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Published: June 21st 2011
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Made it to Lithuania
Crossing the border from Latvia into Lithuania I've been pleasantly surprised with Lithuania. Granted, I've only been here for 5 days but it has a good feel about it and, the roads have seen a significant improvement. Yay! What I am a little disappointed about though, if that's the right word, is that there's no fanfare when you cross the border, no passport inspection, no stamp. You're lucky if you get a welcome sign. I'm not saying bring back the days of old but I am nostalgic about trying to discern which country's stamp it actually is in my passport... And you know, if you're on the road for 3 months (or longer say) it would be great to have a little more proof, other than the this-is-the-date-you-arrived stamp and the this-is-the-day-you-left stamp with nothing in between, that you actually travelled through the countries you travelled through. Such is life in the EU.
Sadly I've hit quite a patch of bad weather. It's been with me now for almost the whole time I've been here in Lithuania. Happily I've not cycled too long in it. It is no fun riding on secondary roads when it's raining. It's actually no fun riding on the A14 to Vilnius either when it's raining but at least on the highway I have a hard shoulder. On the secondary roads, granted they're better than Latvia's, there is hardly enough room for two cars to pass each other, let alone two trucks, let alone two trucks and me. It does require quite a bit of concentration to keep to the right without hitting the soft sandy/gravely edge, and concentration gets a bit tiring when you add rain to the equation.
I entered Lithuania via Zarasai (?) and met Finnish Eki on his motorbike just across the border (he's travelling to Croatia). I was offered Finnish chocolate, biscuits and whiskey. I passed on the latter.
I then moved slowly to Paluse which is a little dot on the map just outside Ignalina. People go to Paluse to get involved in some active leisure activities such as canoeing or kayaking. It sits within a national park, Aukstaitija, that has a networks of rivers and lakes that connect to each other and is a lovely, picturesque place indeed. It was there too that I met some volunteers from France, Romania and Italy who are working at this national park and a couple who own a farmstay just outside Druskininkai (a spa town to the south-east of Vilnius a couple of day's ride away). Eduoard, one of the volunteers, also has a blog and wrote a feature on me. It is a really interesting blog (not because of me I hasten to add) and I think, given that they are working so closely with Lithuanian people, gives a great insight into Lithuanian culture and landscape - check it out http://evsinlithuania.blogspot.com.
Spent a little too much time though in the morning at the tourist information and with said volunteers so later in the day got caught in the thunderstorm. I had been warned about it. But you know, what could I do? And there was thunder. And I was riding through the forest (on the road mind) and well, feeling quite small and insignificant as the weather roared above me thinking that camping might not be so much fun on a day like today. And as always, salvation came in the form of a roadside restaurant and motel. I had my meal of dumplings (yes meat filled and topped with crackling and sour cream) a cup of tea and all of a sudden the world was good again (although still raining). When I asked about the price of the motel I was pleasantly surprised. It was the same price as a hostel, shared super clean bathroom/toilet , my own flat screen TV in my room, a kettle. Need I say I did not need any convincing?
I had an early morning start (9am) to Vilnius taking the A14. No mucking around. Further bad weather was forecast and I just wanted to get to the capital. And I did. Yay! Stopping off along the way at Europe's geographical centre which happens to be just off the highway some 35km north of Vilnius.
The last couple of days here have been punctuated by intermittent rain in which I am invariably caught. (Why can't I be tucked up inside somewhere having a nice coffee when the downpour comes?). So the days have seen another type of cycle ie that of getting wet and then drying off, getting wet, then drying off. I think I prefer the two-wheeled kind. But having said that, Vilnius old town is really lovely, and full of tourists, but on the eve of last Saturday, Vilnius played host to an all night party which saw locals added to the mix too. The streets were thronged with people, there were food stalls selling potatoes, sausages, sauerkraut and beer which filled the market square and a great ambiance about the place. Apparently this is an annual event in the lead-up to mid-summer. I couldn't have timed it better.
Sunday was runaround museum day as Monday's they're shut. And yesterday (Monday) was just run around Old Town day. I explored the bookshops, amber shops (a HUGE thanks to the girls in the Amber Gallery in Ausros Vartu who were so patient as I looked and tried on a squillion pieces before settling on a bangle that only has the slightest hint of amber), print galleries and ofcourse had my obligatory coffee and cake for morning tea just off Literatu Gate and opposite an extremely hip tattoo shop. So far, this cake, called a Shimtalapis, has been the ultimate sweet treat favourite on this trip. It has a centre of poppy seeds rolled in pastry (in between puff and short-crust - extremely fattening in other words) and then soaked in honey. It was divine. I had to stop myself from having another helping (but may still go and buy some today before I leave). What self restraint (yesterday at least)! I'm so proud.
At this cafe they had some cooks books. It made for an interesting read. One was in English and was entitled, Lithuanian Traditional Foods. It had twenty pages dedicated to potato recipes - the most in that book. These were some of the ones: Potato and mushroom casserole; Grated potato pancake; mush with sauerkraut; potato cake with cottage cheese; potato cake with pigs feet; potato dumplings; potato puffs; poppy seed potato pancakes; potato in chicken necks; potato sausage; potato and cheese bake; potato bagels with meat. You getting the drift here? I had no idea the humble potato had so many possibilities. But I have to say, eating stodge is pretty hard going and staying put and not moving means that it aint going anywhere either (other than straight to the thighs and gut - great!).
Today, with rain forecast I'm heading of to Traikai in the morning and will reassess where to after that. I might stick close to the train lines so i can maybe make a quick getaway to somewhere, not sure where (!!). I actually hadn't factored in bad weather and this is going to hang around until Saturday at least so that is almost a week of rain... Fortunately I'm ahead of schedule for my 3,000km target - currently sitting at just over 2,000km so that is a bit of a relief, psychologically at least. Making the 3,000km not negotiable, everything else is.
So, until next time, my fate lies in the hands of the weather gods. Wish my fate well.
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