I remember when I was first researching my trip for
2012/2013/whenever I got the courage and saved enough cash to travel again. I
can recall flipping through my old Lonely Planet and looking at some countries
which I’d never looked at before. I can quite honestly say that twelve months
ago, I’m not sure if I really would’ve known Latvia was a country. The more
that I researched, looked through some blogs; it became obvious that the Baltic
states were the place to be – I would be around at the right time of year,
weather wise (based on the assumption that ‘right’ is ‘not miserable and
negative thirty degrees); the area is reasonably cheap (compared to its
Scandinavian neighbours in the north and distant cousins of western Europe) and
moreover, it is different, not quite mainstream yet, however tourism and in
particular summer tourism, has really picked up over the last 5 – 10 years.
When I was backpacking in 2008, people were talking about
Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Bosnia, Croatia. People still talk about
these places, but the budget travel/backpacking scene is moving east – both
north east and south east. This year, people I met in Poland were either
heading to or coming from Lithuania. And then once I hit Lithuania, everyone
was doing about the same circuit – doing the Baltic capitals, some people doing
other cities (such as Kaunas, Nida, Tartu) and others tacking on trips across
to Helsinki from Tallinn. Most people were either headed north with the plan to
eventually get to Tallinn, or they’d come from Tallinn and they were doing my
trip in reverse – Baltics, Poland and then onto various places in central
Europe.
This entry will recall experiences in Vilnius, Lithuania and
Riga, Latvia. Lithuania and Latvia, together with Estonia, are the Baltic
countries due to the positioning by the Baltic Sea (I clarify this because
while sitting in a hostel, one of the guys who I befriended was talking about
how he was headed to ‘the coast’ and someone else in the common room didn’t
realise that the country was on the coast, they had thought it was
landlocked.... which terrifies me, that there are people who travel and go to a
country without even a basic perception of its geography). It is really
Lithuania and Latvia who retain Baltic tradition though – their languages
represent the remnants of Baltic languages and I kind of felt more similarities
between the two places than to Tallinn, which I’ll talk about more when I do my
entry on Tallinn and Helsinki.
Arrival to Vilnius,
Lithuania
I arrived in Vilnius on a really crappy weather morning. I’d
gotten the overnight bus from Warsaw, Poland and barely slept a wink on the
bus, just had a doze on and off. Between this and the weather it really wasn’t
a good morning. I arrived at the hostel expecting to drop my luggage off (due
to not being able to check in until later) and go out to wander but because of
the weather this really wasn’t appealing. So instead, I went to the grocery
store, bought breakfast, and then stumbled back to the hostel where they said
it was fine to just chill out until 2pm. I chatted with an Aussie guy for a
while who was hanging about – a seasoned Australian drinker/traveller – who had
been there for a while, getting drunk, waking up late, extending his stay
another night, and so on. We spent a while talking about the sudden ‘gun
culture’ that occurs when you hit the Baltics – some of the hostels in
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia advertise that they run or can organise for you
to attend an AK-47 tour. I still don’t really understand if its just a legal
thing or... I don’t know, to be honest. I do know that Brad jumped up, went to
reception and asked ‘hey, can I get the gun’ like he was asking for a towel or
a bottle of water. She said, just as casually, ‘sure!’ and handed over a
(unloaded) AK-47. Brad swung it around and I gingerly took a hold of it just to
feel how heavy it was. I don’t think I’ve ever held a gun before, at least I can’t
remember doing so. I don’t find the notion of ‘celebrating’ gun culture to be
something that a hostel should advertise. Like, it’s not a ‘hunting’ tour but
it is literally ‘come play with guns!’ While on the discussion of guns, when I
was in Riga, I was told by the woman who ran the hostel that back when they
first opened they were affiliated with a gun tour where you did vodka shots and
shoot AK-47’s – run by an Australian. Typical, that an Australian would be the
kind of person to come up with such a bloody ridiculous notion.
So my first day in Vilnius was pretty much a write off, once
I checked in I was able to shower, nap and after napping the rain had broken
just enough that I could go out and take the long route to the grocery store, take a handful of photos and then concede it was just too miserable out to really enjoy anything.
Highlights of Vilnius
On my second morning in Vilnius, I was chatting to the
lovely Thomas from Cambridge, England who was also staying in the hostel – just
sitting around the common room we got talking. It’s really refreshing meeting
people who are of similar temperament to myself – I’m fairly quiet, reserved,
not what you think of when you have an immediate ‘picture’ of the loud
extroverted backpacker. He’s rather similar to me, and I think without even
trying to he sort of instilled in me this confidence that there is space for us
in the world. I’d mentioned that I planned to do the free walking tour later
(see nearly every other entry I’ve made if you don’t know what a free walking
tour is) and he was going to if he made it back from the bus station in time,
as he was heading to try and sort out tickets for his next leg of the trip. I
stayed at the hostel until literally ten minutes before the walking tour was
due to start (awesome location right off the town square) and ran into Thomas
as he was headed back to the hostel – so we aboutfaced and headed to the
walking tour. There were other people from our hostel there including one girl
who I actually recognised from the bus station in Warsaw, I’d gotten on the
Simple Express bus and she’d used the Eurolines and when I arrived at the
hostel in the morning, she’d been exiting after dropping off her pack.
The tour was really enjoyable, the girl who ran it was
lovely, a local law student. The route took us away from some of the major
points in the old town which is great because frankly, you don’t need a tour
guide to take you to them. We spent a bit of time in the Republic/District of
Uzubis (this neighbourhood of hipster arty types who have declared themselves
to be an independent republic, with their own constitution, prime minster, army
and the lot) and an area which claims to have more cats than people, which
anyone who knows me in ‘real life’ knows is a wonderful wonderful thing in my
mind.
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| Welcome sign - you must smile, drive at no more than 20km/h, appreciate art and beware of the river |
She also took us on this mini bush walk type thing which in any western
country would not be a legal thing for her to do. We wound up climbing up on
this old abandoned concrete water tank or something or other and it provided a
really lovely view of Vilnius. The walk back down was terrifying, literally (if
you recall, when I was in Lisbon, Portugal and I fell down the stairs and now I
have developed a stair phobia) and my normal self prior to my stair phobia
would not have enjoyed this – uneven, no railing, slippery – but I got through
it and emerged alive.
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| View from above of Vilnius, Lithuania |
That afternoon I did some boring things like my laundry and
then out for a bit of a futher wander to check out a few more sites, including
the Cathedral square which has a pretty cool mark – back in the days of Soviet
Occupation, the people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formed a ‘Baltic Chain’
with people holding hands the whole way across the three countries, in a form
of ‘quiet protest’ in the search for freedom and independence.
In the evening I
was back at the hostel contemplating dinner and Thomas returned from his adventures
after the walking tour, and we headed out for dinner, going to this Lithuanian
‘chain’ restaurant which serves Lithuanian food – to me, it’s like the concept
of Outback Steakhouse now being in Australia. The cool thing about it is that
it is a chain that is all around the country, not just in tourist cities, so
you know it’s the kind of place where locals go as well, so the food isn’t
completely tourist oriented. It’s always lovely being able to eat real food
with company – something that I find myself doing so infrequently while
travelling. We sat and talked for ages and ages and by the time we emerged it
was probably 10pm or so, but it wasn’t fully dark yet, so we went for a wander
about the old town – something else I enjoy, because I don’t tend to be out
that late on my own for safety reasons.
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| Old Town Square, Vilnius, Lithuania |
Thomas checked out the next morning, headed for his next
destination, with rough plans that we may both be in Riga at the same time so
we left it is ‘might see you there!’ I spent the day ticking off a few other
places from the map that I wanted to check out, including going for a walk
along the river, the Presidential Palace, wandering through one of the main
shopping drags and seeing the small tribute statue to Frank Zappa – he
symbolises freedom, because during Soviet Occupation his music was banned. I
went to the KGB museum which was pretty cool, it is housed in what is a former
KGB headquarters with a jail in the cellar and some really interesting
information about the organisation and generally about the history of Soviet
Occupation.
Trakai, Lithuania
On my final full day, the weather Gods were smiling at me
and I was rather ecstatic because I had planned to take a day trip to Trakai.
Eventually I will write a full entry just about Trakai because I think it is
worthy of a lot more detail, particularly to note down the details and
logistics. Trakai is a picturesque town just outside Vilnius, so close it
practically is Vilnius. It’s one of those day trips where there isn’t a lot to
‘do’ at the destination but it’s just so damn pretty. Geographically, Trakai is
a small town on a strip of peninsula between a river and a lake. It is famed
for the ‘castle on the island’ – it is what everyone treks to Trakai for.
I got the bus to
Trakai which took no more than half an hour. It was a 2km walk into the town;
some of it was picturesque, some just plain boring. When I was getting close to
the main part of town I detoured off the main road, through a park and took the
footpath which went long the bank of the peninsula. The water alone was
picturesque, along the way some random row boats were pulled up on the side of
the bank. I rounded the bend and the famous castle island came into view. At
first it felt very... it was like I was in the wilderness and me and the
handful of other people around me using this path were the only people to be
lucky enough to stumble across such beauty. Then I came further around the
corner and the tourist overload came into view. Trakai is one of those places
where tour buses would stop on their way to a final destination – there were
bucketloads of groups, school kids in groups as well, and just regular old
travellers and tourists who had made their way from Vilnius to Trakai. Of
course where there are tourists, markets set up selling ‘authentic Lithuanian
goods’. I always look, but never buy at said places, though I was tempted by a
few things – Lithuania seems to have random merchandise with cats on them. I
didn’t pay for entrance into the castle, just wandered around the area, the
lake, and around the castle, took a zillion photographs from angles at all
sides. Absolutely stunning.
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| Trakai, Lithuania |
Riga, Latvia
After four nights in Vilnius I headed to Riga, Latvia on the
bus. I’d done so little research on these cities, therefore I really had no idea
what to expect of Riga – but I know that I wasn’t expecting it to be the larger
of the Baltic cities, with somewhat of a more cosmopolitan vibe. I walked into
the hostel in Riga and I just fell in love. Cinnamon Sally’s Backpackers Hostel
is pretty, has random items like Angry Birds stuffed animals, pink towels, really funky art on the walls and Wizard of Oz cushions on the lounge in the
common room.
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| Any place decorated like this is destined to be a home for me! |
As soon as I have a great hostel, it just flows through to every
inch of my mood – I know I become a happier, more sociable person. After taking
in all the cuteness, the next thing I saw was Brad – the Aussie who showed me
the gun in Vilnius on my first day. The backpacker scene is pretty small – you
tend to run into the same people! I went through the check-in process and
‘Sally’ (all the staff who work there are just referred to as Sally, if you
can’t remember their actual name!) said to come back after I’d settled into my
room so she could go through the map with me. She went through it with me and
someone else at the same time – a guy, who turned out to be Taylor from
Philadelphia, USA. After she went through the map, he said he was going to go
and check out the old town area and asked if I wanted to go for a wander –
instant friend!
Turned out it was my instant friend’s birthday – he’d had a
huge night out the night before in Tallinn so he was sort of ‘meh’ about the
whole birthday concept, claiming it was pretty much over. Taylor and I explored
the Riga Old Town and also this really architecturally pretty area known as the
‘Art Nouveu’ district. I’d been craving some Mexican food and had commented to
him that it’s hard while travelling alone to cook, because you are cooking for
one and it’s impossible to buy portions that small. Next thing I knew, we were
at the grocery store and then cooking up a storm, having this epic Mexican
feast for dinner, making Latvian Chicken Nachos using some creativity and a lot
of heart. Wonderful birthday dinner for him! We hung out at the hostel chatting
with a bunch of people having a few drinks in the evening.
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| One of the gorgeous buildings in the Art Nouveau district |
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| Epic dinner. Go us! |
The next day, Taylor, Sally, this other girl who I don’t
know her name and I went to this brunch place that Sally had been raving about
– cheap as hell with this gorgeous, amazing, all you can eat buffet spread. I
feel like I should’ve come after not stuffing myself the night before! We chatted over brunch for ages and then Taylor
and I decided to go check out the beach – he was the perfect person for me to
go to a beach with because he, like me,
had no interest in actually swimming or sunbaking, it was more about going and
checking out the area and taking a few photos. I don’t think I’ll ever be
really impressed by these beaches near city centres – at least in Riga, the
beach was real and not some manmade beach. There was a
market/souvenir/restaurant strip a couple of blocks inland going parallel
beside the beach, so we wandered down the markets and walked back along the
beach and through our miraculous sense of direction, we succeeded in choosing
the path back inland which emerged literally right at the rather random train
station – a concrete slab with no benches or anything.
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| The Baltic Sea, Riga, Latvia |
We were back at Sally’s mid afternoon and I pulled out my
netbook to check in with the world and had received a Facebook message from
Thomas – he’d checked into Cinnamon Sally’s at some point while I’d been out
and was saying hello and he’s assuming I’m still there and will see each other.
I cheekily replied to his message and a couple of hours later he walked into
the hostel from his wanderings. By this point, we had six people in the hostel
who had just come from Jimmy Jumps House in Vilnius, Brad my gun wielding
friend, as well as Neil, Lucas, this guy I can see but not remember his name
plus Thomas and myself. There were other cool people at the hostel so overall,
it was a really lovely vibe. Thomas and I decided to go out to one of the
‘traditional’ Latvian places that was recommended for dinner and while out ran
into Brad, Neil, forgotten-name and some others at the place so joined them for
dinner. After eating Thomas and I wandered around and in the late night still
some light but prettier light saw some really gorgeous sites in the park, the
old town and at the river.
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| The river at sunset, Riga, Latvia |
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| Old Town, Riga, by night |
My final day in Riga, the weather was horrid but I’d pretty
much decided that I had to do the walking tour. I complained incessantly on the
way, begrudgingly accepted a poncho from the tour guide (it wasn’t just me,
about six people took them too) and teetered along in the rain. About halfway
through the tour the rain stopped and the sun was out, which was a glorious,
glorious moment in my mind. The tour itself, like the content and itinerary,
was pretty average. However the tour guide was this lovely Latvian guy named
Angelus (I was going to make a Buffy joke to him but refrained) who had the
most perfect British accent – I would not have known he was Latvian. After the
official tour completed, a few of us
were still standing around and he took us into the Russian Orthodox church that
was just across the way; and then Thomas, me and this crazy Kiwi girl joined
Angelus for lunch at this weird but cool Indian Vegetarian restaurant (I ate potatoes,
basically) in the ‘new town’ so inadvertently I got to do my exploring in that
district.
That evening was more hanging out at my favourite hostel –
every moment spent at Cinnamon Sally’s was fun for me!
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| Excellent representation of how I feel! |
I know that I’m going to look back on my time at the Baltics
as being my favourite area of Europe travelling, which will apply to Tallinn
and Helsinki as well. Partly it is the cheap food and drink, partly something
cool about the people, partly that they seem to like cats – but a lot of it is honestly
just that I met some really cool people. I think a lot of it is because of that
‘scene’ moving eastward. The tacky crazy drunk backpackers haven’t all made it
that way yet. Yes there is drinking (when you’re paying a couple of dollars for
a litre of beer, I can’t blame anyone!) but overall the people are cooler and I
found that the overall spirit was one where people were more willing to chat to
others and look outside of their groups. There were more solo travellers as
well, in fact, more solo travellers than group travellers.
I just barely skimmed the surface of these two countries by
seeing their capitals, and I cannot wait until I have the opportunity to go
back to these places I loved as well as see more of what the country has on
offer – before they adopt the Euro, at which point things will inevitably
become more expensive. Unless the Euro crashes – but that’s a whole other
discussion of economics and finance that is far above my understanding and
which you can Google if it interests you! There is beauty which comes without
the people being completely cynical toward tourists, yet particularly in the
capitals and other major cities, tourism is accessible. All in all, as a
combination, it was conducive to having a great time with lovely companions
exploring a beautiful and interesting part of the world.
