Terehova (Latvia) to Moscow

Aug 15-16

Distance: 619km

Crossing the border from Latvia, at Terehova near Zilupe, to Russia was a pretty painless exercise, but very very long. 8 hours in total.

We arrived in Zilupe mid afternoon hoping to buy the Russian car insurance before entering, turns out you can now only buy it at customs. [Once you are cleared through Latvian customs you can park and enter the building to purchase the insurance which cost us about 2300 Rubles. For vehicles up to 3.5 tonne, the premium is based on engine size]

We went to check out the queue at the border and while there were km and km of trucks waiting, there were very few cars, so after a couple of beers with some of the drivers we decided to head off somewhere to cook some dinner and try and get a couple of hours sleep. Our Russian visa didn't start til the next day.

That was a bit of a mistake! We got back to the border at 10pm Latvian/11pm Russian time and the queue had grown significantly. It seemed they were prioritising the trucks at this point, because our queue moved once after half an hour, about 6 spots up, then about 6 more after an hour and so on... 4 hours just to get to the front of the queue!

Border process

1) Once you pass the traffic light go up to the first booth and pick up a slip of paper which has a stamp of which number car you are through for the day. We were number 69. They had a computer which had hundres of licence plates and you have to identify which one is yours. Not sure where it got scanned, but the number plates seemed to be in order of arrival at the gate.

2) Shuffle up a bit further and go through Latvian passport control. Matt was able to take both passports up to the counter

3) Customs - Took a cursory look over the vehicle, in the boot. Didn't seem too concerned with us. Most other cars they even checked under the bonnet.

4) If needed, buy Russian auto insurance from the building at the Latvian customs. There are places to park once you've been cleared.

5) Drive up to the next booth where you need to hand back the slip you were given at the first booth.

You're now in no man's land!

6) First booth you come to you will need to show passport and pick up a migration card. Fill this out while you are waiting for a spot to be available at passport control

7) Passport control do a thorough check of the passport and the visa. They seemed to check that everything on the visa was exactly as per how it is written on the passport, so make sure there are no spelling mistakes on your visa!

8) 2 booths up is then customs. There is a form that needs to be completed, all in Cryllic. We were lucky that the Latvian driver in front of us was nice enough to translate the form for us. Still we had made a mistake but the border guard changed the form for us! We found all the border guards to be polite and helpful. All were interested in our journey. We experience none of the issues we were afraid of. Hopefully the process at the other end will be just as smooth.

The car got another cursory look, and the vehicle importation stamp and passports are double checked at stations on the way out (we had to wake one of them up, they'd fallen asleep - don't blame then) then we're in Russia!

The queue to get out of Russia looked just as long.

We took the M9 into Moscow, straight-forward enough. The road is very very bumpy though. Some big pot-holes and deep ruts from the trucks. The other thing to watch out for is the constantly changing speed limits, sometimes for no obvious reason. Being tired we missed that we'd just entered a town. Sure enough there were police waiting there. Smiley smiley but we did get fined. Paid about £4 and lesson learnt! We saw about 3 more checkpoints, got stopped at 1 as we entered the main motorway into Moscow near Volokolamsk. Just a routine check of drivers licence and insurance and we were on our way.

We stopped at a Kafe on the Motorway, looking out for one with plenty of trucks. Good hearty potato and meat stew and we were on out way. For those that are interested we did see a few camping grounds, mostly attached to a petrol station, but there were a couple that looked to be set up on a river and looked relatively decent.

Road conditions on the Motorway were great but the drivers got a bit crazier! We stayed near Izmailovo Park so took the ring road all the way around, huge big apartment blocks with crazy electricity cables going between them, big retail centres and one very space age looking building. 5 lane freeway all the way round - that's what the M25 needs to be!

Got to the Hotel (Izmailovo Vega) and just crashed. Including stops for fuel and a quick lunch it had taken us 10 hours to travel 600km. The restaurant at the hotel had exorbitant prices so we ate at Taverna nearby. Slept very very well.

While it is a bit hazy here, it is not very smokey. Apart from when the wind blew up a little bit we haven't been able to smell smoke at all.

We have only had one day to look around Moscow. The Red Square and Kremlin (St Basil's Cathedral is so unique and something really worth seeing) were obvious highlights, as were the pastries from the self-service supermarket in the GUM department store! We spent a few hours wandering through Arbat, Katay Gorad and Tverskoy. Ate to My-My (pronounced Moo-Moo) where the service is buffet-style and prices are really reasonable, it was recommended both by some people we met in Lithuania and Lonely Planet). We also stopped at a placed called Bar BQ in Tverskoy, only for a coffee, but the food there is also reasonably priced and look good. It is only a short walk to the Gallery.

Heading further East tomorrow. Would love to spend another few days in Moscow to explore the galleries, but am more keen to get going, want to know what's around the next corner! It also makes sense given we only have a 30 day visa to get to the other side and ship the car and Moscow is also expensive!