Poland and Lithuania

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Mileage ~2400 miles

After leaving Berlin we travelled East and along the Polish North coast to Gdansk, a small city on the coast. We spent a couple of hours trying to find somewhere to stay as it had been pouring with rain and we weren't interested in camping. We eventually happened upon a very nice hotel in the centre of the city where we could put our feet up. We ate that night at a cafe looking out onto an attractive street.

The next morning we explored Gdansk which was small enough to enjoy by foot. The buildings were quaint and unobtrusive, and we walked along the peaceful canal past the amber stalls (the region is renowned for its amber jewellery). We left in the afternoon for Lithuania but slow roads meant we spent a second night in Poland, in a town called Augustow. We watched the football (Euro final) in a small bar, the Rock n Roll Cafe (which I understand was actually supposed not to be funny/cliched). A small group of Polish football fans really got into it (supporting Spain) and we chatted a little with them before heading back to the campsite.

We left again for Lithuania and this time made it to our intended destination, the Curanian Spit. The spit is attached to Russia (a small seperated piece of Russia) at the South end, which we had avoided so as not to pay the necessary visa, and the North half is Lithuanian. We took the ferry across and drove down the spit to Nida. We hired bikes the next morning and cycled along the spit, stopping at a couple of beaches along the way. The wind was strong and the water cold, but the sun was out and it was very pleasant to lie on the beach. We ate at a small cafe before cycling back to Nida. In the late afternoon we returned to the beach, which was pretty empty by this point and lay in a sheltered dune, napping the hours away before returning the bikes.

Before leaving the spit, some wild pigs came up to the car and had a sniff around, which was somewhere between exciting and surprising! We travelled back across Lithuania to Vilnius, the capital city. We arrived in time to walk through Vilnius in the evening. The city really surprised me - the city is spacious and very attractive and clearly very prosperous. Trees line the streets and the place seems to have a very relaxed atmosphere. It feels much more like an Italian seaside town than a bustling Eastern European Capital city. We ate at a restaurant on a winding street and I had the traditional Lithuanian dish of potato stufed with meat and covered in sweet sauce. We headed to a bar with live music where we spent the remainder of the evening.

We awoke this morning in our campsite (small patch of grass flanked by warehouses and a large car park and the worst minigolf course I've ever seen!) and packed up early to look around Vilnius again for a couple of hours before we head South West. We aim now for Prague, which will take us today and tomorrow to reach.

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