The big downside of driving to Kaliningrad is your all-too-obvious foreign plated car. It’s an open invitation to be Ripped By Russians.A girl told me the other day that her grandfather was sent to the gulag simply for knowing foreign languages. This ingrained Stalinist mentality still permeates the Kaliningrad ‘hospitality industry’. You don’t really get a [...]

I’ve been travelling rather than blogging lately.  Of course, still down that same old dirt road to Kaliningrad.
 It’s easy to forget that the world’s most concrete city is surrounded by nature conservation areas. After 70 years of communism, even the wild life has forgotten. Local Soviet birds make their homes on high rise concrete piles [...]

The UK’s latest corruption scandal is all about BP’s Lord Browne and the company’s use of everything from hookers to hash in ‘winning’ oil contracts.
Britain’s Daily Mail was forced to pull the story minutes after publication - not here anymore - but well-meaning bloggers have re-sleazed it here and here.
First, you wonder why the Government [...]

Here’s something for the pleasure of your timewasting day. A virtual six day ride on the Trans Siberian from Moscow to Vladistock.

The interactive Flash movie from Russian Railways lets you walk the corridors, look out at the sights, stretch your legs at the main stations, even go to the loo and chat to other [...]

Does anyone actually visit Kaliningrad? You’d be surprised. This is the Kaliningrad Express arriving in Vilnius. It’s a long, long, long train.

Did you know that you can’t cross the Russian border on a bicycle?
Neither did I. But you can imagine how crucial this intelligence is to the Dutch. And it was indeed such a cyclist who brought this to my attention.
Amsterdam Mike at BikeRussia.com explains:

When officials issue an official denial, you know for sure the opposite is true.
Back in February, when the news leaked out about Putin’s new retirement home in Pionerski, Kaliningrad Oblast, The Moscow Times duly reported:

“We have no information on this matter,” Kremlin press secretary Viktor Khrekov said. “I would not exclude the possibility that this [...]

See previous post. With apologies to Kaz Bascik.

Taxi!

Kaliningrad-Gdansk is one of the world’s slowest train journeys. They say it’s about four hours. Which is a long time to cover just 125K. And there’s still more time to factor in.
First, it’s important to know that all trains in Russia run on Moscow time. So the 18.35 from Kaliningrad to Gdansk actually leaves at [...]

I fully expected to see the old funicular railway in Svetlogorsk. Last time I was here, it was dark and they told me it was closed. What they didn’t mention - or maybe it was my poor Russian - is that the last train ran in 1960.
Not until 1973 did Svetlogorsk get a replacement. Perhaps [...]