Ferraris in the Baltic??

Hi Guys
Myself and a few friends are heading east in summer to Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic and we are wondering if there are many places there to see Ferraris and exotica??
I would guess there may be a few in the capital cities but not sure about anywhere else.
Anyone know of Fcars in this area and where I might see some?
Thanks

 

Ask Mark P. (Malfark)! He lived there for a long time.

 

Ben,

I lived in Prague for about 9 years and was one of the lucky few to drive a Ferrari there and back. The local dealer is called HP Exclusive and this is their URL: http://www.ferrari-hp-exclusiv.cz/

Their address is:

U Prioru 1064/1a
160 00 Praha 6, Bohemia
Czech Republic

When I stayed there, the man to speak with at the showroom was Peter EFFENBERGER, a Czech-Canadian, who lived on the same street as me:

W: +420 (233) 311411
M: +420 (723) 979334

...but I don't see his name on the website, so maybe he's moved along. Here's a map to guide you to the showroom:

http://www.ferrari-hp-exclusiv.cz/images/mapka.gif

...it's off of Evropska, the main road from the Airport into Prague, and I'd often get my driver to make the detour when I was coming back from business trips!

On the road out of Prague towards Brno (in a village called Průhonice), you should try to take a look at a place called Autogalerie. It's a private collection next to a Seat dealer that is located in a very distinctive glass pyramid. Here's the URL:

http://www.autogalerie.cz/index.php

They do full renovations for customers from Western Europe, but it looks like their showroon is a little depleted - http://www.autogalerie.cz/fotky.php - but it's more likely that the wesbite is outdated! Their address is:

U Pyramidy 721
Praha - Průhonice
Czech Republic
dálnice D1 - Exit 6
tel.: +420-267751111
e-mail: [email protected]

I stayed in the cool suberb of Holesovice (Prague 7), home of the National Technical Museum: http://www.ntm.cz/auvod.htm

It has a great collection of historical motorcycles and cars - there's a weak glimpse of their collection here: http://www.ntm.cz/aexpozice.htm#doprava There's also a great collection of aircraft and historical cameras.

Here's a map to the museum: http://www.ntm.cz/mapa.html ...it also shows my street and the best pubs in town (but I'll keep those secret lest the secret gets out and they get spoiled by british-larger-lout-bachellor-gangs)!

There's also the Skoda Museum at Mlada Boleslav, but as many Brits seem to have chips on their shoulders about this historic marque, I won't bore you with the details! There are some photos here:

http://www.pbase.com/geoff_hubbert/skoda_museum

And here's the official link: http://www.skoda-auto.com/cze/company/museum/

I have also spent a lot of time in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland, but do not have much info on exotic cars there. The Baltic States are unlikely to have a Ferrari dealer while there's probably a new one in Warsaw.

It's a wonderful part of the world - enjoy yourself and travel safely,

MARK

 

Thanks very much for the info Mark.
I will definitely be visiting Prague and Brno for the motor racing circuit as well as seeing the region!! The dealers look very interesting and that collection next to the SEAT dealer looks very good too, will try and look at a few of these if possible. I am hoping to see a few cars on the road in Prague and maybe Warsaw too although as you say there are not exactly lots of the cars around.
I am looking forward to this trip to a relatively unexplored part of the continent, especially by English people. Hope to find lots of interesting places and have some good times. Can you suggest any places in Latvia/Estonia/Lithuania that I must not miss but may not be in the obvious tourist guides???
Thanks
Ben

 

Hi Ben,

Tallinn in Estonia is an amazing little city. Do the walk up to the top of the hill overlooking the city. Some great restaurants hidden away off the Old Town Square. Good place for night photography.

Vilnius in Lithuania is also a compact city, but not as intimate as Tallinn. I once rented a car to see a bit more of the country - read about that adventure here: http://www.pautz.net/pautzmark/travel/n56e024/n56e024.html You should try to get out to a place called Trakai to see the lake, castle and scenery.

Riga, the capital of Latvia is the place I have visited most in the Baltics. Beautiful views of the old town from the Radisson (?) Hotel just across the river. Lots of student and a great vibe. Specific things to see...Icould show you around, but have no idea of what the places are called I'm afraid!

A small selection of my travel stories here: http://www.pautz.net/pautzmark/travel/aaa-travel.html

Enjoy!! MARK

 

Some very good stories there Mark... this trip is in the planning now and we just need to decide where to go! Some fabulous looking places in the pictures though so hopefully we can get to see them all

 

greetings from Poland

unfortunately I have to admit there's not even a single ferrari dealership in Poland, in fact there aren't any exotic dealerships here

you'd have to spot cars in certain places in cities, because there are few gallardos, porsche 911 GT2 or 360 spiders and one enzo, but their used by private owners

 

Dont count on Poland to deliver (at least in the exotica area). Through my whole life I've only seen a Ferrari once here (and it was on Swiss plates).

 

There IS a Porsche dealer in Warsaw... although how much of an exotic a Porsche is may, of course, be debatable