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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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Aug 20, 2018 08:00 PM Nikolskoye on Volga
The ship is sailing upstream. In the middle of the day we had a stopover in the village of Nikolskoye. Local people established near the jetty little bazaar, selling fresh, dry and smoked fish from the Volga, fruits and vegetebles... The prices are 50 percent lower than in Astrakhan...
I took a walk through the village (2 kms long) to the nice orthodox church of The Birth of Our Lady. They still restore it after communist period, but it is still nice to see... The view of the river is nice from the cliff here - i climbed for the better view when I returned back to the jetty. People use wide beach to swim, but you have to take care because the strong current.
Nice sunset in the evening... We were singing together on the deck. I have a good time on this river ship :)
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Aug 19, 2018 08:00 PM Astrakhan - southern outpost of Russia
This place was on the ancient Silk Road... Once it was capital of Golden Orda, but from 1558 Astrakhan is important trade post for Russia. It has walled Kremlin with beautiful orthodox churches. The main one has two levels! I had half a day to walk around, to find three nice mosques - quite big muslim minority lives here. Astrakhan on Volga River close to the Caspian Sea was always important fishing center - it is still famous for the production of caviar. You can buy it here but the little can cost more than 5000 roubles - like 80 USD. It is also famous for local, tasty watermelons - you can buy them paying 50 roubles per kilo.
It was worth to stroll the side streets to see the samples of old Russian wooden architecture. Some houses are very ornate, but many of them is in the ruin. No money for restauration? But they have money to built new skyscrapers in Astrakhan... :)
Anyway - Astrakhan has special atmosphere and is well worth a visit. In the night we are turning north and sailing Volga upstream visiting new places...
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Aug 18, 2018 08:00 PM In the streets of Volgograd (former Stalingrad)
In the morning we went through solid two-staged lock. Each stage is 14 m high, so we were saliling on the level 28 mts lower... It is not Panama canal, but still impressive!
Then we saw from the distance a huge statue of Mother Russia, announcing that we are already close to Stalingrad - present Volgograd. It was nice approach, passing many ships and... ruined factory's. Finally we docked at the imposing Rechnoy Vokzal (River Terminal) and I had 2,5 hours of time to take a walk around the town. Completely rebuilt after the war Violgograd is a nice city, with many students from the university strolling shady streets and park alleys. Bug statue of uncle Lenin still stands on the main square. They left only only one building untouched from the war time. Ironically it is the mill built by German settlers... New rotunda of Stalingrad's Panorama was built right nearby. I will have more time to explore on the way back...
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Aug 17, 2018 08:00 PM Volga, Volga - Mat' Rodnaya...
On our ship you will see many kitch-like pictures from the Stories of Roman Empire: Cesar, Cloopatra... ufff.... So tasteless! But for me this ship was the last expensive solution to sail huge Volga...
Volga has picturesque cliffs on the right side and is very wide, with many islands. Afret passing through first lock we had 2 hours stop for bathing on one of the big islands -Usovka. Local people sall there smoked fish and beer, there are nice sandy beaches but zero infastructure. Russia...
Then we continued our sail down the river enjoying warm and sunny weather.
At the sunset we passed the city of Saratov. In the evening Russian passengers (and me) we were singing on the deck - I had a nice time!
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Aug 16, 2018 08:00 PM From Moscow to Samara
Midnight at SVO airport. For Mundial they built an excellent and elegant Terminal B. Then at 1.10 am I boarded next plane - to Samara. They served tasty sandwich and a coffee before we landed. Ooops! it is 4.30 am, but the first bus to the distant city of Samara departs at 6.15!
The cheapest solution is to teke regular hus 78 to the last stop (25 roubles - pay to the conductor) and then regular bus 50 to the railway station.
Natasha was waiting for me in the cafe near the station. She works in the tourist industry and was so nice to guide me to the most important places of interest in Samara. We visited churches, monuments, parks and view points. Samara is lovely city, settled on the high river bank with the nice view on Volga. Thank you dear Natasha!
My river ship - old "Cezar" (before it had a name of German communist Ernest Thalman) arrived at 5 pm. Some 30 passengers boarded the junk and we sailed at picturesque sunset. The ship is not full and so far I am lucky tobe alone in my cheapest cabin!
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Aug 15, 2018 08:00 PM Bla Bla Car - to Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad airport, located 4 hours drive by bus from Gdansk is for me the ideal gateway when I travel east. Today my flight departs at 8 pm. No need to wake up early for 6 am bus!
I decided to try the private car booked by blablecar.com
The only problem is that the drivers announce the rides only 1-2 days in advance - so you must be patient to wait till the last minute... And of course there is a little risk.
I got a seat on the car departing from Gdansk at 2 pm. It will cost me 32 zlotys (the bus is 42, ang goes much slower). Let's hope that the Russian driver will be on time! :)
Posted later: The driver arrived with 55 min delay. As a result we were forced to go through afternoon' traffic congestions... We reached the border at 5.30 pm.
The situation became dramatic... Driver decided to go with me directly to Kaliningrad airport. I was there 10 minutes before closing the gate. Uff!
Flight to Moscow Sheremetyevo took us less than an hour...
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Aug 14, 2018 08:00 PM New journey - Volga River awaits me...
New travel to the the East! During my expeditions to seven continents, I was sailing the largest rivers in the world; The Amazon, Congo, Ganges, Nile, Yukon, and in the huge Russia -the great rivers of Siberia flowing north: Lena, Yenisej and Ob with Irtysh. I always wanted to see the Volga as well - the river so important for Russian history and culture. And now, after a few months of preparation, I am going to embark the old river boat and to sail all the way to Astrakhan at the mouth of the Volga to the Caspian Sea. On the way I will see Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saratov, Volgograd and other historic cities. I hope that traveling alone I will meet many cordial and friendly Russians. I will share the cabin with the unknown Russian. A new adventure awaits me...
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Aug 03, 2018 08:00 PM On the air...
Today I was invited once again to Radio Gdansk to have a live talk about my last voyage to East Tibet. But we were talking also about other countries, other mountains than Himalaya, about other continents...
- It is very rare case that we have in our studio the traveller who can on the interesting way answer the question about any country of the world! says charming Ms Beata - radio jounalist who ivited me to our broadcasting station. That's because I visited all countries of the world plus a boundle of colonies, dependent territories etc...
There were a feedback from the listeners. They wan me there again. The problem is that my time is limited and they pay nothing for such a production. But maybe...
It is me in the Mozambique on the picture. Who else was in remote Mozambique?
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Aug 02, 2018 08:00 PM Hosting Orest in Wojtkówka...
It must be destiny: I met Orest in Lviv, Ukraine just to discover that we are both booked independently for the old, second-hand ship "Monarch" sailing in November 2017 to Panama. Now I had a pleasure to host him in my cottage during the meeting of the Greatest Polish Travellers - he was the initiator of this meeting... And I was surprised to hear during our discussion that both of us we are booked again - for the ship "Sovereign" sailing in November 2018 to Brazil. What a coincidence!
Thank you Orest for your visit nad your help in the garden! See you aboard "Sovereign"!
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Aug 01, 2018 08:00 PM Slawek Muturi
Half-Polish, half-Kenyan this businessman and traveller lives now in Warsaw. I met him for the first time in my Wojtkówka and we had good time talking about the world and travelling. On the next day he was departing to Greenland.
I hope to see him again...
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