...in Kaliningrad?

im invisible · 16-04-2013 2:03am #1

any sights to see/ things to do??

not thinking of going anytime soon, but wouldn't mind walking all the bridges once in my life

thegreatgonzo · 22-04-2013 7:25pm

I think Immanuel Kant is buried there :-)

curiousb · 02-05-2013 10:15am

Been there twice and very interesting place!

Kant is buried there, yes and tomb worth a visit.

Definitely take a trip out to the Curic Split, think it is World Unesco Site now?

I was only there for very brief periods of a day or two so didn't get around too much, but did enjoy the place. Vodka is very good too!

Mick ah · 02-05-2013 10:19am

Supposedly you can pay to drive an old tank around the streets.

The trip would be worth it just for that.

curiousb · 02-05-2013 10:22am

Mick ah wrote: »

Supposedly you can pay to drive an old tank around the streets.

The trip would be worth it just for that.

Never saw that one... but like the idea

The one thing you did notice was the wide range of cars on the road. You had ancient Lada's and Skoda's alongside brand new Range Rovers and Mercedes.

murphym7 · 02-05-2013 12:24pm

I went there on ships in the 90's, it was still very very Soviet looking then, it was pretty cool to be honest. No idea whats its like now though, never even knew it was a tourist destination. Its twined with Cork City by the way.

curiousb · 02-05-2013 12:55pm

murphym7 wrote: »

I never even knew it was a tourist destination. .

I wouldn't call it that... but it has had major development. It is a 'Special Economic Zone', and is/was being built up as the 'Hong Kong of the Baltic'.

Lots of manufacturing there, especially cars for the Russian market.

Putin's wife is from Kaliningrad, so he has had a personal interest!

DainBramage · 08-05-2013 11:35pm

presume a visa is needed as its a Russian enclave??

keith16 · 08-05-2013 11:37pm

DainBramage wrote: »

presume a visa is needed as its a Russian enclave??

Yep, deffo.

How are you getting there as a matter of interest OP? Have always wanted to visit the city formerly known as Königsberg.

curiousb · 09-05-2013 8:00am

keith16 wrote: »

Yep, deffo.

How are you getting there as a matter of interest OP? Have always wanted to visit the city formerly known as Königsberg.

I was there twice and the first time I flew in Warsaw and got a connecting flight to Kaliningrad. That was the easy option.

The second time I flew into Kaunus with Ryanair and that was interesting. The flight was fine. We had arranged for a driver to pick us up from the airport and drive us to Kaliningrad. Flight got in late at night and we drove to the Russian border, where we had to wait for over 4 hours. First delay was on the Lithuanian side where we were told to park up in the far end of a huge empty parking lot and wait...

Eventually we got out of Lithuania to be held up on the Russian side for another few hours while our passports were checked. It was like we were in the middle of a John Le Carre Cold War novel!

I think we eventually got to the hotel at about 5am.

The journey home was the same route but in the middle of the day and was very pleasant.

locum-motion · 10-05-2013 11:23pm

im invisible wrote: »

any sights to see/ things to do??

not thinking of going anytime soon, but wouldn't mind walking all the bridges once in my life

Some of the original bridges aren't there any more!

johnire · 23-05-2013 11:47am

We flew there from Warsaw.
That was the easy part!
It's a real experience to visit. It's certainly not the most attractive place in the world but is fascinating.
You will need a Russian visa.
There are very few tourists there so I think we were something of a novelty in the hotel and just in general when out and about.

...in Kaliningrad?

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