Helsinki? More like Hellaexpensive, AMIRITE?
Wandering around the coast, checking out cemeteries, Finnish National Museum during the 2 hours a week it's free, free walking tour, free accommodation and didn't buy tickets for the trams.. and still spent too much money.
And a ferry back to Tallinn.
Coming back to Tallinn after two days in Helsinki felt like returning home after a long voyage for some reason. So I stayed an extra night than planned, and went to Parnu in the morning. Enjoyed pizza on the Linnahall at sunset, and breakfast in the market from Toormoor.
A day in Parnu, south-west Estonia. Nice beach, some jolly good swamps, cute town center and one vegetarian cafe that I went to for dinner then breakfast (Piccadilly Wine and Chocolate). Then a bus out, Riga-bound.
Hasty turnaround in Riga; there long enough to buy a sim card, lunch, and a bus to Kolka, westwards around the coast.
One night on Cape Kolka (Latvia). One of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I stayed in one of the Saules Majas - Houses of the Sun - a barrel with a bed in it, electricity or heating or water, right on the beach. The mirrored glass window faces the sea, and you can see the sunrise and sunset from the same place. The Cape is a national park, and it was utterly tranquil.
I got up to watch the sun rise, and went for an early hike around the pine forests.
The plan was to hitchhike out as the public transport is sparse, which was immediately successful as my barrel-neighbours were driving the right way and took me with them to Ventspils.
Liepaja has the purest whitest softest sandy beaches that have ever blessed my feet, I swear.
There are a small number of veg*n places in Tallinn, and many places are vegan friendly. Loads of regular coffee shops and cafes clearly mark vegan options on their menu; varying quality though, if the reviews on happycow are anything to go by. Also many homemade ice cream shops have vegan flavours. Despite staying there for a few weeks I didn't actually try them all (I was having a budgetarily-challenged month, for a start). Food in Tallinn is fairly cheap overall, but the vegan places are a bit pricier, and cafes and coffeeshops in the old town certainly are. I mostly cooked for myself.
Biomarket seemed like a good candidate for vegan supplies, but actually there was very little specialist stuff there, and it was pretty expensive. They have bulk grains and organic food. But many of the same things can be found for much cheaper in regular supermarkets.
Plant milks are common in all supermarkets, but not particularly cheap. Rimi is the cheapest for everything. You'd be hard pressed to find a litre for less than €2, but you might if you shop around for special offers.
The food shop in the basement of Solaris has a good selection of not-meats and not-cheeses, and other vegan goodies. They're in their own dedicated display near the front of the store. Everything else here is more expensive than Rimi though.
Vegan mayo in a squashy packet can be found in Solaris for 79c and Rimi for 65c. This is the cheapest vegan mayo I've ever seen. The sachet is not as big as a jar but one lasted me for 3 weeks.
Tofu seems to be expensive everywhere. I never found it, but apparently if you look hard enough it's cheap in Rimi.
Behind Balti Jaam train station, through the market and into the main hall on the left. It's a small stand with a few seats and healthy all-vegan junk food. The pulled sweet potato burger looks fantastic. But for €4 I had a cheesy tofu melt sandwich.
Also in Balti Jaam, right behind the fruit market in the entrance, this is a place specialising in raw food. They have a few seats downstairs and on the roof (which is still under the cover of the market building). I had a breakfast here, and tried a creamy fruit coconut milk porridge, and a raw wrap with sprouts and veggies and really good sauce. The coffee was nice too. Two dishes and two coffees came to a reasonable €12.60.
A nice restaurant in the old town with a variety of dishes, all vegan, and many raw options. Somewhere to go for a casual lunch or a fancy evening meal equally. I tried a burger with black bread and an incredible stack of fillings. Including tofu 'egg' salad, and a great coleslaw on the side.
There was a dessert on the menu called 'Estonian spotted cake' so I ordered it. Turned out to be a chocolatey block with fruit, biscuit chunks and candies throughout. Pretty rad.
Pirita is just north of Tallinn around the coast, and with the botanical gardens, TV tower, gorgeous stretches of beach and peaceful forests, it's a great place to go fro a day out. Stopping at Vigri is the icing on the cake.
Seriously. The cakes at that place.
I showed up ravenous, having been walking for hours and badly mistimed my meals. I restrained myself bravely on the buffet - which was a selection of hearty vegetable based dishes (one with tofu). Bread is unlimited for free outside of the pay-by-weight buffet.
Then I induced a food coma with a giant sticky caramel-y nutty cinnamon bun. And rolled to the beach to sleep it off.
Also in the vicinity were a branch of New York Pizza (with vegan cheese) and a beach foodstand with a 'vegan' menu on the side!
An Italian restaurant near Ulemiste, south of the old town. At lunch there's a buffet, as well as a la carte. They make their own vegan salami on premises, as well as bread. The buffet had a selection of pasta dishes, lasagnas, vegetables and salads; all good, I tried a bit of everything. It's €9 for all you can eat, and includes a portion of the dessert of the day. It was good food, and very friendly stratosphere. The dessert when I went was plums in white wine sauce.
This small cafe has narrow opening hours and isn't central, so I dropped by when I was in the neighbourhood hoping for cake or pastries. Despite the name, they had none. Maybe I was just late. It was pretty busy, and serving a buffet. I didn't get anything, with lunch scheduled at Vegan Italy nearby.
An all vegan chocolate shop in the dead center of old town. Abso-fucking-lutely fantastic. Most chunks of chocolate are €2 and they're all dark and rich, fresh handmade. A cascade of different flavours. I tried mint, cherry, almond, snickers, chilli, sugar-free peanut and chocolate-covered kama.
Kama is a local cereal, and for coating in chocolate it was puffed into crispy balls. The piece they gave me was as big as my head, and so easy to eat too much of.
Adjoined with the main chocolate shop is a section which also supplies teas, coffees, ice creams and savoury and sweet pastries at very low prices. There's not really any seating though.
A small cafe in the old town. They mostly wholesale loose leaf tea and coffee beans (a massive selection of both) and related equipment. There are a few tables though, plus power and wifi. They offer every plant milk you can think of for drinks, and have several homemade vegan cakes. I had a spectacular banana bread and spent a quiet afternoon there.
After getting locked in Tallinn City library for a few hours, I went to Bliss. The buffet is extensive, all vegetarian (and well labelled) and pay-by-weight. It's in the Solaris mall, and you have to go through a book shop to get there - look for arrows on the floor. Loads of seats. Desserts and smoothies too. The food was good, and a big variety.
A regular sushi place, but with a large vegan menu and most of the desserts are vegan too. The sushi is excellent and a good price. Nice atmosphere, too.
A regular pizza place with vegan cheese and loads of good veggie toppings. It's above average price, but hits the spot. There are several branches around Tallinn, including one in Pirita right by the beach.
Neighbourhood Organic Place was around the corner from where I was staying. It sells groceries, as well as meals and bread. I dropped by, but they had nothing I wanted, and the groceries were really expensive. I never got around to going back for a meal.
On a day of wandering I happened upon a flea market type thing in Telliskivi. There were vegan food trucks of course, but I was already full from lunch at home with friends (whom I'd met earlier in the month at a vegan potluck picnic in the park..). Nonetheless, we forced some doughnuts upon ourselves..
A very cute cafe with lots of space and a really nice menu. Good quality healthy food at great prices, and friendly service to boot. I ate courgette ravioli with cashew cheese and it was delicious. I was angling after churros but they were out, and no ice cream either.. the waiter strongly recommended to me the last of the daily cake, which was a truly spectacular salted caramel cheesecake and clearly fate decided I had to have it.
A pizza and pancake restaurant with several vegan options for both. I ate a pizza and a massive plate of fries. They have vegan pastries and cakes too, plus good smoothies. If I'm ever back in Tartu I'm definitely returning for a not-cheesey mushroom bean pancake!
A cafe inside a bio/health food shop. There's a small pay by weight buffet and some cakes and salad. And you can take anything from the shop to accompany your meal. It's a nice space in a block of hip shops with a courtyard. When I was there, next door was a popup ice cream shop with vegan flavours. Not sure if that's a permanent fixture though.
It's a small place. I found one vegetarian cafe and went there twice, for dinner then breakfast.
More than half of the menu is vegan, and really delicious. The Greek soup was hearty and filling, packed full of veggies accompanied by crunch black bread and only €4 (which after Tallinn felt great). They have a few vegan cakes, mostly raw cheesecake style. I tried chocolate and blackberry and approve.
For breakfast I had an unusual savoury porridge with vegetables, mushrooms and green salad. It was incredible actually.
I'm going to throw Helsinki in here because it intersected with my Estonia time, and was just a couple of day visit. Main point: it's expensive. Everything is expensive. Best bet is just.. don't eat here. In two days I spent all of my food budget for Lithuania. Well, it felt like that. There are plenty of vegan places, and many of them are co-ops. There were two I tried to go to which mysteriously weren't open during the signposted hours. Frustrating, but.. there are plenty of alternatives.
Finest vegetarian junk food; most items are vegan but there is some cheese flying around. I enjoyed a seitan burger with vegan cheese, deep fried cauliflower, and sampled sweet potato fries. €10.50 for the burger and side. Very satisfying.
A healthy cafe that's part of a yoga studio; good food, but on the pricier side (relatively!). A burger packed with root vegetables, amazing melty vegan cheese and cracking salad, plus a flat white set me back €17.
There's lots of space, it's a nice place.
A junk food stand very handily right by the Finnish National Museum and open until midnight most days. I believe it doesn't operate in the winter. They offer various not-meats on a bed of fries, ice cream, candies and fancy juices. Cheap (relatively) and filling; I had not meatballs and sampled soya sausage. They come with several blobs of different sauces.
An all vegan outlet on the 3rd floor of the Forum mall. Obviously a mall environment, but nice food. A sandwich and a smoothie combo will be around €14. They make their own cashew cheese and there's a choice between that and mozzarella (which my educated tastebuds suggest is Violife).
So I hitchhiked from Kolka to Ventspils, and my drivers dropped me off in town. I went to the library, and wandered around a bit. Ventspils is okay, but didn't really vibe, and there are no hostels or other good places to stay. So I made a plan to get out, and move on to Liepaja.
Then I immediately bumped into my original drivers again, who had stopped for a break and were just about to continue around the coast. So they took me to Liepaja. Easy mode.
Two nights in Liepaja, which is bigger than Ventspils and has more of a backpacker scene. The beach is unfathomably soft and white. There's also a giant lake (Lake Liepaja) which is surrounded by nature reserve and has a beautiful spit leading a way out into it.
Then I took a bus to Klaipeda. Note - the international Ecolines bus does not leave from the main bus station, which I found out after walking all the way across town to it. I had to taxi back to a square in the old town (10 mins from my hostel) to make it on time.
I was in Balkan taxi mode I guess, and all set to fight for this to not be more than 5eur.. but there was actually a meter running, and after the driver had quoted me 5 or 6 before we left, it came to 4, and he wouldn't take a tip. I'm so used to taxi drivers trying to rip me off, this was a delightful surprise.
Then the bus driver was napping, and we left 20 minutes late. Somehow still arrived to Klaipeda on time though.
I've been pretty meh and lethargic and unfocussed for a few weeks, but apparently what I needed was a hectic week of barely-planned travel, hostel-hopping and a bus ride a day, and the clouds have lifted. I'm in hostels for the rest of this month, so maybe I'll get some shit done.
I cycled further in one go today than I ever have in my life before (40 miles). Yet I'm a bit disappointed I didn't go further. For some reason I thought I'd be able to make the return journey too. Also everything hurts. Different things from after a too-long hike. Mostly my butt.
A day cycling along the Curonian Spit (~40 miles) near Klaipeda in Lithuania. Great beaches, forests, dunes, and small towns.
Love the idle threats of hostels on booking.com that they'll somehow charge you the full amount if you don't show up. Yet they don't ask for your credit card to book, and explicitly only accept cash on-site. Suuuure you wired that system up. Sure you did.
Mashing the 'resend to RunKeeper' button and praying to the quantified self gods to fucking sync my last week+ of activities already. Grumble.
It's all very well GPS tracking my life, but if I can't get it off my phone it never really happened, did it?!
(Might be in the market for a new android (4.4 or lower) GPS tracker.. any recommendations? Doesn't have to do anything except draw a map, and be exportable to an open format. Auto-posting to twitter is a bonus. Fantastic API would be great too, for when I get around to owning this stuff myself. Oh and also NOT CRASH all the time like RunKeeper, eh.)
Am I suddenly the oldest person in a dorm at hostels? People keep asking my permission to do things. Can I open the window? Turn off the light? Okay if I take a shower? And not even like I'm the only other person in the room. But for some reason I'm in charge..?
Photos from around Klaipeda; old town, and beach to the north. Lots of sculptures.
Remember that time I walked to the (Kaliningrad) Russian border from Poland? I wanted to do that again, from the Lithuanian side. This is a slightly longer ordeal, requiring better transportation than feet. Long story short, I didn't actually make it to the border, but I did see it from the top of a sand dune. I got pretty close though. Anyway, I'm sure that border is less exciting than the Polish one, because you can actually cross it (in a car, not on foot).
The Curonian Spit is not connected to Klaipeda, but the ferry takes 5 minutes. They run every hour, from 0700 out, up to 2215 returning. It costs 1 EUR return for foot passengers, or passengers with a bike, and you can buy tickets from the machines at the port in Klaipeda old town. I rented a bike from my hostel for 24 hours for 5 EUR (we managed to lower the seat all the way so I could just about use it). Most bike rental places in town are 10-12 EUR.
The spit is well furnished with cycle paths, in various states of decay, but mostly well-maintained. This route is pretty popular. The northern most coast is an enormous long sandy beach. Very glorious. It's backed by epic dunes, and you can only access it at designated points from cycle paths running down the middle, because tramping around on the dunes is a no-no. Large portions of the spit are also do-not-enter nature reserves.
After I got off the ferry in Smiltyne, first I went right/east (not the direction of Kaliningrad) to check out the other end of the spit for completeness. There's a sea museum, a dolphinarium (ugh) and the start of the beautiful beach. I pushed my bike along the beach for a while, which wasn't so bad on the wet sand, until I could join one of the main cycle paths, peeking out between the dunes. It was easy sailing for a while; the path was in good repair, and either flat or any ups were well compensated with excellent downs. It weaves through the forest, with views of dunes on the right and pine trees on the left, or sometimes trees on both sides.
It took me two hours from joining the path to get to Judokrante, the next village. Here I stopped for lunch at Pamario Takas, a super nice place with loads of outdoor seating and.. lots of vegan options! The food was homemade and delicious; I ate lentil patties, coffee, panna cotta, and a wheatgrass shot for a boost, which all came to about 14 EUR. But I hadn't had breakfast. Judokrante has a nice seafront, with lots of restaurants and sand sculptures.
My lunch break was 45 minutes. My butt was already aching a bit, and it was nice to relax, but I tried to resist temptation to linger too long. I followed the coast through Judokrante - featuring some amazing sand scupltures - and rejoined the main cycle path. The next leg was long and same-y, through the woods. I occasionally detoured to check out a side road to a beach or a cape or a birdwatching tower. Mostly when I needed to hop off the bike for a bit. Sometimes I tied the bike to something and took a little walk through sand or a non-bike-friendly track. Walking was becoming a relief.
Sometimes the bike path got pretty sketchy, with holes and sand. Sometimes it arched over dunes, making hills I couldn't quite summit. The freewheeling down was fantastic though. There were quite a few people, but not so many that I didn't have long stretches with nobody in sight behind or in front of me.
The next villages around the coast are Pervalka and Preila. Little bits of scenic ports, a few restaurants and signs to things of interest I did not stop to check out.
Though they are small, there's plenty going on in all of the villages. Lots of people - mostly Germans and Lithuanians - come here for holidays, so there are tons of guesthouses and plenty of restaurants. There are also a disproportionate number of museums, galleries, open air art and sculptures, and other historical artefacts. Also many viewpoints (marked on openstreetmap at least), and natural features with mythological significance. I skipped by most of these, keen to get to the border, and still at this point thinking I could see them on the way back.
The final (agonising) stretch between Preila and Nida is a wide, smooth concrete road. It looks like it's designed for cars, but I think it was just the cycle path. I limped into Nida (as much as one does so on wheels), followed the coast around and saw the port. I found the bus stop, and confirmed the times. It was 1630 when I arrived, and the next bus was at 1800 (and one after that, at 2000). It's 4 EUR back to Smiltyne, and an extra 5 to take a bike. This seems like a horrible ripoff, but what can you do.
I parked my bike at the supermarket, and went for an amble to the 'Death Valley' sand dunes. This is just one of many exciting things to see in Nida, which is the biggest town on the spit. I considered walking all the way to the Kaliningrad border anyway, but that would have taken an hour and a half. There was no way my butt was getting back on the bike, and if I somehow missed the last bus I was pretty screwed. So I opted for seeing the Russian bit of the spit from the top of the dune instead. Close enough.
The bus was waiting half an hour early when I got back to town. Two other people had just had the driver load their bikes into the compartment on the back. I felt like he could have awkwardly stacked a third one in there, but he didn't. Nope, you can't come. I drifted a few meters away, fumbled with my phone, looked presumably scared and confused. I'd already considered my options if the 1800 bus wouldn't take my bike, and I didn't like any of them so I hadn't settled on a backup plan. Whatever my expression was doing made the driver sufficiently sympathetic that he came over and led me around the bus and opened the side luggage compartment. My bike went in there sideways. I offered him my eternal gratitude (and an extra 5 EUR) and went to wait in the bus.
The ride all the way back to Smiltyne is an hour exactly. The bus only stops in the villages, and won't be flagged down on the road. I got to see a slightly different bit of the spit for most of the stretch, as the cycle path I used on the way out tended to swap spit-sides whenever the road did, to the opposite one.
I had three ferries remaining to me by the time I got there, and considered sticking around in Smiltyne a bit; sitting in a coffee shop (there's one with a hammock in the yard) or on the beach for a while. It was getting grey and cool, and I was just exhausted and achey though, so I took the 1915 ferry right away.
I pushed the bike back to the hostel.
Overall it was a great outing, but I definitely overestimated my cycling abilities. I'm entirely convinced my sister would have managed to get there and back, and included a nice lunch, swim in the sea, and most of the museums and points of interest, with no problem. I guess I should practice.
When I was deciding how to divide up my month in Lithuania, I looked at the map, zoomed in on the cities, checked out the bus routes, and a voice inside me said "spend two weeks in Kaunas." It's the second biggest city in Lithuania (still not big), not by the sea, and fairly unremarkable apart from having the longest pedestrian street in Eastern Europe going through the middle. The voice was so convincing, I booked two weeks in an non-refundable hostel as far as two months in advance.
Anyway, the voice was right, this place is super nice. Maybe I was predisposed to love it, but my first impression on the afternoon I arrived was at least as powerful as my immediate love for Bratislava.
Food options are good, stuff is cheap, there's a really nice river and a castle, a new town and an old town, some lakes not too far away; I've made myself at home in a co-working space, and people seem friendly.
First day and a half in Kaunas; new town, old town, rivers, parks, churches, sculptures, forts, castles. Food at Holy Donut and Arbatine.
Which will be my spine's ultimate undoing?
Sooo, anyone know anyone with a summer home on a Greek island they want to rent to me for less than €400/mo this winter? :D
Why is the aesthetic of vape shops globally the same as vegan restaurants?
Last summer I listened endlessly to Sia, and now the sound of her voice POWERFULLY invokes sunny Sarajevo; the feeling of hanging out by myself in my little flat, making flatbreads and waiting 4 hours for beans to cook in my half-assed kitchen, and feeling very very sad about something. If I'm feeling even a tiny bit fragile, just a couple of seconds of hearing her can make me burst into tears on the spot, from a combination of how I was feeling last summer, and a touch of Sarajevo-homesickness. Doesn't even have to be a song I know, just her voice. Which is slightly problematic, as she's still played in public spaces a lot. And also because I just want to listen to her when I need something bouncy and sometimes I can't.
Slowly taking in Kaunas. Walking around north of the river; bridges, doughnuts, construction, doughnuts, the river is beautiful during a clear dusk.
Doughnuts from Holy Donut, notdog from ManGi, soup and patties from Zalia Pupa, pizza from Mamma Pizza.
Walk to the Kaunas Botanical Gardens. Peaceful, as expected. About an hour and a half walk from the city center. I sat in a greenhouse and read for a while. Two weddings happened while I was there.
Stopped by Akropolis Mall on the way back, which is entirely ridiculous and bigger on the inside. Dinner at MasalaCiti, delicious kofta.
A new hostel guest arrived and I was introduced as the "long term resident". Dude, I've been here a week.
People travel too fast..
A walk to the Vytauto old Soviet theme park (still brightly coloured and functioning, but much smaller than expected, and then around Oak Grove. Stopped at a random cafe, Kregzdute, for lunch because my hostel-friend was hungry, and was surprised by several vegan options on the menu; obviously I had to try something to show demand.
We continued on for a long long walk along the beautiful riversides that snake around and through the city, until we got back to old town.
Dinner at Hare Krinsha restaurant Radhaarne.
Workplace design for small people: make sure when the chair is at its highest, the arms don't align perfectly with the desk preventing it from sliding all the way under.
Also.. make the highest height of the chair higher. I am so smol.
A couple of years ago I met people while travelling with lifestyles I envied. Now I'm the person with the lifestyle other travellers envy. Feels good.
Specifically the fact that I figured out what I was envious of, and made it happen for myself. Not the being subject of envy part.
Not bragging, except I am, because I LOVE living like this and am PROUD of myself for just doing what I felt like even though it was easy and natural to do so.
Now 'scuse me while I go stand in a ten person line for the single hostel toilet for the fifth day in a row.
A few days of food.. amazing Indian-Thai fusion and Moksha; a healthy burger at Zalia Pupa and delicious homecooked veganised Lithuanian classics at Arbatine.
Creative hostel breakfasting.
Today I walked to the IX Fort (via the VIII Fort). A historical defense structure, one of many around Kaunas several hundred years old. It was used for horrific things by the Nazis and the Soviets in the 1930s to 1950s, and served as a prison before that too. Today it houses two museums, and on the grounds is a striking Holocaust memorial. One museum tells the stories both of those who survived their experiences in the Fort, and those who did not, as well as the wider context of WWII and the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. The other details the history and construction of the Fort, and the other things it has been used for over the centuries. There's also artwork.
It was a very hot day. I walked back along the river, and stopped for some bargain junk food on the way.
I went to the Kaunas City Hall Museum, which is a big church-y looking building in the central old town square. It didn't look like much on the inside, just some furniture and grandeur, and no displays so I immediately started to regret paying €2.50 to go inside. But then! A hilariously nervous but smiling and enthusiastic dorky man appeared to talk me through everything I was seeing. He opened secret doors that looked like the wall and lead to spiral staircases to other rooms or the balcony up the tower. He emphasised that all the furniture is old and authentic, and described all the things politicians did in all the rooms. I think he thought I was much more excited about the history than I was, because I was so entertained by his mannerisms. Then he pointed me to a basement / former prison; I went down and he didn't follow. This one was full of signs, more like a normal museum. Lots of archeology and history stuff too. So in the end, very cool. Still only took about 15 minutes in total though.
Wandering through the old town I stuck my head into every other church I passed.
Then I went to the Castle Museum, which was also €2.50 and hecka disappointing. It was really small, I guess. In the top of the tower is a very nice photo exhibition of doors that look like knight helmets and people holding cut-outs of them up to their faces. But apart from that, I wouldn't bother.. just walk around the outside of the castle.
Then I went to the massive white church which looms over all of Kaunas from the hillside. The Church of the Resurrection was, I believe, started in the couple of decades of independence Lithuania had between the World Wars, but not finished, and only cleaned up and purposed as a church in the early 90s. It's € 1.20 to climb the stars up the tower to the massive roof terrace, which is worth it. Probably the best views of the city from here. I stuck around and read for an hour or so.
It was hot, so I wrapped up my day by heading to the island park and reading by the river until the sun set.
But.. but booking.com.. I can't read 1 million books in 3 months. I wish I could, but I can't..
I filled up November with travel and Vipassana, so I'm psyching myself up to do Nanowrimo in October. I'll track my daily word count as usual of course, and make a script to post the right number each day to the Nanowrimo.org API during November.
But HEY WOW October is really soon.
I went to the National Art Museum today, which is named after and mostly about and full of the works of Čiurlionis. Turns out it was also his 143rd birthday today, so the audio guides for his section were free (as opposed to €4). I'm not super into art museums/galleries, but I was in the mood today, and I've never done with an audioguide before. So that was interesting. I had to take it a lot slower than usual, hearing some (often long and rambling) history and context to the paintings, and also having details pointed out to me that I might not have noticed by myself, I really appreciated the art.
Plus Čiurlionis paints super rad alien fantasy landscapes, so that was cool.
On this day I went to the Vytautas the Great War Museum, where Vytautas is great, not war. Lithuania has been involved a lot of wars, and they are all very well documented here. It also contains the genuine wreckage of the record-breaking but ultimately unsuccessful plane Lituanica (the only time a member of staff spoke to me during the visit was to express to me that the wreckage is the original, in German eventually after trying three languages I didn't understand). The whole museum was still smaller than I expected though, and I was disappointed the tower is closed. It's a big, grand building. Probably worth the €2.
Then I went to the National Art Museum around the corner. This is way bigger than expected. I'm not really into art galleries, but this had a lot of interesting cultural, historical stuff in as well as exhibits. The main artist is Čiurlionis who paints awesome abstract alien landscapes. I got a free audio guide because it was his birthday. This one is €4 but turned out to be pretty great.
A late lunch at Arbatine.
The Pope was in Kaunas today. So were 100,000 people to see him. I went by the castle park to take some photos of the crowds, saw the Pope on the big screen in the old town square and got a fleeting glimpse of the popemobile. Lunch in the ever fantastic Arbatine.
I just got a promoted tweet about a chicken and bacon sandwich from a store in the UAE I thiiiiiiink twitter ad targeting might be not great
(I clicked why am I seeing this ad it it said the reason is not available..)
Temperature dropped over 10 degrees Celcius over the weekend and it's grey and drizzly buuuuut it's my last day in Kaunas and I don't have to work so I guess I should go for a long hike anyway.
Holy Donut has this thing called a 'freak shake', one of which is vegan. It looks fantastic in the picture and description so finally I managed to give it a try. The only thing 'freak' about it though is how many things are wrong with it. Get it together people.
Issue 1: They were out of coconut cream. No dairy cream is not okay. So okay, I go without. I resent that it's still more expensive than the non-vegan ones though.
Issue 2: The chocolate crumbs were glued to the inside of the glass, with chocolate. How am I supposed to eat this? I object to such delicious chocolatey goodness being used solely for decoration. I chipped them off with my spoon and made a mess everywhere.
Issue 3: Chocolate may look good swirled around the outside of the glass, but it set rock solid in the cold soy milk. I made a lot of noise and not much progress chipping away at it with my spoon. I. Want. To. Eat. The. Chocolate.
Issue 4: The menu advertises 'lots of bananas'. There was only half a banana involved in the whole affair. How can I count this as a portion of fruit now?
I spent a long time eating this milkshake and eventually got most of the chocolate out. It was a loud and messy process, and people definitely looked at me funny.
In conclusion: I do not recommend the Holy Donut 'freak shake'. Also it was €7 which is EXCESSIVE. I had such high hopes.
A walk. I found a library, and the 6th Fort, and parts of Kaunas technical university campus.
I was bound for Kaunas Lagoon Regional Park. A giant reservoir some two hour walk from the city center surrounded by trees, trails, beaches and preserved areas. I angled my approach to arrive at yet another a historical fort by the water. Some of the trails on maps.me are not so functional in real life. I ended up following a railway track a little way, before coming upon construction work carving out a new highway. Recent rain meant the whole place was extremely muddy. I scuttled along grassy embankments as best I could and also got stuck in and covered with mud on a number of occasions, whilst passing digger drivers watched me with amusement. I found the fort, but not before getting lost in a bit of swamp, and climbed damp and rickety steps to get up and down the mound that remained.
I stopped for lunch on a small bit of beach, just in time for the skies to open and drop everything they had. I waited it out under the roots of a tree protruding from the side of a cliff. Watching and listening to giant raindrops spreading in waves across the vast surface of the water.
I wanted to track south, to reach the grounds of the Pazaisliui monastery, but to reach a trail I'd have to go back the way I came, through the muddy construction site. I didn't fancy that, especially not after a further downpour, so I decided to try following the coast around. This involved occasional undergrowth scrabbling or wet feet as the beach gave way to foliage but by and large worked out.
I found the monastery (which is closed to visitors on Mondays) and by then the sun was well and truly out. It's a great domed building, set in grounds of well kept parkland that anyone can use.
I headed back to town along the river, and then through Basanavicious park.
The day wrapped up with a well earned pizza roll from Mamma Pizza and a fight with a disappointing 'freak shake' from Holy Donut.
Staying in the same hostel for more than two weeks earns bonus feature of lazy or vague checkout time.
Lazy last day in Kaunas. Checked out the library on Laisves Ave and wished I'd had time to spend there. Discovered I'd overbooked one night at Monk's Bunk but they gracefully gave me a refund. Food at Ridikas on the train platform, the train to Vilnius..
Onion rings are the conclusive evidence that my passion for deep fried things is more powerful than my extreme distaste for onions.
There's a giant rave at the club under my hostel tonight. The options the hostel offers to help people cope with this are free earplugs, or free entry to the rave.
Since earplugs don't fit in my unnaturally tiny earholes, I guess I'm going to the rave.
I've never been to a rave before.
Three days of cafe-working (and eating) in Vilnius. It has been cold, but the city seems nice at night. Food options are good. Also a hostel rave.
In reply to: https://rhiaro.co.uk/2018/09/rave
Rave assessment: dark and loud.
I found a high place where I could stand and watch the crowds bobbing around for a while. I enjoyed the invisible feeling I also like in crowded shopping malls. Pushing through the crowds to find an open space was scary, and I was always taken aback when I made physical contact with someone else and had to remind myself that is just life in a crowd. Once I had a bit more space it was okay though. The music was sometimes interesting, but mostly repetitive beats too loud to hear. There wasn't anything.. artistic about it. It's sort of weird people come here on purpose (and stand in line for hours and pay money to do so). I guess drinking makes a difference I will never fully comprehend. As ever, it was nice to watch people dance, though most people weren't so much dancing as vaguely pulsating with the music.
I was relaxed and completely alone and free and still had no urge to move with the music. I closed my eyes and tried to find that place, but it isn't there.
If I did this sort of thing often I would definitely find a way to make my hair glow under ultraviolet.
I walked through town, along the river, the long way to Vilnius TV Tower. There are lots of steep climbs through forest and nice views on the TV Tower side.
The TV Tower itself is kind of disappointing given the high price (€9). There's no separate observation deck, only the restaurant, so you have to kind of hang around the windows in between the tables. There's also not much of an exhibition. A few photos and notes about when it was attacked by the Soviets, and in the grounds some cool old satellite dishes. But compared to Tallinn, not even close. Obviously the view is good. Though no good angles to take photos from, and not much annotation about what you're seeing.
The river and park surroundings are nicer. I got a bit lost in the woods on the return and scrambled down a hillside that probably shouldn't have been scrambled down, to get back to the river. Then I crossed over to Vingio Park and walked through to the Botanical Gardens. The park is more civilised than the other side of the river, but still broadly woods. There's a stadium and some other human things there too though.
Back into town to end the day with pizza at Pizza di Ascari.
I passed by chance through the Botanical Gardens in Vilnius today, and out of the corner of my eye I saw some beautiful puffy looking flowers and steered over to take a look. They were dahlias! This is significant because my MC for premature nanowrimo is called Dahlia. Also dahlias are beautiful. Also October is soon.
You can't get homesick when everywhere is home.
So I couldn't blag a student ticket for the Trakai Island Castle museum, but two different bus drivers by default sold me a child ticket on the way there and back today.
(I don't normally try to pretend I'm a student, I just thought the full price was a bit steep on this occasion.)
Day trip to Trakai, Lithuania's number one domestic tourist destination. The town is squeezed between two large lakes, and features castles on islands, and an absolute butt-ton of interesting anthropological history.
The bus from Vilnius is €1.80 and takes about 30 minutes. They go pretty regularly so you don't need to plan much, just show up at the bus station. The bus station in Trakai is out of town, but Trakai ain't big, so you can walk to the other end in 30 minutes or so if you go directly.
I ambled around a bit and stopped for lunch on the lakeside, eventually making it to the big Island Castle. The entry is €8 which I thought was steep so I tried to wrangle a half price student ticket. No such luck. The museum is quite extensive, which detailed history of the area from the 1200s or so. There are also collections of artefacts, old and modern, and lots of information about the dereliction and restoration of the castle itself. Disappointingly access to the higher towers of the castle doesn't seem to be available. It was all very full of tourists. I spent a good hour and a half here though.
Then I ambled back through town, dropping into one of the big famous churches which was very ostentatious. I found the Karaim museum (€2 or €1 if you have an Island Castle ticket), which is tiny but suuuper interesting about this very small minority people, a few hundred of whom Vytautas the Great 'brought' over from Crimea in the 1400s and then.. built a town for. Having trouble figuring out exactly why or what happened here, even wikipedia isn't saying much. I guess records from then are sparse. There aren't many of these people left in Europe now - not that there were many to begin with - especially since Soviet stuff and Nazi stuff. Those who are are pretty well concentrated in Trakai, with others in Vilnius and Warsaw.
I went to the Trakai History Museum (€3) which is somewhat in the Peninsula Castle grounds, but is disappointingly tiny and doesn't contain anything castle-y. At some point a monastery was built there, and the museum is mostly if not entirely about Dominican monks, and has lots of Jesus-art.
The sun came back out so I took a €5 boat ride around the wee islands. I learnt stuff from the short audio commentary; this was definitely better value than the History museum.
Then I followed the coast back around to the bus station. On the way I detoured to check out some abandoned buildings I'd seen from the boat, which may or may not have been derelict Soviet concrete monstrosities. GPS trace for wandering around Trakai.
Back in Vilnius I made a beeline for Gyvas and had a cracking 'no-fish' tofu burger (wrapped in nori and deep fried!).
Look at Boston up there with London and Edinburgh! It was on the map once. In the 1300s. THOSE WERE THE DAYS.
