Monday 26th September – Kaliningrad

• Arrival at your own leisure in Kaliningrad
• We’ll then head out for our first dinner in Russia’s exclave in the middle of Europe
• Isolated from Russia and surrounded by Lithuania and Poland, Kaliningrad inherited a distinct Teutonic culinary tradition that has always been different from that of the rest of Russia. You’ll have the chance to try some delicious local Zeppelins: giant balls of mashed potato stuffed with various fillings and drenched in cheese sauce or Zurek: a soup with eggs, sausage slices and spices, served in a bowl made of bread.
• Overnight in Kaliningrad

Tuesday 27th September – Kaliningrad

• Isolated from Russia and surrounded by Lithuania and Poland, Kaliningrad inherited a distinct Teutonic culinary tradition that has always been different from that of the rest of Russia. You’ll have the chance to try some delicious local Zeppelins: giant balls of mashed potato stuffed with various fillings and drenched in cheese sauce or Zurek: a soup with eggs, sausage slices and spices, served in a bowl made of bread.
• After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we will meet our English speaking local guide and tour the city.
• Our first stop will be the Nazi command bunker museum, technically called the Blindage Museum, it tells the harrowing history of the last days of the Second World War. These are the last days of Königsberg and inside you can see how the city fell to Soviet Forces on the rampage of vengeance towards Berlin. Built by slave labour, the bunker’s gate that is made of thick steel wire and is covered in runic symbols. Supposedly meant to give supernatural defense to the German forces inside it.
• We will then visit fort 5, part of a series of Prussian forts that were a significant part of the unrelenting Soviet assault. Now museums and still littered with war damage, artillery pieces and Soviet monuments dedicated to WW2.
• After lunch, we will then have the rare chance to roam around significant piece of Cold War history. An excellently maintained Foxtrot-class Soviet nuclear submarine.
• See an original Nazi Kreigsmarine ship. Vityaz is a research vessel that was built in 1939 and served with the Kriegsmarine during World War II until she was seized by the British in 1945.
• We’ll check out the House of Soviets and see why the locals often refer to as the “buried robot”.
• See Victory Square with its hulking Soviet monument and The Brandenburg Gate which is one of seven surviving city gates from the former German city of Königsberg.
• Overnight in Kaliningrad

Wednesday 28th September – Baltiysk/Svetliy/Kaliningrad

• After breakfast we journey to Mother Russia’s westernmost edge!
• Today we’ll be visiting the Heart of the Baltic fleet in the city Baltiysk. It is a huge Russian navy base located on the Baltic sea and has only been opened to foreigners since 1995, you have to get the special permission beforehand but YPT’s contacts in Kaliningrad can arrange this no problem.
• On the way, we’ll explore some destroyed and abandoned German era buildings and a typical soviet town called Svetliy.
• On arrival in the city we’ll be taking in sights such as the pentagonal Pillau Citadel, founded by the Swedes in 1626, completed by the Prussians in 1670, renovated in 1870 and currently holding an impressive naval museum.
• We’ll visit the ruins of the 13th-century Lochstadt Castle; a maze of 19th-century naval fortifications; the Naval Cathedral of St. George the 32-metre Expressionist observation tower the Gothic Revival building of the Baltic Fleet Museum, and an elegant Lighthouse, dating from 1813. A stone cross, erected in 1830 to commemorate the supposed spot of St. Adalbert of Prague’s martyrdom, was destroyed by the Soviets and restored a millennium after the event, in 1997.
• Return to Kaliningrad for an evening meal
• Overnight in Kaliningrad

Thursday 29th September – Curonian spit/ Kaliningrad

• After breakfast, we’ll travel to the Curonian spit.
• It took several thousand years for the spit to shape out from the sands blown by the wind and dragged by the sea waves and to finally form a narrow sandy neck of land that separates the Curonian Gulf from the Baltic Sea and connects the Kaliningrad region with Lithuania. Its widest part is 3.8 km and the narrowest point is 400 m.
• This place has no rivals in the world. Try to cross the spit from gulf to sea and you will notice how the landscape changes from a bare desert to a pine forest. The size of the Curonian spit is astonishing, it has no analogies in the world; its majestic scenery and the lavishness of the flora and fauna is simply amazing, varying from the taiga-like plants, mountain pines, and alder-trees to the tumbleweeds rolling in the deserts of the sand dunes rising up to 70 m high.
• After a day of exploring we will return to Kaliningrad city for our last dinner in the enclave with celebrations to wish farewell to those who will leave us tomorrow.
• Overnight in Kaliningrad.

Friday 30th September – Kaliningrad/Vilnius END OF KALININGRAD PART, BEGINNING OF BALTICS

• Last morning in Russia so you might want to do all the last things to wanted to do in Kaliningrad!
• We’ll leave for Vilnius by bus around 13:00 then arrive late in the evening and check into our hotel meeting those who join us for this part.
• Overnight in Vilnius

Saturday 1st October – Vilnius

• We’ll enjoy breakfast then head out to explore the infamous KGB museum while we wait for our new group members to arrive.
• We head out to explore the tongue-in-cheek Republic of Uzupis, a trendy district of Vilnius which declared independence from Lithuania on April’s fool.
• We meet our new group members at 6 pm in the lobby, where we will all get to know each other before heading out for some traditional Lithuanian food and go over the tour plan.
• Round off the night with some world-renowned Lithuanian beer in one of the many great bars of Vilnius.
• Overnight in Vilnius.

Sunday 2nd October – Vilnius

• We grab breakfast and meet our driver outside for the journey deep into the woods of Lithuania to a former Soviet nuclear bunker. This is infamous, a no holds barred Soviet theme park that transports you back into the life of a Soviet citizen.
• On arrival, we will be stopped at a checkpoint manned by fierce, hulking KGB guards armed with Kalashnikovs and alsatians, marking the beginning of our Soviet Survival drama.
• We will then don Soviet army coats and dive into the USSR, full of tension and social peculiarities. You’ll be taken to the maze, watch Soviet propaganda and visit shops of 1984, be interrogated in a KGB office, learn the anthem of the USSR and get used to wearing a gas mask. You’ll dance to the music of the era and enjoy a Soviet dinner.
• Before leaving the bunker, you will be rewarded with a Soviet ID, an authentic gift from the Soviet times and a celebratory shot of Vodka!
• We return to Vilnius for a historical city tour.
• Evening dinner and drinks
• Overnight in Vilnius.

Monday 3rd October – Riga

• We check out of the hotel and leave our bags in reception.
• We grab some breakfast before meeting our driver outside who will transfer us out of the city to a military base.
• We will then don army uniforms and helmets before being introduced to our vehicle for the day, a hulking military tank, we will first ride on top for a few laps of an offroad track, then each person will have a turn at driving the beast!
• After the adrenaline fuelled activity, we relax at the base with a hearty Lithuanian BBQ.
• After lunch, the adrenaline continues as we transfer to a military firing range to shoot an array of high calibre weaponry, including Kalashnikovs and other Soviet weaponry as well as modern military firearms.
• We then transfer back to Vilnius to collect our bags and jump on the bus to Riga, Latvia!
• Nighttime arrival in Riga, we check into our accommodation and head out for some food.
• Overnight in Riga.

Tuesday 4^th October – Riga

• We get up early, grab breakfast and then some snacks for the road as we head to Latvia’s Chernobyl (without the radiation). A secret Soviet ghost town abandoned and frozen in time since 1988. This is a great site for those interested in urban exploration.
• After a two hour drive from Riga, your guide will show you the most interesting parts of the huge complex, and you will then have some free time to explore by yourself.
• Many of the Soviet relics are still on display, from military paintings and murals to hammers and sickles, it really gives the impression of being lost in time.
• We return to Riga and explore the city.
• Evening dinner and drinks.
• Overnight in Riga.

Wednesday 5^th October – Tallinn

• We grab breakfast and check out of our accommodation before boarding the bus for the drive to Tallinn, Estonia.
• On arrival, we check into centrally located accommodation before doing a city tour of this ancient Baltic city.
• Evening dinner and drinks
• Overnight in Tallinn.

Thursday 6^th October – Tallinn

• We grab breakfast and some snacks for the road before we begin our trip up to Narva on the Russian border! For a day discovering hammers and sickles, Lenin statues and T-34 tanks which will take us from beautiful medieval castles and coastal cliffs to ash-hills, half-empty industrial ghost towns and a Soviet themed museum.
• We will climb around the stunning ruins of Toolse fortress, Discover the Soviet industrial town & ash hills of Kohtla-Järve, enjoy amazing Stalinist architecture in Sillamäe, roam around the ghost town of Viivikonna, explore the Narva castle on the Russian border and see the 19th-century Kreenholm factory complex.
• During the day, we will grab lunch at a local Estonian tavern.
• Depending on weather conditions and time, we will also visit the Blue Hills,
• Narva-Jõesuu czarist beach resort and the Kunda Hydro plant ruins.
• Drive back to Tallinn.
• Dinner and drinks to celebrate the end of this incredible adventure through the whole of the Soviet world!
• Overnight in Tallinn.

Friday 7th October 

• Bid farewell to those who are leaving us after the Baltics segment before we head to the airport for a flight from Tallinn to Minsk, in order to benefit from the Belarussian visa free scheme. (FLIGHT NOT INCLUDED IN THE PRICE OF THE TOUR)
• Arrival in Minsk where we will enjoy the nightlife of the Soviet capital
• Overnight in Minsk

Saturday 8th October – Minsk

• Arrival in Minsk at your own leisure and check into our centrally located Soviet era hotel with Western comforts.
• Meetup with the rest of the crew, joining for the last part of the tour in the evening to head to a local Belarussian brewery restaurant with great local food and beer.
• Overnight in Minsk

Sunday 9th October – Minsk

• We’ll enjoy a hearty breakfast at the hotel before we check out and store our luggage in the baggage storage room.
• Our first destination of the day will be the incredible Azgur Museum. A place for lovers of Soviet statues and nostalgia. This huge room used to be the workshop of Soviet sculptor Zair Azgur, and there are still hundreds of different sizes busts of Soviet and Communist leaders staring down at you as you walk around. Expect to see Lenin, Stalin, Mao and even North Korean leaders!
• From Lenin Square, we’ll then take a Soviet walking tour of the centre of Minsk, strolling the length of Independence Avenue past the still functioning KGB building, WW2 monuments, Soviet art and architecture and many other iconic Soviet landmarks. We’ll even see the apartment of JFK’s assassin: Lee Harvey Oswold!
• If time permits, we’ll also visit the Belarussian WW2 museum, one of Europes best World War II museums featuring a trove of Soviet and Nazi tanks, weaponry and harrowing history of the region during the Second World War. Belarus lost a third of its population during the Nazi invasion.
• We’ll then sample some Georgian food for dinner before we return to the hotel to collect our bags and board the night train to Gomel.
• Overnight on the train.

Monday 10th October – Gomel Belarusian Exclusion Zone

• On arrival in Gomel, we will transfer to the Belarusian exclusion zone and after clearing the checkpoints with our permits we will enter the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve, where we will enter the scientists research centre and learn about the real consequences of the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, you will be amazed by nature diversity caused by the absence of human intervention and will be able to examine the radiation background with an accompanying expert guide.
• The main objective of our trip is to get acquainted with the activities of the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve, to learn about radiation contamination issues with the scientific staff of the reserve, as well as to monitor the flora and fauna of the territories where human activity was almost completely terminated.
• You will be surprised how quickly nature has recovered: for 30 years of human absence, the reserve’s territory was inhabited by the Przhevalsky horse, and the number of bison here is one of the highest in Belarus. Thanks to the ban on hunting in the exclusion zone, the number of wolves and other wild animals has also recovered.
• Our route is built due to the lowest dosimeter indicators, which makes our stay at the territory of the reserve safe. We will visit the villages inhabited by those brave enough to return to the exclusion zone and live full time, the Pripyat river, whose shores are still littered with abandoned boats, Soviet relics, eerie abandoned cemeteries and Soviet industrial buildings.
• We’ll visit former Soviet political propaganda centres full of Soviet relics and posters.
• You will have the chance to visit many of the 96 abandoned Belarusian villages in the zone. Before the disaster, over 22,000 people lived throughout these settlements.
• We’ll have the chance to climb a Soviet watchtower and get a birds eye view of the exclusion zone. On a clear day from here you can see Pripyat and the new dome over Reactor 4 inside the territory of Ukraine.
• After exploring the zone and clearing radiation control, we’ll transfer back to Gomel and enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.
• We’ll then head to the train station for the night train back to Minsk.
• Overnight on the train.

Tuesday 11th October 

• Morning arrival in Minsk and end of tour.
• Onward travel or tour extras can be arranged by Young Pioneer Tours.

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