Category Archives: POLAND

POLAND e BALTIC REPUBLICS: towards Russia (25 August – 3 September)

May 26, 2017 1866 Views

Returning to Poland from my short “holiday” in Sifnos, a pleasant surprise was waiting for me: the Russian Visa.
Russia – perhaps unexpectedly – was no longer a mirage, but became reality: I had 9 days to reach its borders (the entrance had to happen on September 4th).
From Warsaw I decided to cut a part of the road – by bus – to Vilnius (Lithuania) and Riga (Latvia), then to continue cycling along the coasts of the Baltic Sea, where I would languidly discover the beauties of the Baltic Republics and where I would got enchanted by two places called Salacgrīva (Latvia) and Tallinn (Estonia).

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POLAND and LITHUANIA

25 August, Warsaw (Poland) | Day 85 🇵🇱
Back to Poland.
Back to Warsaw, from where I left – abandoning here my bicycle – 11 days ago.
Tomorrow I’ll go to the Russian Visa Center to figure out if I can enter the country or not.
I’m asking myself why still I don’t have any news from them.
But tomorrow I should know.

[ 25 August 2016] Warsaw (Poland). Modlin Airport. 7 pm.

26 August, Warsaw (Poland) | Day 86 🇵🇱
Many international newspaper were anxious to know it … and, well, Mother Russia said “DA”.
I got the Visa!
Now the going will get tough .. but funny too 😎.

[ 26 August 2016 ] Warsaw (Poland). A little park just close to the Russian Visa Center. 12 am.

VIDEO

28 August, Warsaw (Poland) | Day 88 🇵🇱
Where can you find a huge stadium with a beach just in front of it?
Italy? Spain? Greece? Portugal? Brasil?
Nope.
In Poland.

[ 27 August 2016 ] Warsaw (Poland). Vistula River. 5 pm.

EVENING
So I’m on a bus heading Lithuania 🇱🇹
Seems that this country and this place called Vilnius does really exist!

[ 28 August 2016 ] Somewhere in northern Poland. 7,45 pm.

STATISTICS POLAND / LITHUANIA

KM on BICYCLE: 45
KM on AUTOBUS: 580
NIGHTS in HOSTELS: 0
NIGHTS in HOSPITALITY: 3
NIGHTS on BUS: 1
EXPENSES: 66 €

CURIOSITIES

CURRENCY: Euro
“GOOD DAY”: “Labas Rytas”
“THANK YOU”: “Dekoju”

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LATVIA

29 August, Riga (Latvia) | Day 89 🇱🇻
Should have stayed in Vilnius.
Ended up in Riga, instead.
I’ve always been so bad with Baltic Counties and their Capitals anyway.

30 August, Riga (Latvia) | Day 90 🇱🇻
Today, after almost a month of cycling inactivity, I wanted to ride my bike again.
Northwards, actually.
Towards Estonia.
When I woke up, however, a howling autumn storm made me think that perhaps it was
better to stop in Riga one more day.
I could not do much, apart sheltering myself from wind and rain
in one of those many coffee shops in the city and visiting a couple of museums.
In one in particular – from which I came out quite shocked – I thought on the fact that I struggled so much in order to try to reach Siberia in some way, when up to not so long ago many Latvians saw that land as real hell, a place where many of their beloved ones were deported and have never returned from.
Always assuming that they did not get up from that chair,
after being certainly tortured in many different ways, with an immediate execution sentence.
Spies, friends and relatives betraying each other, captures, interrogations, tortures, imprisonments, captivity in inhuman conditions, convictions, sentences, deportation or death.
Riga’s history is also this one.

[ 30 August 2016 ] Riga (Latvia). KGB Building Museum. 5 pm.

EVENING
Even Riga, at the end, managed to surprise me.
Not only because of this lights, bursting out after a cold, windy and rainy day.
But some stories cannot be told.
I’m leaving the city with some more everlasting memories, and a colourful scarf as a gift.
And today … today it’s time to move on.

[ 30 August 2016 ] Riga (Latvia). Sunset behind Daugava River. 9 pm.

31 August, Salacgrīva (Latvia) | Day 91 🇱🇻
After more than a month since I cycled the last “big stage”, finally today I’m back pedaling.
At least for a few hours, and for a hundred kilometers.
I do not know if tonight I will camp somewhere on the shores of the Baltic Sea,
or if I will look fore a warmer accommodation in some village on the Latvian coast.
I do not much care about it.
Hence, for the occasion, I dusted off my superhero suit already.

[ 31 August 2016 ] Towards Salacgrīva (Latvia). 3,30 pm.

SUNSET
Greek sunsets, and mostly those ones in Sifnos, are totally unbeatable.
Nevertheless today I could witness that also here in Latvia, on the Baltic Sea, in Salacgrīva, are stunning as well.
The only problem is that, after sunset, the funnies thing you can do
when you travel with your bicycle is puncturing yourself one of your tyres.
To keep you busy, at least.

[ 31 August 2016 ] Salacgrīva (Latvia). Beach. 8,30 pm.

STATISTICS LATVIA

KM on BICYCLE: 140
KM on AUTOBUS: 85
NIGHTS in CAMPING / HOSTELS: 2
NIGHTS in HOSPITALITY: 1
EXPENSES: 100 €

CURIOSITIES

CURRENCY: Euro
“GOOD DAY”: “Labrit”
“THANK YOU”: “Paldies”

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ESTONIA

1 September, Salacgrīva (Latvia) – Tallinn (Estonia)| Day 92 🇱🇻 – 🇪🇪
It could be Worse.
It could be Raining.
(Thinking about somebody who passed away a few days ago, Gene Wilder)

VIDEO
Woods, blueberry, mushrooms and wilderness all around, a lukewarm sun and a gentle wind, glimpses on the Baltic Sea and houses coming out from fairy tales, no cars, music and singing.
This is cycletravelling in Estonia.

2 September, Tallinn (Estonia)| Day 93 🇪🇪
I had already cycled 90 km that day. The last 30, on a straight and endless asphalt tongue, had been boring and I was starting to feel tired. Walls of ancient pines surrounded me on both sides, obscuring the road and the view of the spaces nearby.
Suddenly, as coming out from a seamen rhyme, I saw a Seagull.
He flew out of the forest, silently spreading his wings,
the whole world not caring about him and his languid heartbeat.
He was going in my direction and, for a while, we kept the same speed.
I could swear I caught him as he threw at me a curious look, but maybe I only dreamed it.
I stared at him as he rose up into the sky and disappeared behind
the last leaves of the trees, towards the North.
Released from the spell, I immediately felt a sound. A long, deaf and continuous shout. A glimmer, from a distance, invited me to approach and so I started to push harder on the bike, as if I was driven by some unnatural forces.
When, towards the West, a solitary beach took the place the trees were occupying before,
the shout opened up and released itself all around, winning my ears first and then the entire me.
It was the Baltic Sea, for the first time.
I left the bike at the roadside and ran barefoot on the sand, losing my breath for a few moments.
Annihilated by the senses, I looked for a place to sit down, there on the edge with the waves.
It took me minutes before I started to breathe again with a regular rhythm.
As I returned to me, I started to observe what was all around.
The Seagull was there, and this time he was really looking at me,
with a funny and amazed smile at the same time.
Instead of flying away, he sat at my side.
You can imagine what a surprise it was for me when, perfectly moving his beak, the old Seagull greeted me and said: “Well done, boy. I was not sure you’d been able to intercept the signals and to get the call. You only arrived a little late. Five minutes before and you’d have seen him, the Lord, drawing and singing. He comes here often to do that, when he doesn’t want to think about anything.
But, the same, you can enjoy what he did here, today.”

AFTERNOON
In Tallinn, in Estonia, close to the harbour there is an abandoned prison.
There is a little bar serving local beers and tasty food.
There are benches, sand and old rusty beds.
People come here to talk, to relax, to drink together, to listen to live music,
to look at the ships and to wait for the sunset on the Baltic Sea.
And this is beautiful.
End of the story.

[ 2 September 2016 ] Tallinn (Estonia). Patarei Vangla. 6,30 pm.

3 September , Tallinn (Estonia)| Day 94 🇪🇪 – VIDEO
🏊 in the Baltic Sea: done ✔

SUNSET
Serendipity.

[ 3 September 2016 ] Tallinn (Estonia). Harbour. 7 pm.

STATISTICS ESTONIA

KM on BICYCLE: 110
KM on AUTOBUS: 340
NIGHTS in HOSTELS: 3
NIGHTS in HOSPITALITY: 0
EXPENSES: 150 € + Coat 200 €

CURIOSITIES

CURRENCY: Euro
“GOOD DAY”: “Tere Hommikust”
“THANK YOU”: “Aitäh”

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MAP

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POLAND: Wroclaw and Warsaw, Friends and Consulates (3-14 August)

May 22, 2017 1685 Views

At the end of the second month of travel, just after crossing the border with Poland over a bus coming from Prague, I decided that it was time for a small break.
August had just begun and I was kindly conquered by the holiday atmosphere surrounding me.
So I visited some very old friends – in Wroclaw, where I would spent ten days – and started preparing all the documentation I needed to apply for the Russian visa outside Italy.
Then, worn out and cold, I left my bicycle in Warsaw for a few days … to fly to a place I would have really loved for sure.

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3 August, Wroclaw (Poland) | Day 63 🇵🇱
In Poland.
Enthusiastic.

[ 3 August 2016 ] Wroclaw (Poland). 3 pm.

4 August, Wroclaw (Poland) | Day 64 🇵🇱
Ok.
So, after more than two months going around like a crazy bullet, after passing 13 countries and uncountable borders, after pedaling for hundreds of kilometers and taking buses and trains for many more, August arrived.
I decided that in August I’ll slow down a little.
There are many things to be prepared, Russia and Asia to be entered, and vacations to be taken.
I know it sounds absurd “taking a break” from a just-started-gapyear, but my mind and body need some rest after all that happened and before what will come.
So I’ll stay for a while in Wroclaw, hosted by some great old friends, and then I’ll do something else (you’ll see what), whilst waiting for the Russian visa.
Anyway, some things are not going to change: beer, friends and sunset are something I will never need to “take a break” from. Never.

[ 4 August 2016 ] Wroclaw (Poland). Mroz / De León Sotelo Carrera Home. 8 pm.

7 August, Wroclaw (Poland) | Day 67 🇵🇱
Un Tato, un Niño y un Tito.
En un Jardín Botánico.

[ 7 August 2016 ] Wroclaw (Poland). Ogród Botaniczny. 12 am.

9 August, Wroclaw (Poland) | Day 69 🇵🇱
More than 2 months on the way with no real plans and following the flow are nothing compared to everything you need to do and present if you are trying to apply for a Russian Visa because you want to enter the country with a folding bicycle, no flights, no prearranged tours and, of course, no plans.
First step, done … will it be enough?

[ 9 August 2016 ] Wroclaw (Poland). 10 am.

11 August, Warsaw (Poland) | Day 71 🇵🇱 – VIDEO
Back in the game!
At least for a couple of days …

12 August, Warsaw (Poland) | Day 72 🇵🇱 | RUSSIAN ROULETTE
oday was the day of the Russian visa application. A never ending story, and still the outcome is unknown as a Juventus – Milan midsummer match.
It all began in May, at the Russian Consulate in Milan. I wanted to start with the visa in my pocket, but when I was asked about the real entry and departure dates, my answer was a big question mark.
So I decided to request it later on the way, somewhere much closer to St. Petersburg, when I could have had a better idea about everything.
Since then I have asked for different kind of help, to receive an invitation (yes, for Russia you need an invitation) either for private visits or working reasons, but it would have been too long and difficult.
The only solution, therefore, was to go for a normal 30-days-tourist-visa.

Simple, yes. If you organize everything.
If you book the hotels, if you plan a route, if you receive an invitation (paying) from hotels or from any specialized agencies, if you print all the papers without missing any comma and doing it in the proper size, if the photos fulfill the requirements and if you purchase an insurance (with original documents) in order to cover perfectly the time you are going to spend in the Big Mother.
Done, everything. The last part only with Sandra’s help, my friend who lives in Poland and therefore could sign the insurance I bought after a one-hour-linguistic-battle with Ewa, the energetic 50 year-old broker lady from Generali Wroclaw.
Everything? Sure?

I arrive in the early morning in Warsaw Visa Center, knowing that surprises can always be around the corner, even when you think you’re done with everything.
Artiom welcomes mr (“your Artemio,” he says, knowing it as he had been living for one year in Italy), a polite, prepared and considerably younger than me guy.
He controls every inch of paper and states that there is an error in the invitation, cause it is displayed a double entry and not a single one.

“A system bug” – I reply, knowing perfectly I asked the agency a single entry.
“I’m sorry, but this unfortunately in Russian means double entry. You should change the invitation … and then the paper.” – He explains to me, sincerely sorry.
“Can you do it here?”
“Yes. If you remember the password you used to generate it on the system.”
“Here it is!” – I answer boldly, happy cause I wrote it down and found it immediately in my agenda.
Half an hour struggling between PC and protocols, and I got the new form.
“Everything okay?” – I ask seraphic.
“Well, not really. The problem is that the invitation should be changed also, because even there it is written that you asked for a double entry. If we send these documents, your request will be rejected 100%.”

I think for a while.
Then I call the online agency which sent me the invitation and, to my amazement, after 10 minutes I have a new and correct copy via email. For the trivial cost of a international call to Russia, via mobile phone.
But now I have to print it.
I go back in the street, jump on the bike and look for the first available internet cafe. Then I remember that the guy I bought the photos from has a printer and can make me a favor, and that is how it happens.
So after another thrilling hour of I’m back in front of Artiom.

“Now everything should be ok, right?” – I whisper.
He reads and checks everything for another 15 minutes and then I hear another “Well, not really.”
“What’s wrong now?”
“The hostels you have in the voucher. Cities and names are ok, but they also want the addresses…”
I find out that I’m not yet a Zen monk when I burst out into a “But what the f*** is this? Really? Those reservations are real and effective, those hostels are there and they won’t go anywhere!”
“I know, you’re right, but they also want the addresses. Just as it is your application can be rejected at 50% … it depends on how the guys from the Embassy wake up that day.” – Artiom tries to calm me down.

Suddenly I feel relaxed. As if he had said the magic words. Everything appears now clear and simple.

“Ok. Then, Artemio, let’s do this. You were really kind and helpful, but I’m tired of all this waste of time. I will not call for a new voucher for the third time just because of this silly thing. We will proceed with these documents, let’s play Russian Roulette. Fate will decide, hoping that Mr. Sergej Whatever will wake up in a good mood that day. I’m not forced to go to Russia. I’ve done all I could and I would really love to know the country and its people, but now we’ll see if the Big Mother wants me too or not.”
Artiom smiles.
“All right. However, for some reason, I have the feeling everything will be fine. ”
“Do not say it too loud … in Italy we are quite superstitious! But thanks for your help. It will be fine anyway, what will be will be. When’s the verdict? ”
“In 10 days. On August 23rd we will know.”

So thanks Artemio.
Now I just have to figure out how to spend the next 10 days
and see if my egg-shaped-little-Vlad face will help or not.
Maybe I will pass them in a park, with ducks, drawing lotus flowers on the sand
and trying to learn the art of inner peace. Or maybe not.
What will be, will be.

[ 12 August 2016 ] Warsaw (Poland). 2 pm.

13 August, Warsaw (Poland) | Day 73 🇵🇱
Yesterday, after all the battles regarding the Russian visa, I told I would be looking for the Zen-me for the next few days.
So today I met my pagoda, my brook, my little shore, my green, my ducks.
Now I only have to find the sand to start drawing my lotus flowers with a bamboo stick …

[ 13 August 2016 ] Warsaw (Poland). Lazienkowski Park. 11 am.

14 August, Warsaw (Poland) | Day 74 🇵🇱
My passport is stuck at the Russian Consulate.
I have to wait 10 days.
I have to keep searching for my Zen Satori.
I have to find some sand.
The temperature in Warsaw is 15 degrees.
That’s why I’m at the airport. With no bicycle.
Where I’m going to … I’ll tell you tomorrow.
But you can start betting.

[ 14 August 2016 ] Warsaw (Poland). Modlin Airport. 4,30 pm.

SUNSET
Anyway, Warsaw’s “Goodbye, see you in 10 days” was pretty fine.

[ 14 August 2016 ] Warsaw (Poland). Modlin Airport. 8 pm.

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STATISTICS POLAND

KM on BICYCLE: 110
KM on AUTOBUS: 485
NIGHTS in HOSTELS: 3
NIGHTS in HOSPITALITY: 9
EXPENSES: 397 € (including Russian Visa)

CURIOSITIES

CURRENCY: Zloty
“GOOD DAY”: “Dzien Dobry”
“THANK YOU”: “Dziekuje”

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MAP

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