Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland

(Lithuania) Vilnius - Trakai - Siausiai - (Latvia) Riga - (Estonia) Tallinn - Paldiski - (Finland) Helsinki

Labos/Labdiens/Tere!

TRAVEL LESSON 1: Never order a very spicy kebab before catching an overnight bus.

Clearly I wasn't thinking when, cold and hungry, I went for a kebab with extra spice. The vendor put so much chill sauce in it that I think there was actually more chilli than kebab!


TRAVEL LESSON 2: Just because you paid for it out of your little travel budget, doesn't mean you have to eat the whole thing!

A typical and illogical backpacker trait, where even though it's burning the inside of your mouth and your stomach is not taking to it AT ALL, the little voice in the back of your head is saying "but you paid for it, and you don't want it to go to waste, after all you're on a budget!!"


TRAVEL LESSON 3: Despite your best intentions and strictest vows, if you gotta go, you gotta go.

I broke one of my travel vows that night, which is for the sake of my sanity and for others, to never use the toilet on the bus! Thankfully it was one of those fancy Euroline buses and not a clattering cold dirty hunk of metal on wheels. I certainly got my money's worth that night!


Anyway, arrived in Vilnius at 3:30am (the stupid company told us 6:30am), tired, cold, and needing to use the bathroom (which there was an absence of in the immediate 1km radius of where I was).


FUNKY VILNIUS

Vilnius is quite a pretty city with the largest old town in Europe, but there's no people! I would be out on the streets at 2pm and I would hardly see a soul, and this is the capital of Lithuania! They seem to have an obsession with churches as they are everywhere. Perhaps that's where they are all hiding.

Anyway, I caught up with Cynthia, who I had hooked up with in Suceava, Romania. A funky cool free spirited New Zealand chick and partner in crime, we had so much fun last time we decided to meet up for round two and do some travelling through the rest of the Baltics together.

Discovered some pretty funky cool cafes and restaurants in Vilnius, though the food is so very rich in their potatoes and meats that even I had difficulty finishing my meals (and this rarely happens!). One such notable Lithuanian cuisine is the Zeppelins, which are basically football shaped mashed potato with minced meat inside. Very filling!

Checked out some interesting places such as the only monument in the world to Frank Zappa, the former KGB prison/torture cells, and Uzupio, Lithuania's answer to Copenhagen’s Christiania, which is another area of land in the capital claimed by squatters to be an independent republic outside of the EU!


TRAKAI

We did a day trip to Trakai, which is a lovely little series of lakes out in the countryside containing several small islands joined together by floating wooden bridges. One of the islands contains a very well reconstructed castle. Quite a cool place to live I reckon.


SIAUSIAI - HILL OF CROSSES

We decided to head to Riga in Latvia, stopping via Siausiai, a town in Lithuania famous of it's rather peculiar hill of crosses. This hill pretty much consists of a multitude of wooden crosses, all crammed together in such a small hill. Crosses would be hanging off crosses, some crosses where enormous and lavishly decorated, all of them
memorials to those deported to Siberia after the Soviet occupation. The Soviets actually bulldozed the original hill of crosses, but the proud and persistent Lithuanians continued to rebuild it over and over again. It really is quite a bizarre sight to see, especially as it is in the middle of nowhere in the center of a cold flat field.

Crazy Lithuanians.


SEEDY RIGA

Riga is a joy to wonder in the beautiful art nouveau old town, although there seems to be a excess of strip joints around the place! You can be in a restaurant that would have a strip joint underneath, or wander in seemingly ordinary bars to discover scantily clad ladies dancing on poles. The hostel we stayed at is actually on top of a
strip joint itself!

What was annoying was the high number of drunken British lads on their stag parties, staggering about drunk by day, throwing up everywhere at night. Though they are generally harmless as they're only having a fun time, but it's come to the point where some bars advertise themselves as places which do not have stag parties, to attract those who want a pleasant night out rather than raucous.

One thing I did notice about the Baltic countries is the way that all the bars and clubs would have numerous places to hang coats, useful in a place where the weather is usually extremely cold (whilst in contrast the bars themselves are usually extremely hot, seems like the Baltics have no concept of moderation, it's all extremes here!).

Latvian cuisine consists of Pelmenti, which are basically dumplings reminiscent of won ton dumplings or even dim sims, fried or served in soup.


FUNNY TALLINN

-The Estonians (and Finnish) seem to love double letters in their words. Many words contain double vowels (eg ee, aa, ii, oo). For example, the word Tallinn -does it really need the extra L and N?

-Its fun pronouncing their currency (EEK) - sounds like you're strangling a small rodent ("That would be 40 EEK!). Well actually you just call it "Kroon"...

-"Ravioli served in broth soup" is almost exactly the same as Asian won ton soup! All it is missing is the bean sprouts and chilli (and the chopsticks)!

-They love their pancakes here, and they are so big I have trouble finishing them (which is becoming the norm for me in the Baltic countries, and many of you know how much I can eat (a helluva lot)) so you can imagine how big and filling they are!)

-Tallinn is not as pretty as Riga, but more interesting in it's layout, featuring huge city walls with towers and turrets, and a hilly section containing the palace and beautiful Russian basilica comparable to the big one in Moscow.

-Estonians are a lot more reserved and introverted than the lively Latvians and Lithuanians. This is probably due to their conservative Finnish-Ugaric roots, whereas the Lithuanians/Latvians are a derivative of Indo-European and lively extroverted Russian roots.


THE EX SOVIET MILITARY TOWN OF PALDISKI
Did a day trip to Paldiski, which was a Soviet Military training town, closed to the public until recently after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Before, only relatives of the people training there could visit.

It was quite remarkable braving the cold and visiting the ruins of the military school, where much of it is being demolished now, but you can still see the main buildings, the training grounds and some of the barracks where the soldiers slept.


DULL, PLEASANT HELSINKI
Helsinki isn't the most exciting beautiful town to be in. There's no real pretty old town, it's cold, dark, the people are a little more reserved, there is nothing open on Sundays.. There are a few churches and some boat trips around the surrounding islands, but that's pretty much it. In fact Helsinki doesn't really have much going for it except the nightlife, though the nightlife seems to finish up early. But despite all this, I am quite fond of little Helsinki, chilling out in it's warm atmospheric cafes, bars and restaurants, walking the empty cold streets (everyone is inside away from the cold - as I would like to be - but the sightseeing must be done (observing the Finnish philosophy of Sisu)!), and observing the way the city lights up at night wonderfully.


AND THE BEAUTIES OF THE BALTICS AWARD GOES TO:

1. Estonians (OH MY GOD!! They are the stunning blond blue eye equivalents of the olive skinned dark haired girls in Beirut!)

2. Lithuanian (here the girls are either really attractive, or really ugly, some actually have moustaches and manly figures).

3. Latvian (though they are still slightly better than average looking compared to other countries)

4. Finland (quite shocked at this, but then I wasn't too impressed with the Swedes either, so I guess it's beauty in the eye of the beholder)


WHAT'S NEXT?
Tomorrow I head back to Tallinn, then leave Cynthia behind when I fly the following day to London, where I will begin a whirlwind tour of England, Scotland and Wales in the 26 days I will have left to go before flying home to Melbourne on the 27th Nov(?) So hopefully I will be able to catch up with all your people in the UK while doing so..

And then I'm planning to go on a two year travel stint in Asia...