Four Days to Cross Europe - Thank God For German Autobahns

Our time in the Baltic Republics was rushed. We knew that we needed to get back to Spain so we could go to the US embassy for Javi's visa, but we still didn't want to miss out on any important landmarks. As we left Lithuania, we had only four days to reach Madrid. Four days to cross continental Europe, and our first hurdle was Poland. Poland's roads are very undeveloped. We are not the first to say that driving across Poland seems never ending. It took us a whole day to get part-way across the country. I love Poland, but when you are in a rush, you can't wait to leave.

The next day, we still had 200km to the border of northern Germany. We both dreamed of the German autobahns, and when we reached them we felt as though we had been freed of some terrible oppression. In one day only we zoomed across 1,000km of Germany to the homes of Javier's Swiss Family. It was late when we arrived, and we relished in the beauty of sleeping outside the car.

Our next day was partly spent buying Swiss chocolate. No matter how strapped for time, it is impossible for us to enter Switzerland without stuffing our bags with chocolate and cookies. Once finished, we were on our way again. With little time to stop, we rushed towards France. The problem with getting across France is that you usually have only two options: sell your kidney and take the tollway, or crawl through the countryside on winding roads. We are rather cheap and we were doing relatively well on time, so we took the countryside. Eventually, we reached to Pyrenees and crossed Andora into Spain. It was very late when we reached Madrid, but we still had sufficient time to rest for the next day.

The Baltic Republics: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania

The Baltic Republics are quiet countries located between much larger and louder countries.  Their history in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania was at times saddening.  They were caught in the center of power and land struggles; conquered and controlled by their neighbors; and stepped upon many times by different cultures.  Nonetheless, these people are extremely generous and our time in these three countries was educational and fun.

We arrived in the capital of Estonia, fresh off the ferry from Finland.  Our hosts were a lovely family who welcomed us into their homes.  They had two small children, and we enjoyed a supper with them.  The capital, Tallinn, is a simple city, with a very nice citadel at its center.  The citadel is not the largest we've seen, nor the most impressive, but it was still nice to walk around.

We visited a few other small towns on our way to Tartu, where we stayed with a Hungarian girl who was attending the university there.  This girl was absolutely fanatic about Estonia.  She spoke of it as if she loved it more than Hungary.   

In Latvia we visited Riga, the capital, before heading to the south-western coast.  Riga has a very beautiful city center.  The architecture is almost like the main square is surrounded by ginger bread houses.  It's almost reminiscent of the beautiful buildings in Brussels - almost.

In Riga, we stayed with a nice - but strange - family in these old Soviet apartments.  I always enjoy staying in Soviet apartments; they are all the same no matter what city or country. There's a story that people in the Slavic former block countries often bring up.  It goes something like this: a man is visiting friends, and during his last hours with them, he becomes very drunk.  They put him on his plane home; he stumbles aboard and promptly falls asleep.  When he wakes up his plane has landed, so he goes out of the terminal and hails a taxi.  He tells the taxi his address and does his best to keep from becoming sick - due to his hangover.  They arrive at the house, the man pays the taxi driver, and steps up to his door.  Sticking his key in, he turns the knob, and enters the house, only to find that it is not his house at all.  In fact, it is not his street, nor his city.  He didn't even get on the right plane.  Such are the living facilities in the former block countries.

 On the coast of Latvia, we stayed with a young woman and her boyfriend.  Originally, we were supposed to stay with her sister, but something came up.  In the end, it turned out perfectly.  This woman took us on a tour of her town, and down to the beach.  She told us so much about the history of Soviet times in the Baltic Republics, but it was all very negatively skewed.  In our travels through former Soviet and block states, we have discovered that young people are all very negative about "communist" times, and people who actually lived in those times - whatever their political affiliations - are often more neutral or even nostalgic.  Older people tell stories about having only one banana their whole childhood, or even their mothers fighting with other women over a pair of stockings, but they often leave out the negative sides that the youth seem so absorbed by.  

(An odd thing relating to the beach we visited with this woman: many months later in a museum in Berlin, we saw a photo of people being executed on that beach.  Part of the story that woman didn't know.)

Finally, we entered Lithuania.  We were desperately running out of time at this point, so we only visited a couple places.  At first, we entered the sand dunes national park outside of Klaipeda.  We drove along the whole sand dunes until we actually reached the border with Kaliningrad!  It was all rather strange, so we did not spend much time.  We also visited Kaunus, Vilinius, and Druskininkinai, but I wish we could have visited the open air park near the latter. Near Druskininkinai there is an open air park where a group of people have collected artifacts from Soviet times.  In this park are some of the only remaining statues of the Soviet leaders.  Someday, someday...

Finland

Finland, we drove from its border with Sweden in Lapland, all the way to its most southern tip, and we didn't see much.  Even the Finnish hosts we had couldn't give us much insight about what to see here.  The towns are not too interesting, and the biggest destination other than the capital are these small towns of wooden houses.

 
The namesake of these wooden houses is more or less that they are old.  Otherwise, there is really nothing breathtaking about them. We walked through the winding streets filled with these houses, but in the end, all they were was little wooden houses.

We arrived in Helsinki so that we could take a ferry to the Baltic Republics.  Helsinki is an interesting mix of cultures.  This is the first place in Northern Europe where we began to see Russian architecture and Orthodox churches.  It is a nice city, but so are many others.

Lofoten

Lofoten, Norway.  What can I say, when I feel like this place is too beautiful for words.  Norway is beautiful itself, but Lofoten is the epitome of Norway's beauty.  A small horn of islands extending out from Norway's northern boundary into the Artic Ocean, Lofoten is one of those places I will never forget.  The Lofoten islands are steep jagged mountains rising directly out of the sea.  Small bridges connect these islands, and allow you to traverse them out into the sea. 


Along these islands are small fishing villages.  For being such a dark and gloomy place for most of the year, the towns are beautiful and bright with color.  These fishing villages were built on the salted cod industry.  If you have ever been to southern Europe, you will find that salted preserved cod is a very common and old part of food culture.  Throughout history, most of this cod has come from Norway.  In the windows of some of the shops, we could even see old packaging for this fish written in Spanish.

On our way to visit one of these small fishing towns, we picked up a couple of hitchhikers who later treated us to some of the local dried fish.  Stringy and slightly salty, the fish was not the most appetizing foods we have had, but it was easy to understand its appeal nutritionally.

 

The people in Lofoten were extremely friendly with us, but they were also a little confused about our Spanish car...

The Atlantic Road

A very dull name for an absolutely breathtaking place.  This section of road along the coast of central Norway is short, but spectacular.  The road was constructed along a series of small rocky islands that are completely exposed to the sea.  Famous photos of this road often show enormous waves overtaking its most famous bridge.  On a calm sunny day, this stretch of road is amazing to drive.  The high fjords in the background and colorful vegetation inhabiting the islands make this passage between Karvag and Vevang magical.

Bergen and Trondheim

The cities in Norway can not be compared to the cities in other parts of Europe.  Let's face it - the Vikings built boats not buildings.  But, there are still some very cute towns in Norway.  Despite being such a gray and cold country, the houses are remarkably bright and warm colors. 

In Bergen, the main tourist attraction is a small area of town containing slanted houses.  How a bunch of poorly built homes became so attractive to visitors beats me, but they are definitely interesting.  When you look at them from far away, it becomes obvious just how slanted and leaning they are.  When you are up close, or walking in between them, they seem like they might even fall on you.

We stayed with a very nice Norwegian man and his dog in Bergen.  He treated us to some waffles with brunost.  Brunost is literally "brown cheese" in Norwegian.  In Norway, this kind of cheese is a favorite in most every household.  During certain times of the year, the children go around selling brunost for fundraising.  It is a rather strange cheese by most people's standards.  It is a mix of cow's and sheep's milk that has been cooked for so long that the sugars in the milk have carmelized, making it brown and semi-sweet.  I adore this cheese, but many people I have offered some to have not shared my love.

Further north, in Trondheim, there are some similar houses.  These houses are located on the river flowing through the town and are built upon stilts.  For me visiting Trondheim was important for more than just seeing the town.  Part of my family immigrated to the US from Trondheim, and it was interesting to go back to where they were from. 

In Trondheim we stayed with a man from India.  I always try to be conscientious when we stay with people of other cultures.  I was not sure if he ate meat, so I wanted to make sure it was okay for me to make some chicken soup.  When we asked him, his answer was surprising.  He was quite interested in eating any kind of meat.  He even went so far to say human meat.  Okay?  That was strange, but he was really a very nice man.

Driving the Fjords

Norway's coast is by no means an easy line to navigate.  With fjords, islands, and rivers to cross, it is no wonder that most people take the inland route when traversing the country from north to south.  Although it is also an incredibly expensive route to take - with ferries, underwater tunnels, and bridges you need to pay to use - it is one of the most beautiful and unforgettable journeys I have ever taken.

We started in Bergen and began the long arduous journey north.  For one week we traveled the coast, watching the leaves on the trees change to yellow, orange, and red as we worked our way towards the polar circle.  Here are some snapshots of our adventure:

Skagen - Where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea Meet

At the northern point of Denmark, there is a small finger that comes out into the point where the North and Baltic Sea meet.  Can you tell?

 

Amsterdam

We don't fiend for the opportunity to smoke marijuana, the red light district might as well not exist, we like bikes but don't like getting run over by them, and it was not our first time in a moderately big European city.  Anything that makes Amsterdam special is really of little interest to us.

Many people travel to Amsterdam for the normally illegal opportunities to party.  Quite frankly, we are not much for partying.  At the time of our visit, marijuana was not yet legal in any state in the U.S.  Seeing the cafes was akin to seeing some actor that you kind of liked in that one movie.  Maybe you want to take a picture from across the street, but you're not about to run over, scream like a child, and beg for an autograph.  We didn't even step foot in a cafe.  It wasn't even a priority.

As for the prostitution: there are some very serious things that people should consider before they pay for sex in Amsterdam.  It may be legal, but that does not necessarily make it consensual, moral, or socially responsible.  I will stop there.

Now, lots of people love the high dependence on bicycles in Amsterdam and the Nederlands in general.  We really love bikes.  Javier spent years cycle-touring around the U.S.  I volunteered for a sustainable transportation group and helped at a free bike shop.  Javier can not drive and uses his bike to get around.  I barely used a car during my teens and while at university. 

You would think that our love of bicycles would extend to the situation in Amsterdam, but it really doesn't.  Since Javier can barely see due to extreme visual disability he was almost run over by a cyclist, because he couldn't see him coming.  The cyclist proceeded to scream and accuse Javier of being an "idiot". 

While this guy was probably just a huge jerk, this particular scenario led us to question the rules for bicycles and rights of pedestrians in a bicycle dominated city.  What if Javier had instead been a small child, who unknowingly ran out into the fray of bikes?  Children, even when taught to stop at the roadside, do not always do so in times of duress and frustration.  If that child had been hurt or killed, who would have been held responsible?  The same goes for Javier, an almost blind man who is in a city he does not know.

We do not know what the exact rules and regulations are in Amsterdam concerning bikes and pedestrians.  We could very easily be surprised to find out that the rules favor pedestrians.  But, considering our experience while in this city, we don't suspect pedestrians have much power.

In the end, my impression of Amsterdam was not great.  It doesn't even make the top 20 of my favorite European cities.  The only regret I have is that we did not make it to the Ann Frank Museum.  I am thoroughly convinced that this was the only good reason for us to stop in Amsterdam.  I would like to say that maybe I will get to go to the museum in the future, but this is unlikely considering I don't have much desire to go back to Amsterdam.

Pretty, Pretty Buildings in Brussels and Bruges

Forget about Belgian chocolates, Belgian architecture is really where it is at in my book.  (Besides, Javier is Swiss and we could never even hint that anything was better than Swiss chocolate.)  The jagged outlines and intricate details make them look like quaint gingerbread houses.  Add vibrant and contrasting colors and you get some of the most adorable buildings in Europe.

Our time in Belgium was unfortunately short.  We had plans to visit an old school friend of Javier's on the other side of the border in the Nederlands.  We first visited Brussels where the old center of town has buildings with these magnificent facades I have mentioned.  At the time they were doing a fair amount of restoration, but what we could see was very impressive.

Brussels is famous for being the capital of the European Union, but the main reason people visit the old center is to see the awe inspiring Manneken Pis.   Wait.  It really isn't so awe inspiring.  Take a look for yourself...

There it is, the most famous site in Brussels.  A 24" (61cm) high statue of a small cherub-like boy holding his penis and relieving himself.  Javier had given me fair warning as we searched for this statue; telling me that it was definitely overblown in its popularity.  This did not help my shock when we reached the fountain.  I really expected it to be bigger!

We had a small coffee in a pub nearby so we could get internet.  That night we still needed to travel to Bruges to the house we were staying at.  We wrote to the Flemish family who were going to host us, and were on our way.

The next day we toured Bruges.  While the buildings may not be quite as intricate as in Brussels, they are much more colorful and bright.  The town center really feels joyful.

Bruges is a very nice town to walk around.  There are canals weaving through much of the center, with small bridges and alcoves to explore.  We spent quite some hours visiting all the nooks and crannies we could find before we had to rush to the Netherlands.