A quick holiday report but not canal related – sorry. The only link I can think of is snow, as for the last 4 days I have been in and around the Austrian and German Alps, while the UK is recovering from the most snowy winter in memory.

From the top of the Zugspitze - Germany's highest mountain

I have always wanted to fly into Innsbruck as it has a mountainous approach which requires the pilot to undergo specific training before operating there.  Friday’s weather was absolutely amazing and our Easyjet flight from Gatwick touched down perfectly out of the blue sky – the approach is certainly spectacular.  Innsbruck is a lovely little airport with a regular local bus service to town, although at a pinch it could even be walked.

Zugspitze Cogwheel Railway

The highlight of the trip was a ride up the Zugspitze railway from Garmisch Partenkirchen, just over the Austrian border with Germany.  The cogwheel train is ultra modern, and powers its way up the steep gradient to within a short cable car ride from the summit of Germany’s highest mountain (2962m).  Suddenly we were amongst skiers and snow boarders and with a view across the hundreds of snow covered peaks stretching for miles and miles.  We had lunch in Austria by walking across the border on the top of the mountain, then took a different cable car straight down the mountain side to Eibsee in the steepest and longest single span I have ever ridden on.  With a third cable car down the Austrian side of the mountain to Erfurt, and the original lodge, the Munchner Haus still standing beside the weather station, this is undoubtedly one of the world’s engineering marvels – all in the aid of tourism and one I will remember for a long time – I hope.  The biggest regret was not being prepared in advance or we could have booked a night in the Iglu Ice Hotel close to the summit.  Sleeping in a room made entirely of snow, including the bed and toilet is one thing, but I can only try to imagine what it is like at night once all the tourists go home.

We also visited the incredible Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck and the resort of Kandahar near Garmisch (not the other Kandahar which makes the news too often!), which will be the venue for the 2011 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, and this weekend was very busy with skiers of all ages, but there weren’t any beginners in sight so we didn’t try to join in.

The second highlight was Munich Hofbrauhaus, which allegedly can seat 5,000 drinkers, and whilst it is 100% tourist trap the general atmosphere was brilliant, serving beer by the litre (no halves!) and piles of excellent filling food to soak it up, all at inflated prices but what the hell… with the accompaniment of the Oompah band it was great fun!

Flying back to Gatwick from Munich, again with Easyjet, completed the round trip.  Its strange to be back in the UK where a pound buys a pounds worth of goods instead of buying a Euro’s worth.   Whatever happened to the exchange rate!

Marko Polo at Rijeka 19 Oct 09

Last month we took the elegant 1970′s car ferry, Marko Polo, down the Croatian Coast from Rijeka, via Split, Hvar and Korcula to Dubrovnic, and I was just looking through my photographs thinking what a marvellous trip this was.  Michael Palin used the exact same ship when making his “New Europe” series but it was never shown on TV – perhaps it wasn’t exciting enough – but he does comment “We leave Rijeka on the night ferry to Split. It’s called the ‘Marko Polo’, which sounds like a good omen at the start of a very long journey”.

There was something most satisfying about travelling this well trodden route which stopped at three intermediate ports on the 20 hour journey and I was filled with admiration as Captain Radic made the most perfect manoeuvre to reverse the ferry stern-on to the tiny quayside at postcard perfect Korcula Town without even the slightest bump.  I would never have believed it possible to reverse a 128m ship towards a quay in this way, and to watch how it was done with anchors and ropes was one of the highlights of the holiday.

Captain Radic on the bridge of Marko Polo

After this we sat on the next table to Captain Radic and his wife in the ship’s restaurant at lunch, he looked quite captain-like as he unfolded his swan sculpture napkin (we got paper ones) and only the restaurant manager was allowed to attend to the table.  I felt quite honoured to be so close to such an important person and even remarked that he must be one of the most experienced mariners to be operating in the Adriatic, in command of one of the largest vessels in the Jadrolinija fleet.

How wrong I was.  We didn’t know at the time but under his command, this was to be possibly one of the last trips Marko Polo would ever make.

Newspaper cutting - thanks to Find-Croatia.com

On the very next trip of 24th October 2009, four days after we travelled, Marko Polo crashed into  rocky Sit island near Sibenik Port, and Captain Radic is in extremely serious trouble, likely to lose his command and facing a hefty fine and total disgrace in my eyes.

http://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/odsukavanje-marka-pola-moglo-bi-trajati-danima-clanak-40142

The Sibenik Port Authority, has reported:
“Commander Zdenko Radic is responsible for the boat when passing through Rivanj Channel before Nasukavanja and not personally managing the ship, which was his obligation in accordance with the Maritime Code. Another pilot Zeljko Cheung is responsible because he was not on the bridge, although he was in office and therefore obliged to observe the proper course of navigation, and on reports of officers on duty.”

It seems from all accounts I can find online that the accident happened due to human error. Somehow nobody on the bridge realised that the autopilot course had not been changed from the previous day and quite simply they drove it into the land at 25 knots.  I haven’t even heard of this happening before, apart from the fictional “Speed 2-Cruise Control” .  I simply cannot believe that in 21st Century Europe none of the crew noticed that the ship was pointing straight at an island with sufficient speed to drive it 15 metres up the rocky shore after first bouncing off another island.   Fortunately and amazingly none of the passengers or crew was injured otherwise I hate to think what the charges against the Captain would have been. 

Does the navigation system on a ship not scream warnings at the crew, the same as an aircraft which goes off course?  Aparently not.

It turns out that Zdenko Radic wasn’t even the regular captain, but a relief covering while the permanent master was receiving an award for his contribution to Croatian tourism.   Very sadly the damage to the ship has been enormous, sufficient to hole her underwater, severely damage the bow, part of which had to be removed before refloating, and even knocking the propellors off.  The impact must have been terrifying. 

I only noticed this story after seeing it in the news today, as after 28 days aground she has finally been refloated (on 20th November, according to the Croatian Times and Croatia’s Find-Croatia.com website).

Initial reports say the refloating has cost 1.15 million USD so far, and there is a still a chance the lovely Marko Polo will be scrapped, although the latest news is she may be repairable and could be back in service next year.  I very much hope this is the case. 

Thanks to Cargo Law, the Croatian Times, Vecernji.hr,  Google’s Croatian to English translator for the various pieces of this ongoing story.

And no thanks to Captain Radic; I am no longer one of your fans.

Riga

What an anticlimax coming home to lashing rain and colder temperatures this morning than we had in a week of travelling through Latvia, Estonia and Finland.

Looking outside at the rain I can’t get inspired to write anything about canals today so here’s a few jottings about our holiday instead.  Personally I can’t see the attraction of sitting on the same beach for a week, so we tend to do the opposite and sit on buses and trains instead, which I can understand will not appeal to many especially those who prefer to relax on hols!

However we had the most marvellous time, starting in Riga, thanks to Ryanair.  I find Ryaniar’s use of technology to be superb and rather than complain about being charged extra for using their automatic check-in terminals at Stansted (as opposed to free online check-in)  I will actually praise them for thinking out a radical new solution to preventing check-in queues.  It took no more than 2 minutes to find a free terminal, collect our boarding passes and hand a bag in to the baggage drop desk.

Riga was wonderful but surprisingly desserted.  There was no traffic, no noise, no pedestrians in many streets – altogether a little bit eerie.   The old town centre is very attractive with a mixture of quaint and very grand buildings.  Every corner has a coffee shop – no queues – and free wifi is the norm.  The cheaper restaurants offer self service menus till late  into the night and we especially liked the Pelmeni – self service bowls of different flavoured ravioli style dumplings – a great feed for a couple of quid.  You are charged by weight, which is a very common feature in Latvia – pile it onto the plate and pay only for what you take, weighed at the till.

The day’s highlight for total relaxation turned out to be a tea shop with hundreds of teas to choose from and a first floor piled with cushions to lie on with a view of the park, all within a couple of minutes of the town centre.

The river Daugava was perhaps 400 yards wide through Riga and with at least a three foot swell I was pleased to be visiting by land and not arriving by boat on a river with breaking waves.  A narrowboat here would have no chance of staying upright but boat trips do exist, although like so much aimed at tourists here, the operating season will only be May to September.  The tranquility of Riga was only interrupted by three or four groups of rather stunned looking British lads being escorted by their stagnight guides.   How very sad that such a grand city has stooped so low as to promote this type of behaviour, which was beginning to turn just a little rowdy before we departed, and as demonstrated by the same guys next morning sporting various dressings on their black eyes, must have led to some altercations later in the night.

Leaving Riga by bus we headed north and crossed the border into Estonia without any border formalities at all.  We arrived at Parvu on the Estonian coast which is the country’s number one seaside resort.  The beach was indeed lovely although a bit chilly for sunbathing, and the town quite charming.  To get here from Riga we had covered a distance of London to Bristol and passed only the occsional farm house without even a village.  The Baltic countries are among the least populated in Europe and it certainly shows.  Parvu is one of the largest towns and it has to be said, apart from the beach, there is not a great deal to do here!  After a delicious lunch we jumped on another bus to Vijlandi, an attractive inland town by a lakeside, but so unused to visitors that we had to phone the local hotel receptionist at home.  She arrived and unlocked the hotel for us – possibly the only guests this week!

This was a lovely place to stay with lakeside walks and an enormous ruined medieval castle to explore.  Dinner was in a local pub – the only place open apart from pizza or Armenian restuarants, which seemed a little eccentric.  We were of course the only customers between 8pm and 11pm when it closed, but the food was home cooked and very good indeed.

Next morning off to the bus station via the cake shop, which is a must in Estonia.  The consumption of coffee per capita is the highest in Europe, and the selection of cakes and pastries is amazingly good and cheap.  The bus to Tallinn was uneventful and passed through a couple of immaculate villages.  Latvia and Estonia are the cleanest places I have ever visited.

Tallinn

Tallinn was a bit larger than I had imagined but turned out to be a gem of a city.  Unlike Riga it was quite busy despite still being in the off-season.  The solid blue sky had not one single cloud during our whole visit, and the main square of the walled medieval city was undergoing its annual transformation into one enormous outdoor cafe.  All around was free WiFi (see my post about WiFi in Estonia) so it was very easy to keep in touch with work, just in case anything needed urgent attention.

A couple of days in Tallinn is about right – a little more expensive than Riga but there were plenty of local bars as well as tourist traps.  However the biggest tourist trap of all was still well worth a memorable visit.  If you do visit Tallinn you will be unable to miss Olde Hansa, with its flames lapping around the doorways and medievally clad servants and minstrels.  The place is enormous, but divided into small rooms decorated in incredible detail and lit by candles and flames only.  The beer – try the Dark Honey beer or Herbed strong beer – is absolutely wonderful and the somewhat unusual food is all made according to medieval recipes and served with wooden platters and hand made pottery – even hand made glassware!  It may be a little expensive but no visitor to Tallinn should miss this place – and actually despite appearances, they are quite happy that you only order a beer rather than a meal.

Tallinn ferry terminal is within walking distance of the town so after leaving our rented apartment (very good value off season) we were eating breakfast on board the Viking XPRS within the hour, as we did the most amazing high speed reverse turn from our berth, through 180 degrees to end up facing the sea, between two other monster sized ferries.  I doubt whether many narrowboats could make this manoeuvre but this enormous ship did it with ease.

How big an inverter will this have then!?

The two and a half hour crossing to Helsinki ends with the massive ferry squeezing through an incredibly narrow passage to arrive at the ferry terminal – only a couple of hundred yards from the town.  What an absolutely marvellous arrival this is, joining the two even larger ferries from Stockholm which arrive around 9:30am.

Helsinki was another gem.  A busy working city going about its business with just a hint of tourism.  It is said that the Finns are amongst the happiest nations, enjoying their short summers in pavement cafes and rooftop bars.  The sunshine this week had been a surprise for everyone and it reached a dizzying 17 degrees which was quite unexpected for April. 

We sat in the harbourside market for breakfast each morning, watching the towering ferries arriving, and by day explored the city by foot and tram.  The transport system here is about as good as it gets and should become  a role model for any city planning a tram system. Timetables can be downloaded to mobile phones, progress of each tram is mapped online, they are very modern and comfortable too, with WiFi onboard and run every few minutes.  The ultimate tram system.

How could I visit Finland without sampling a proper sauna?  The Finns are so helpful that while examing the map we suddenly found ourselves joining in a huge group all heading for the same place.  Outside the famous Kotiharjun wood fired Sauna, unchanged since 1928, it is customary to grab a cold beer and sit out on the wall clad in nothing but steam and a towel.  Faced with joining a queue of over 20, all of whom knew each other, we chickened out and went back to town, much to the horror of our new friends, but I couldn’t leave it at that, so went off to the other sauna in the centre, the incredible art deco Yrjönkadun Uimahalli.

Yrjönkadun Uimahalli Sauna, Helsinki

Opening on alternate days for men and women, I had only two hours remaining, after taking ages to identify the well disguised building, so literally plunged in at the deep end.  This establishment is virtually unchanged since the day it opened, after a recent restoration, with an indoor pool and four saunas plus a steam room to choose from.  English signs make it very clear that bathing costumes are optional in the pool and absolutley forbidden elsewhere.  Finns have absolutely no inhibitions with nudity and whilst I managed to sneak into the wood burning sauna alone, within minutes it was full of jovial Finns happily beating themselves and others with bundles of birch twigs and throwing ladle after ladle of water onto the fire.  This was the hottest sauna I ever had – it actually said 85C on the door!  How wonderful it would have been to plunge outside with a beer and sit on that wall after this, but here the choice is a dip in the pool, a cold shower or a cold pressure hose, followed by beer served at your own table on the balcony – altogether rather civilised!

The experience was thoroughly enjoyable and after cooling off and relaxing for a while in my personal cabin, I reluctantly got dressed and headed back into the town, feeling like I was walking on air.  Before we left to fly home I was almost first person in the queue for it opening at 8am, inhibitions cast aside and ready to take on the world by breakfast time!

Finland – definitely worth another look after this gentle introduction to such a huge country.  I looked longingly at the overnight trains to Rovaniemi in Lapland and dreamt of fields of Elk.  If only we had another day or two …. – but somehow I think we will be returning!!

Helsinki trams - wifi enabled

Changing the subject from life on board slightly, this week I have been on holiday.  Not quite as exciting as our last trip to Moldova and Ukraine, but still off the beaten tourist track.  We flew last week to Riga, capital of Latvia, travelled overland to Tallin in Estonia and flew back yesterday from Helsinki, Finland.

When WiFi was in its infancy in 1994, Estonia was reported by the BBC as being the most advanced nation in the provision of wireless hotspots for everyone. WiFi.ee still maintains a huge wireless network for public access, and absolutely everywhere we travelled almost every bar, restaurant and even shops also provided completely free wifi access to the public. 

WiFi.ee currenly runs 1164 hotspots covering 45,000 square kilometers and almost all of them are free.   Using my iPhone I was able to connect within a few yards of first trying without any problems at all.

So it was actually even more refreshing to discover that, after taking the ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki (free WiFi on board of course) , virtually the whole city is WiFi enabled.  Hotels try to make their money by charging but over most of the city is a combination of official free WiFi hotspots, an even bigger network of shops and bars providing access and best of all, the number 4 tram from the ferry port to the city centre also provides free WiFi.  Other tram and bus routes may also be covered, under a trial scheme. 

How cool to be able to log on for an email check on the way to town on the tram, but it doesn’t stop there.  Trams are fitted with GPS devices which as well as updating the “next tram” signs at the tram stops, even show their location on Google Maps.