Tuesday 28 January: the last part of the Baltic states

Riga, Latvia - Tallinn, Estonia via Kungu Rija restaurant 363 km

This morning we first went into Riga by foot to find some breakfast, we found a nice place near the Cathedral were they served a nice selection of egg dishes.

We all three enjoyed a different plate, mine was a spinach omelette with a Caprese salad.

The walk back to the cars was also nice, Riga is worth a longer visit than one evening. So i think we will return one time for a longer stay.

Back at the cars we left Riga to visit the restaurant Kuna Rija. We met the owner two days ago in Poland, the one who left us the note.

The restaurant is placed in this beautiful area and completely made of wood. The owners name is Niks, and he turned out the be also the chef cook in the Formula one team of Red Bull. The team of Max Verstappe.

In the cellar of the restaurant is a bar filled with pictures off the Red Bull team. Very nice to see.

After the tour we had a small lunch with local specialties, blood sausage, some dish with beans and one with barley. And ofcourse the famous Latvian garlic bread, with loads of fresh garlic. They really love garlic in Latvia.

In front of the restaurant 

Wooden toilet 

Lunch

We enjoyed the lunch very much and left with full bellies and a new place to recommend to fellow raid riders.

We decided to take some smaller roads before returning to the main one. In Latvia only the main roads are paved, al the secondary once are not. So in no time we were driving on sandy, bumpy and sometimes not very well maintained roads. Offcourse we enjoyed it, it was a nice change after the boring roads of the last days.

We drove through some small villages, filled up the car at this old petrol station and enjoyed the views before we turned up the main road again.

Looks more like Dakar

Petrol station along the way

Back on the main road it was straight ahead again for about 300 km, passing the Esthonian border somewhere half way.

Near the border

The border

Past the border

Finally we arrived in Tallinn, beautiful city, but the drivers have no patience at all. Traffic is a mess, but we arrived save in our small studio appartement near the old centre. It’s in this beautiful old building with private parking for the cars.

First we checked inn, had a drink and relaxed a bit, after that we headed toward the old centre by food. We were very pleasantly surprises with what we saw. I think Tallinn is more beautiful than Riga and I absolutely want to make a longer visit one day.

Tanguy found a nice restaurant for us with local food.

On our way to the restaurant 

Lighted tree

The restaurant 

The tasting plate I had

In the restaurant the boys had a local beer and I tried the local rabarber wine, very nice. Because I had already eaten a lot today I decided to take a starter as main dish. Turned out to be a sharing tasting dish, so it was still pretty much, but very tasteful and of good quality. So today was a culinary treatment for us.

After diner we took a different route back to the hotel. We passed the old town gate and on the square was a flower market going on.

                    Old gate with market behind it

Our building

Back in the apartment we took a little bedtime drink and went to sleep. Tomorrow we need to get up really early because we have the early boat.

Monday 27th January: 3 countries, two borders

Ostrów Mazowiecka, Poland - Riga, Latvia: 569 km

Today we started in Poland, crossed Lithuania and ended up in Riga, Latvia.

When we were having breakfast Tanguy brought our bags to the car and found a note under the wipers. It had an adres in Latvia on it. The man who put it there was also around and told us that it was the address of his restaurant near Riga. It is just past Riga so maybe we drive by on Tuesday on our way to Tallinn.

After breakfast it was time to hit the road again. And as Gertjan’s starting engine is still not working he needed a push to get started.

Today there was no more highway, just normal en double lane roads. In Poland they are making a new highway besides the road we were on. So that caused us some delay due trough speed regulations and road blocks. But overall it was a fine road for us.

End of the road 😳

Driving over smaller roads gave us a chance to see a bit more of Poland and Lithuania itself. In Poland we saw some villages and churches.

After the passing the border we stopt for a coffee and local cake. Gert-jan tried to get the car started bij cranking this time. (Didn’t work, so Tanguy ended up pushing the car again) 

Lithuania was a bit boring and the weather wasn’t helping. It was almost like back home, only less people and cars. 

Most exiting part was the endless convoy of german army vehicles we past. It must have been at least 100 cars.

Dutch surroundings 

 

At the time we passed the Latvian border it was already dark. Driving into Riga was a bit challenging because of that and the weather. But we made it safe to the hostel. After checking in the boys parked the cars in a parking lot nearby, and then it was time for a drink and some food.

The hotel pub

Cat hostel

Our Hostel


Welcoming drink

Our bedroom

We had diner in a restaurant with local food. A beautiful place in an old wine cellar. The garlic bread was very good, with loads of garlic.

Garlic bread

And after diner the bartender let us try some locally brewed snaps called moonshine. Not my tasting, garlic 😝.

We ended up in the hostel pub for a last drink before returning to our Hells Kitchen and get a good night sleep.

Sunday 26th January; one day in Poland

Slubice - Ostrów Mazowiecka,  Poland 561km

This morning after breakfast Tanguy and Gert-jan first tried to fix some things on Gert-jan’s car. Turned out that besides the broken starting engine there was also a bold broken from the exhaust manifold. And a broken wire from the positive battery cable. Luckily the boyks are handy and around 10:30 we were ready to leave towards Warschau.

We mostly took the new toll highway, a good road but almost as boring as Germany. Most exiting part was the litle shortcut we took to start the day with. Driving the same highway twice was really out of the question.

But once back on the highway it was just driving straight a head for miles. Because Tanguy was really tired, maybe from a jetlag or maybe last night was a bit to cosy, I was allowed to drive. Mostly Tanguy is driving and I don’t get a change, except when he is tired or sick.

No hands (just kidding)

While I was driving I noticed that the fuel was a bit low, so I asked Tanguy if i needed to stop at the first petrol station, but no, I could easily make it to the second on, he said. Guess what? He was so wrong, so we had to stop along the highway to empty the tin with extra petrol into the tank. And off course Tanguy wanted to drive again, so that was my short time behind the wheel.

First plan was to stay overnight in Warschau, but then we realized that tomorrow morning will probably be very busy because it's Monday. We didn’t want to get stuck in traffic in the morning, and it was already to late to visit the city and do some sightseeing, so we decided to drive a but further.

Tunnel on the way in Warschau 

I found a hotel about an hour from Warschau along the route we were taking and we decided to stay there for the night. The hotel is also a museum and has a special history. The building was built by the Germans during the second world war as a storage for the battle of Stalingrad. in the cold war the part were we are sleeping was used as a anti-atomic shelter, and now it is a museum and hotel.

On our way to the hotel petrol was going low again and no petrol station in sight, so for the second time today we stopped to empty the fuel tin into the tank. Maybe it’s wise to keep better track of the fuel usage of the car 🤔

After this stop we drove to the hotel, tomorrow we will find a petrol station and fill up the car and the tin with extra fuel.

In frond of the hotel

Local honey beer, very much honey 🍯 

Our room, very authentic 

We turned into bed pretty early today, tomorrow we go to the “don’t think you can get some sleep” hostel in Riga, so I think we need al the rest we can today. I put in my earplugs and hopefully get a good night sleep, even though it is pretty loud outside with heavy traffic.

Goodnight to you all.

Saturday 25th January; crossing Germany

Oldenzaal - Slubice 620km

Today we had to drive the most boring part of the raid, crossing Germany by highway. About 600km straight forward. Weather was ok, sometimes a little light rain, but nothing too serious.

Todays trip (it took us a bit longer than the 4 u 50 min 😂)

We left at the van Asperen residency around 9.30 after a good breakfast and went toward Germany. First stop was at a pharmacy just on the other side of the border to get me some painkillers. Friday morning while packing i made a wrong movement and my neck got frozen, not a good way to start a road-trip of a month. Luckily you can buy good painkillers in Germany so soon the pain was ok to deal with.

Next stop was a the liquor store to buy enough Jagermeister for the daily safe arrival drink at the end of each day during the raids. And then we really were on our way.

Being, as said before, the most boring part of the raid there is not much to tell and we almost arrived at the hotel in Lubice without any trouble. Almost.....

We just crossed the border with Poland when i tried to find us a hotel for the night, I found a really nice and payable hotel only 4 km away. Only little point was that we just passed the exit and had to make a d-tour of 20 km. But i already booked and payed, so we drove to the next exit to turn around. We did one stop at a gas station and when we left there Gert-jan told us over the radio that there was something wrong with his car. We decided to find a safe place to stop and have a look, but before we found one we had to make an emergency stop along the high way. His battery wasn’t charging anymore and his lights went out, not a good thing on a highway in the dark. So we stopped at the safety lane to have a look. The car was smelling badly as if something was burning, and soon we found out that the starting engine got stuck and wiring was melted. With a hammer the boys fixed the starter engine being stuck part, but the starting engine was finished. Luckily the battery loading problem was fixed and lights were working again, so we gave Gert-Jan a tow to get the car started and went to the hotel, deciding to have a better look tomorrow when daylight was back.

The hotel turned out te be a good  choice. Nice room, good restaurant end not too expensive. After a drink in our room we went to the restaurant for a good meal. Tanguy had salmon, I had duck and Gert-jan wild boar. The food was well prepared.

After dinner i went to bed, while the boys had some more drinks and chats and made friends with a group of Belgium guys who turned out to be a hunting group. 

Not a bad way to start the raid. 

Goodnight.