The Baltics

Aug 5 to Aug 15

Weren't quite sure what to expect of Lithuania and Latvia, hadn't done a lot of research and weren't sure how long we'd be here for, but we have loved it so far. Not as busy as the rest of Europe so we've been able to relax a bit.

Our first stop was Trakai in Lithuania, about 20km east of the capital Vilnius. It was a 'top' campsite (to use the phrasing of our lonely planet) about 5km north of the town on the opposite side of the lake. Trakai is a beautiful little place with 2 castles on the lake. We hired one of those paddle boats and took ourselves for a little cruise, having a well-deserved beer afterwards!. Nice to have some sunshine again after all the rain we've had for the last couple of weeks.

Went via the Akropolis (as in the shopping mall chain) on our way into Vilnius. That's one thing we've noticed here, there are retail parks and big shopping centres with huge hypermarkets everywhere. In Latvia especially, there are a lot of run-down buildings and apartment blocks, but there's plenty of places to shop, everyone dresses well and there's not a lot of old cars around. It's a little hard to tell what the financial situation of people really is here.

Vilnius has a nice old town centre as well, a few market stalls, selling amber (which we have since seen absolutely everywhere) but again, so quiet, nice to be able to stroll through the streets in a little bit of peace!

From Vilnius, we were heading west towards the coast, and Trakai was a little out of the way, so decided to check out the Vilnius city camping. It was literally in a disused carpark behind what looked like some retail or light industrial buildings. If you had a tent, you had the 1.5 - 2 m space between the rows of carparks. There is so much green space not more than 3 or 4km from the city centre. Hopefully it's not too long before someone sets up something a little better. In the end we took the detour back to Trakai.

The Hill of Crosses was quite something, particularly given the history of it being bull-dozed a number of times in the Soviet era. People lay a cross in remembrance or in asking for Mercy as a show of their faith. The crosses were stacked so densely on top of each other.

We ended up on the Neringa Spit, a small stretch of land from Klaipeda down to the Russian-governed area of Kaliningrad. Sand dunes, wooden fishermans houses, beaches, a perfect place to recuperate for a couple of days. We got some pretty heavy storms, but we just ate at the bar those nights, which actually had some great Chinese!

We met some great people from Moscow who have given us some really useful tips, phrases and places to visit while we're in Russia. They did seem a little more concerned than we are about the journey itself though :)

Straight around the coast from Klaipeda to Riga. The roads became a little worse on entering Latvia, though there is plenty of European funding being used on development. There was a large stretch of road around the tip to Kolka (the geographic centre of Europe) that looked like it was about ready to be tarred.

Jurmala, about 20km west of Riga is a Spa resort town that became popular in the early 1900s. Not my kind of place. There was a very, very long pedestrian street packed with markets, with restaurants and bars along the edge. Once you got past the first few stalls, it all started to become the same. I loved all the old wooden buildings though, but this area seems to have a lot of money (there weren't many here that were rundown). We think you're actually meant to pay a 1 Lat (about £1.20) entry fee to enter the town, though we must have missed that sign. Ooops

Now in Riga, which is really beautiful. Enjoyed a cocktail on the 26th floor of the Radisson which has a great view over the city.

Feels a bit strange now. We've kind of finished our tour of Europe and tomorrow, Saturday morning, we head East for the Russian border. We plan to camp just outside the border for a few hours and enter just after midnight. It's about a 700km drive to Moscow and we have accommodation booked for Sunday night. I know! A proper bed!!

We have been keeping an eye on the fires and the smog in Moscow. The situation seems to be improving, but we will keeping watching for updates. Fingers crossed all goes well at the border!