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Published: October 5th 2007
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So. Lithuania...... after Riga we had finally met up with people that were going our way.
Karen from Canada, Ally from Australia, Ken and myself had caught the bus to Vilnius. All these cities had the same sought of attributes, beautiful old city centres and massive developing tourism trade. Vilnius did not let us down.
The advantage to this place was the local population also shopped , ate and drank in the old town, not just us tourists!
I think overall I much prefered Vilnius to Riga....it had a much more relaxed vibe, cleaner streets, smaller and not quite as busy. Hostel we stayed at was nice too (VB Hostel) - a stones throw away from the old town.
We tried the specialities of Lithuania, including these very solid potato dumplings made out of potato in the shape of submarines- called 'Zepelins'!!! They were solid enough and snodgy enough to sink a ship!
We went with Karen to Trokai, which is only about 1 hour bus trip from the city but a great day out. It is a quaint town inbetween a number of lakes. Old wooden houses painted bright colours abound and the lake has a fantastic castle
in the middle on a small island (Trokai Castle).
Only spend 2 days in Vilnius, dragging Ken around every nook & cranny of the city, including walking up the Hill of the 3 Crosses to get a good view of the city. Don't feel too sorry for him....we seriously had to walk off all the hearty and tasty local cooking!
We decided to head to a border town of Druskininskai which is a famous spa town towards the border of Poland. The bus drive there (about 3 hours) was just beautiful. Reminded me so much of Knysna with a mix of Kokstad (back in SA), water and a mixture of pine forests.
The spa town at first was disappointing as there really is not much of a town at all.
One road (which you cannot called the 'high street' with a scatter of shops.....
We arrived at the hostel to discover they had double booked us- but the people were nice and in fact had to pay more for a very nice hotel room in a new apartment block directly opposite the newest of the Spa hotels. So I suppose in the end we were better off there!
By the time we were settled it was pitch dark and we could not even find a restaurant to have dinner it. We ate crackers and salami from the 7-11 type store- NOT very exciting!
In the light of the day the town grew on us. We hired bikes and rode along the lake and the river. Very pretty place, basically made up of a number of rather large hotels and then the main spa hotels. The spa town is really old, if I recall people have been heading there for the healing mineral waters, mud baths and fresh pine forest air for over 150 years.
Also just outside Druskininkai is Grutas Park, home to some less-aesthetic artworks: As the Soviet Union crumbled, Lithuanians tore down Soviet monuments throughout the country and many of them ended up in this park. The damaged and decaying monuments have become an ironic testament to Lithuanian independence.
Second day we spent the afternoon in the newer Spa- but this time in the thermal pools and fun pool. They had great super-tubes- some 5 stories high! You had to climb the 4-6 flights of stairs just to get to the top! What
At Comfy's
A great restaurant upstairs and a super, very stylish bar/club downstairs a great time. This time we at least found a place for dinner, "Cili's'' is a bit like Pizza Hut I suppose, but besides the pizzas they have traditional Lithuanian food at great prices. I think our pizza were around 2.50 to 3 pounds!
Once you settle into the pampering and start booking your treatments the town's appeal grows on you!!
Anything from a facial, pedicure, to fertility treatments, botox and colonic irrigation! It is all there at your finger tips!
We were not staying at one of the nice 5 star spa hotels, but the pools, saunas and treatments were still available to us plebs!
On our last day I opted for the steam room and saunas, followed by a full body exfoliation & turkish steam. I was rubbed and tossed around this ceramic slab until I thought my skin was raw!! but it was a great experience.
Ken went for a mud bath- twigs and snail shells thrown in for good measure!! I reckon I got the better deal!
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Nicola
non-member comment
Looking good!
Hey my darlings - Ken, loving the whole look.... between the hat, pout and archery stance... it is all happening baby..... Looks divine and want some pampering....I loved my turkish baths in turkey, felt sqeaky clean. Where next and how much are you missing us all? tons and tons and tons. Good.