The Baltics Tour 2019 – Latvia and Lithuania

Highlights From This Trip

I have been wanting to track down more Soviet military locations for a while. I keep thinking this would be a nice subject for another book*. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had planned to visit the Baltic states to include their Soviet-era relics. This was a plan for “one day, in the distant future”. This trip had previously been a faint glimmer, items scribbled on long list in that exists only in my mind.

After a few messages with a friend, this idea gained solidity with startling rapidity. We booked our flights, with little over a week to scrape together a route. Even better, I was set to drive to Belgium imminently (you can read about that eventful little road trip on my Belgium Winter 2019 blog post). This left little time to research. However, the route we managed to scrape together was filled with many amazing treasures.

*I have a published book out titled “Abandoned Pennsylvania” coming out in December 2019, you can get more information and a preview on my Shop Page.

Crumbling remains of the Soviet Army (CCCP)

We visited many Soviet-era locations, spread across the length and breadth of Latvia and Lithuania.

One of my favorites was a Soviet Flight School. The building itself is huge, and has been naturally decaying since the fall of the USSR in the 1990s. This building had everything; long corridors, a colorful lecture hall, piles of papers written in Cyrillic script and some modest murals. The grand main staircase was certainly one of the most exquisite I have photographed this year. Soviet symbols littered the building; a hammer and sickle here, a “CCCP” written above red star there.

A fortuitous discussion with some locals yielded a surprise location. These two brothers told us of an old Soviet Nuclear Missle Base, hidden in the forest nearby. This base has four launch pads, built to launch R-12 thermonuclear ballistic missiles. We camped the night in the woods, awakening to a photogenic scattering of snow at the base. Although the launch pads were relatively unphotogenic, there were numerous bunkers and storage areas to explore.

Rusting remains of Russian military hardware

Not everything was smooth sailing (it never is). Some places we were looking forward to were sealed, or too well guarded to enter. One scenario proved that sometimes, asking permission can open up (literally) locked doors. The doors, in this case, lead to several former Soviet Military Airplane Hangar. Inside were several partially dismantled airplanes and a vintage glider. These are stored in a warehouse, their owner and reason for being here seemingly a mystery. As an added bonus at this location, we enjoyed our first Soviet truck!

Further on in our road trip, the location of a Soviet Vehicle Graveyard was shared with us. There were literally hundreds of cars and trucks stored here. Many were modern, as most of the scrapyard is still active. This was another highlight of the tour. We spent well over an hour here photographing rusty wrecks.

Other highlights from The Baltics Tour 2019

Our Baltics trip wasn’t all rust and military surplus. We also explored a plethora of other locations. Highlights include;

• An abandoned theme park, sadly mostly demolished by the time of our visit. The rollercoaster and several other smaller rides were thankfully still intact!
• An immense sanatorium deep in the forest. Although relatively modern, the sheer size and undamaged nature of this location made it a worthwhile explore. There were classrooms, dorm rooms, therapy rooms anda basketball court. The long corridor walls feature beautiful murals.
• A former music school, complete with a stunning large auditorium and stage
• A Mig-15 aircraft, guarded by a very affectionate and adorable kitten
• An abandoned school. Mostly empty but with nice decay.
• An old agricultural college filled with books and laboratory equipment

One of the final locations of our trip was a bus depot with a fantastic selection of abandoned Soviet-era buses. These were a polychrome of colours; red, yellow and blue. All rusting, and all with peeling paint.

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More photographs from our adventures in Latvia and Lithuania

That’s it for this blog entry. I have hundreds of photos to edit and upload, as well as history to research on these unique places.

I leave you with a few more behind-the-scenes photos from our adventure, I hope you enjoy them!