By car in Scandinavia
I was asked here to write about how to travel by car around Europe, so I share my impressions, I hope it will come in handy for someone.
I'll even post some pics, I think.
Car Wolksvagen Touareg R5 (2005, turbodiesel 2.5 l 174 hp)
Start - Lipetsk (who doesn't know, it's about 500 km south of Moscow), to Tver (right at the entrance to the excellent Tver Park Hotel, 4 km from the highway), in the morning to St. ), then to Vyborg and cross the border at n. n. Torfyanovka (there is another one, but we went to this one). It is advisable to arrive at the border early (Petersburg, who drive to Finland for the weekend know) the optimal transit time is 6.00 - 7.30 in the morning, by 8.00 on Friday - Saturday, incredible queues line up at the border, although customs clearance is quite fast (we met our 20 minutes, the Finns have 10).
The route Peter - Vyborg is called "Scandinavia" it is not wide, but very well done, you can go pretty fast. Finns have a lot more expensive fuel (diesel oil is at least 0.90 euros, petrol is 95th and even more expensive), so it makes sense to fill a full tank somewhere on our side. So we crossed the border, we were met by an excellent European road and a minimum of cars in the direction of Helsinki. But in the opposite direction ...to Russia ...my God, how much we buy abroad, lines of trucks stretch for hundreds of meters, 50 - 60 cars each, and so on until Kotka itself, plus crazy racers of American cars, horror .
Prudent Finns set every kilometer for about 40 km. toilets and showers for drivers to the border, apparently people stand there for several days, and it was me in the summer, and in the winter ...no words, hard work, not grateful. After Kotka there is an excellent highway, the speed limit is 110 in some places 120 km / h.
There are speed cameras, but as we were warned by the guys who have already traveled around Finland, they do not work for the Finns. I checked, they really do not click if you go faster. The nature is beautiful, we go, we enjoy, the signs are all "native", understandable. Helsinki didn’t seem big, it’s easy to deal with the forks, we spent the night at the SCANDIC Siomnnkkenta hotel, a large modern hotel, recommended for a stopover, plus underground parking right under the hotel. I can say separately about parking lots, in all of Scandinavia the car spent the night in underground parking lots, there are two types of them, the first - you drive up to the entrance, it’s closed, you press the button on the post, they give you a ticket, it opens, you drive in.
You are going to leave, you put the takolnchik in a special machine in the parking lot, you pay money, the coupon returns with a mark and from that moment you have 15 minutes to leave the parking lot to hell, otherwise you have to pay again Option two - you drive in, openly, there is no one, silence, places are free, you park the car and leave (this is what I did, in Stockholm, which ended up costing me 450 SEK in the morning, about 50 euros), but in fact you need to find an automatic machine in which you enter the time until which you want to leave the car, it takes money and gives a coupon, it must be left on the panel under the windshield and they will not take too much. True, I still didn’t pay these 450 kroons, I didn’t find where they have mail, but I think they won’t find out, the fine was lying under the janitor in the morning and it only said Tourist RUS look for me now ...
We return to the topic, after spending the night in Helsinki, we went to Turku (this is a rather large port) where we ordered a Viking Line ferry to Stockholm, the procedure for sailing with a car on the ferry is a topic for a separate discussion, I can only say that we sailed there in a cabin inside the hold (t i. e. without a porthole) and from there in the cabin along the port (with a porthole) the dimensions are the same, the price differs almost twice, the cabins are four and two are local, but they are sold as a whole, i. e. if the three of you are guaranteed not to share the fourth, the toilet and a shower in the cabin, but you can smoke on the ferry only in special places, and there are few of them, it bothered my parents, and I quit smoking At the time of departure, the car deck is closed and sealed, access to it is possible only 30 minutes before mooring, so I advise everything you need take it right away and don’t forget anything, there are a lot of entertainment on the ferry, there are discos, restaurants and more. I was surprised by the level of security, it is NO in principle.
Cars are not inspected at all, there is no security, only the girl who issues the tickets, in principle, you can carry anything with you, in my opinion.
We arrived in Stockholm early, I didn’t like the city at first, but then I got into it, choose a hotel closer to the old center (there’s nothing more to see in a multi-million city anyway) idiotic road junctions and eternal repairs everywhere, posts and restrictions, I got to the hotel along the oncoming one and turned the wrong way three times (by the way, on the way back I got lost in the trash in Stockholm due to the repair of the tunnel through the strait and we almost missed the ferry because of this, the taxi driver suggested well) and do not look for the port by the designations of the ships on the signs, in It doesn't work in Stockholm, there are a lot of terminals and boats can take you not at all where you expect
Next day 600 km. we flew to Oslo at a calm walking pace in 5.5 hours.
Much easier and more pleasant than my business trips to Moscow, which is even less, and you will die to go. There is no border between Norway and Sweden, I only recommend changing one crown for another at the entrance to Norway; the Norgs have their own. And stock up on change, there are two fare payment terminals at the entrance to Oslo. Also unique, there are no barriers and evil aunts like on the section of the DON Voronezh - Yelets highway, there is a traffic light and a basket that eats coins. In theory, you can drive through, but the cameras are hanging, you are guaranteed to be fined. Of course, we didn’t have any change at the terminal, and not only with us, a couple of young Germans also stood at a loss what to do, the machine did not eat a credit card.
After all, Europe is her mother, she disciplines, in Russia I would never stop, but here I stood with the Germans and decided what to do, until a cool Viking drove up, changed me 50 NOK with a bag for a trifle, I gave 20 NOK (namely, it costs so much travel) to the Germans and we, once again confirming the brotherhood of our peoples, each went about his own business.
Oslo is a resort city without exaggeration. Lots of little cafes, restaurants and more. I did not like the HILTON hotel, it is very old and not adapted to modern requirements and the elevator constantly breaks down. For three days we admired the fjords and set off on the way back, boarded the ferry again in Stockholm, sailed to Turku and ...think everything? No, you are deeply mistaken.
We embarked on a course towards the city of Tampere, not far from which we settled in a cottage on the lake in the village of Luopionen.
Amazing village of about 500 people, one nice restaurant with great food, two supermarkets and ABSOLUTELY peace and quiet throughout the week. And amazing fishing and a boat with a motor and a bathhouse and a Finnish sauna (yes, I was not mistaken that way, and a bathhouse and a sauna) and a lot of fun. The vacation turned out to be great, plus there is a huge shopping center in Tampere, there is great shopping for ladies, you can also visit Lahti, also a big cool city.
The road back turned out to be difficult and a lot of fault in this car. Honestly, I was disappointed in the Tuareg ...It all started with the fact that back in Luopionen my coolant level warning light came on, I found it, topped it up, everything was fine, the next day again. I climbed under the car - it’s dry, I think it’s not good, but yes, we stocked up on antifreeze, let’s go, drove 250 km. to the border and at the gas station I discovered that all this time I was driving on a rim ...YES YES EXACTLY ON THE RIM.
The rear right wheel deflated, and the tire pressure monitoring sensor did not work. I agree that the fact that I didn’t notice this doesn’t show me as a competent driver, but I really didn’t feel it, and even ideal roads ...and nobody showed it, as a result, the disk ate out a chamfer on the tire almost to the cord, to be honest, I I thought we would not get there, but nothing happened. The car lasted, although in total I poured 2.5 liters into it. antifreeze, which increased the oil level in the engine by half a level, as the dealer said, this is a “disease” of in-line turbodiesel “fives” and, in theory, the car should not have reached. But honor and praise to them, they changed everything under the guarantee and did not remove the guarantee, they took money only for new oil.
The result of the trip is 5.500 km. on the way, a lot of impressions and a bunch of photos, a great mood and overeating with Finnish fish. I recommend to all adventure lovers.
Of the mandatory requirements - at least a superficial knowledge of the English language, without this there is nothing to do there. And they treat us very well there, everyone who saw a car with the Russian flag on the numbers in Oslo was sincerely surprised and approached us, it was nice. And in Oslo, exchangers accept rubles ...officially and at the normal rate ...it was a shock ...honestly ...In general, traveling around Europe by car stimulates the culture of driving, it would be good for our cattle to go there at least once and see how everyone there drives and respects each other, where there is no rudeness, no one turns their backs to each other and does not blink their headlights "like let b% ya. " I changed my driving style, to be honest...
p. s. Driving Tampere - border - Tver (or Moscow if the end point of the route) is very tiring from a physical point of view, if a person is driving alone, I recommend spending the night in St. Petersburg, it's easier and safer, don't spoil your vacation with stupidity.