Russia Baltic Danube Cruise - Maher Escorted Tour 2019

Breakfast at Andels is very nice - although I’m on the verge of giving away full cooked breakfasts for a bit! I think we all are. So much food ... The bathrooms at Andels are also very nice - but they have this intriguing scenario where the toilet within the bathroom is fully enclosed in glass, complete with a glass door. I fail to see the point of it - it’s just a thing to have to open or bump into, and closing it offers no benefit whatsoever. Unusual and completely unnecessary. Glass around a shower is one thing, but around a loo ... !? They could have saved a fortune by doing away with all that glass!  We set off for the old town with Fab Fil guiding the way. Rain is brewing and umbrellas are on hand, but not needed yet.  We walk along Planty Park which surrounds the city centre - it used to be the old city wall and has now been turned into trees and grass and parkland. The city is contained within this strip that encircles it, and buses and heavy vehicles are kep...

Leaving Warsaw we head south, stopping first at a strange roadside joint - a huge and quite new-looking log cabin hotel/restaurant complete with windmill and very little else except some great slabs of meat in a fridge in the lobby. It’s a loo stop and it’s a mission to find them in this vast and empty place.   Onwards to Częstochowa for lunch. It’s hot and the restaurant is underground which is cooling. We like the mosaics and railings on the steps down. We also like the chips they serve here which have the perfect amount of crunch. We go across to Jasna Gora Monastry with its iconic Black Madonna and various lovely treasures. This is where thousands of Poles come in pilgrimage, on foot, similar to El Camino de Santiago in Spain. Father Roman takes us through this vast Monastry; he is delightful in every way and as impressive as the building itself where he has lived for 40+ years. We drink fresh water from the wells; it’s the purest tasting water ever and quenches...

This morning we head off on a city tour - wide streets, modernist buildings, statues and squares and gardens. The main square is busy, there’s a dapper man grinding an old organ and there is red and yellow everywhere - the colours of Warsaw. This is an excellent people-watching city - women yakking in the street, old men peering out of windows, couples lunching at outdoor cafes, families feeding pigeons ... some streets are deserted, others have horses and carriages clip-clopping by. The court is impressive - it’s a modern glass building that straddles the street. We are taken to the Wedel Cafe - a chocolate cafe. A large glass of warm thick liquid chocolate is put in front of each of us, and then a piece of chocolate cake. It’s rich and decadent and yummy. I’m a chocoholic but I couldn’t finish the chocolate drink!  There is free time for a spot of lunch (if any room after all the chocolate!) and shopping or relaxing or walking the city. For Sheila and I, it’s time to take ...

We check out of our fortress hotel after an eclectic breakfast (thankfully no tripe but some other interesting bits and pieces!) The dining room is rustic and charming. We collect our picnic lunch bag as we leave. We’ve not seen apples so huge and, OMG, we will not go hungry! We drive a short distance, past flat green fields and tidy hay bales, to the Wolf’s Lair in the Gierloz forest. The complex was constructed in 1941 as a top secret, high security site for The Fuhrer and his planned attack on the USSR. His infamous bunker is here amongst the trees and it is at this very site where the unsuccessful attempt on his life was made. We are standing right there. What a damn shame it failed. Our very earnest guide is a Professor of History and he gives us a full-on history lecture as we stand in front of a large map showing how things used to look. We may have sweated our way around many sites on this trip, but here we are standing in shady woods with a cool breeze blowing. It’s a...

Having farewelled our lovely Baltic States guide Marianna and driver Viktor last night, we meet our new guide Fil and driver Mariusz. Fil is originally from Latvia and now lives in Krakow. He is young, energetic, on the ball and his English is perfect. He also speaks Latvian, Russian and Polish. I have a feeling we will be in excellent hands for our Polish sojourn.  We leave Vilnius and drive south, the lush green countryside stretching on either side of the straight roads, the occasional roundabout transitioning traffic smoothly at the junctions. After a comfort stop - “coffee in, coffee out” Fil calls it - at the old Lithuanian/Polish border, which is a collection of derelict buildings, relics from the communist days, we swoop into Poland in our big shiny blue bus.  We pass neat and tidy houses and miles of green fields.  There is every tone of green imaginable.  “Pol” means fields ... Poland = land of fields. Makes perfect sense now we know this. We ...

We are in Lithuania, day 13 and country no. 5 on 29th July (this blog is way behind real time but I’m working on catching up!) Breakfast is delicious but we’re all getting a little worried about the amount of food we’re eating so trying not to overdo things at the start of the day. We set off on a tour of the city - population 550,000. A new president was recently elected - after 10 years with women in the position, this time it’s a man. The President can do two terms of five years, then must step down. Cathedral Square is the heart of Vilnius. Most citizens are Catholics, with Russian Orthodox as well. It’s a very green city, with 44% of it being Parks and forests. But it’s also quite pink - many of the buildings and churches are pink. In fact, at one time all the buildings here were pink! Lithuania is totally flat, there are no mountains. The highest point is just 300m. There are five universities, 3,000 lakes and 18 rivers. We go into a rather lovely [pink] Orthodox c...