We loved having a GPS unit in our rented car. We saved by not using any data on Dawn's smartphone, which cost us 200+ dollars on our previous trip. One thing we discovered about our local rented GPS: although it was switched so that all text, and verbal guidance were in English, the internal maps it used were still in the local language. For example, typing in "Rundale Palace" got no response; we needed to type in "Rundale Pils" because "pils" is the local word meaning "palace". Thus, we would look at a local map to find the correct name for our destination. Because most of our accommodations were in or near the "old town" section of a city, where streets were narrow, twisting, and constantly changing names, GPS was a God-send to sorting it out. When we arrived in Vilnius, even the GPS wasn't enough.
Leaving Rundale Palace and Latvia, we proceeded to Klaipeda, Lithuania. Our hotel there was a restored building in old town. Looking out the windows of our hotel room, we would see tourists with cameras pointed toward us, taking pictures of the building. Klaipeda is the major seaport for Lithuania. A large LNG transport from the US was in port, offloading its cargo to help reduce local dependency on Russian energy sources. Our hotel was within walking distance from the harbor. We had dinner at a restaurant onboard a square-rigged sailing ship; very pretty surroundings but mediocre food served with a pretentious attitude (i.e., over-priced menus delivered enclosed in a wax-sealed envelope).
Leaving Rundale Palace and Latvia, we proceeded to Klaipeda, Lithuania. Our hotel there was a restored building in old town. Looking out the windows of our hotel room, we would see tourists with cameras pointed toward us, taking pictures of the building. Klaipeda is the major seaport for Lithuania. A large LNG transport from the US was in port, offloading its cargo to help reduce local dependency on Russian energy sources. Our hotel was within walking distance from the harbor. We had dinner at a restaurant onboard a square-rigged sailing ship; very pretty surroundings but mediocre food served with a pretentious attitude (i.e., over-priced menus delivered enclosed in a wax-sealed envelope).
While at Klaipeda, we drove and took a ferry to Curonian Spit national park. The area is a very long slender sandy finger of land/sand dunes covered with grasses & forest to a great extent which stabilize the sand from the effects of wind and sea. Creating a park ensures that the plant life will not be disturbed and cause a loss of soil. The "Spit" creates protection for the port of Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between Lithuania and Poland. We had Russian-licensed cars sharing the ferry with us. Kaliningrad previously was called Konigsberg, a major Prussian port. Prussia was swallowed up by Lithuania and Germany. Russia took over this area at the end of WWII and holds it today as a strategic military site, compromising the defense of Europe in case of war.
Our day in the forest and dunes of this park was spoiled by light rain. The rain limited visibility for photography. I took one long hike to an outlook atop the dunes while carrying an umbrella, then gave up for the day. We returned to our hotel to do some laundry (our room had a kitchen). Hotel laundry is ridiculously expensive. In Tallin, I took our laundry to a local facility and paid 1/4 of what it would have cost at the hotel.
In Lithuania the roads got wider and faster. In Estonia, the speed limit was 90 kph with speed changes every few miles and stop lights or roundabouts in every little town. Heading toward Vilnius, the autobahn limit was 130 kph for much of the distance. We stopped in Kaunas which was the largest city in the area and sometime capital during the past 600+ years. It has a small but nice old town area. As we left our car it was threatening rain. After walking a few blocks light rain began; when it became a downpour, we retreated to a nice cafe for lunch. Then, of course, the rain quickly ended. Our next stop was Trakai Castle, very scenic & touristy, located on an island.
Ultimately, guided by our GPS, our car crept through the old town streets of Vilnius. Here, we had to abandon the car, walk to the hotel, and get a doorman to come with us in the car to show us where to park. The front door to the hotel was on a main pedestrian street; the parking was in a central courtyard with a narrow entrance off an alley which had to be approached from a different street. To get from the front of the hotel to the courtyard took about 10 minutes. But we had a beautiful hotel with reserved parking in the center of old town. Just outside our door were many restaurants, shops, street musicians, and major sights of the city.
Why do we prefer the old town section of cities? As our guide in Riga said, "Every stone is a page in the history of this city." The cobblestone streets and building foundations may go back 800 or more years. Wars have swept through repeatedly, but buildings get rebuilt. Those buildings record the ebb and flow of civilizations. Imagine when Denmark, Sweden, and Poland controlled large swaths of Europe. Is the history of mankind one of constant war? Is that our essential nature? How does all this relate to our current world? The Baltic countries appear, in our limited exposure, to have a satisfying lifestyle with reason for optimism. Is it due to their size, homogeneity, culture, recent cathartic experiences they have endured? What can we learn from them?
We spent the day exploring the sights of old town Vilnius. Empty shells of buildings are being renovated and turned to new uses. Vilnius has many outstanding churches. We witnessed a congregation overflowing out the doors at a Sunday service. (In contrast, Estonia is very non-religious.) In outlying areas, dramatic large building projects are being undertaken. The Occupation Museum in Vilnius previously was KGB headquarters. The museum includes the prisoner cells, shower & exercise areas, and even the execution chamber where prisoners were shot in the back of the head and bodies were disposed of.
Almost every family in the Baltic area has stories of relatives who were taken away and never heard from again. If you were a prosperous farmer, authorities would show up in the middle of the night, give you an hour to pack, and put your entire family with children on a rail cattle car to be shipped to Siberia. This was done to thousands of families. The land was then used to form communist "cooperative" farms. The museums recorded all of this with photos, documents and other mementos.
One day we drove to Kernave, a small town with adjoining archeological site. This was the first "capital" of Lithuania; the location of the main village of the main tribe which formed the nucleus of the nation a thousand years ago. It had been a fortified city on hills overlooking a river landing. German Crusaders burned the pagan village in 1390, and it never recovered.
Our flight from Vilnius to Berlin was eye opening. The airBaltic employees were rude, treating customers as an annoyance. Loading the turboprop plane, it was every man for himself. A bus brought everyone to the runway, then it was a rush toward the plane. When we boarded, I had to insist that two women, who had grabbed our reserved seats, move to their assigned seats further to the rear. Deplaning was the same, a rush toward the front of the plane by those seated in the rear. I had to shoulder my way into the isle to get off the airplane. Is rudeness a Lithuanian thing?
Berlin is so big! Our hotel was located central to this city of 3.4 million persons. We were able to easily walk to the Bundestag, Reichstag, and Brandenburg Gate. We found a section of the Berlin Wall still standing and found Checkpoint Charlie, a memorial to the famous gateway between the US and Soviet sectors. Dawn and our children had been there previously in 1989 when the gate was first opened. As big as the city is, it felt very comfortable to walk everywhere. Bicycling is very popular; wide walkways are available; and many parks and trees intersperse between the huge new buildings. It is a tourist mecca; we encountered many student groups with guides moving from site to site. A person could spend much more than the three nights we were there, if you explored the museums. There is no "old town" in Berlin. At the end of WWII, even the ruins had been thoroughly ruined by allied bombing.
Last day: Up at 5am, walk to the Haupt Bahnhof, city bus to the airport, then onward arriving home 20 hours later. Dead tired and no clean clothes left in our suitcases; a great trip but glad to be home.
One day we drove to Kernave, a small town with adjoining archeological site. This was the first "capital" of Lithuania; the location of the main village of the main tribe which formed the nucleus of the nation a thousand years ago. It had been a fortified city on hills overlooking a river landing. German Crusaders burned the pagan village in 1390, and it never recovered.
Our flight from Vilnius to Berlin was eye opening. The airBaltic employees were rude, treating customers as an annoyance. Loading the turboprop plane, it was every man for himself. A bus brought everyone to the runway, then it was a rush toward the plane. When we boarded, I had to insist that two women, who had grabbed our reserved seats, move to their assigned seats further to the rear. Deplaning was the same, a rush toward the front of the plane by those seated in the rear. I had to shoulder my way into the isle to get off the airplane. Is rudeness a Lithuanian thing?
Berlin is so big! Our hotel was located central to this city of 3.4 million persons. We were able to easily walk to the Bundestag, Reichstag, and Brandenburg Gate. We found a section of the Berlin Wall still standing and found Checkpoint Charlie, a memorial to the famous gateway between the US and Soviet sectors. Dawn and our children had been there previously in 1989 when the gate was first opened. As big as the city is, it felt very comfortable to walk everywhere. Bicycling is very popular; wide walkways are available; and many parks and trees intersperse between the huge new buildings. It is a tourist mecca; we encountered many student groups with guides moving from site to site. A person could spend much more than the three nights we were there, if you explored the museums. There is no "old town" in Berlin. At the end of WWII, even the ruins had been thoroughly ruined by allied bombing.
Last day: Up at 5am, walk to the Haupt Bahnhof, city bus to the airport, then onward arriving home 20 hours later. Dead tired and no clean clothes left in our suitcases; a great trip but glad to be home.
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