Riga, Lithuania and Vilnius

Hello everyone

Riga’s old town had an amazing series of markets selling anything and everything within old hangars originally built to house Zeppelins (left). A festival was taking place in the cathedral square with a live band that was pretty good and although busy, the place wasn’t crowded. The House of the Blackheads is one of the most beautiful buildings in Riga (right).

About 45 miles south of Riga is Rundale Palace – an old Baroque place whose ceiling paintings and plasterwork, and parquet flooring have been restored. The gardens were extensive with a huge rose garden, and we stayed overnight on their car park. Here, we met a young Scottish couple who had travelled a pretty similar route to us with their small van, sleeping bags and canoes – it made our van look palatial!!

  Over the border in Lithuania we visited the Hill   of Crosses – this small mound has over 200,000 crucifixes according to the guide book, but I suspect this has been underestimated. It was a bizarre place with some crucifixes up to 3metres high.

We stayed on the city camp in the capital Vilnius. This small city has a huge number of churches (1 has 11 altars!) and it has a relaxed feel. We have been surprised at the amount of English everyone can speak and there has been information in English within the many castles and palaces we’ve visited. We have practised and used ‘thank you’ in each language which has been met with an appreciative smile! Before leaving Lithuania, we visited the picturesque Trakai Castle which is set on an island peninsula. Again, parts have been restored and re-built, but there are very few Lithuanian artefacts inside.

We arrived in Poland 2 days ago, and are currently on a small campsite at Krynica Morska on a spit of land east of Gdansk. The sun is shining and its lovely and warm and we have been entertained by up to a dozen adult and baby wild boar roaming the site! Gdansk next.

Will post again next week - love to all