The Adventure

So here it is. The Euro Trip. I have had to write it retrospectively due to the fact there was plenty of great things to do and no time to waste behind a computer. I travelled with a mate of mine , Ben (Gibbo) who, to his credit after spending 3 weeks with me, is still speaking to me. And at the end of the day didn't end up shitting me too much either. The following image is a map of where we went. Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. We had an average of 3 days in each of the capital cities

Latvia

Latvia was a unique place. Unique in the sense that the people seem to hang onto the negative effects of being occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union for so long. They seemed to miss the point when it came to customer service. For example, when we got most of our meals they were pretty much dumped on the table without a 'there you go' or an announcement of what the meal was. I'm not sure whether the occupation was the cause for the non-existence of any Asians, Africans or any immigrants but I'm sure it had something to do with it.

Being an ex-Soviet state meant that a ot of things were cheap, including the vodka. It was about $5 Australian for 500ml. Nice. We didn't drink too much though as it was pretty strong. The following is the Freedom Monument to celebrate the independence of Latvia, of which was no doubt done with a ot of vodka consumption.

Whilst being careful, I must mention the females. I kid you not....... every second female we saw was a dead-set stunner. For the first few days Gibbo and I couldn't really believe it but after a while we just accepted it. Maybe it's something they put in the water.

All in all it was an interesting place. However, the people really did seem a bit serious. Maybe they need a holiday to Australia.

Estonia

Estonia was a little more westernised then Latvia. There were a ot more tourists. The British see Estonia as the Australians see Thailand and Bali .... somewhere to go that has cheap booze and accommodation, hence us seeing a ot of poms on stag nights.

Like the Latvians the Estonians need to embrace the concept of the customer service. At a pub I was told by the drunk, 20 year old publican (who was giving free shots to his mates) that I was cheap because I didn't tip him after every beer. Don't worry he was advised of what my thoughts were on his customer service.

Estonia had a bit more genuine culture than Latvia with it's markets, hats and locally brewed beer. We had a great night sampling the beer at one of the local pubs.

.......and I tried on a few hats

So Estonia was good in the sense that it was cheap enough for us to save our money for the Scandinavian countries.

We ended up moving from the hostel we had booked after one night due to the fact we found a live rat in our room. I know.... ....!!!! It turned out well as the hotel we moved into was pretty swish and non-expensive.

Next post FINLAND and SWEDEN.