Today was about driving and getting to western Poland to continue our travels. It was a pretty quiet drive, but we quickly missed our quiet roads in the Baltic States. Poland has some of the densest truck traffic we have seen in Europe, I think more dense than even Germany. We don’t know where they are all going , but there are a lot of them.
The owner of the campground is showing me two travel trailers that were produced in communist Poland in the 1980’s. There was a demand for RV’s even under the communists. The company is still in business today.
We are the only customers at a small family owned campground tonight. We have met the whole family. The husband has a great collection of communist era vehicles that he spent about 2 hours showing me. The wife very proudly showed us a video of their sons preschool getting an English lesson today, he is 18 months old!
The ILSA van produced in Poland from 1952 to 1994.
He had two copies of a van I had never heard of called the ILSA. It was produced in Poland from 1952 to 1994. He told me the original engine and transmission was based on Ford trucks that the US had given the Soviet Union as Lend Lease in WWII.
The top of the engine of the ILSA, accessible from the passengers seat.
He bought this one from the Krakow transit authority in 2015 where it had been used as a night bus. The production of the van continued for nearly seven years after the fall of communism. It has a feature I have never seen in any vehicle. The top of the engine is accessible from the interior of the vehicle. You remove a cover in the center of the dash and the engine is right there. He joked that it was so the guy in the passenger seat could work on the engine while they were driving!
Two more cars from his collection. The car on the left is an East German produced Trabant. The one on the right is a Fiat 125P, built under license in Poland in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
These are the kind of encounters that make these trips so much fun. The family was so welcoming and we spent two hours looking at cars communicating mainly thru Google translate, and it was fabulous.
We were off early for our 200 kilometer jump down to Kaunas. Kaunas was a city I was interested in as I like to compare the second cities in countries to the capitols.
Nice church on the market square.
The bus ride into the center was quick, easy and cheap. The walk to the market square was short and we arrived at the city cathedral as mass was on. When we first arrive in a city I always pick the main cathedral as our starting point figuring it is usually close to the geographical center of the old city. They had the doors open so we could see inside. Ton snapped a quick picture from the door which turned out nice.
Ton took this picture from the door. The cathedral was beautiful, and the person singing had a great voice.
We took a quick turn around the market square and headed to what is touted as the longest pedestrian mall in northern Europe. It is 1.5 kilometers long. We walked it from end to end, the end closest to the market square is busy and full of restaurants and shops, the last 500 meters is a little quiet.
A couple of German style merchant homes from the pedestrian mall.
We stopped and had a beer at a local pub, and then decided to head back. Our beer stock has dwindled to one beer, so our plan was to stop in a grocery store on our way and pick up some samples of Lithuanian beer we had liked. After our swing thru the store we had 6 cans of beer and a couple of food items. Self check out is the rule here in the groceries. It is not hard as usually you can switch the screens to English, but in this case I didn’t see the button until too late. When we scanned the first can of beer an alarm went off and we got a screen full of words we couldn’t read. The clerk monitoring the self check out came over and hit us with a long blast of Lithuanian that of course we didn’t understand any more than the screen. Seeing our confusion, she then asked all of the other patrons checking out if any of them spoke English. The lady at the next check out looked over and said “You can’t buy alcohol after 3pm on Sundays in groceries.” I checked my watch and it was 3:30. She then said “If you want a beer you will have to go to a bar and buy an expensive beer!” Ton and I laughed and thanked her and apologized to the clerk for the trouble, and we left with our food. We will split our one beer and buy some Polish beer tomorrow.
The old city hall in Kaunas.
Kaunas is a nice city, but the center of the city does feel like the second city of Latvia. There is less going on than in Vilnius. Having said that Lithuania is the most laid back and quietest of the three Baltic States to us. Nothing ever feels hectic or overly busy which can be very nice.
We are heading back south thru the three Baltic States. We usually don’t like to back track but the ferries that depart from Tallinn don’t go in the right direction so we are following the same roads south. We are varying our stopping points so we are seeing new things as we go south. The most interesting thing on the drive was the amount of military traffic on the road. There is a full scale NATO training exercise going on in Estonia. During our stop for gas at a Circle K (yes the same Circle K as in the states) we saw two Canadian soldiers fueling up on coffee and snack food.
The Parnu River next to our campsite in Parnu. A great town.
Our destination today was Rundale Palace. We are generally not palace people, but it was a nice distance for us to go today. The Palace was built by the Dukes of Courland between 1736 and 1764. Latvia was known as the Duchy of Courland during this period and was ruled by a line of German dukes. The palace was their summer home.
The white room in the palace.
It is built in the Baroque style, and is referred to at least by the Latvian tourist organization as the Versailles of the Baltic States. When I told Ton this she laughed and said “We’ll see.” I was a little nervous about the availability of the campground near the palace as it is a weekend, and one of the major tourist attractions in the country. We swung into the campground first to find it empty except for a German couple, the office was closed but the Germans told us they would come by in the evening and collect our money.
The Dukes of Courland who are responsible for building the Palace.
It was pretty busy at the palace but we managed to squeeze into the bus parking lot. It was a short walk over, and the initial impression of the palace was good. It is much bigger than I expected with a very large courtyard just what you expect from a palace.
The main entrance and the large courtyard leading to it.
After Latvia was conquered by the Russians in 1795 the palace was taken over by a rich Russian family until WWI. This area was taken by the Germans early in WWI and it spent the war years as a hospital and headquarters for the German army. During the civil war at the end of WWI in which Latvia gained its independence part of the palace was burned. After independence most of the palace was used as a school and part was converted to apartments for war veterans. It continued to function primarily as a school until 1978 after Latvia was absorbed into the Soviet union. In 1972 the local communist government decided to restore the palace and work continued on it until Latvia gained its independence. After independence the work continued under the new Latvian government until the palace was declared fully restored in 2014.
One of the rooms was left in its un-restored condition which we found fascinating, to see how much work went into the restoration of the palace.
While it is not Versailles it is an immense building with imposing and ornate rooms. If the intent of these palaces is to project an image of power, it certainly does that.
One of the waiting rooms in the palace. The ceiling art was done by Italian artists brought over from Florence.
But every time we walk thru one of these all I can think about is the operating costs. The staff to maintain the hundreds of rooms had to be huge. In a northern climate the cost of heating the place would have been incredible.
The Dukes bed, note the two porcelain fire places on either side of the room.
Besides the palace there is a “French Garden” in the rear that is also ornate and immense. A large part of the garden is covered in ornamental bushes and stately rows of trees. A smaller part of the garden is geometric with small ornamental bushes and flowers planted. The flowers today were almost all Tulips as the roses have not yet bloomed.
Part of the formal gardens in the back of the palace.
We spent a pleasant couple of hours wandering thru the palace and the gardens. The exhibitions were really well done, and the computer displays explaining the contents of the rooms were well designed and informative. We caught it on a day with magnificent weather, probably the first day on this trip that I would describe as warm. But in the end when I asked Ton if it was up to the standards of Versailles, she said it was very nice, but not close to Versailles.
This was on the river in Parnu, it is an old Viking weather station. We have seen versions of it in Alaska where it is called an old Native American weather station. It is quite funny. The bottom board is in English.
Last night we were talking that although we have been following the coast of the Baltic Sea for the last week we have not really seen it so we decided today was going to be our day to get a look at the Baltic Sea.
Nice turn of 20th century building from Parnu.
We choose the city of Parnu to be our window to the Baltic Sea. Neither one of us had heard of it, but we read it was the beach resort of choice for Tallinn. A google search said it had a nice 2 kilometer beach. Furthermore it had a well reviewed campground in town so our destination for today was set.
A nice tree lined avenue leading to the beach.
When we woke Ton asked how the washer and dryer looked here, and when I told her they looked nice and modern, out start south was delayed by 3 hours to get a load of laundry done. Every day we get the laundry done is a good day for Ton.
Parnu was full of nice well preserved wooden buildings from the 1800’s.
We were finally on the way by noon but we covered the 120 kilometers in a little over an hour as the traffic was quite light. The only thing of interest on the drive was the high volume of military vehicles heading North. It looks like the Estonian army has been doing some kind of joint exercise with the British as while the majority of vehicles were Estonian a few were British.
Another nice building on the pedestrian promenade.
After settling in to a river front campground we headed to the old town. The old town was about 8 by 5 blocks, with a pedestrian promenade thru the middle. While it was small it was very quaint and looked prosperous. Parnu has managed to keep a lot of the wooden buildings that used to be a hall mark of Estonian architecture and many of them have been converted to pretty posh restaurants.
Nice Italian restaurant in a couple of wooden houses with the towns Lutheran Church in the background.
After spending 45 minutes or so investigating the old town we headed to the beach. The walk to the beach was on a beautiful tree lined road lined with stately homes, apartments, and schools. Most of them looked to come from around the turn of the 20th century.
Part of the pedestrian street in the old town.
The beach is as good as any we have seen in Europe. It is about 400 meters wide and a couple of kilometers long. The water is supposed to warm up quite nicely in the short summer here because the bay it is located on is quite shallow. One of the symbols of the town is an elephant for reasons we did not find out, so there are several statues of elephants in the beach.
An elephant on the beach.
The last thing I want to comment on is how tall Latvians and Estonians are. Ton has spent the last week pointing out how many of the women here are taller than me. (I am 5’10). Today we came across group of 12 late high school or university students. The shortest male was around 6’2 and the rest were 6’4 to 6’6. All of the women were 6′ to 6’2″. Apparently Latvians are the tallest people in the world, but the Estonians can’t be far behind.
Visit Parnu, you won’t regret it. Watch out for all of the tall people.
Ton had made a nice list of places to visit today in Tallinn, so we were off early. The train in from the campground took about 1/2 hour and we both got senior discounts so our round trips were €3.80 each. It was a much more modern train than the one in Lithuania, both quieter and faster between stations.
Freedom Monument dedicated to Estonia leaving the Soviet Union.
The Baltic States are my first experience of countries that had been under the direct rule of the Soviet Union. We have traveled in most of the countries that found themselves behind the Iron Curtain after WWII, and they were interesting and the influence of the Soviet Union can be felt. But the Baltic States were actually part of the USSR after WWII.
Usually the walls of any Christian Church will be covered in saints, the stations of the cross, or scenes from the bible. Under the Soviets a lot of churches were converted to other uses, and the religious paintings were painted over as in this church.
Of the 3 countries Estonia seems to have moved the farthest away from its Soviet past. A lot of the Soviet era buildings have been removed and replaced with more modern buildings. The concrete block apartments are not as bleak here and the housing in the countryside looks prosperous. Incomes in Estonia are about 20% higher than the other two. Lithuania to me felt the most unchanged. The countryside had a gray feeling with many of the farm houses bare stone or concrete. The apartment blocks look unappealing, and a lot of the old factories are rotting. Having said that Lithuania has the biggest population and the biggest GDP. Lithuania and Latvia have lost population with a lot immigration to other parts of the EU. Estonias population has stayed the same, but it still the smallest of the three.
A section of Tallinn undergoing gentrification.
Tallinn has been a successful port town for hundreds of years and the prosperity shows thru in the old town. It feels a lot like the German cities further west. It’s history roughly parallels Riga’s with the same succession of conquerors, but the people speak a non-slavic language related to Finnish.
Riga had the “Three Brothers”, Tallinn has the “Three Sisters”. Also buildings representing German, Swedish,and Russian architecture connected together.
Riga and Tallinn seem to have a friendly rivalry with both claiming some of the same accomplishments. Tallinn says they had the first public display of a Christmas Tree, but Riga makes the claim of having the first public display of a decorated Christmas Tree.
The door to the house of the Blackheads in Tallinn. Riga has one too.
There are not as many churches in Tallinn as in Riga, Catholicism was the primary religion in Riga, while here it was Protestant, and of course both cities had sizable Orthodox communities after 200 years of Russian rule.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the main Orthodox Church in Tallinn.
We enjoyed our self guided tour of Tallinn and ended it by treating ourselves to a lunch at the same restaurant as we had eaten in Riga. The food was equivalent, but it cost more in Tallinn, we really like Lido restaurants and will miss them when we leave Estonia and Latvia.
This is called St. Catherine’s Passage. The town walls in Tallinn are largely intact.
What is interesting about both cities is that while they are both Baltic Sea towns the sea is not in sight from the old town. Walking around you do not feel the influence of the port in the old town.
We have been having a small issue with François. The sensor in the gray water tank has gone bad. We had it worked on in Krakow, they cleaned it and the tank and for a couple of days it was ok, and then started to malfunction again. It is not a big problem as the sensor is only there to tell you when the gray water tank is approaching 100% of capacity, that is never a problem for us, and in 6 years we never allowed it to get too full. The problem is that the way it tells you it is full is by an annoying beep. Over the length of the trip it has been falsely telling us the tank is full once or twice per day by beeping at us. We had decided to ignore it until we could schedule François into a service center a the end of the trip, or the beginning of the next one and had learned how to sleep thru a single stray beep in the middle of the night.
But last night it started to go off over and over. Around 3 am it began beeping every 15 minutes or so keeping us both from sleeping. I finally got up and looked for a service place in Riga, but I could not find one. I then looked in Talinn Estonia and found a place. Around 5 am with the alarm still beeping every 15 minutes or so, I sent them an email and explained the problem and told them we were on the way. We were on the road by 7am and arrived after an easy drive on quiet roads in Talinn at 11:30.
I discussed the problem with the service manager of the dealer, and said if he could not fix the sensor, could he at least silence the alarm so we could sleep at night. Then we asked him where we could get lunch as we had skipped breakfast to get on the road. He told us about a local restaurant nearby and told us to be back in 2 hours.
The restaurant he recommended was a small cafeteria in an office building. The food was good and inexpensive. After an hour and a half he emailed and told us the fix was done. When we arrived he said he did not have the part so he turned off the alarm. We were more than pleased, and headed happily down the road to a very nice campground in the country near Talinn.
We then both settled in for a nap for a couple of hours. Tomorrow we will be back in tourist mode and there will be pictures for the blog.
We had a late start to our day because we were advised by the campground that the rush hour for Riga went well into the 10 am hour. But by about 10:30 we decided to head into town to catch a “free” tour of Riga. The taxi ride during the tail end of rush hour was less than €5 so we probably should have left a little earlier.
The Freedom Monument was dedicated after Latvia got its independence from Russia in 1920. The Soviets allowed it to remain standing after they absorbed Latvia back into Russia in 1944.
The free tour started at the house of the black cats. The house was across from the main trade guild hall in Riga, and was owned by a wealthy Latvian. He applied to join the guild but was rejected because at that time the guilds did not allow non-Germans to join. The elite in Riga was German for over 400 years, and the Latvians were excluded from most organizations. As a protest to being excluded from the guild despite having the means and the skill to join he attached two black cats to the gable of his home with their butts pointed at the guild hall across the street. This caused a lot of controversy and the matter ended up in court, the settlement was that the Latvian was allowed to join the guild and he pointed the heads of the cat at the guild hall.
One of the black cats whose butt now points away from the guild hall.
We enjoyed the tour, but what was most striking to us was how concerned the tour guide was about the current geopolitical situation. The story of the tour was effectively that the Latvian people who are native to the area have been under foreign rule for all but 50 of the last 700 years. The first were the Germans who conquered the area in 1300’s and ruled until the 1600’s when they lost out to the Swedes for about 100 years. In the 1700’s the Russians conquered Latvia and held it until the end of WW1. During this period the native Latvians were secondary players in their own land. For the period between the wars Latvia was ruled by Latvians for the first time. That period came to an end during WWII when Latvia was again ruled by the Russians for a short time, the Germans for a short time, and then the Russians for the next 50 years.
This block of building is known as the three brothers, the center one was built by the Germans, the one on the right by the Swedes, and the one on the left by the Russians. They encapsulate the history of Latvia in one block of buildings.
During WWII the population of Latvia was decimated. When the Soviet Union gained control in 1939, they exiled or executed the leadership of the independent Latvian state, when the Germans conquered Latvia in 1941 they eliminated the substantial Jewish population of Latvia, and finally when the Soviets were posed to reconquer Latvia at the end of WWII a substantial part of the population fled to Sweden to avoid being ruled by the Soviets. As a result Latvia was largely depopulated and a large number of ethnic Russians moved in to keep the economy moving after the war.
Street scene in Latvia.
When the Soviet Union broke up in 1990 Latvia regained its independence but with a population of ethnic Russians that is about 25%. To make the transition peaceful the Latvians agreed to allow the Russians to keep independent schools, so today the two populations are not well integrated and it is unclear where the ethnic Russians stand on Latvian independence versus integration with Russia.
The House of the Black Heads. A society for the unmarried and foreign merchants founded in the 1300’s. This is a recent reconstruction as the original building was destroyed in WWII.
Our guide was convinced that the only thing that will keep Latvia independent from Russia is a strong NATO and EU. They admit they are not strong enough to stop the Russians on their own so they are watching what is happening in the Ukraine with a great deal of trepidation as they fear they are next.
One of the Art Nouveau Buildings in Riga.
After the tour Ton wanted to visit the Art Nouveau part of Riga. Between the wars Riga was prosperous and underwent a building boom. That time coincided with the Art Nouveau style of architecture. One street survived the turmoil of WWII intact and has one of the best collection of Art Nouveau buildings in Europe. We went up and down the street looking at the intricate facades of these buildings with their faces and animals carved into them.
My personal favorite of the Art Nouveau Buildings.
Our last stop for the day was the Central Market. The Central Market was established in the 1930’s by converting two Zeppelin hangers that the Germans built during WWI when they had captured Riga from the Russians. (I forgot about that time Riga changed hands.)
The outside of the market shows the old Zeppelin Hanger that was converted for the market.
It is one of the largest central markets in Europe with five distinct halls. We wandered thru for a good while and emerged with oranges, lemons, and a local specialty of smoked sardines in oil.
The fish hall in the market. There are 4 other halls like this.
As we travel around we are always discovering local variations on things we take for granted. In Latvia and Lithuania we noticed that the store opening hour signs do not have the days of the week on them but instead the roman numerals I-VII. It turns out this is because of a quirk in the languages. In both languages the name for Monday is “First day of the Week”, Tuesday “Second day of the Week” etc. So the Roman numerals are shorthand for that linguistic quirk.
Once you know that day I is Monday the signs are easy to understand.
We were off early in the morning after a good nights sleep in François. Before setting off we found Trena to thank her for her help and the rides to the train station. If you are planning on a stay in the Vilnius area, make sure you head to Harmony Camping near Rudiskes. You won’t regret it.
One of our favorite places ever.
The drive north to Riga was a little over 300 kilometers, but I figured about 5 hours. We ended up on a good and quiet freeway for about half the way so we made better time than we expected. We were set up and looking across the river at the old town by 2:30, so we had a short discussion about heading over there. It is a little too far to walk, and the public transit isn’t so good where we are so we decided to save Riga for tomorrow.
Riga beckons just across the river from us.
The view out of the front of François is quite nice, but what we are not showing is the view to the rear. It is the place where all of the portable toilets for Riga are stored when not in use. It’s not always glamorous when you are traveling by RV.
The Yacht club in our Riga Camping and Yachting Club.
Our stay in luxury ended this morning. We woke up a bit early and headed down to our breakfast buffet before leaving for the train station to head back to François. After the hustle and bustle of Poland, Lithuania feels very quiet. As we were walking down one of the main roads in the capital we were once again struck by how little traffic there was. The train station was also pretty laid back, we had our tickets including a 70% discount for one of us for being over 70 and still had time to explore the station for 30 minutes before departing.
Our train was much more modern than the Soviet era train we took to Vilnius.
One of the services at our campground was a lift to and from the local train station. We sent Trena a message on WhatsApp and she told us that Laura would pick us up. It turns out Laura is Trena’s niece who recently returned to Lithuania after living in Scotland for 14 years. She moved to Scotland right after graduating from university, but she told us that despite the people in Scotland being really nice, she just did not feel like it was home. She said that she was surprised we chose Lithuania as a tourist destination as while it was home it was not that interesting in her opinion. When I told her that all of our friends who have visited here loved it, she told us she had goose bumps and that we had made her day.
Back at the appropriately named Harmony campground.
Laura told us that Trena was at church, and then was going to vote in an election so we would have the place to ourselves for a while. We did not mind as this place is really quiet, peaceful, and luxurious. The two dogs came and gave us the once over, before sitting down and asking to be petted. We settled in for a quiet afternoon listening to the cuckoo birds. I even took advantage of the television in the log cabin to watch some German soccer. Later in the day we were joined by a Swiss camper so we now have some neighbors to share the beauty with.
Part of the grounds of one our favorite campgrounds in all of our years of travel.
I can tell when Ton really likes a city, and she likes Vilnius. After yesterday she spent some more time reading about the city and this morning she handed me a long list of additional places she wanted to go to today. As the day went on I had to watch her as she was really absorbed in taking pictures and if I didn’t keep an eye on her I would lose her. Finally during the course of the day we walked over 6 miles and she never said a word about the distance. Today was a good day for her and for me.
I have a hard time getting Ton to pose for pictures. This statue is of Leonard Cohen who she is a big fan of and traces his roots to Vilnius. In this case she asked me to take a picture of her.
The first place on our list was St. Annes Church. Vilnius has 28 major churches in the old town, but St. Annes is considered the most beautiful. Napoleon was supposed to have said while invading Lithuania in 1812 he would like to take this church back to France with him. Instead he used it as an ammunition depot and prison causing significant destruction to the interior.
St. Annes Church, Napoleons favorite church outside of France.
The interior is interesting as it has two chapels, the small one faces the street, and the main chapel is entered from a courtyard. They are both pretty. All of the woodwork that made up the altar, nave, and confessionals were taken out by the communists, and the wall of the church were painted over. Fortunately, most of the woodwork was still in Lithuania after they gained their independence so the church has been pretty well restored. They are currently working on restoring the paintings on the walls.
All of the wood work and religious painting were removed during communist rule. They have been recovered and restored in the last 20 years.
The next stop on the list was the Gate of Dawn. This is the surviving city gates from the walls that used to surround the old town. It is famous for a statue of Mary which is now enclosed in glass. On our walk there Ton was taking many pictures and she remarked to me that it is nearly impossible to take a picture in Vilnius without having a church in it. She told me that it reminded of her hometown with Buddhist temples replacing the churches. Another plus for Vilnius.
One of the 28 Churches in Vilnius. This one is Orthodox.
As we were crisscrossing the town we came across a section of street with hundreds of small pieces of art attached to the walls along the street. This street is called Literati Street, and the section covered in art was done in the late 1990’s by over 100 Lithuanian artists, to honor over 100 Lithuanian writers. The art is inspired by the writing of the authors.
A wall on Literati Street covered with art inspired by Lithuanian Literature.
Ton wanted to return to the Uzupio Republic for some more pictures after we visited the Gate of Dawn. When I looked at the map I realized that the Republic was only a couple of hundred yards from St. Annes Church where we had started the day, but was nearly a mile from where we were. Fortunately Google picked a different route going back and she was so absorbed taking pictures that she didn’t notice we were back tracking.
Ton wanted a picture of this “Fresh Water” Mermaid from the Uzupio Republic. We had walked by it several times in the rain yesterday without noticing it.
We found some new areas to explore in the Republic, but after covering a few miles we decided to take a break. We picked a restaurant near the river. I ordered an excellent Lithuanian Dark Beer, and Ton had cold beet root soup which is a national staple of Lithuania. I was skeptical as I like neither cold soups or beets, but when it came I was pleasantly surprised how good it was. I also confessed that we were almost back to St. Annes and pointed it out to her.
The view from our restaurant with street art and a church, two of the things Vilnius is famous for.
Our last stop was near the market from yesterday to look at one of the huge street art pieces that Vilnius is proud of. When I put the address in we didn’t realize it was across from the market we had lunch in yesterday until we arrived. We hadn’t noticed it yesterday because of the rain, and it is 3 stories tall.
We missed this yesterday because of the rain.
We headed back to the hotel for a break. While I was resting Ton picked out another Lithuanian restaurant for us to try. She particularly wanted to get a potato dumpling dish that is called Zeppelin by the Lithuanians, because it looks like a Zeppelin. When we received the menu the listing for the Zeppelin said large portion, and they were not kidding. One Zeppelin, and a potato pancake had us both stuffed for the night.
More street art from Vilnius.
We had a great day wandering inefficiently thru Vilnius.
We wondered if anyone has ever been able to use this chair.
We received a notice that if we did not use the points on one of my hotel accounts soon we would lose them so we are in Vilnius in a nice comfortable hotel. The other reason we are here is the weather continues to be poor. Today it rained most of the day, and the low overnight is supposed to be around 30. So we left François at the campground with the heat set at the lowest setting in case it freezes and headed into Vilnius.
One of the 28 churches in Vilnius. The rain and clouds were with us until the evening.
After a short ride on an old train from the day when Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union we arrived at our modern hotel. It was before noon so we dropped our bags at the hotel and headed into town for a late breakfast/early lunch. The rain was coming down steadily and the temperatures are in the 50’s so the few people on the streets were just as bundled up and miserable looking as us. When we turned the corner we saw what looked like the town market hall so we headed into there to see if we could find some food.
The town market hall, built in 1906.
Ton happily explored the market looking at all of the vegetable stalls, and admiring the various pickled vegetables on offer as this is a specialty in Lithuania. We found an interesting restaurant that offered traditional Lithuanian food and Thai food together. We asked the owner about this unusual combination and she replied that Thai food is easy and I like it. We opted for her traditional Lithuanian food and we enjoyed it.
The border control for the Uzupio Republic is a tourist store.
Our next stop was the Uzupio Republic. It is a section of town across the river from the old town that as a joke on one April fools day declared itself an independent republic from the rest of Lithuania complete with a constitution, and currency that can only be used on April 1st to buy beer. The constitution includes a clause that says “Cats don’t have to like their owners, but they do have to be useful.”
The bridge into the Uzupio Republic.
Ton likes quirky stories like this so we spent about an hour in the Republic including a stop for a coffee and a shared piece of cake that looked like a strawberry tort, but was something else completely.
The Glass Quarter which was part of the Jewish neighborhood in old Vilnius.
We headed back to claim our room and take a break from the rain. After a couple of hours we headed out for a beer and a dinner. The rain had stopped and the sun came out. Without the rain the walk was fun, and more people were out and about and didn’t look miserable. We found a nice brewery that was packed with locals, we split a dinner which was plenty for the both of us. By now the sky was blue and we took an evening stroll, stopping for one more beer in the Glass Quarter before returning to the hotel at the very late hour (for us) of 9pm.
The Market Square at about 8:30 at night, right now sunset is around 9:30 pm.
We always intended this trip to be a combination of Poland and the three Baltic States. In Warsaw we had to make a decision whether to head west and finish Poland, or head north to the Baltic States. Once again we are starting to feel a little time pressure. While we don’t regret the extra week we spent in the Krakow area it has put a little strain on our plans. In the end we decided to head north to the Baltic States as we think we can hit the places we want to visit in western Poland on our way back to Amsterdam.
Harmony Camping. One of the best campgrounds we have ever seen in 12 years of RVing.
The drive north from Elk was uneventful on a nice brand new freeway in Poland. When we hit the Lithuanian border the freeway ended and the road became rougher. The last 100 kilometers were on back roads in Lithuania. We haven’t been on back roads much this trip, and we realized that you see a much different view of a country from back roads than you do from freeways or autobahns. The villages here looked very quiet, and the roads were very lightly traveled. It became clear that the roads between villages were funded differently than the roads in villages and towns. Between towns the roads were well paved and generally pretty new, once you passed into a town or village the pavement was much older, heavily patched, and a little narrower.
The owner of the campground opened this cabin to us, and built a fire to make us welcome.
The camping infrastructure in Lithuania is sparse. There are no campgrounds in Vilnius. I picked out a place about 40 kilometers from Vilnius based on the reviews. What a find! When we pulled in we were the only customers on an incredibly well manicured place with a beautiful log cabin. I got out and tracked down the owner who was busy with a grass trimmer. She welcomed us with a mixture of Lithuanian and Dutch with an occasional English word thrown in, but she did a good job of making herself understood. She is probably in her 70’s and recently widowed, she speaks Dutch because her husband was Dutch and founded the campground. She showed us around, opened up the beautiful cabin with a kitchen, dining room and sitting area and told us to make ourselves welcome. She then built a fire in the wood stove to make sure we were comfortable. We were wowed by the welcome and the service. We really wish we had a common language so we could express how incredibly impressed we are with this place and her help. What a great introduction to Lithuania.
We had a 250 kilometer drive today as we are moving north towards Lithuania. It was a little too far to make in one day, so we selected Elk as our stopover for the night. Looking at Elk on the map I envisioned a medium sized lake side community of about 10,000 people.
Copernicus with stones in the background modeling the solar system.
After a quick and smooth exit from Warsaw including a stop to give François a much needed wash we made great time on a brand new freeway heading north to Lithuania. The heavy truck traffic that has been ever present in Poland petered out a little north of Warsaw and it was pretty much smooth sailing. When we exited for Elk we were surprised to find ourselves in a busy commercial area. It turns out Elk is a good sized town of over 70,000 people. But the good news was that because of that they had a large and well stocked Lidl which we spent some time in.
The waterfront walkway has wood carvings of every Polish king back to 900 ad.
Our last surprise was when we pulled into the municipal campground it looked full. But we luckily got the last spot in the place. After settling in we took a walk along the lake front which is one of the main draws of Elk. They had a well developed waterfront and there was a very nice municipal park. The highlight was a line of wood carved statues of every king of Poland in history. We enjoyed our brief Polish history lesson as we ambled along the waterfront.
Yesterday we were a little underwhelmed by Warsaw, possibly because Ton was under the weather and without her list of places to see I am a little lost. We cut our losses and headed back early. As I said yesterday, Ton rested for the evening, and this morning she felt a lot better so we headed back into town.
The artificial palm tree in Charles de Gaulle roundabout is now a whimsical icon for the city. The ugly building in the background is the former headquarters of the Communist Party of Poland.
We got off the tram at Charles de Gaulle roundabout and the first thing we came across is a giant artificial palm tree. It was erected in 2002 to honor the Jewish population of Warsaw. One of the streets that feeds into the roundabout is Jerusalem street which led to the old Jewish Quarter. The artist had visited Jerusalem and was impressed with the number of palm trees in the city. This inspired her to erect the artificial tree as a temporary street art exhibit. It split the community with many people liking it and many hating it. But the people who liked it won the rest of the city over by showing up one January weekend for a beach party in the center of the roundabout complete with bathing suits and beer.
The Copernicus Statue near the University of Warsaw. The Nazi’s stole the statue and shipped it back to Germany during WWII.
We decided to stroll down Nowy Swiat (New World)street, which is the main street leading to the old town. At the beginning of the street is the building that used to be the communist party headquarters in Poland. After the fall of the communist government the Poles showed their disdain for communism and sense of humor by converting it to the first stock exchange in the new capitalist Poland. It is now an office building but it still hosts one of the major banks in Poland.
The altar of the Church of the Holy Cross.
Our first stop was at the Church of the Holy Cross. It is a nice Catholic Church with a pretty interior. At one time the composer Chopin was the organist at the church. Chopin is another national icon of Poland. The main reason we visited the church is because Chopin’s heart is buried in the church.
The monument in the church that honors Chopin and shows where is heart is buried.
Unlike yesterday we began to appreciate Warsaw as we strolled down the street. The University of Warsaw is located just off the street and the students were out in force giving a positive energy to the crowd on the street. There were a lot of elementary and middle school groups on their end of the year school trips that also brought a good energy. The sun came out as we walked and Ton felt a lot better than yesterday. So we enjoyed ourselves.
We enjoyed the energy on Nowy Swiat Street.
As we were leaving the market square we saw a sign for a tea shop which offered over 120 types of tea. It said it was located in the basement, and it looked interesting to me, (though I was hoping they also offered coffee). We headed in on the spur of the moment and it was a great experience.
Our tea and a really atmospheric place to drink it.
We both ended up ordering teas (no coffee), and they were carefully prepared and meticulously served. We didn’t realize when we ordered them that we were ordering pots of tea, because the price made us think we were ordering cups of tea. We ended up sipping on our tea for about an hour as our pots seemed bottomless, but the tea was delicious.
The mermaid of Warsaw.
The coat of arms of Warsaw features a mermaid armed with a shield and sword. Apparently, no one really knows why. So the locals have made up a legend for the mermaid. The mermaid is a fresh water mermaid (Polish has different words for fresh water and salt water mermaids.) She swam up the Vistula and when she got to the old town she liked the place. But she didn’t like the fishing nets so she began to create currents and waves in the water to free the fish. When the fishermen went to capture her she charmed them with a song so they left her alone. But a rich merchant decided to capture her and put her on display. The fishermen of the city rescued her, and since then she has taken up arms to protect Warsaw.
The market square in Warsaw was completely rebuilt after WWII when it was destroyed.
Yesterday we had walked by a restaurant that we wanted to try. Ton has been looking for cabbage rolls since we arrived in Poland, but apparently they are not as popular with Poles as they are with Polish-Americans as we have not found a lot of restaurants that feature them. This restaurant had them on the menu so we headed over for lunch today. I ordered the Schnitzel that was the daily special for about $12. But when Ton ordered her cabbage rolls they said they were out, so she settled for Goulash. My Schnitzel arrived and it was the biggest pork cutlet I had ever seen. Tons Goulash was also immense. In addition we had a big bowl of sauerkraut and two giant dill pickles given to us as appetizers. We didn’t come close to finishing our meals, and ended up skipping supper.
My giant pork Schnitzel.
Sometimes first impressions are wrong. Today Warsaw won us over and we really enjoyed ourselves. We are both glad we gave it a second chance.
Another photo of the Barbacan and city walls with mostly sunny skies. The sign for our restaurant with the giant portions is in the upper left corner.
We slept in a bit as it would only take about 45 minutes by bus and tram to get into the old town. We were not sure what to expect as Warsaw is a largely rebuilt city. It had the misfortune in WWII to have been one of the cities that received the most damage during the war, it was essentially leveled. Warsaw was subject to three different attacks by the Germans. When they invaded in 1939 the Poles retreated into Warsaw and then held the Germans off for about 30 days, the Germans did considerable damage then. In 1943 the remaining Jews in the Ghetto in Warsaw rebelled and decided to fight rather than go off to the concentration camps to be liquidated. The Germans leveled the Ghetto. In 1944, the Polish Home Army (resistance), rebelled when the Red Army of the Soviet Union was only about 20 kilometers from liberating Warsaw. The Home Army was mostly Nationalist, and anti-communist, so the Red Army cynically stopped and allowed the Germans to destroy the Home Army and the Nationalists who made it up. This pretty much completed the destruction of Warsaw.
One of the many plaques you see commemorating Polish resistance fighters. This one shows the location where 30 Poles from the resistance where executed by the Germans during the Warsaw uprising in 1944.
The center of the city is nice, but lacks the character of the older cities that did not undergo the destruction that Warsaw did. The Poles are very religious compared to other countries in Europe, but many of the churches that were central to the culture of Warsaw were not rebuilt by the communists until many years after the war if at all.
This church was rebuilt in the 70’s. Only two of Warsaw’s original churches survived WWII relatively intact.
We stopped in a coffee shop that had an interesting take on the history of Warsaw. The street the coffee shop is on was the center of the cafe culture of Warsaw before WWII. After the war this particular shop was allowed to continue by the communists as a coffee shop, but as coffee was considered a luxury item, there were significant constraints on how it could be brewed. It was interesting reading as I waited in line for my excellent coffee today.
This was an interesting statue in front of the remnants of the old city walls. It depicts a young girl in a helmet and carrying a sub-machine gun. This statue is to commemorate the younger children a lot of them boy and girl scouts who acted as messengers for the Polish Home Army during WWII.
The main square has the recently rebuilt Royal Palace. The original palace was completely destroyed during the last battle of Warsaw in 1944. Initially the post-war communist government refused to allow it to be rebuilt, as obviously a Royal Palace was not in keeping with a communist government. The government finally bowed to popular opinion in the late 70’s and the reconstruction began mostly funded by Poles living outside the country, though local Poles did contribute.
The Royal Palace is the building on the right, it was rebuilt beginning in the 1970’s.
We had a relatively short day as Ton is struggling with her allergies and the pollen is out. When we got back we saw our new neighbors who had British plates. Their dog was quite friendly and leaped inside François to check things out. They were quite embarrassed, but we thought it was funny. It turns out they are an Australian/Lithuanian couple who live in London, along with the Australians mom who is a Maori from New Zealand originally. They were quite charming and I had a nice talk with them while Ton fought off her allergies in François.
This cool clock with the signs of the zodiac above each number was on a building in the old town of Warsaw.
After spending the longest time we have ever spent in one campground it was time to move on. Tomak and his family at Kluczwoda Camping made us feel more than welcome while we were there and we highly recommend it as a place to base for a visit to Krakow.
After a little adventure getting out of Krakow because Greta again insisted on routing us on the unfinished S31 thru town. By the time we got Google involved we spent about 20 minutes wandering thru skinny suburban Krakow roads, until we found route 7 heading towards Warsaw. The rest of the trip was a breeze on a brand new freeway, and we arrived at Wok Camping on the edge of Warsaw, which is another nice campground.
Ton began to prepare our evening meal, and I decided to head down to the Vistula River as it was nearby to see what I would see. It was a short walk and I arrived at a very crowded beach on the river. It was about 80 degrees today, and a large crowd was enjoying the last day of the holiday week, and unfortunately the last good day for a while. We thought we were done with the heater, but the highs are going to drop back into the 50’s and the lows into the 30’s for a few days.
Downtown Warsaw in the background, this small ferry was shuttling people to an island in the middle of the river.
Having accomplished my goal of finding the river and the bus stop for tomorrows ride into the city center, I headed back to François. The rest of the afternoon consisted of a nap and a bit of movie watching.
Today we prepared to get on the road again. After 12 nights in the campground in Gacki we are going to hit the road again. The campground emptied out early today with many of the Polish families heading home after their week off. We returned the Corolla in the morning and took an Uber back to the campground. We spent the rest fo the day taking care of chores.
My new shaved head.
Ton decided my hair was getting too fuzzy. I thought she was going to clean up my neck, so I handed her the clippers without a guard on. The next thing I new I had the shortest haircut I have had since Officers Candidate School. Ton says she likes it.
We planned a short trip into the foothills of the Tatra Mountains for today. Our time in Krakow is coming to an end. This is our longest period in one place in our time traveling in Europe. Because of that we have been able to visit some smaller places that we definitely would have missed on our normal travels, and Lanckorona is one of those places.
The church in Lanckorona.
Lanckorona is famous for having 4o traditional wooden homes from the 19th century. The home were all built in about 1869 after a large fire had wiped out the village. It is a small hilltop community overlooking a valley with views of the peaks of the Tatras Mountains.
Lanckorona is also known as the city of Angels. So a lot of the tourist shops sold different types of angels.
It was a nice drive up into the mountains, and the main roads were flowing smoothly without the truck traffic that had been clogging them up all week. On the other hand the parking lots for the town were quite full, and we were lucky to get the next to the last one in the lot next to the town hall.
When we got to the market square the first stall we saw was selling these delicious goodies. Grilled smoked cheese wrapped in bacon with a homemade raspberry preserve. After only 5 minutes I liked Lanckorona.
Today is Constitution Day in Poland and it is a bigger holiday than Labor Day so all of the stores are closed. Tomak from the campground explained that Labor Day is a holiday associated with communism so it is not as popular here as in other countries in Europe, he said that the only reason it is still a holiday is that Poland joined the EU on May 1. When we arrived the local high school band was just wrapping up a concert in the square to celebrate Constitution Day.
A Madonna and child painting from the local church.
After a quick turn around the market square to check out the stalls offering stuff for Constitution Day we headed up to the church. Ton directed me to read the history board about the church while she headed to the front door. I heard the organ in the church playing so I assumed there was a Mass going on, so I wandered around the grounds of the church trying to find Ton. I finally stuck my head into the door of the church after a few minutes only to find Ton standing there by herself. She told me that the organist had been practicing when she went in so she got to enjoy the organ by herself.
A more modern Madonna and Baby Jesus from the same church.
While I was circling the church I had seen a steady stream of people going up the hill on a well developed walking path. After we left the church I told Ton we should go see where everyone is going. She looked skeptically at the rather steep trail and wanted to know what is up there. I took a look at google maps and it was an old castle. Ton reluctantly went along with my idea. After a short but very steep climb we came to the ruins of an old fort from the 1600’s that had been destroyed during an invasion of Poland by the Swedes in the late 1700’s.
Part of the fort.
The climb was a pretty good one and in the end the grounds to the castle/fort were closed while a new bridge and walkway were being constructed. So we took one picture to prove we had made the climb and then headed back down to town.
Part of the crowds heading up the hill to the Fort/Castle.
After our climb we decided to reward ourselves with a beer. We saw what looked like a small cafe and went in. What wasn’t obvious from the road is that the cafe had an immense garden eating area behind it. It was one of the nicest cafes we have seen on this trip. We got a table in the garden and I went back inside to get the beers, when I got to the head of the line I got a yogurt with a Mango Puree on the spur of the moment.
One of the wooden houses fronting the market square.
We took some time savoring our beers and yogurt while doing some really good people watching. When we were finishing the yogurt Ton suggested I go get us another desert which I did, this time a cheese cake. We continued with our people watching for a while, and then headed back to the Corolla for a pleasant drive back to the campground and an early evening chilling in François.
Today was not a day for tourism. Last night just as I finished up the blog we got an alarm on the control panel of François. The fault said that our gray water (waste water) tank was full. I knew that was not true, but went out and verified that it was the opposite of full, basically dry. A quick google check showed there was a Knaus dealer in town. I sent a text to see if it would be possible to get in, not expecting an answer, remember the country is on vacation this week. Surprisingly someone texted me right back and we were able to get an appointment for this morning. During the night the alarm went off several more times, for a problem that is not a problem. But it is very good at disturbing your sleep.
We were off bright and early and were met by an English speaking person who turned out to be the person I was texting with. He said he was going on vacation this morning, but would explain the problem before he left. We were then led to a very nice waiting room and told to wait. 2 hours later the technician came and got us and pantomimed that the gray tank was very dirty and that caused the sensor to fault. The explanation was very unclear, but friendly. They did their best, but I didn’t really understand what they had done to fix the problem. But in the end he showed that the readout for the gray tank said 0%, not 100%. They then handed me two bottles of gray water tank cleaner, and I think told me to use them the next time we fill the gray tank. After settling the not unsubstantial bill we were on our way.
After lunch in the campground, we decided that today was going to be a chore day. Our first stop was Leroy Merlin which is the French version of Home Depot. It is also very popular in other parts of Europe. We picked up a few things for François there, and then walked over to the mall which was adjacent. The mall was like all malls over the world, but had a great deal of American products, like Levis, Wrangler, Nike, Columbia, basically every major American clothing brand.
Our very full campground.
When we arrived here one week ago we were the only customers for two nights. The place is now jammed with tents, trailers, and RV’s crammed in every nook and cranny. We spent the rest of the day watching people carefully maneuver their vehicles into position in the campground. Tomak and his mother are certainly earning their pay this week.
By the way as I was typing this the alarm went off again. So another trip to the Knaus dealer is in our future.
Today is Labor Day in Poland (and most of the world). 5 days ago we were the only guests in the campground, today it is jammed with mostly Polish families enjoying the week of holidays. The owner Tomak looked pretty hectic today, he told me he was playing Tetris with campers. European campgrounds are much less regimented than US ones. Delineated spaces are the exception rather than the rule, so when times are quiet you have a lot of room, and when times are busy, there is always room for one more if you are creative.
The entrance gate to the old town in Krakow.
For the first time in our week in Krakow we drove somewhere without running into at least one traffic jam, so we were downtown in a hurry. We got to our go to parking lot near the old town, and there was only one space left. I managed to squeeze into the spot with Tons help from outside the car.
Polish flags were everywhere, due to there being three holidays in three days, today is Labor Day, tomorrow is Flag Day, and Friday is Constitution Day.
Tomak had advised us to go to the underground museum at the Cloth Building in the Market Square. In 2005 and 2006 there had been a major archaeological dig in front of and under part of the Cloth Building. Since people have a tendency to build on top of the existing stuff, quite often over centuries the current “ground level” can be 15 or 20 feet higher than the true one. This museum shows the different levels of construction under what you currently see at the Market Square.
A photo from 2005 showing the dig in Market Square. The underground museum walks you thru the old sites you see in the foreground.
It was interesting to see the evolution of the city from underground. The museum does a good job of explaining what drove the new construction as well as explaining the difference in construction techniques and materials over time. There is also extensive displays of artifacts found during the dig as this area has been a center of activity for over 800 years there was a lot to find in the dirt.
A section of the old surface of the market square.
After the museum we headed over to a Brewery near the old town that I had been looking forward to since we arrived. The beer turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, but once again we really enjoyed the food. Ton had borscht and baked duck, and I had goulash in horseradish sauce. So far we have been really enjoying Polish food.
Tons baked duck with potatoes and baked peaches, she really enjoyed it.
Our last stop for the day was Jagiellonian University. It is the first university in Poland and has been in operation since 1364. It is also one of the oldest universities in the world still in operation. Nicolas Copernicus studied here and is the most famous graduate.
A statue to Copernicus placed during the 500th anniversary of the University.
We made one more pass thru the square to do some people watching before heading back to the campground.
Known by the locals as “The Head” it is officially named Eros Bendato. The placement here was controversial, but it is now a big tourist attraction and meeting place.
