LATVIA AND LITHUANIA 22 – 25 JUNE 2002-08-05
(Journal entry by Monika)

It has to be said I also had much needed haircut in Tallinn. I felt like new again for about 3 hours until I put my helmet on and we sadly departed beautiful Tallinn and headed south to Latvia.

What promised to be a smooth border crossing was spoiled by a not very pleasant lady in the Bureau de Change. We had to pay for the green card £20.00 per bike and we also needed to change small amounts of money in different currencies, which was obviously too much work for her.  She let us know it by frothing and glaring at us throughout the transaction. Nevertheless we managed to get enough cash to pay for the green card and left the border crossing to head for Riga. We stopped at a campsite about 70 km north from capital.

When on the road early the next day we passed a German cyclist who was making his way in the opposite direction, towards Tallinn.
After exchanging information about the roads and campsites we said our goodbye. We were told by many people what a beautiful city Riga is and we certainly found it to be so.  Sadly, as we approached the capital, we drove into a torrential downpour which continued up to and after our arrival and which made relaxed sight-seeing impossible.  

The road to Riga, just before the rains came down

To enter Riga’s Old town by vehicle a small payment must be made at one of a number of 'gates' which circle the city.  Luckily, as we were on the bikes, we managed to squeezed through unnoticed and without payment.

Our campsite ‘Nemo’ was situated 25km west from the city and by the time we set up our tent the rain had stopped. The place was packed with holidaymakers.

We had seen Germans, Czechs, English, Polish and many Latvians. It was their  long weekend off and was clearly a time for major celebration. We were told that Latvia has 2 main holidays each year. One is New Year and the second is a celebration of the mid-summer solstice.  It starts on 21st June and continues for tree days, the longest days of the year and, on the last day, bonfires are lit at midnight and everyone drinks, eats and dances throughout the night.  We got friendly with group of locals who invited us to join them for some local food and, of course, lots of vodka. It goes without saying (but I let you know anyway) as usual I out drunk Simon, who quietly departed for our tent without saying good night. (He run away!)

Crossing the Border from Latvia into Lithuania
The next morning we departed with sore heads for our destination, Trakai.
Trakai is a small village located a few kilometres from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.The border crossing from Latvia into Lithuania

The Trakai campsite was recommended to us by German campervan travellers. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful place, complete with a castle on a lake.  We decided to extend our stay to 2 nights before leaving Lithuania for  Belarus.  We were both very pleasantly surprised by Lithuania. To the casual visitor, it appeared that the people enjoyed the same lifestyle and standard of living as their neighbours in Estonia.  We found it to be a very attractive country with nice people.  We would like to have stayed there longer.