20260417 - Repubbliche Baltiche

April 17, Friday Departure (Parlasco - Fernpass(A))

Departure 12:00 PM km 146.720

This time the departure is a bit difficult, I always feel like I have little to load but it's never like that, in fact today all the bags wouldn't fit in the car, also because the little dogs absolutely don't get out for fear that we'll leave them here... We also have a small hiccup because the camper's roof is very full of water and so water is coming into the camper from the front hatch. Umberto has the good idea to move the camper to a downhill spot and we empty the roof, it works, it had never happened before, who knows.

We go as usual to Polvara's to leave Carmen for her inspection, then we have the levels of René checked and discover there's almost no oil left, Roberto puts in 4.5 kg of oil. We could also eat here but we prefer to leave to consider ourselves already on our way and so we head to Novate Mezzola, where there is a beautiful paid camper area on the lake shore where we stop to eat and refill water.

We leave quite early and at 3:00 PM we cross the Maloja Pass, which we had never done in a camper. The pass is a bit tough because it's very steep but the road is very wide, unlike the one to the Spluga Pass.

I don't know why, but we only discover the beauty of this valley today, maybe it's because there's no ski traffic, maybe it's spring and it's sunny, but the lakes are frozen, in short, it's a rediscovery, truly a dream place, in the end the villages are more beautiful, obviously, than Saint Moritz, Sils in particular but also others. It's a pleasure to drive this high-altitude road surrounded by beautiful mountains.

Around 5:00 PM we enter Austria, our goal was a parking lot in Germany but the road and driving hours turn out to be too long, so we decide to stop in a roadside parking area, but quite sheltered, on the road to Fernpass. The place isn't so bad here if it weren't for the slightly annoying traffic noise, but obviously we're tired so we sleep very well.

Arrival 6:30 PM km 146.990 (270)

April 18, Saturday through Germany: Fernpass - Domanin (CZ)

We leave at 10:00 AM and realize that this is about the fourth time we've slept in Austria in a free parking spot without any problems, even though our Austrian friends tell us it's absolutely forbidden. Perhaps it depends on where you stop. We enter Germany and stop to shop in Garmisch Partenkirchen: it's a beautiful town in a splendid location, perhaps, as usual, too touristy and geared towards skiing, of course. This time we pass through Germany without stopping; we take all the German highways, so the kilometers fly by more easily. We get close to Passau, and this time we regret not stopping because it's the second time we've only seen it from the camper...

We stop in a very natural and bucolic place in the Czech Republic called Domanin. We are on the banks of a lake surrounded by a huge forest. The little dogs are happy, surely there will be more silence tonight!

Domanin 7:00 PM km 147.462 (472/742)

April 19, Sunday from Czechia to (almost) Poland (Domanin - Opava)

We don't leave immediately because we take a walk around the lake, but then time flies looking for Frida, who is always a bit of a problem to get back, even though she doesn't wander far.

In the Czech Republic they pay in crowns, but at the exchange rate Diesel costs us €1.720 per liter! Here motorways are tolled, so we don't use them, but then the journey becomes very slow. I also drive for a short time, about 50 km. It starts raining and it rains all day. We stop for lunch at 13:00 in Certovina in the parking lot of a restaurant that seems quite busy, many people also come to pick up takeout food. The problem is that it seems to be 800 meters to get there and it's pouring rain, so it all seems a bit surreal despite it being Sunday.

We head north towards Poland. We stop before we get there because I am exhausted, even though I'm not the one struggling the most on the journey, but I can't do another 100 km, so we stop almost at the border in Opava in a nice parking lot, also used by some trucks, on the river bank frequented by dog owners too...

Opava 5:40 PM km 147.807 (345/1.087)

April 20, Monday through Poland (Opava - Niegow (PL))

As usual, we leave at 10:00 AM, entering Poland almost immediately. Here, the highways we need to use are toll-free, so the journey is fast even though we encounter a lot of rain. The journey is so fast that at 2:00 PM we stop to eat at a camper parking area in Biala Rawska, which has all the services, and where we had planned to stay overnight. We decide we can try to drive a bit further to have less to do tomorrow. So, we resume our journey and pass around Warsaw, where we encounter heavy traffic, many queues, road works, and somewhat difficult intersections.

We stop in a parking area near a small church, quite close to the highway, but not too noisy. There are sound barriers, and I didn't think they would work so well. Here, we set about repairing the water drain, which is supposed to work electrically but isn't. Perhaps the cable is broken. After calling Raimondo, we manage to dismantle the motor to access the spindle where we can insert the key he provided to open it manually. We manage to do everything and are very satisfied.

Nearby there is also a beautiful wood, but we don't dare leave Frida there because the place is too close to the roads and would be too dangerous.

Niegów at 6:00 PM km 148,273 (466/1.553)

April 21, Tuesday In Lithuania at last! (Niegów - Kučiūnai (LT))

Today, unlike yesterday's heavy rain, is a radiant day, a good omen for entering Lithuania. We're also quite excited... We continue on Polish highways, needing to reach Suwalki, about 200 km away. The journey is very peaceful, although at one point the police make us exit the highway even though there seems to be no impediment, but who knows. Just before our exit, René stops and we think we've run out of gas: we wanted to get it as late as possible because gas in Lithuania is more expensive, and by a lot, almost like in Italy, but we miscalculated. Fortunately, the problem occurred on an uphill slope, and with the momentum, we reached the top. So, perhaps the pump managed to draw the last remaining drops from the tank, and after another stop with a sputter, we manage to see the exit, and we're so lucky that the service area is right there at the exit. We fill up and put 105 liters of diesel into a 100-liter tank: practically empty!!

We stop for lunch at 1:00 PM in a parking lot next to a forest walking trail (there are also paths for cycling and cross-country skiing). Frida takes a while to recover, and in the meantime, we see a lot of military vehicles coming out of the woods. At those moments, nothing works anymore, neither phone nor internet, and we have trouble communicating.

We finally enter Lithuania. For us, it's 3:30 PM, but the clocks here are one hour ahead, so it's 4:30 PM. Fortunately, it should be the same time for all three Baltic Republics.

We manage to photograph the storks that occupy almost all the utility poles here...

Before arriving at the camper area, we stop to do some grocery shopping at a small village shop, but they have everything.

And we arrive at this kind of paradise where we decide to stay for a couple of nights.

Kučiūnai 5:30 PM local time km 148,577 (304/1,857)

April 22, Wednesday Day of rest in Kučiūnai

Nice walk to the lake, all 4 of us with Frida off-leash, she runs and runs like crazy but sooner or later she'll come back to us. The environment here is beautiful, a large meadow with some fenced "cottages" with all the amenities, lake access, and games for children. During the walk, we meet the son of the lady who let us in yesterday, who at least knows English, so we can communicate a little. He tells us that the cottages are theirs and they rent them out because they discovered during COVID that many people love this type of solitary vacation in nature. The fact that they have camper parking was also a somewhat random choice after a camper owner had asked them about it.

The sun is out here today too, it's a bit chilly but in the sun, we manage to relax and rest a bit. After lunch, the afternoon is spent in the camper writing the diary and other quiet things.

April 23, Thursday We start sightseeing (Kučiūnai - Trakai - Vilnius)

We leave at 10:00 AM after many greetings and goodbyes with the lady, even though we don't share a common language! We head towards Trakai, but at first, Waze makes us take dirt roads that are wide and comfortable, but with the camper, we bounce around a lot, so we take a slightly longer route, looking for paved roads. We arrive at noon in the parking lot by the lake, and right next to it, there's a sort of market with small indoor shops, and we do some shopping, typical and interesting things...

In the afternoon, we go for a walk around the town to the castle. For a long stretch, we walk along the lake, so Seneca is happy and has taken 2000 swims in the lake... The town and the castle are interesting, with nice beaches on the lake, a beautiful big church. We especially like the street with wooden houses, the first of which was the old Russian post office. The castle is made of bricks and is in a charming location on a small island in the middle of the lake, connected to the mainland by wooden bridges.

I have some trouble finishing the walk. Lately, I've had a problem with my left leg that's driving me crazy, and I'm a bit worried about tomorrow in Vilnius, where we'll surely cover many more kilometers. We leave at 5:30 PM and arrive in Vilnius at 6:10 PM. Here, we park in a free parking lot on the side of a road near a soccer field. It's not a beautiful spot, but it's free and very close to the center. At night, there isn't much traffic. Even though we're in the capital, there aren't many cars; there's no traffic like we're used to. Even the highways are often just a two-lane road without guardrails or anything else. A completely different life.

 
Vilnius 6:00 PM km 148.763 (186/2.043)

April 24, Friday The capital (Vilnius - Kernavé)

With Komoot I prepare the route which is about 7 kilometers but we can stop if I get tired. We leave around 10:30 AM and head towards the center. Vilnius is a beautiful city full of churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, and also a Jewish quarter. Some of them are even important. Unfortunately, they are closed and we cannot visit them, but we enter others.

There are beautiful and huge squares. In one of them, we were enchanted by the portal that connects Vilnius with other cities. There are quite a few cities in the world; the first was Lublin in Poland, then Dublin, Philadelphia, Ipswich (GB), Manila, and Barra Grande in Brazil. It seems like a very beautiful thing, and indeed, the children here were enthusiastic: they danced and waved, happy with this technological wonder of communication.

We go into the Jewish quarter and then return to the main street. We stop for coffee and cake to take a break. We really like the cafe, and there's Eva, a girl who speaks good English, so we decide we'll come back to eat there.

We go to visit the church that I liked the most, but actually, you can't go inside; you can only see it from the outside: St. Anne's Church. Very characteristic with its Gothic style made of brick. You can only visit the adjoining St. Bernardino's Church.

The main square, Cathedral Square, is truly enormous, both the square and the church, with a strange equestrian statue where the rider, Grand Duke Gediminas, is not on horseback...

After that, we take the funicular to go up one of the 7 hills (!!) on which Vilnius was built, namely Gediminas' Hill, where Gediminas' octagonal tower stands, offering a magnificent panorama and a frightening wind.

 

We walk down the hill, still with a frightening wind, so exhausted, we go to the cafe we were at before and have a quite Lithuanian lunch with broccoli soup and the very typical Cepelinai, a potato dumpling filled with meat in mushroom sauce. We warm up, refuel, rest: perfect, ready to go back to the camper.

We return around 4:30 PM and move on because we don't intend to spend another night here. We go to Kernavé to a splendid parking spot in the woods with a panoramic terrace overlooking the river.

We thought we would be isolated, but a lot of people come and go: they come here just to see the panorama, bring their children, and also a group of women for a picnic: brave Lithuanians, it's a bit cold, it's evening, and there's the inevitable wind.

Kernavé 5:15 PM 148.823 (60/2.103)

April 25, Saturday Kernavé and Rumšiškès

We came to Kernavé because there is a very important UNESCO site here, an archaeological site with evidence of 10,000 years of human presence. There are artifacts from all ages and also some from the Roman period. The site is composed of 5 hills that were defensive and some reconstructions of ancient human settlements. The park is very large but it is very beautiful because the panorama is also fantastic, on the same river we saw from last night's parking lot.

A bit of the park...

 

 

 

A bit of reconstructions of human environments:

 

 

A bit of human installations:

Since we have to go to Kaunas but want to spend some time between cities, for lunch and in the afternoon we will go to see, in a small town Rumšiškès, another open-air museum this time with the reconstruction of typical Lithuanian villages from the 5 counties into which the nation is divided. The park is enormous and perhaps a bit less interesting if you are not Lithuanian, however, the reconstructions are not all new, in fact some are actually dismantled and rebuilt here with the original pieces and model.

We walk a lot and are very tired, at least the parking spot I chose to sleep in is very close: it's quite nice by the lake, but it's a bit dirty and there's a frightening wind that even moves the camper. At a certain hour, the wind calms down a bit, you can also see it from the lake which is much less choppy, before it was incredible!

The place where we are has a very difficult name, so since we are on the Kaunas lake and in the Kaunas area, we are satisfied to be in Kaunas!!

Kaunas 5:15 PM km 148.890 (67/2.170)

April 26, Sunday in Kaunas (Kaunas - Kuršenai)

Today we got a taste of what a spring day in Lithuania might be like: quite crazy! We set off at the usual time, happy that it seemed clear and the wind wasn't blowing like yesterday. We arrive in Kaunas at the paid parking lot in the center, and a strong wind starts blowing. In fact, the hatch of the toilet we just replaced opens: it probably wasn't closed properly because it never happened again. As we walk to the payment machine, I see something white flying: it's snow! A blizzard! Wind and snow and freezing cold. But a kind of weather carousel begins: blizzard, sun, blizzard, sun, etc.

You can see it pretty well from the photos: a visit to the Castle with snow, a walk in the park in the sun, we have a bit of a respite and stroll through the park and along the river, passing by the Church of the Assumption, and we arrive at the town hall square: here comes the blizzard, we struggle to walk and take refuge in the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, even with the little dogs, because waiting outside is impossible, and you can't shelter in any establishment because they are closed. We stand in the entrance between two doors and warm up for a moment, even the little dogs seem to appreciate it. A priest passes by, gives us a dirty look but says nothing; after all, dogs are also creatures of God. We see a bit of sun, but it doesn't last long. The wind picks up again, so after all this commotion, walking down the main street, we see that some cafes are open here. We choose one: we need to refuel and recover; it was a rather violent encounter with Lithuanian weather! Our second Lithuanian culinary experience is also positive.

 

Encountering more sun and then wind and snow, we go to pick up the camper and head to Šiauliai. It's not very close; we drive quite a few kilometers, experiencing the usual weather carousel.

Our first destination is the Hill of Crosses. A few kilometers before, we stop to check something, and not only is it snowing, but the fields are white.

However, when we arrive at the Hill of Crosses, the weather is nice. This place is quite incredible; it seems to have started with some pilgrims leaving a cross here, and then gradually the hill filled up. During the Soviet Union era, it was razed to the ground several times, but it always rebuilt itself.

We stop around 4:00 PM for the night in a parking lot by the lake near the city. Here too, snow, wind, and sun. Unfortunately, this large parking lot is used by some "fun-loving" individuals who do donuts and races with their cars. After a while of this spectacle, we decide to move and go to a more secluded spot. At 6:00 PM, we move 30 km to one of our beloved nature parking spots.

Kuršenai 6:30 PM km 149,125 (235/2.405)

April 27, Monday Samogizia National Park (Kuršenai - Palanga)

This morning Frida didn't come back, Umberto almost always lets her go in the morning but she usually returns and lets herself be picked up, this morning there's no way. We don't know what to do, for now we decide that I will stay to wait for her while Umberto goes to a nearby store to refill the water we need. I try to shelter from the wind, still strong and cold today, in some huts built near a playground nearby. Even when Umberto returns, Frida is still not there, so he goes back into the woods, at some point he sees her, with difficulty he manages to get her and she returns dirty and chilled to the camper. We waited for her for practically 2 hours. In fact, this time we leave at noon but we decide to try to follow the same planned route, perhaps with fewer stops. So we go to Lake Plateliai in the Samogizia National Park (Žemaitijos). This place is a very beautiful, well-maintained place, it's a holiday area full of well-made houses, playgrounds, bike paths, etc. We stop to eat and take a walk by the lake, then we go, crossing Plateliai, to the Siberijos Observation Tower from which you can enjoy a beautiful view of this magical place.

Afterwards, we go to Kretinga to the laundromat I found on Maps. It's very modern, a bit expensive, but we manage to wash and dry everything.

We go to sleep in Palanga where I would like to visit the Amber Museum, and we stop in a free parking lot practically by the side of the road but nobody passes at night... we are very comfortable.

Palanga 7:00 PM km 149.304 (179/2.584)

April 28, Tuesday We Enter Latvia (Palanga - Pape (LV))

In the morning, I change my mind and instead of going to the Amber Museum, I prefer to take a long walk in the botanical park right in front of us, which leads to the Baltic Sea: finally! In this enormous park, there is the palace of the city's founder, Duke Tiškevičius, where the museum is now located. We climb Biruté Hill to see the sea, but we don't see much. We then take one of the many paths that go beyond the dunes and lead to the beach. The first one we find also has a platform to enjoy the view. They seem very hostile towards dogs; dogs are prohibited on the beach everywhere.

The walk is very long. We reach the main square where the Statue of Eglė, the Queen of Snakes, is located, and from which a boardwalk over the sea stretches for almost 500m!! We return to the camper a bit exhausted. We walked over 6 km, only to realize that the town is just a holiday resort, with beautiful holiday homes but quite deserted at the moment.

In the afternoon, we would like to park in Šventoji, which is the last Lithuanian town before the border, but we don't find any possibility for a free and decent spot. Even though the town is completely deserted, as soon as we stop to take a photograph, the police immediately arrive to tell us that we cannot stay here. At this point, we decide to enter Latvia, 4:00 PM.

We head to Pape, a very natural but practically deserted place. Here too, it's very much a holiday destination. First, we find a very ugly parking spot, but then Umberto, while walking, found a nice parking spot near the lighthouse with a sea view. We stop here, even though we are right under the sign prohibiting parking from 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM. We'll see if we get a fine...

Pape 5:00 PM km 149.360 (56/2.640)

April 29, Wednesday in the Peat Bog (Pape - Liepaja)

Today too, Frida left us waiting, and then around 11:30 a lady arrived in a car saying the dog was with her, in a house very close to where we had parked the camper. She must have heard us calling her but she didn't show up. The lady probably saw Umberto looking for her and brought her to him; she was very kind. So we only managed to leave at 11:45 and headed to the Dunika Peat Bog. We discovered that even though the road is classified as P (I think regional interest) and yellow on the map, it can be unpaved, and we drove on it for a long time, about 20km. The camper became beige inside and out! We went into a wood near Dunika and there were piles of planks and someone working. We managed to find a spot for the camper and stopped to eat, then we'll go see the Peat Bog. Peat bogs are quite common in the Baltic republics and are very special protected areas that are wetlands with a truly unique soil composition, so many animal and plant species live and grow there. From Wikipedia: "Peat bog: a humid environment, similar to a swamp, characterized by the accumulation of peat, an organic material formed by the partial decomposition of plant residues in conditions of low oxygenation and high acidity. They are precious ecosystems that, covering a small percentage of the Earth's surface, store enormous amounts of carbon". To allow people to visit them, park managers install very long wooden walkways that then require continuous maintenance. In this Peat Bog there are 5km of walkways, but they were being renovated, and the two and a half kilometers we walked were almost entirely new, an immense job. The landscapes are not always varied; in fact, perhaps sometimes a bit too uniform, but it is indeed a unique experience. We walked back and forth, and we went alone because it's difficult to convince our dogs to stay on the walkway; if you put a foot down, you discover that it sinks even if it looks solid, a truly peculiar sensation. 

 

 

Lots of unpaved road 

Dunika Peat Bog (5 km walk)

Parking bunker #3

Liepaja 5:00 PM km 49,455 (95/2.735)

 

April 30, Thursday - Liepaja Kartana

 

 

 

 

 

 

We set off again and head to Liepaja, where I want to stay for a couple of days to take it easy, settle the camper, write the diary, etc. We stop at the parking lot of bunker no. 3: this is a rather absurd place because there are the ruins of fortifications built at the end of the 19th century by the Tsar but then abandoned and destroyed, but they were not completely destroyed and therefore some pieces remain between the sea and the beach which create a rather impressive effect. For us it's a good parking spot by the sea, but then a lot of people come to see them, perhaps they are so particular that people want to see them in person. The weather here is a bit warmer, around 11°.

Liepaja 5:00 PM km 149,455 (95/2,735)

April 30, Thursday Liepaja Karosta

As I said, I want to take it easy and in the morning I stay in the camper cleaning and tidying up and writing the diary. We should go for a bike ride in the afternoon here in Karosta, but the weather is bad, so we decide to move with the camper in the afternoon and go to see Karosta by camper. This neighborhood is a very particular area of the city because it was an old military citadel from the Tsarist period, where there are still enormous avenues, rather ugly houses, perhaps for the militia, and some quite interesting monuments: the Orthodox Military Church in brick, with golden domes and various colors. The interior is full of icons, an environment that for us doesn't seem much like a church... Then there's the old prison, in red brick, where it seems they do guided tours, but we only see it from the outside, a huge building also in brick that was the place for indoor horse training and of which only the external walls remain, all not too well maintained.

We pass over the bascule bridge, also from the late nineteenth century, we notice that it has a wooden deck, and we go into the port area.

We get gas, do the shopping, and stop at a parking spot by the lake from which tomorrow, if the weather is good, we will visit the city by bicycle.

In the Lidl parking lot Seneca awaits us on the camper's dashboard!

Liepaja 5:00 PM km 149.474 (19/2.754)

May 1st, Friday Liepaja (Liepaja - Aizpute)

In the parking lot we chose, always beautiful by the lake, spacious and frequented by fishermen, there is unfortunately a colony of cats and Frida goes crazy, she makes us have a very agitated evening and the next day is no different, so before leaving with the bicycles we decide to move away from the cats. We unload the bicycles which are all dusty from the many kilometers of dirt roads we have traveled and so it takes us a while to get ready, unfortunately however on the first pedal stroke the chain breaks on Umberto's bike and so no, we reload them and go to the city with the camper. We find a perfect parking spot near the brand new concert hall which has a very original shape and color.  

We take a walk in the center, we see some wooden houses and the cathedral and we do some shopping at the famous covered market. 

 

We go to eat at a place called La Boulangerie and then we return to the camper. Umberto then shows me two Imodium pills and tells me that the lady, perhaps the caretaker, of the cathedral we visited gave them to him and that she had almost adopted him, she tried to speak to him in English, she came to see the puppies, she made me sit in the sun because even though it's sunny today it's still a bit chilly. In short, this dear lady, before saying goodbye, gave him two Imodium pills and the funny thing is that Umberto thought she was giving him a gift (!!) instead of thinking that they had probably fallen out of her bag when she took the bags for the dogs and the kind lady was returning them... Umberto is truly unique!  

Around 3:00 PM we leave and I am a little unsure whether to stop at Aizpute which the guide recommends, always for its wooden houses, and especially for one that seems to be the first two-story house in Latvia.

While we are driving around there we see a girl with whom we manage to communicate because she knows English and she tells us that tomorrow here in Aizpute there is the village festival with stalls music and more, and she urges us to stay, we gladly accept for two reasons: I find a place to sleep very close that suits us and because when will we ever get to attend a Latvian village festival again!! 

Aizpute 5:00 PM km 149.529 (55/2.809)

May 2nd, Saturday The Aizpute festival (Aizpute - Kuldiga)

So today there's the festival, we really enjoyed it even though, since there are very few Latvians, there aren't many things going on, but there are also few people. The house we wanted to see yesterday is open for visits and we discover it's an art and crafts development center where people come from all over the world, we see a seamstress and a ceramicist, a photography and cinema workshop, other mechanical workshops and a man building a huge wooden "thing"!! We talk with some guys who speak English and they explain a few things to us. We'll be back here at 4:00 PM for the concert.

On the main street, practically the heart of the festival, there are tables and stalls selling mostly junk, some food stalls where we buy bread and pastries, and also pumpkin soup, practically the only thing for lunch. But we Italians always think about eating, whereas they, being Latvians, are more attracted by music, so on the stage in the middle of the fair all the students from the adjacent music school perform. We also meet a group of people dressed in typical, very beautiful costumes.

It's hot to be here, the sun is a bit disorienting. We left the camper in a street quite close by, so at a certain point we go back and relax in the shade, drinking a beer which they didn't sell here. 

Around 3:00 PM we move and go back to the festival, the stalls are the same, the musicians on stage have changed, there are very few people around. Heading to the concert near the workshop house, which we discover has a name: it's called Serde. We enter a renovated building for events and with guest rooms, all furnished in Ikea style, but we really like the renovation because they've kept many rustic, unrestored elements, for example some peeled walls, old parquet planks next to new ones, in short, a very beautiful effect. At 4:00 PM the concert begins, performed by three musicians: two women and a man who talks a lot before each piece, and of course we don't understand anything, but it seems he's describing the various instruments they are about to play, in fact they play different instruments: various small organs, sitars, mandolins, tambourine, only one of the two girls played the violin the whole time. The songs are folk songs, in fact some spectators sing them, especially an elderly lady who seems very enthusiastic and happy with the concert. It's nice to have attended a concert with songs sung right here in Latvia, which has a very particular tradition and attachment to songs and choirs.

In the end, we manage to talk to the maestro, we get his contact information and permission to use the music in our travel diary, then we go buy a couple of handmade items inside and say goodbye to everyone. We invite them all to our home if they come to Italy and we leave around 6:00 PM, very happy with the experience: the people are very nice and kind and the festival was very different from ours, so what more could you want? When we leave, the avenue of stalls is already completely empty. For the evening, probably nothing is planned, just a final concert at Serde, which however we don't wait for. 

We go to Kuldiga and here we find a lot of people instead, we park by the river and are comfortable, but there's a crazy coming and going of cars, until late, so before going to sleep we move to the parking lot closest to the town where there are 2 other campers. The incredible thing about these parts, it happened to us in Palanga in Lithuania too, is that even if we are practically parked near a road, the night is very quiet, no cars pass.

Kuldiga 6:30 PM km 149.571 (42/2.851)

May 3rd, Sunday Kuldiga (Kuldiga - Ventspils)

This morning we are going to visit this very pretty town, it has a beautiful historic center with churches, an old town hall, a new town hall, wooden houses from various eras, streams that cross it, and beautiful parks, also on the riverbank. Everything is very beautiful, but nothing enhances it more than being in a fantastic location on the Venta River, which here forms a waterfall about 4 meters high but very wide, said to be the widest in Europe. The river then has various small beaches where people stroll, fish, have picnics, in short, a heavenly situation.

The town:

The river:

After having an aperitif by the river, 

Lunch, a nap, and departure for Ventspils. Here, before stopping, we manage to unload and load water, which we had almost run out of, then we go to park at the port, I really felt like it. Here too, a beautiful big port, we go for a walk on the pier and discover that right behind it there is an enormous Baltic beach with very fine sand that, due to the wind, has also invaded the pier's quay.

There is a strange enormous chair made of chain links, there are boats you can climb on, and then there is a huge blue cow that seems to be the symbol of the city, as we saw quite a few cow statues arriving here.

What is incredible is that the weather has really changed since May first. It is much warmer, we no longer turn on the heating and it feels good. It seems to have happened so suddenly. The day before, I was worried about not having brought enough warm clothes, the next day, the wool sweater felt bothersome!

In the evening, a ship passes right in front of us: what a spectacle!

Ventspils 4:30 PM km 149.635 (64/2.915)

May 4th, Monday The Livonian Coast (Ventspils - Talsi)

It's raining in Ventspils, there are a lot of flags on the hill behind us and music is playing, we think it's a celebration because today, May 4th, is the anniversary of the confirmation of Latvian independence. Instead, it's the inauguration of the Latvian Youth Olympic Games that will take place these days in Ventspils. Indeed, we see many young people, some in athletic attire, some dancers, a kind of brazier made of wood, and a sound system. Unfortunately, it's raining, so they can't have a great party, but after a short while it stops raining and we see the group of dancers returning to the hill.

At this point, we take the road that passes through the Livonian Coast: 80 km of road through the woods parallel to the coast. This is the traffic...

The Livonians are an ancient Ugric people who originated from Estonia but have completely assimilated in this area with the Latvians. The language was still spoken until recently; the signs here are in two languages, even though no one speaks it anymore at the moment (the last person who did died in 2013), efforts are still being made to keep it alive. These peoples have been so subjugated for so many centuries by various dominations (Tsarist Russia, Poland, Germany, the Soviet Union) that all of them indiscriminately sought to erase their specificities, customs, and spoken language. Therefore, we believe that now that they are independent, they want in every way to preserve their history, their customs, and especially their languages.

Now the sun is out and it's hot, we stop at Mikeltornis, but the lighthouse is closed, so we just go to the beach, then to Mazirbe for the boat cemetery, the beach, and the Livonian People's House. This coast ends in a point, Cape Kolka, which is where the Baltic Sea meets the Gulf of Riga. The currents are very peculiar, in fact, there are signs saying that swimming in these waters is life-threatening. Of course, Latvia has established a park, the Sliteres National Park, with immense forests, vast coastlines, and wetlands for birds.

We want to stop in Talsi to visit it tomorrow. Unfortunately, the road to here has at least 20 km of roadworks, which means dirt road, dirt road, dirt road. We arrive around 6:30 PM and take a walk around the lake and back into town. We think that way we've already visited it; it's charming but very small.

We are in a parking lot near the lake, a bit downhill but it's fine. At one point, an elderly gentleman arrives in a rather dilapidated car and starts a conversation with Umberto, who is meanwhile lounging on the grass, smoking. Antonio is an elderly Croatian ex-sailor married here, who speaks all languages and has been all over the world. His life is incredible, and how he ended up settling here in Talsi, a small town in the middle of Latvia. The chat is pleasant, we give him some wine and he gives us homemade jams: how wonderful!

Talsi 6:30 PM km 149.804 (169/3.084)

May 5, Tuesday Kemeri National Park (Talsi - Kemeri)

Since we have Umberto's bike chain problem, I had seen a sign coming here that could be a motorcycle and bicycle repair center, I search on Google Maps and find it. We go there before leaving and they immediately change the chain!

Not satisfied with the experience already had in Dunika, we go to visit another bog: the Kemeri bog, in Kemeru National Park. Here the place is much more touristy than Dunika, parking is paid, there are many explanations, the path is more organized. We decide to walk the 3.5 km Great Kemeri Bog Boardwalk which also leads to a panoramic tower. This time too, we don't bring the dogs and we take a nice walk in this strange place. Among other things, we meet some people and we are not all alone like last time. The panoramas are spectacular, lots of small lakes of all colors, the birds, as usual, are a bit difficult to see.

In the end, we decide to stop nearby and by chance we stop at Lake Sloka (Slokas ezers) where there are other paths and other birdwatching towers. However, this is one of those places we like: solitary, by the lake and in the woods. Even if another camper will arrive later, it's nice at this point.

Kemeri 5:30 PM km 149.894 (90/3.174)

May 6th, Wednesday Jūrmala (Kemeri - Riga)

Today we are going to visit Jūrmala, the town that is Riga's beach: to say the least! It's a huge town between the sea (with the enormous Baltic beaches) and the river, with a huge forest in between, very long streets, some even wide, it is composed of 4 towns practically made up of villas and hotels all immersed in dense greenery. Some houses are marked because they date back to the 1800s, the railway was also built to bring wealthy people from Riga to the sea, still during the Russian rule. There were also sanatoriums, some even restored and reused during the Soviet Union.

To pass through here you have to pay a "congestion fee" of 5 Euros: this was the traffic we encountered: 

In short, we had a good tour, even though it would probably be better to come here for the beach! 

Let's go to the camper area I chose in Riga, we arrive around 1:30 PM, it's a fenced-in field amidst brick walls and houses. We also like it because being fenced, we can let Frida roam free, even if it's a risk because if someone opened the gate, we'd be done for! Anyway, I'm exhausted, we decide not to move and rest. Then in the afternoon it also starts to rain. We hope it stops. 

Riga 1:30 PM km 149.956 (62/3.236)

May 7th, Thursday Sigulda (Riga - Sigulda - Riga)

This morning it's raining, and since we would like to see the city by bicycle, we would have problems. We decide to move forward a stop that we would have made when leaving Riga, which is only 50 km from here, so we move the camper and go there. Finally, in Riga there's a bit of traffic, otherwise we thought we were in another era. In Sigulda there's a cable car with a single cabin that crosses the Gauja valley and arrives at the town opposite, which has some attractions (castle, etc.). We go to get information and find out that it would cost us 19 euros each for a round trip! Honestly, we don't have much intention of spending these 38 Euros, so we move to the parking lot near the castle (or rather the castles) of Sigulda and have lunch. After lunch, we go to visit the castle park, and here we have a pleasant surprise: the place is beautiful and interesting. There are indeed two castles: one is the new castle from the late 1800s, which is the seat of local administrations, while behind the new one is the castle of the Livonian Order, which dates back to the 1200s. It's a bit of a ruin but they have recovered it and it's visitable: climbing the towers offers a good panorama of the valley and also of the cable car!

Still with the camper, we try to see another castle nearby but we don't succeed, so we return to Riga to our parking spot. This time there are even 3 campers from Germans, but our spot is still available.

Tonight we're doing something we never do: we're going for a walk in Riga in the evening! So around 7:00 PM we book a Bolt, which is an Estonian company that works like Uber, and we have them take us to the center. We then begin to admire this fantastic city. In the evening, unfortunately, it doesn't produce particularly romantic panoramas because it gets dark late, maybe we should have stayed until 10:00 PM but it's too cold and too windy. In any case, we see wonderful sights...

There are a few tourists and some places to eat, but they don't inspire us much. We know that near our camper area there's a restaurant that offers the famous Latvian carbonada in many different versions, so we take another Bolt and return to the camper area. The carbonada should be a cutlet, but here they serve it quite complicated. You can choose what it's made of (pork, chicken, or zucchini), how you want the potatoes cooked, if you want other side dishes or additions, peppers, onions, ham, etc. Then they bring it to you with a cabbage salad and a garlic sauce, which should be the only thing it's supposed to be eaten with, and on top of everything, they put a huge pour of cheese. In short, they use it like pizza, meaning everyone asks for it with what they want. The dish is a bit abundant but quite good, not easily digestible.

Riga 3:30 PM km 150.071 (115/3.351)

May 8, Friday Riga!

Riga: a wonderful city, there are no words, it has been conquered and reconquered many times but everyone has preserved it, its position at the bottom of a deep gulf on the Baltic Sea at the mouth of a huge river has always favored trade and the salvation of Riga itself. So many monuments remain unlike other capitals. We liked it very much, we went there by bicycle and therefore we traveled a lot, we went up the tower of St. Peter's Church from which you can enjoy an incredible panorama, we walked through the cobblestone streets, we went to the river to see the castle, the president's residence, in short, you can't tell everything, I'm putting some photos.

I'd say this might be enough:

But let's put some other glimpses:

In the end we went to the enormous covered market where we ate something, little because we didn't want to leave the bicycles and so we went in turn, we did some shopping and Umberto bought himself a Daghestani knife, not even knowing that Dagestan existed.

We returned to the camper to save our little dogs who really don't like being left alone, we always have to be careful not to leave anything lying around, tents not to be broken, etc. We are satisfied, a beautiful tourist day, many beautiful things left in our eyes.

10.7 km by bicycle.

May 9, Saturday Cēsis (Riga - Cēsis)

Today we leave a bit late and go to Cēsis. We arrive around lunchtime and so we eat, then we go to visit the castle. Here too there are castles because there's always the old, slightly ruined one and the new one built later. In this case, however, the medieval castle is in much better condition. At the entrance, they gave us a lantern that would be useful for climbing the tower stairs to enjoy the view. My leg hurts more than usual today, maybe it was yesterday's bike ride, so I don't go up with Umberto and stay down in the courtyard with the dogs. The lantern is ultimately a bit of a nuisance, but they really care about historical reconstructions here, so the lantern is part of the staging. We also see a guide with a group dressed in costume.

We want to stay in the area, so we move to another parking lot which is very beautiful in the woods but has absolutely no signal. So this time we move near a lake where there are also a few people cooking meat over a fire. Since Frida has been very agitated since this morning, we decide to let her go and then we spend practically 3 hours looking for her and waiting for her. And this time, apart from the fatigue and fear, something great happens: Frida returns to the camper on her own! Luckily, I, exhausted, had returned while Umberto was out looking for her. At a certain point, I see a sort of ghost, and it was her, very dirty and truly exhausted. She had trouble climbing the step to get in, and as soon as she entered, she had no strength to drink or eat. It takes her a while to recover. I cuddle her and wait. At a certain point, she starts to drink and eat, but she will remain tired and destroyed even until the morning. In any case, we don't like it here very much, so we move again and return to the parking lot where we had stopped to eat and spend the night there.
Cēsis 10:00 PM km 150.181 (110/3.461)

May 10, Sunday... and now Estonia (Cẽsis - Kiidjärve(EST))

And now we enter Estonia, and to do so we pass through the cities of Valka and Valga, which are divided by the border and don't want to be, so they consider themselves a single city. Today, there's a market that starts in Valka and ends in Valga. Let's take a stroll in this beautiful place that doesn't want borders and do some food shopping. 

To eat, we move to Sangaste Castle, which is closed, however. In any case, the park is open, so after lunch, we'll take a walk to see the castle, at least from the outside. 

We go to Taevaskoja, a landscape reserve very popular with Estonians. This walk takes us past red and white sandstone outcrops along a river that have a truly wide range of colors. The landscape is very peculiar and unique, the Estonians we meet are very nice and even recommend another place to visit because there's an observation tower over the forest. The walk is beautiful but full of stairs, and I struggle a bit, especially since I have to keep Seneca on a leash, so I use a single walking stick, and when he pulls, it causes me some leg pain. 

After the walk, we go to the observation tower, which only Umberto climbs, and from there he has a splendid view of the forest, which looks like a green sea! 

We don't stop because there's no signal here either. We turn back and invent a stop in a fantastic place by the lake in one of those villages you find here, a few houses far from each other, a beach with benches, and piers where a few people come to fish; otherwise, you don't see anyone. In short, a paradise. Given our tiredness, we decide that tomorrow we'll stay here to recharge a bit. 

Kiidjärve 7:00 PM km 150.369 (188/3.649)

May 11, Monday Kiidjärve

Today here feels like paradise, Umberto goes for a walk around the lake in the morning with the puppies even though there isn't a real path surrounding it, so he does the usual off-path forest crossings and goes through the undergrowth. Then everyone comes back very muddy and dirty. I spend some time in the sun on the bench by the lake but not for long because it's not that warm, there's always wind.

In the afternoon, I finally update the diary and watch some tennis, what's available on TV8 only live or on supertennix.

In the evening, sitting on the driver's seat, I enjoy an exceptional sunset over the lake, it's a real spectacle that photos can't reproduce. Practically until 10:30 PM and beyond, I revel in this northern sunset.

May 12, Tuesday Tartu (Kiidjärve - Kolkja)

Today we go to Tartu, an interesting university city. At 10:45 AM we are at the parking lot I chose, which doesn't make us walk far to the center, and it's a good parking lot, it's not full, there are already some university students training as there's an athletics track nearby. Tartu is indeed a university city whose university was founded and subsidized in the 1600s by a Swedish king, whom they therefore remember with statues and other things. We take a nice walk around the center and the hill, here there is also an astronomical observatory which is a UNESCO heritage site (I will later discover that it is one of the points of Struvé Geodetic Arc and this is why it is a UNESCO site, I will talk about this on May 25th), an anatomy school antelitteram and then the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, of which only the naves without the roof remain, and the choir transformed into a museum/library. I really like these ruins where the churches are open, wide, empty, where perhaps the Gothic architecture can be better appreciated.

We stop for a break in the park and then head back towards the camper. We do our shopping at the nearby co-op and have lunch in the parking lot.

Around 4:30 PM we move and head towards Lake Peipsi, a huge lake that is half Estonian and half Russian. We have a couple of places where we can stop and we settle into a parking spot at an equipped beach where, of course, no one is there. There is another camper from a Berliner who we will meet the next day, very nice. Nice spot by the lake, Everything is fine.

Kolkja 5:30 PM km 150.467 (98/3.747)

May 13, Wednesday, Lake Peipus Coast (Kolkja - Kuremäe)

Today we have several things to see, some will be closed, such as the ethnographic museum of Kolkia: in this area lived and there are still some who call themselves the Old Believers congregation who have a certain way of life, some typical features such as colorful houses and white churches. It would have been nice to see more, but the period is not the best, museums often open at the end of May or open little during this time.

Later we go to see Nina's white church, then in Alatskivi we shop and see the 19th-century manor from the outside, also all white.

In Kallaste we were supposed to see the red sandstone cliffs but we only see a tiny piece of them. Besides, it's raining now, coming and going as usual.

To stop for lunch we go to Kauski in a parking lot in the middle of the woods near the sea, but we are far from the beach. Here Umberto makes a rather original parking spot!

We go to Lisaku to climb the observation tower, there are many of them here, for a beautiful view of the Alutaguse National Park.

To sleep we go to the large parking lot of the Orthodox monastery of Kuremäe

Kuremäe 5:00 PM km 150,593 (126/3.873)

May 14, Thursday Narva (Kuremäe - Kunda)

About 120 nuns live in the Orthodox monastery of Kuremaë, and it's not clear from the guide or the website whether it's possible to visit. Obviously, we get lost in a glass of water because it is possible to enter and there are no problems at all. It's a place a bit out of the world, very well-kept houses, the huge Orthodox church and smaller ones, a beautiful park, in short, like being in another time.

Everything is different from what Narva will be, as this city on the border with Russia cannot forget what is happening in the world. In practice, Narva is on the river opposite the Russian city of Ivangorod; two castles face each other, connected by a bridge. It seems that before 2022, integration policies were being pursued and passage between the two countries was quite feasible. Now, however, one can only cross the bridge on foot; cars no longer pass, and Estonia reserves the right to close foot crossings at any time. The Russian flag flies over Ivangorod Castle, while the flags of Estonia, Europe, and Ukraine are displayed on Narva Castle. In addition to this unique view of the two castles, the city also has a beautiful town hall and a strange university building, which is a detached campus of Tartu. Returning towards the camper, even to pass through Narva Castle, we arrive in a square where there is a long queue, which we discover is for people wanting to enter Russia. There aren't many, the queue is no more than 50 meters long, but people say it takes 5 or 6 hours to cross. An ordeal and so much Russian resignation!

We go to eat at the Valaste Waterfall. We arrive very late, it must be around 3:00 PM. We eat quickly and then go to bed because we are very tired. We wake up at 6:00 PM, go to see the waterfall, which, however, is not spectacular. Then we leave and go to Purtse Manor, a small, solitary white castle with a beautiful well.

To sleep, we go to Kunda, a port that we believe is commercial. There are many trucks, factories, perhaps cement, but there is also a picnic area, parking for the beach, and stalls for bathers. We settle in the only spot with a view of the sea near the sand. We also see a beautiful sunset. As usual, we are left alone after a certain hour.

Kunda 8:00 PM km 150.791 (198/4.071)

May 15, Friday Jagala Juga (Kunda - Kaberneeme)

For various reasons, including the fact that we lost Umberto's glasses (luckily we always carry spares!), we leave very late. Furthermore, it takes us ages to fill up with water because Cicle K gas stations provide it for free but with a very low flow rate that drives you crazy. We also manage to get diesel at another pump at a great price, 1.745 Euros.

We head to the Jagala Juga parking lot. It's a beautiful waterfall this time, but we understand that waterfalls are very popular because they freeze in winter, creating beautiful and unique shapes and sculptures. When the weather isn't cold, the spectacle is different.

We then go to this beautiful and enormous parking lot in Kaberneeme, in a pine forest near the sea. There's no one here tonight, and given the fatigue we've accumulated, we decide to stay here tomorrow to rest. I have a small thought: I don't understand if this continuous feeling of tiredness and need for rest is due to the fact that we've been traveling for a month and have seen a lot of things, or because we hardly ever stay more than one night in a place, or because we're old... well, it's not important to know why, but that we need to stop occasionally, for example, to write the journal.

Luckily, we have good reception here because tonight is Sinner's semifinal in Rome.

Kaberneeme 3:00 PM km 150.895 (104/4.175)

May 16, Saturday Kaberneeme

Today total tranquility although being Saturday, a lot of people have arrived: they come to walk, to camp, to cook on the fire, various installations are available, like barbecues, free to be used. Some go towards the sea but the sea is not as manageable as we think, it's too cold both outside and inside. Many come only to walk the dog, and everyone, absolutely everyone, keeps them on a leash. We would like to let Frida run but there are really a lot of people and so we give up. We manage to eat outside for lunch because there is sun, after it rained a lot during the night. Afternoon in the camper writing the diary and planning the itineraries for the next few days (and tennis, of course ...)

May 17, Sunday Tallinn (Kaberneeme - Türisalu Pank)

So today it's exactly one month that we've been on the road and so we almost think we're satisfied with everything we've seen, and yet we never stop discovering exceptional places. We first go along the coast in a district of Tallinn to a parking lot that has a beautiful view of the gulf and the city. 

Even though it's Sunday, there's a bit of traffic but we go to the center at the edge of the walled city because there's a very central parking lot that is free on Sundays. Then, as usual, with my Komoot itinerary, we go to visit Tallinn, and here the surprise begins: while I had heard about Riga and expected a lot and was rewarded, I didn't know how beautiful Tallinn was! Practically a city that has maintained its medieval road structure, still having cobblestone streets and alleys, but all surrounded by very beautiful 19th-century buildings. The town hall square, the hill with various palaces of the richest which have now all become embassies and a very controversial orthodox church because it is architecturally completely alien to the rest of the city, and then all the walls, the numerous towers, how they managed to remain until today I can't understand. In the Church of Saint Nicholas, which has become a museum, I go in alone to see some pictorial treasures, including a very interesting Dance of Death. I discover that here too, of course, during the war many volunteers removed and saved the treasures of this church, which was then one of the few monuments in Tallinn to be partially destroyed. I also go up by elevator to the top of the bell tower to enjoy the panorama. In short, an unmissable city. 

The weather is sunny but very cold, luckily I put on my wool cardigan, but I regret not putting on my down jacket but only a light jacket. We have lunch in a cafeteria and eat some typical dishes, almost all restaurants and cafes have outdoor tables because there's sun, but I think it takes a lot of courage to eat outside in this cold! Luckily, nowhere did they give us problems with the little dogs, so we ate in the warmth! 

We arrive at the motorhome around 4:30 PM and so we have plenty of time to tune in to watch the final of the Internazionali di Roma between Sinner and Ruud. In fact, the final is at 5:00 PM, but for us here it will be at 6:00 PM. We enjoy the good match but then when it ends, we pack everything up and leave because from 7:00 AM tomorrow morning we have to pay for parking (0.025 Euros per minute! which is 1.50 Euros per hour, but it sounds a bit strange like that...), we don't want to get up early and we move. We go to a parking lot along the road near the Türisalu cliffs where we find a lot of cars waiting for the sunset. Indeed, the spectacle is very beautiful and when it ends, everyone leaves. We are left alone as usual and sleep very well anyway because the road is not even heard. 

Türisalu Pank 9:30 PM km 150.973 (78/4.253)

May 18, Monday touring the surroundings of Tallinn (Türisalu Pank - Haapsalu)

In the morning we try to walk around the cliff, but from up here not much is visible. We look for a way down but it's not really feasible.

We leave and go to the Keila Joa waterfall, which is truly beautiful and located in the middle of a large and splendid park. The waterfall is part of a small hydroelectric power plant perfectly integrated into the park.

We go to the end of the point at Pakri to the Lighthouse and the cliffs.

We move and go to Rummu and there we stop in the parking lot to eat. Here there was a dolomite quarry that was a Soviet penal colony. After independence, they flooded the quarry and built hills with ashes and debris. These operations created a lake with a rather strange blue-green color and a very peculiar area to be exploited as a recreational spot: beach, water sports, sauna, etc. The prison part, on the other hand, was kept for tourists to visit a "real" Soviet penal colony. In truth, Umberto (I didn't go) didn't find it that great, the museum was poorly maintained and probably not very historically accurate. Prisons and forced labor must have been a bit worse than this!

We go to Haapsalu to the parking lot near the castle and stop there to sleep. It rains in the evening and at night.

Haapsalu 5:00 PM km 151.092 (119/4.372)

May 19th, Tuesday Haapsalu (Haapsalu - Koguva)

So as I said before, we didn't expect to see more beautiful places that will stay with us, and yet you stop in Haapsalu, perhaps a little tired, perhaps a little fed up, but then you take a walk along the seafront and discover more wonders, you discover a place where you might even want to live, in short, how wonderful! 

We move towards Matsalu National Park and go to a couple of observation towers at the tip of Puise and Kiideva. Breathtaking views, birds, birds, and more birds. In short, you never get tired.

We stop to eat, and after lunch, while Umberto smokes his usual cigar, I look at the ferry website for the island of Muhu and buy a ticket to ferry the camper and ourselves. It's now 2:30 PM, and Virtsu is about 50 minutes away, so I buy a ticket for 5:00 PM to take our time with the journey.

We drive along the road leading to the boarding town: it's always so deserted here, we don't meet anyone, there are no houses, only at the very end are there houses and port facilities. We stop at the coop to buy something and get in line; having bought the electronic ticket, in the designated lane, the system reads the license plate, recognizes it, and automatically opens the barrier, then a variable message sign informs us that we need to take lane number 6. Here, almost everything is managed automatically. We board, everyone gets out of the camper, and we go on deck to watch the show. 

During the crossing, I'm very excited, I'm so happy because this is something we never do, we never take ferries because I'm very anxious and usually we spend hours at the ports for fear of not leaving, but here everything seems so automatic and calm that it has really thrilled me, and I'm truly happy to go and see the Estonian islands too. I'm just a little sorry because in Lithuania I didn't want to go to the Curonian Spit because there was a ferry to take and I didn't really understand how it worked, if you could stop and sleep there, etc. In short, I made a mountain out of a molehill, but it was at the beginning of the vacation and perhaps I had different perspectives for making those decisions. 

At 5:30 PM we arrive on the island of Muhu at Kuivastu and go to sleep in the parking lot of the open-air museum of Koguva. 

Koguva 6:00 PM km 151.244 (152/4.524)

May 20, Wednesday Muhu and Saaremaa Islands (Koguva - Sõrve)

Today we are visiting the Koguva Museum: this is an open-air museum with traditional old houses that are still inhabited, while a part of them has been turned into a museum. We take a nice tour because the place isn't huge like the one we saw in Lithuania, so we enjoy it more. They also have a laminated sheet in Italian with the map of the place.  

The next two places we visit are a bit "fake," especially the windmills in Angla: after seeing the Dutch ones, these 4 windmills all gathered in one place, one next to the other, with structures to entertain children, seems more like a playground than anything else. It would be fine if they didn't ask for 10 euros per person to enter, so we only see them from the outside. Also, the meteor crater formed 7,500 years ago in Kaali isn't much, it might be, but it doesn't impress us much. At least the visit here is free. We stop in the parking lot to eat and then go to Kuressaare to do some shopping.  

I thought I would go for a trip to Sõrve Lighthouse and then return to sleep in Kuressaare, but I hadn't accounted for the distances: on these islands, places seem farther apart than on the mainland. Then, when we reach the tip of the island that borders the Gulf of Riga to the north, we encounter the usual breathtaking view, so we decide to spend the night here. I wanted to come here because this tip is directly opposite Cape Kolka, where we had been in Slītere National Park in Latvia; they are practically the two tips that close the Gulf of Riga. After the lighthouse, there's a strip of land, the Sääretrip peninsula, that juts out into the sea. We let Frida roam free and go for a walk; here, at least, we'll be able to see and catch the dog, and indeed, that's what happens. The place is beautiful, and the lighthouse is very tall. Umberto goes to get information and discovers that you can climb it, that it only costs 5 euros per person, that you can even bring dogs, and that... there's no elevator! I'm a bit worried because with my back/leg pain, I've had some difficulty reaching the top in other observation towers, and here it's 52 meters and 248 steps! It's also funny that it never occurred to Umberto that I might not make it; he has great faith in me! Anyway, he was right; I'll have to take a ibuprofen afterward, but I manage to climb to the top, I just have a small setback about three-quarters of the way up. From up there, of course, the view is incredible and indescribable, and then there's certainly the satisfaction of having made it.

We return to the camper. The sun is strong, so it's even hot inside, but it's cold outside, and even in the camper, after enjoying a beautiful sunset, as soon as the sun goes down, it gets cold enough to turn on the heating. Obviously, we are alone in this paradise and in absolute silence.

Sõrve Lighthouse at 4:30 PM km 151.388 (144/4.668)

May 21st, Thursday Kuressaare and the start of the journey home (Sõrve - Pärnu)

In the morning, a few people arrive, camper vans, in this corner of the world, even a busload of youngsters, but they don't know what it's like to stay here in the evening to watch the sunset until 11:00 PM and in absolute silence broken only by the calls of birds. To tell the truth, birds have accompanied us a lot on this trip, from storks which are in considerable numbers, building huge nests on lampposts and walking a bit comically in the fields, then seagulls of course, ducks actually beautiful mallards with iridescent plumage, and then many others from large to small (there's a very elegant black and white one!) whose names we don't know, a shame. Some start singing and calling only in the evening and at night, they are fantastic, you can really hear them calling and communicating. They don't bother us, rather it's like a lullaby. I think for those who are passionate about birdwatching, this is the ultimate.

We arrive at Kuressaare, which is the largest town on the island, and we tour the castle, which is a bit peculiar because its walls form a star, with a moat all around and the sea right next to it.

We move to Liiva, which is on the island of Muhu, and we stop to eat. We buy tickets online like last time and we embark at 3:50 PM from Kuivastu, arriving in Virtsu at 4:20 PM: perfectly on time!

Thus begin the goodbyes: we first said goodbye to the island of Saaremaa, then to the island of Muhu. We move on to Pärnu to spend the night. Here there is a nice parking area before the beach, which is a huge expanse of sand... next to us there is a field delimited by electric fences where cows graze, and at one point they even come closer, it's very amusing to have cows and their calves outside the windows.

Pärnu 5:30 PM km 151,591 (203/4.871)

May 22, Friday towards Latgale, the region of blue lakes (Pärnu - Rẽzekne(LV))

We leave at 10:30 AM and now it's time to say goodbye to the Baltic Sea because from now on we will be traveling entirely inland and won't see the sea again.

 We get gas and shop in Pärnu. It's raining today, actually it's been raining since last night, so we think that if the weather is bad, maybe we won't feel so bad about going home, but in truth, that's not the case. We stop to eat a bit before the border, which we cross at 3:00 PM at the same point as on the way out, namely in the city of Valga/Valka, divided between Latvia and Estonia, so now it's time to say goodbye to Estonia.

On the way out, I had left a couple of places, one in Latvia and one in Lithuania, to visit on the return journey, so today is just a travel day from Estonia to the Latgale region, which I want to visit tomorrow. The parking area we are using tonight in Rēzekne is near the river and a dog area, perhaps the first one we've seen on this trip, fully equipped with structures for dogs to do agility. Our little dogs, of course, are giving it a wide berth...

Rēzekne 5:30 PM km 151.943 (352/5.223)

May 23, Saturday Latgale, the region of the blue lakes (Rẽzekne - Viski)

Last night we saw a car parked here and also a person who would sleep in it. In the morning, we notice that the license plate is really strange, we don't recognize it, so Umberto goes to strike up a conversation, and then we meet a very young Chinese couple traveling by car with a little dog, who works using the internet and wants to travel the world. Who knows how they managed it! They spent 2 months in Russia, also passing through Kazakhstan, and now they are heading to Spain where they want to stay for at least 6 months. They are very nice, we exchange contact information so if they pass through Italy maybe they will come to visit us! We part with kisses and hugs, as if we had known each other for years. Great!

We leave at 10:30 am and go to Ludza to visit the castle ruins, which are primarily an excuse to enjoy the view of the lake, and therefore the first of the blue lakes. 

We go, through some dirt roads (we had forgotten about Latvia and its dirt roads!!! There are none in Estonia...), to Rogs to enjoy another lake panorama and we stop for lunch. 

In Aglona, there would be, in addition to the lakes, a basilica with a miraculous spring to visit, and indeed there is, a huge white church with blue domes, and it is very scenic, especially with the enormous meadow in front enclosed between the shores of two different lakes. However, we don't like it at all. We understand that it is one of those places like Fatima in Portugal that are built specifically for thousands and thousands of pilgrims, and for us, who are not religious, one feels fanaticism more than faith. Well, that's a difficult topic. Anyway, we also take some miraculous water, you never know!!! 

We move from a sacred place to Lake Čertoks, known as the Devil's Lake (!!) which has the peculiarity of being almost perfectly round. 

We go to sleep in a place that is not a parking lot but a meadow in the middle of a couple of other lakes where fishermen come to launch their boats. 

Viski 5:30 PM km 152.132 (189/5.412)

May 24, Sunday Aukštaiyija National Park (Viski -  Tauragnai (LT))

We leave at 10:00 AM and return to Lithuania at 11:00 AM: greetings also to Latvia. Last night, we had a route planned that we loaded into the navigator, so we can comfortably reach the points in this park that I had set my sights on. I really liked Aukštaiyija National Park, it is very well maintained and the landscapes are stunning, but we can't see everything I would have liked because we encounter some hitches, partly due to the navigator (!!??): the first objective was to go to Trainiškis to see this enormous ancient oak, also a site of magical rituals, but there are no signs and we can't find it. We then wanted to go to the village of Šuminal but we don't go because the navigator would have us take a bike path. There would have been a road a bit further on but we didn't see it, nor did it. So we go to Ginučiai where we stop and visit the all-wooden Watermill. We go into the museum and chat a bit with the keeper, who is a young and friendly guy. An interesting place.

While we are parked here, we have lunch and after a while it starts to rain. We move on anyway to Ladakalnis, but when we get there it's pouring rain, so we wait in the camper for a while, as we know what the weather is like around here by now. Indeed, not even 10 minutes later it stops and we go up. At the top of the little hill, there is a large circular meadow from which you can enjoy a fantastic view of the lakes. There should be up to 7 visible, but we only see 2. It is nevertheless a very beautiful place, also adorned with stones and wooden benches, carved statues, and a beautiful oak tree in the middle of the meadow. 

Now we have to go see the ethnographic architecture center of Salos II. We arrive at Salos via normal roads and then see a sign for Salos II and stop because we don't know if the road is drivable. However, somewhat nervously, a BMW overtakes us here, speeding up the dirt track, so we decide to follow it. Indeed, we arrive at Salos II quite well, but then we discover that we have taken the bike path! And that we then have to do it again on the way back. Fortunately, there is no traffic here and the risk of encountering another car is not high. In fact, we don't meet anyone. The visit to the village is pleasant, a charming place in the middle of fields by the lake. Frida runs off, but we manage to get her back, even if we all get a bit muddy because of the downpour earlier. We go back the way we came on our bike path and that's that. 

Last stop Taurapilis, which are the ruins of a castle, but here too the castle is not there; it's just an excuse to have a splendid panorama of the lake. The climb to the hill is impassable because they are fixing it now. The place is wonderful, so we decide to stop here, truly a charming place. We notice that a fisherman keeps looking at us, so Umberto uses his phone translator to go and talk to him, and he basically tells us that we are too close to the lake and we could get a fine. With some regret, we decide to leave, but in maneuvering, we get stuck in the soft grass!! At least once on vacation, this has to happen to us!! Fortunately, we had bought a tow rope and pull it out. The fisherman first checks it to see if it's a serious matter, then goes to get his car and pulls us out! We give him a bottle of wine and we are happy, also a bit lucky, also a bit satisfied with the good purchase we made... in short, in the end, everything is fine.

We had already chosen the place to sleep in the nearby town of Tauragnai. It's a parking lot in front of the lake, a bit elevated but nice. We also decide that tomorrow we will stay here at least for the morning. 

Tauragnai 6:00 PM km 152.301 (169/5.581)

May 25th, Monday, rest and restart (Tauragnaii - Kalvarija)

Morning rest at the parking lot by the lake. Below, a simple restaurant for swimmers was indicated, but obviously it's closed because there are no swimmers. It's Monday, and one doesn't really feel like going to the beach. So, after doing some things in the camper, we leave at 1:00 PM and go to Utena to do some shopping and eat something. My travel goals are now completed, I only have one thing left that I discovered during my trip: the Baltic Republics are crossed by a network of points called the Struve Geodetic Arc, which has also become a UNESCO World Heritage site.

From Wikipedia: The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of ground triangulation points stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, passing through 10 nations and covering an overall length of approximately 2,820 kilometers. This chain was conceived and used by the Baltic-German scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve between 1816 and 1855 to determine the exact shape and dimensions of the Earth. At the time, the arc crossed only two nations: Sweden-Norway and the Russian Empire. In 2005, the chain was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Umberto says that this destination is my mathematical soul that made me look for it (!!??). There are a few points around here, and we unknowingly passed by one (the Tartu Astronomical Observatory), but now I'd like to go to a specific one as a last destination before the return journey.

Struvé's Geodetic Arc in Meškonys at 4:00 PM

At this point, the real return journey begins. We choose one of our favorite spots, but here comes the first surprise: we find the parking lot full! We are no longer used to finding places full. Maybe it's the end of May, maybe the Germans have started traveling again, and they are by far the most numerous tourists here in the republics, at least in campers. Luckily, a kind German points out that there's a spot a little further down that is currently empty but will fill up by evening.

Kalvarija at 7:30 PM km 152.589 (288/5.869)

May 26, Tuesday, we are returning Lithuania-Poland (Kalvarija - Tarczyn(PL))

We stop to fill up with water and then around 10:45 AM we enter Poland, we are on the highway, we will take the highway all the way in Poland because this one is free, it's a bit boring but for the return trip it gets us there faster. As I was saying, we were on the highway entering Poland and here the police made us take a very strange detour and checked our documents, of course these things seem a bit strange to us, we are not used to them anymore. Greetings to Lithuania. Here it is 9:45 AM, we have gained an hour and the Diesel is at 1.720 euros. We stop to eat around 1:00 PM in a completely sunny cemetery parking lot, we are very hot, this is also a bit new for us.

We stop for the night at 5:00 PM because for us it is 6:00 PM, in a huge parking lot that serves as a market square. Nearby there is a beautiful park which, however, at the entrance has an incredible sign of prohibitions that if followed, nothing at all could be done! We have it translated by artificial intelligence and discover that it has learned to be funny!

This Polish sign seems to be written by a municipal council that has lost patience with all of humanity! In practice, it says:

REGULATIONS of the recreational area/park "DROZDY" It is forbidden to:

ride bicycles on wooden piers/walkways;

damage greenery, structures, lights, benches, etc.;

litter or light fires;

bring hazardous materials;

post advertisements or posters;

be in the area while drunk or under the influence of drugs;

smoke.

Anyone disturbing public order will be removed. Vandals will be prosecuted according to the law.

The red sign "UWAGA!" (= ATTENTION!) says:Forbidden to use:

bicycles,

roller skates,

scooters,

skateboards.

And the small sign at the bottom is almost the meanest of all 😄 "Bread kills birds"

meaning: do not feed bread to waterfowl because it is harmful to them.

Basically:

no bikes,

no cigarettes 😭,

no alcohol,

no bread,

no fun…

typical Slavic regulation of "enjoy the park, but without enthusiasm" 🤣 There is also the symbol of a dog crossed out! So the complete regulations are:

no bikes,

no skates,

no scooters,

no skateboards,

no dogs,

no Vitti cigars 😭,

no drunk people,

no bread for ducks…

At this point, only: walking slowly in silence contemplating 😄... was allowed.

We obviously respect the various prohibitions at first, but then we see bicycles and scooters whizzing by and so later Umberto will go there to smoke and with the dogs. Perhaps they have softened a bit...

Tarczyn 5:00 PM km 153,001 (412/6.281)

May 27th, Wednesday we return Poland-Czech Republic (Tarczyn - Brusperk (CZ))

We stop at a service station in Poland to eat at McDonald's!! You should know that on the Polish highway that goes from the Czech Republic to Lithuania, passing through Warsaw, visually it seems like a competition for the last advertising billboard between McDonald's and KFC!!! It seems they want to divide the Poles and are willing to finance ever larger billboards. We don't like fried chicken very much, so we choose a McDonald's which, luckily, has English as a language on the totem, but then everything else, distribution, collection, recycling, and in very incomprehensible Polish. We manage anyway. In the evening we go to sleep in a nice parking lot by a small lake, where we let Frida out, who makes us wait a good 3 hours but then returns to the camper by herself.

Brusperk 5:00 PM km 153.380 (379/6.661)

May 28, Thursday we return to Czechia (Brusperk - Rájov)

A bit of a long journey because we don't use highways; they are paid in the Czech Republic. Passing through Brno, we thought the roads would be a bit smoother, but there are always many ups and downs. We pass České Budějovice and stop near Český Krumlov. The place isn't very quiet because it's a bit close to the road, but it's okay.

Rájov (Český Krumlov) 6 PM, 153.772 km (392/7.053)

May 29, Friday we return Czechia-Germany (Rájov - Grünvald(D))

After a few kilometers we finally enter Germany and from Passau onwards we drive on the famous free German motorways, but we are no longer used to traffic! We stop just after Passau in a parking lot that we discover is for a lake beach, so it's quite chaotic even though it's Friday. It's very hot here too. We get back on the motorway and arrive near Munich, and we stop in Grünvald in the parking lot where the walks start. The place is very beautiful, but here too we didn't expect to be so close to a town and that there would be so much traffic on the road, we're really rusty!

Grünvald 5:30 PM km 154.096 (324/7.377)

May 30, Saturday, returning Germany-Austria-Switzerland-Italy (Grünvald(D) - Santa Croce(I))

Returning towards our Alps, it strikes us as very strange to see mountains with high snow-capped peaks. In fact, for a month and a half, we have only seen very flat landscapes, minimal elevations, and many woods...

The journey is going well. In Austria, we stop at a pastry shop because today is my birthday, so we wanted to celebrate with Austrian cake and prosecco (which we put in the fridge beforehand). We pass through Switzerland, and on some climbs, the camper seems to struggle a bit, but we're moving. The landscape is very different from when we left because it's now spring, and all the ice is gone. We enter Italy, and here the trouble begins: the camper no longer works, and Umberto, very capable as usual, manages to stop at a lay-by on the road descending from Passo Maloja to Chiavenna. The lay-by is comfortable and wide and is separated from the road. It's used by climbers because there is a quite famous climbing wall here, the Falesia Sasso del Drago. Unfortunately, the camper shows no more signs of life, and the back and forth with the insurance begins, numerous contacts, different versions each time, but then we finally decide that: first, we will stay here to sleep, and then we will call again tomorrow to have it picked up. We celebrate the birthday anyway, a bit worried but in a pretty good situation.

The very good thing, without which it all wouldn't have been the same, is that our mechanic from Primaluna, who had our car for its inspection, brings it to us there! This changed the whole perspective; we have the car where we can unload the camper, leave it half-empty with the transporter, and be able to return to Parlasco with at least the necessary things. The insurance companies don't realize that ours is not a vehicle but a home!

Santa Croce 6:30 PM km 154.412 (312/7.693)

---

May 31st, Sunday Santa Croce - Parlasco

In the morning, of course, we have other versions of the rescue and other issues. The most important is that they won't come to pick him up today because they are afraid of traffic. Then they won't take him to our mechanic, well, it's too complicated and not very interesting. The result is that we'll leave René there until tomorrow. We'll go to Parlasco with a full car, and Umberto will come here tonight to sleep in the camper until they take him away. In short, a return with thrills, but in the end, everything went well. Over and out. The trip through the Baltic Republics is concluded, 7,693 km of pure fun and wonder...