Don Curry on a Sea Voyage

Don Curry continues his journey – that could have been the headline of this day as well. Sometimes, distances simply have to be overcome. But after yesterday's road strain, Don Curry took the day much calmer. Before late breakfast, he enjoyed the soothing silence of Lake Ladoga and its forested shores.

Green and blue seemed to be the only existing colors in this unspoiled landscape; only humans had placed dark red log cabins on the meadows of the Vremena Goda Inn, thus creating an optical triad that Don Curry seemed to have succeeded in. He could have stayed here for a few days, though the breakfast buffet didn't contribute to wanting to stay.

Only pancakes were available as a hot option, as well as some cold cuts, cheese, tomato and cucumber slices, some white bread and 3 different jams, with coffee to be poured yourself from the warming pot. It was enough for a first satiety in the late morning, but not more. Somehow, Don Curry developed into a too pampered breakfast eater.

Don Curry decided to drive to the shore of Lake Ladoga in Sortawala, the largest port city on the northern part. However, before reaching the city, a torrential rain started, the Russian roads turned into large bodies of water, and every vehicle inevitably splashed large amounts of water on the oncoming cars or the unfortunate pedestrians. Don Curry did drive to the lakeshore, but the weather didn't allow him to get out of the car. He had enough of rain and getting wet after the Solovetsky Islands.

So he continued his journey in the dry car and was able to take short looks at the majestic lake several times along the way. Later, other smaller lakes lined his path, always separated by dense forests. 50 km before reaching today's destination, the road quality dramatically decreased, the road suddenly turned into an extremely uneven dirt track, on which the trucks pulled a long dust cloud that was absolutely visually impairing. Overtaking was almost impossible.

In the end, Don Curry – already back on good roads – didn't reach just any lake, but THE lake, the Baltic Sea. The old port city of Vyborg is actually a Swedish foundation, until Peter the Great conquered it, and later it belonged to Finland for a long time, which is still only 30 km away today. Since the Finns joined the German side in the 2nd World War, they had to cede considerable amounts of land to the Soviet Union, including Vyborg and its surroundings. Even today, the city appears to be little influenced by Russian culture, but rather like a classic Scandinavian fortress city.

Especially the mighty fortress with the enormous St. Olaf Tower, located on a small island in the city center, makes this clear. Unfortunately, it has been thoroughly restored for some time and the tower cannot be climbed.

Don Curry quickly settled into his simple attic hotel room, by the way, very close to the fortress, and then eagerly went to dinner after the frugal breakfast and the missed lunch. The "Lonely Planet" had recommended the terrace restaurant "Russky Dvor" on the opposite side of the island of the fortress, especially because of the homemade honey-horseradish kvass. In bright sunshine, Don Curry found a good place on the terrace, got an English menu and ordered the kvass first. The young waiter confirmed that they had kvass, but he tried to explain some problem with the kvass to Don Curry in Russian. Finally, he took out his smartphone for help and eventually announced that the kvass was sold out today. Bad luck for Don Curry!

But the restaurant's menu showed enough potential to make him happy in other ways. So he ordered a Finnish fish soup with salty honey, and then braised rabbit in chocolate sauce with young potatoes. The salty honey turned out to be a small portion of honey-yellow trout caviar on a multi-layered black bread cube, the chocolate sauce was actually made of chocolate, but had a very subtle taste. All in all, Don Curry was very satisfied.

From the extensive beer menu, which unfortunately did not include any truly Russian beers, he chose a dark Krusovice, and as a digestif, he had a "Husky" vodka that he liked so much that he later stocked up on it in the supermarket.

After an extensive walk through the city, which was in need of renovation in many parts, and a thorough sniff of sea air on the promenade, Don Curry returned to his hotel. The days of long journeys were over for now. Tomorrow, he would head for his main destination: St. Petersburg – another Baltic city...