Day 16.
Saturday 17th July. Tallinn to St Petersburg.
Up early and getting ready for bus to St
Petersburg. Quick shower and breakfast and taxi to Bus
station. Bus arrived at 10.15 exactly and we were away in
5 minutes. Long journey through Rakvere, Kohtla-tarve,
Johvi, Narva and St Petersburg. It's about a seven hour
journey with quite a few stops along the way. Borders no
problem. At the Estonian border they just took all the
passports and stamped them after the usual checks I presume.
At the Russian border you had to present your passport
personally but straight through and onto the bus again.
The migration card was very important and you were given this by
the driver as you boarded the bus. You had to fill in your
details and the location of the lodgings at your destination.
Got into the city about 6pm, slowly got my
bearings and headed for my hotel. Before that I tried to buy
a ticket for the return journey but the ticket ladies simply
refused to understand my attempts to speak Russian. In the
end I gave up and left the Bus Station. St Petersburg is a
very busy city with lots of traffic and people everywhere.
Found my hotel with a little difficulty but got settled in and my
breath back before heading into the fray again. I was glad I
didn't bring the bike as the traffic is really bad. In some
places the holes are quite deep and as in Tallinn you have to be
careful of the tramlines. I had a good look around the train
station which was packed with people all going somewhere in a
hurry. I walked around the streets, and had something to eat
before returning to my hotel for the night.
Day 16 pictures
here.
Day 15 report here.
Day 17 report
here.
Return to
Week 3 page.
© 2004 Alex Bradley
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