Krakow to Daugavpils

Sestokai Change of Railway Gauge

Wednesday 15^th April.

Instead of taking our luggage to the railway station left luggage lockers we were invited to take it to AAA Krakow apartment offices. We felt it would be safer even though it was in the opposite direction to the railway station.

We had about 8 hours to fill before our train was due to leave so we wandered round a little aimlessly. We did have a quite heavy bag each so didn’t feel like going too far.

When we went back to pick our luggage the taxi driver commented that it would only take about 20 minutes to get to the airport, we had to put him right that we needed the railway station not the airport. GOOD START to what could be a tortuous journey.

We found the platform and then decided to go to the loo. We felt safer sticking together so we both went with all our luggage, the loo was down 70 steps, no escalator or lift. Back on the platform at 8.00 p.m we found what we thought was a waiting room but what turned out to be a smoking area.

The electronic display board didn’t appear to be working and we couldn’t find a departure timetable to check that we had the correct platform. Plenty of arrival timetables but none for departures. Just to be on the safe side we went to the departure lounge. The route took us through the state of the art shopping mall adjacent to the station, but it did confirm that we had the correct platform. It is a very incongruous situation to have one of the most archaic stations ever right next door to a state of the art shopping mall.

The train arrived early so we were able to find our couchette quite easily. The guard had unfortunately taken our ticket and reservation slip. Alan went to ask for them and was told that we would be given them back in the morning. We were getting quite worried as the ticket was for our onward journey to Daugavpils. We had both privately been rehearsing calling the police but at about 4.00a.m the guard did return the ticket.

We had a 2 ½ hour wait at Warsaw. It is a much larger station than Krakow and even at that early hour was fairly busy. Our breakfast was lemon tartlets and when Alan went to dispose of the rubbish I was accosted by a vagrant, fortunately there was a very vigilant policeman who helped me.

Our train arrived on time but it left about 20 minutes late which left us wondering if we would catch our connection at Sestokai. I asked the ticket collector but he didn’t speak English so wasn’t very helpful. There was a polish gentleman who spoke English so he helped with the translation, but we still couldn’t find out about our connection. What did transpire was that we were sitting in the wrong part of the train as it divided when we reached Lithuania. We and a Chinese lady moved to the right carriage and met a young man from Torquay who was going to Vilnius so we were able to worry together.

The train kept stopping for no apparent reason which is rather annoying. It did make up the time and we arrived in Sestokai on time. The station is literally all there is at Sestokai, just a railway platform in the middle of nowhere. The seats on this train are very basic not much better than church pews and we have three hours of sitting on them.

We did bring drinks and snacks with us, good job, there has been no refreshment car on either train. We should be OK it is only a 10 hour journey, and then we have to travel on to Daugavpils for another 2 hours.

At Daugavpils we have 16 minute to find our next train, we made it with a few minutes to spare. It was the overnight train to St Petersburg, courtesy of the Russians. We presented the ticket to the guard who had to show it to two other people before they would let us on the train. She kept the ticket, but we weren’t too worried as it was the last time that we needed that particular ticket. We realised that this will be the same train that we will be travelling on next week. The traditional Samovar was at the end of our corridor, heated by a real fire. At 8.00 p.m. the guard came back with our ticket and told us that Daugavpils was the next stop. Total travelling time from Krakow 18 hours plus waiting time.

We then had to worry about getting as taxi to our hotel, fortunately there were three outside the station, and the hotel wasn’t too far away. Oh to soak in a lovely bath, NOT POSSIBLE, only a shower and one large towel and one small and nowhere to dry them so we had to wait until morning. The quilt on the bed only just covered the bed so I ended up wearing pyjamas and a shirt for warmth. We had to order our breakfast on arrival, I chose cheese and ham pancake and Alan chose apple pancake.