Lithuania in the rain

From Latvia we crossed into Lithuania, our third Baltic state.

Monday 28 August: After Bauska, our next stop was Siauliai in Lithuania – not too far as the crow flies, but to get there by bus we had to return first to Riga, for the fourth and final time. We joked that we should have loyalty cards for the coffee shop at Riga bus station! 

It had already been raining heavily for some time when we got up.  Luckily our Bauska hotel was very close to the bus station, but even so, we got soaked walking across. The road was like a lake!  It continued pouring all the way to Riga, but finally stopped on the way to Siauliai, though it was still windy and cool . We’d booked an apartment this time, as the town seemed to have little in the way of hotels.  We arrived a few minutes ahead of our 12.30 scheduled time, and managed to walk to the apartment, have a snack lunch, change into warmer clothes and get back to the bus station in time for the 1.30 bus to Dormantal.  It was a small bus, and there were lots of passengers, so it was very crowded. 

Luckily it was a short journey, and we then walked a mile or so to the Hill of Crosses.  The origin of the tradition is unknown, but people come from all over the world to add their wooden crosses to the millions there. To the many standing crosses (of all sizes) people have attached small crosses, rosaries and other objects (candles are not allowed – we wonder why??!!)  It is an amazing sight, which has become a major tourist attraction.

Our apartment was perfect: spacious, immaculate and well-equipped.  Coupled with the lack of nearby restaurants, it seemed the ideal opportunity to cook for ourselves for a change.     

Tuesday 29:  We went for a short walk to see the cathedral which was nearby; we saw some interesting sculptures on the way.  Then we collected our luggage, walked to the train station and caught the 10.03 train (15 mins late) to Klaipeda.  It was our first experience of Lithuanian trains, and we were impressed – especially as we were able to order cappuccinos, and have them delivered to our seats! 

We checked in to our hotel, had lunch and set off to explore the town.  First stop was the Tourist Info to equip ourselves with maps.  Then we walked along the riverfront, and later to the sculpture park, which was rather disappointing – just some weird and meaningless sculptures among the trees. 

We set off for dinner early, and detoured to see the site of the old castle (with a moat, now a kind of marina). We wanted to have at least a drink on a ‘floating’ bar: we thought we might have to move into the linked restaurant for dinner, if it was too cold outside. But we discovered that the lower deck of the boat was enclosed (by glass), and quite pleasant, so we stayed there.

Wednesday 30:  We took the 9am ferry (only five minutes) across to the Curonian Spit (a long finger of land opposite Klaipeda). Thankfully the forecast rain was not in evidence – it was grey and miserable, but OK for walking.  We headed south, intending to follow a trail marked on our map.  At first it was a good path, clearly marked.  We walked for some miles along the beach, where no markings were necessary.  It was practically deserted: we saw just three people in 90 mins, and not many birds (just a few gulls and crows).

After that there were no signs or directions.  We managed by luck to find the right turning off the beach, and guessed which footpath to take through the trees.  There were many varied fungi along the way – but also some incredibly loud shots, which were quite scary.  Finally we reached the small town of Juodkrante, our goal.  We had lunch on the pleasant terrace of a small hotel.  Then we walked along the seafront through the ‘sculpture park’ (stone sculptures, as meaningless as those we saw yesterday).  We found our way to the Witches’ Hill, which has wooden sculptures of witches, demons, mythical figures etc – a lot more interesting. 

We emerged close to a bus stop – and just then, the first raindrops appeared!  It was perfect timing; we’d been able to do our long walk in the dry. But when we left the ferry in Klaipeda it was pouring with rain, so we got soaked on the 30-minute walk back to the hotel.  Luckily the rain had eased a bit when we went out for dinner. In total, we clocked up 19 miles today – the longest on our trip, though not quite the longest this year. 

Thursday 31: This morning we went by bus to Kaunas.  We checked into our new hotel, then headed out to explore.  We passed the Church of Christ’s Resurrection (which is unbelievably ugly) and reached the top end of Laisves Aleja (Kaunas’s version of the Champs Elysees). The Russian Church of St Michael the Archangel is much more attractive, but had closed by the time we’d had lunch in a nearby coffee shop.

 We walked down the long main street, and on to the town hall square, pausing en route to visit the Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul.  We had drinks in a bar facing the town hall, then walked down to the river.  From the confluence of the Neris and Nemunas there was supposed to be a good view back – but it was blocked by trees. We continued to Kaunas Castle (remains of).  On the way we had a few spots of rain, but then the sun came out, briefly.

We’d decided it was not sensible to come back to the hotel before dinner, as it was some way out of town.  So we had dinner at a restaurant we’d spotted earlier.  An English-speaking radio station was playing music from the 60s and 70s in the background.  It was called nonstopoldies.com.  We thought it sounded like a good name for us: are we Non-stop Oldies?

Stone shoes and fabric roses

Our wanderings through Latvia continued.  Riga (like London) is where many bus and train journeys start and finish.  You have to go into the capital to move on to the next place!

Wednesday 23 August:  Today we went by bus from Sigulda to Cesis. The weather was gloomy, and on the way it started to rain.  Sun and showers alternated during the morning. We explored the town, taking shelter when necessary in coffee bars or churches. We were particularly intrigued by stone sculptures of shoes (men’s, women’s and children’s) outside some houses.  We later learned what we should have guessed: these were memorials to the Jewish families who had lived there, until the community was wiped out in 1941.

This afternoon the weather seemed better.  There were some walks by the Gauja river, but they started 3km out of town.  We calculated we could get there, do a short walk and get back in time for the 5pm bus to Sigulda.  There was more rain on the way, but we sat in a bus shelter until the worst had blown over.

The river walk was pleasant, and mainly flat.  We figured that we could find another way out of the National Park, instead of going all the way back.  When we emerged, we saw a bus stop, which showed a bus due at 3.42 (it was then 3.37).  The bus came on time, and went all the way to the bus station, so we were able to catch the 4pm bus to Sigulda! 

Thursday 24: This morning we went by bus back to Riga, and then (a much longer journey) to Kuldiga.  It poured most of the way there.  Fortunately it was fine when we arrived, slightly ahead of schedule.  We were not impressed by our room; it was spacious but sparse, no bedside tables, drawers or shelves, a rack for clothes but only two hangers.  And the wifi did not work!

The helpful lady at the tourist office gave us lots of bumf. We crossed the old bridge and went to the Ventas Rumbas, Europe’s widest ‘waterfall’, which is actually more like rapids – quite picturesque though. En route back (by a higher path) we stopped at a cafe for cocktails.  Then back through the Town Garden to our ‘hotel’.  We had to have an early dinner, as the linked restaurant closed at 8. 

Friday 25:  We set off early to do the river trail along the left bank.  It was fine but very misty – atmospheric?  After returning to the town we did some shopping, and had coffee in our room.  We set off again, this time for the Riezepe Sand Caves – 5km out of town, but no buses, so we walked, along a fairly quiet road through pine forest. 

 We did a guided tour which was disappointing. The sand caves (the longest cave system in Latvia) sounded interesting; reading about them had prompted our visit to Kuldiga.   But much of the time we had to go bent double through low, narrow tunnels; there were only a few places where we could stand up, and even then there was little to see, apart from a solitary roosting bat. 

Back at base we dumped the rucksack and had a cuppa. Then we set off yet again, for a quick trip round the town to look at churches etc.  When we stepped outside we found it was raining.  We did a short circuit anyway, and managed to get in two out of three churches.

Saturday 26: We got up early, and caught the 7.15 bus to Riga (again!).  Had coffee at the bus station while waiting for the 10.50 to Bauska.  We had rain on the way (sometimes quite heavy) but fortunately it had stopped by the time we arrived.  And our hotel was very close to the bus station.

We had lunch there while waiting to check in. As nearly all our clothes were dirty, we were delighted to find that (unlike most hotels) they could do our washing quickly and easily.  We called at the tourist office (in the town hall) and saw another unusual memorial to the local Jewish families who were murdered in 1941.  We saw many memorials in Poland last year, but had not fully understood the impact of the Nazis on Latvia.

On our way to the castle we looked in a church and saw a memorial to the ‘politically repressed residents of Bauska’, 1915-20.  We paid to go in the ruins of the old castle, and went up the tower.  There was a kids’ rave going on in the castle grounds – very noisy!  We bypassed it and found a path to the confluence of two rivers (the castle is almost on a peninsula). Then we followed the path in the other direction, where we saw an unusual machine dredging weed out of the river. 

Sunday 27:  Ourbus to Rundale Palace did not leave till 10.10, so we had plenty of time to ‘do stuff’ before setting off.  The palace is only 12km from Bauska, and the bus stopped right outside.  It has been described as ‘a miniature Versailles’: now where have we heard that before?  Thankfully we were able to visit without taking a guided tour.  Some rooms were certainly impressive. 

It had been grey and dull all morning (despite forecast sun and cloud); but with perfect timing, the sun came out just when we emerged from the palace.  We looked round the formal gardens (divided into several themed ‘bosquets’).  We then went for a stroll outside the palace grounds, and managed to locate the small lake we’d seen in photos. 

Back in Bauska, we called briefly at our hotel, then went out for a short walk.  We first went to see a Russian Orthodox church we’d spotted from the bus; we couldn’t get in, but took photos of the exterior.  Then to the Old Town to see a few points of interest marked on the map, including a building covered in mosaics and a memorial to a poet.  The ‘Rose Alley’ was fascinating; every house in the street is decorated with roses made from strips of fabric attached to wire netting.  But sadly the buildings themselves – and the Old Town as a whole –seemed really scruffy.

Happy birthday, Riga!

It was time to say farewell to Estonia, and hello to Latvia!

Saturday 19:  We travelled by bus from Parnu to Riga, the capital of Latvia.  No evidence of border crossing!  But the weather improved en route – it was quite warm when we arrived.  We set off this afternoon to explore the city.  We took photos of two churches.  At the Freedom Monument we detoured a short way along the canal, before plunging into the Old Town.   In every square, it seemed, there was a sound stage, and people performing: singing, dancing, even acrobatics. We wondered what was going on, but at the tourist info we discovered it was the celebration for Riga’s ‘birthday’, which apparently happens on the 3^rd Sat in Aug each year. 

We decided we might as well focus on the festival. But first we went to St Peter’s Church, where you can go up the tower in a lift. We thought we should do it while the weather was decent.  But we had to queue for the lift, and when we reached the top the sun had disappeared – there were even spots of rain! No blue skies for the photos. Back down, we looked round the church, and by the time we emerged the sun had come out again!            

We spent the rest of the evening, mainly in Dom Square, listening to the music and enjoying drinks from stalls set up for the purpose, until almost 10pm, as the Closing Concert was coming to an end.

Sunday 20: We had two full days in Riga, and planned to spend one in the city and one in the Jurmala (beach area nearby).   As the weather was better today (according to the forecast) we decide to make that our beach day. We caught the 9.30 Jurmala train, and decided (fairly arbitrarily) to get off at Asari, and walk along the beach to Dubulti and Majori, the biggest towns on the Gulf of Riga.  We enjoyed the first half hour – a good walking beach, blue sky and sun.  Then we stopped at a beach cafe for coffee – and just then the weather changed dramatically.  The sun disappeared, and a sea mist came in – by the time we quit, visibility was much reduced.   

At Dibulti, we walked inland to look at a couple of churches and a few other places of interest.  We continued (not far) to Majori.  We walked along the main street, and stopped at a cafe for lunch.  At the end of the road we saw a smart modern church.  Then on to the Dzintari Forest Park.  Sandie climbed up the view tower, but there wasn’t much to see (except trees). 

We kept hoping the sun would come out; it didn’t but the mist had cleared.  We went down to the beach and along a boardwalk, stopping at a beach cafe for drinks.  There was a surprising number of people on the beach, though most were fully clothed!   We followed the boardwalk back to Majori, and up to the train station, where we caught the 4.48 back to Riga. 

Needless to say, the sun came out as soon as we left Jurmala.  It was much brighter when we got back to Riga (although of course, it might have been OK there all day). 

Monday 21:  Our day for exploring Riga. The weather was miserable this morning, but there was no rain.  We went to an area where there is a whole street of Art Nouveau houses – very impressive!  Then we walked along the canal to the National Theatre, the castle and the Old Town.  It looked completely different compared to Saturday, when it was crowded – and sunny.  We saw some sights we’d missed previously, and went in the cathedral and the House of Blackheads.  We briefly visited the huge Central Market (housed in five Zeppelin hangars) and the Opera House.   Then we headed back via another section of the canal.  On the way it started raining.  We thought we’d been lucky, to get our sightseeing done while it was fine.  But the rain didn’t last long, and just after we reached the hotel, the sun came out – too late!

We spent some time in our room, catching up with things.  Whenever we looked out of our window, we could see lovely blue sky.  We decided to leave early on our evening excursion as it was so good.  But when we left the hotel the clouds had come over … and soon afterwards it started to rain.  By the time we reached our chosen restaurant, it was pouring!

 Tuesday 22:  This morning we caught the 9.20 bus to Sigulda.  We talked to a lady at the tourist office who gave us a lot of helpful info.  Then we walked to our hotel, which was quite a long way out of town, and dumped our luggage. Back near the bus/train station, we had ‘brunch’ at a coffee bar – part of the Caffeine chain we’d seen before.  Then we started the ‘Three Castles walk’ which we’d scanned from a Lonely Planet guidebook. First was the Sigulda Castle Complex; we went in the ruins of the original castle + the reconstructed New Castle, both interesting. Then (after an accidental detour) we took the cable car across the River Gauja.  It was fascinating to watch two people on a kind of zipwire which linked with the cable car.  

On the other side we visited the ruins of the Krimulda Medieval Castle, then walked to the Gutmana Cave and on to the Turaida Museum Reserve.  To get there we followed a footpath which involved going up and down literally hundreds of steps.  Saw lots of fungi though!

The Reserve was a kind of open-air museum: plenty to see, we could have spent all day there.  But by then it was getting late.  We looked at the castle and climbed up the tower for views (lots more trees).  Then we walked around looking at some of the quirky statues scattered through the park, and finally caught the bus back to Sigulda. 

By the time we reached our hotel, we were shattered.  Unfortunately, the hotel restaurant was closed (‘technical problems’) and there were no other restaurants close by, so we had to trek back into town.  One cafe we’d spotted earlier turned out to be a buffet, so we went to the ‘Gastropub’ opposite.  They had absolutely no veggie main meals. But we could not face going further, so Sandie made do with a couple of snacks.

A Zigzag through Estonia

We don’t normally set off on a trip less than three weeks after returning from the previous one. Our pattern in recent years has been to do a long trip in June-July, and a shorter one in September.  But having decided on the Baltic states for our shorter trip this year, we discovered that the weather there was good in August but cooler later, so we decided to bring our ‘September’ trip forward

Monday 15 August: We’ve been trying to cut down on our flying, in order to reduce our carbon footprint.  Obviously, when we go to Florida we have no choice, but it is relatively easy to travel in Europe by train or bus.  We even made it to Bulgaria (in 44 hours) direct from London.  But London-Tallinn seemed unusually complicated, so we gave in and decided to fly ‘just this once’.  The Wizzair flight seemed cheap, but not when we had paid for our luggage (which cost more than our seats) and the taxi to Luton Airport (which was horrendously crowded and chaotic).  We didn’t sit together on the plane – that would have cost even more.  We decided (not just to save money, or for environmental reasons) that we prefer travelling by bus.       

It was 10pm CET (8pm BST) when we reached our hotel.  We dumped things in our room and went out in search of something to eat.  The receptionist directed us to a ‘24-hour burger bar’ which turned out to sell not burgers but a local snack, called chebureki, a deep-fried pastry with various fillings. We realised we were on the edge of the old town, so afterwards we went for a short walk there; by then it was dark, some buildings were lit up and it was very atmospheric.  We stopped in the Town Hall Square for coffee and brandy.

Tuesday 15: We’d been to Tallinn once before, many years ago, and our memories were vague.  This morning we went to the Kadriorg Park, a couple of miles outside the town, which we had certainly not visited before.  On the way we encountered extensive roadworks – several roads completely blocked, just temporary walkways for pedestrians who needed to cross. 

The highlight of the park is the palace (now a museum).  The gardens are beautiful, and with the palace in the background they make for great photos.  We also saw the presidential palace and the house where Peter the Great used to stay. Then we followed the path to the sea, via the Russalka (Mermaid) Memorial, which commemorates the lives lost when a Russian warship of that name sank in 1893.  We were surprised to find a small beach, with people sunbathing and even swimming!  We walked along the ‘prom’ a little way, then turned and headed towards the old town.  This was a better route – not so many roadworks!

Later we followed a walk which zigzagged all round the Old Town, passing the castle, two cathedrals, viewpoints etc. We walked along a surviving section of the lower town wall, which links three towers.  On the way back to our hotel we called at a vegan restaurant which Ian had found online: it sounded great, and we wanted to book a table for dinner, but they were fully booked!  Instead we had dinner in the Town Hall Square.  The food was doubtless not as exciting, but we had perfect views for people watching. 

Wednesday 16:  Tallinn was the only place in the Baltics we’d visited previously, so from now on everything was new to us.  This morning we went by train to Tartu, the ‘intellectual capital’ of Estonia (it has a large university and several other HEIs).  We were staying overnight in what was probably student accommodation.  When we arrived, about 12, the owner came and took our luggage, but we could not get in ourselves until later.  Meanwhile, we explored the town.  The tourist office was in the town hall which was covered in scaffolding.  There are a lot of quirky statues around Tartu, but unfortunately the best/most famous had been in an area outside the town hall which was completely dug up.

We followed a town walk along the river and through the university botanical gardens, to St John’s Church with its many terracotta statues.  The town seemed very quiet, possibly because the students were on vacation.  Later we climbed up Toome Hill.  We saw the Observatory, the Devil’s Bridge and the Angel’s Bridge, the Cathedral Church ruins (very picturesque), and lots more statues. 

Afterwards we were able to get into our accommodation, but were stunned to find how tiny it was: no bed, just a fold-out sofa (with barely room to open it), and a small wet room.  Still, at least there was a kettle, so we were able to have tea. In the evening we had drinks at a floating bar on the river, and dinner at an Indian restaurant in Town Hall Square.

Thursday 17: We took the 9.20 (bus this time) east to Parnu, Estonia’s ‘summer capital’. It was our first experience of the Lux Express bus service, and we liked it – not least because they had a free coffee machine on board!  We arrived at 12 and walked to our hotel, where we were able to check in straightaway. By welcome contrast to our cramped quarters last night, we had a large family room, with our own private sauna! 

We wandered round the old town, photographing places highlighted in the guidebook.  It said the old town was small, and they were right!  By 3pm we’d seen it all, so we walked along the river, hoping to get through to the beach.   We found a boardwalk leading to a mole: we followed the boardwalk but gave up on the mole, because it was just a line of stones, not easy to negotiate.  But we were able to reach the beach, which was ideal for walking. A snake emerged close by as we strolled along!

Tonight we had dinner in the old town, preceded by 3 aperol spritzes (special offer, 3 for the price of 2).  We drank the third in honour of Kit, whose A-level results today were outstanding.  Afterwards we walked along the waterway to a place that gave us great views of the sunset. 

Friday 18: We’d planned to do a long beach walk today, but were disappointed.  Contrary to the forecast, it was very grey this morning: certainly not ideal for sunbathing or swimming, but OK for a walk, we thought. But the beach didn’t stretch very far.  We continued on a path through the reeds, then through a nature reserve.  Eventually the path petered out, and we headed back.  Just as it started raining, we found a café for coffee, but luckily the rain did not last long. After seeing the former mud baths, we returned to the hotel a different way.

This afternoon we walked to the Lydia Koidula Park, which the guidebook recommended for a ‘walk’, but it turned out to be a very small park, so the ‘walk’ did not take long. En route back to the hotel, we saw a wedding party having photos taken.  Later we had a sauna – might as well make the most of it!

We went to the beach area for dinner.  We had drinks at one of the bars, and intended to eat at the Kuursaal nearby, but it was closed, even though there was a menu outside.  So we walked round to the Bum Bum Pubi, not far from our hotel, where the food was plentiful and relatively cheap.

High Wycombe interlude

We had just 19 days at home in Wycombe between returning from Prague and setting off on our next adventure.  Needless to say, we had plenty of things to do in that time: stacks of washing and ironing, badly needed haircuts, bills to pay and complaints to make (regarding things that had happened while we were away), meeting friends and watching TV!  We had some more work from Refugees and Mentors, and we grappled with the finer points of Sandie’s new phone.   

Out and about

Despite being busy – and the dismal weather here – we’ve managed to get out a fair bit.  We’ve done some of our regular Wycombe walks, including Hughenden Manor and Flackwell Heath (both with Caroline).  We’ve had two Friday night ‘pub crawls’; on July 28 we walked up to the Crown at Penn (again with Caroline) and on Aug 4 to the Crown at Hazlemere.

Our folk dance club does not hold its Friday evening meetings over the summer, but there are three Saturday afternoon garden parties, and we went to one on July 29.  It was held in Beaconsfield, at the home of a member with a sufficiently large garden; about 20 people were there, and we enjoyed dancing and refreshments.  

The following Saturday we went to the cinema – the first time in ages – to see Oppenheimer. It’s popular and gets good reviews, but we were disappointed.  Too long, too noisy and too confusing for us.   

Slough cemetery

On Thursday 3^rd Aug we made one of our periodic visits to Slough cemetery.  We have various ways of getting there, not all of them involving Slough!  This time we took the bus to Uxbridge, looked in some shops and had coffee, then walked along the Grand Union canal to Little Britain Lake, where we ate our picnic lunch.  We enjoyed seeing a family of swans, but were amazed by the algae covering much of the lake – we’ve never seen it like that before.  From there we walked along the Slough Arm of the canal to the Basin, which is not far from the cemetery.  After putting flowers on Sandie’s parents’ grave, we returned home by bus.

Recycling party

It is now ten years since we bought our Wycombe flat, and we were amazed to discover (on moving in) that there were no recycling facilities here.  We’ve been campaigning ever since, and finally the first steps have been taken. We now have recycling on an ‘experimental’ basis for paper and card only, but we hope that it will be extended to included plastic and glass. To celebrate this move in the right direction, we invited neighbours to have a drink with us on Tuesday.  We had no idea how many (if any) would turn up, and in fact there was only one. But we were delighted to finally meet Khalil, who lives in the flat right above us!       

Longer walks

We actually had two days of decent weather last week, so were able to go for longish walks. On Weds we walked down to the river at Bourne End, with a stop for coffee in Flackwell Heath on the way.  We crossed the river and had drinks sitting in the sun at the Bounty.  Then we crossed back and walked along to the Spade Oak Nature reserve, where we had our picnic lunch, before returning home via Little Marlow and Keep Hill Woods.   

On Thursday we decided to do another Slow Ways walk, the first for quite a while.  We’ve done all the ones from Wycombe (returning by bus), but it’s easy enough to do one from a nearby hub, providing you don’t mind getting a bus at both ends.  On Thursday we took a bus to Beaconsfield, and then walked to Maidenhead.  The first part of the walk – down to Cookham – was mainly through woodland. Sometimes it overlapped with walks we’d already done, (such as the Chiltern Way), but some areas were new to us – we’d never realised there were extensive woods so close to Beaconsfield.  We saw lots of interesting fungi too!   From Cookham to Maidenhead we followed the Thames Path, which of course is very familiar to us.

     

 Family visits

The highlight of our time in Wycombe was seeing two of our children, and all of our grandchildren.  Last Monday we went to Faversham (by train) to visit Andrew and his family.  We were met at the station by Andrew and Kit; Isobel was busy preparing our lunch and Ellie was at work.  In the afternoon we went with Andrew and Iso to Whitstable, where we had a look at the shops and a walk along the seafront. Back at the house, Ellie and Kit were back so we had dinner together and time to chat before we set off back to Wycombe. 

  

Yesterday (Saturday) Claire, Ant and the boys came to see us.  We had a late lunch when they arrived, and Ant helped Sandie sort out her phone. Then we all walked into town through the Rye.  Claire & co spent some time in a sports shop, as Oscar needed some new gear for a rugby residential he’s going on next week. We met up for a drink in the Falcon.  By the time we got home it was 6.30, and the visitors had to head back to Bussage.