Today was another great day in Estonia. On our way to the border town of Narva, we stopped at a place that was once top secret.
Sillamäe is a small town on the northern coast and used to be one of the Soviet Union’s closed cities. It was kept off maps and sealed off to outsiders until the early 1990s. Back in the day, it played a big role in the Soviet nuclear program, processing uranium for atomic weapons. Entry was strictly controlled, and the whole place was heavily guarded. It was pretty surreal wandering around, knowing its secretive past. There are still a lot of Soviet buildings from the Stalin era, and I found the town really interesting.
Our next stop was Narva, right on the border with Russia, separated only by a river. I loved this place! We walked along the river, looking across at Russia. Just over the water were colourful houses, or mansions really, judging by their size. It looked like any other well-off European city, which I guess it is. But the best part was still to come.
On the Estonian side of the river is a huge castle. On the Russian side? An even bigger one. It felt like the two were in a permanent stand-off. There’s a footbridge connecting the two, but it’s heavily guarded, and you need a visa to cross. We wandered around the Estonian castle, free to explore, with hardly any tourists around. I don’t know why more people don’t come here. In Tallinn, we saw loads of English and American visitors, but here it was just a few locals out enjoying their Sunday.
We tried to leave the castle a different way but ended up having to take a long detour around the border. There was a big line of people waiting to cross into Russia. I wish I had the confidence to interview them and ask where they were from, but alas, I don’t… so we’ll never know. St. Petersburg is only about a two-hour drive from the other side, so that might explain it. The crossing here is only for foot traffic, but we saw buses with “St Petersburg” as the destination. We figured they drop people off at the border, and another bus picks them up on the other side.
After Narva, we headed south and stopped at a convent with a beautiful Russian Orthodox church, similar to one we’d seen in Tallinn. There were a few people around. Babushkas in headscarves, people crossing themselves in that Catholic style. I felt like a phony, not a religious bone in my body, as I stood there marvelling at the onion-domed cathedral. The whole place had a real sense of peace, and the grounds were quiet and beautiful.
Then it was time to find a camping spot for the night. I’d saved a few forest sites to check out, but I’m not a fan of forest camping . Too many mozzies! Still, it’s free, so we gave them a look. It turns out it must be school holidays here, because the locals were out in full force, camping in the woods, music blaring, fires burning. Not really our vibe. We passed at least three camps like this. We finally found one that wasn’t too crowded, but the second we got out of the car, we got attacked and bitten. Abort! Abort!
We kept driving until we found a lovely spot right by a lake. Still a few mozzies, but at least we’re not surrounded by trees. We didn’t even have to cook dinner as we had a sausage from the local service station. Almost as good as Norway!