Arrival to the Baltics

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

One of the gorgeous buildings in the Art Nouveau district

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.

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.

The river at sunset, Riga, Latvia

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!

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.