to Oslo over the course of two weeks failing to venture much further north than Uppsala on this trip. However the cleanliness of the place is what stands out in my mind - even the capital was immaculatly presented. The theme of castles and grand estates carries on from the eastern areas of Denmark and many of the grounds are free to wander in which makes a change from the guarded estates run by our National Trust. I am told that the northern area is much like Finland - just tree's - but I can't verify that myself.<br />
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<b>Stockholm</b><br />
Crowned "The Capital of Scandanvia" and for good reason, this city really did check all the boxes for us. The architecture was simply stunning and the park area was so vast it was hard to believe you where anywhere near civilisation at times. You could easily spend a week here and indeed we virtually did something unheard of for us who get itchy feet very easily!<br />
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Wild Camping is possible on the marina front - no size restrictions and free after 5pm and weekends - £11/day other times - see GPS: 59.33175,   18.08832.<br />
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<b>Links:</b><br />
Read all of our blog posts from Sweden:<br />
<b><a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Sweden">http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Sweden</a></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Norway</span></b><br />
<b>27 Days, 3517 Miles (130/Day)</b><br />
<b>Diesel Max: £1.53 / Min: £1.39. LPG: 78p</b><br />
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A truly breath taking country and a place that anyone with a love of the great out doors, either participating in it or sitting back to enjoy its visual splendour, should visit. We were just blown away with the place and spent the majority of our time in the Fjords while we explored some of the mountains and islands along its edge. I think you could easily spend several months in Norway exploring some of the Islands and getting up into the Mountain Passes. We arrived just ahead of the main tourist season in June and the snow had melted from all but the highest points but still every second vehicle was a camper van - it seems the European's have discovered Norway but the English are still doing France! We'll be back without question.<br />
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If you are a walker and like to get into the thick of things I recommend buying a walking GPS gizmo since Ordinance style maps were hard to locate. There are trails all over Norway and free cabins if you want to spend a night in the hills.<br />
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Oh, I've not mention cost. That's because I dedicated a whole blog post about it! See below.<br />
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<b>Oslo</b><br />
I read somewhere that Oslo is the Museum capital of Europe - if that is your thing then this might be one of those occasions where the a city card might provide good value. We only spent a day in Oslo because we were itching to get onto the Fjords and felt that there wasn't a great deal here but that might be because we didn't give it chance to grow on us.<br />
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Wild camping is possible at the Statue Park (GPS: 59.92862,  10.703630) - free Sat/Sun and after 6pm.<br />
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<b>Links</b><br />
Read all of our blog posts from Norway:<br />
<a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Norway"><b>http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Norway</b></a><br />
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Norway on a Budget Guide<br />
<b><a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/2011/06/norway-in-motorhome-on-budget.html">http://www.europebycamper.com/2011/06/norway-in-motorhome-on-budget.html</a>:</b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Finland</span></b><br />
<b>13 Days, 1380 Miles (106/Day)</b><br />
<b>Diesel Max: £1.21 / Min: £1.17. LPG NOT AVAILABLE!</b><br />
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You'll be pleased to find that Finland is much cheaper than the other three Scandinavian countries so run your tanks and store cupboards down before visiting and stock up here. If you are entering from the North be prepared for a good portion of your trip to be consumed by trees, lakes and not a great deal else - great if you like a bit of piece and quiet. We chose to skirt along the coast to avoid the midges (June/July) but a more direct route could be taken, either way there are lots of wild camping opportunities in the National Park areas where wood is provided for burning in special BBQ or open air huts.<br />
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<b>Helsinki</b><br />
We weren't sure what to make of it at first, but after several days exploring on foot we actually like Helsinki quite a lot with its market stalls and ferries. You have to respect that it is the "Gateway to Scandanvia" for a good deal of Russian's and members of the Baltics - not to mention hoards of American tourists. But explore by evening when they've set sail and there is an air of calm about the place. Parking is available right in the centre in Zone 3 - free evenings and weekends (GPS: 60.15885,   24.96187) or at one of the large beach areas free of charge and suitable for all sizes (GPS: 60.17467,   24.90999).<br />
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<br />
<b>Links:</b><br />
<br />
Read all of our blog posts from Finland:<br />
<a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Finland"><b>http://www.europebycamper.com/search/label/Finland</b></a><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Recommendations</span></b><br />
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If you find yourself in Helsinki, I cannot recommend enough the chance to visit St Petersburg, Russia Visa Free - more information here: <a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/2011/06/helsinki-to-st-petersburg-visa-free.html"><b>http://www.europebycamper.com/2011/06/helsinki-to-st-petersburg-visa-free.html</b></a><br />
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If you are not already planning to go to Estonia / Tallinn then Viking Line offer cheap day crossings - more info here: <a href="http://www.europebycamper.com/2011/06/tallinn.html"><b>http://www.europebycamper.com/2011/06/tallinn.html</b></a>

Scandinavia in a Motorhome 2011

We've now been 82 days on the road and have travelled what seems an incredible 8,000 miles from home in the UK to our present location h...