We left at the crack of dawn, meaning I spent my birthday shattered thanks to the 4.30am start, but its worth the pain entirely - three hours later thanks to Wizz Air, we landed safely in Lithuania and were greeted with a huge expanse of white - snow from hilltop to highway well and truly. Prior to booking the trip in January, we became a little apprehensive about our impending trip to the Baltics thanks to news of a Siberian ice front which swept across the regions. With temperatures of -27 we were hearing of all sorts of cold-related deaths, but thankfully when we arrived it settled down to a balmy -2 degrees. Tropical.
Brad had sussed out the public transport and we made our way to the centre by bus for some microscopic amount. We waited in the snow for half an hour for the bus, which is when we realised that Vilnuis wasn't quite as metropolitan as what we were used to. Urban city looks very poor and has such a miserable feel - that said, we had heard that Lithuanians were friendlier than their Latvian counterparts (who all need to take a serious dose of Vitamin B - glum, glum, glum). You couldn't get a smile out of an older person if you begged for it, but the youth seem somewhat more cheerful. Things are still very sensitive in these regions we learned, with the USSR only collapsing 20 years ago, the older generations have had much to be glum about.
We battled through the blizzard to our homely hostel which was lovely, made all the more better by a friendly man who spoke no English, but nattered away to us in Lithuanian despite the fact none of us had any idea what the other was on about. Miming and hand actions go a very long way though!
Eager beavers we dropped our bags, chucked a few more layers on (hard to believe it was possible) and set off to soak it all up. Vilnuis, although so poor, is also very pretty - particularly the Old Town, which is the largest Old Town in Europe and a Unesco World Heritage Sight. Napoleon was a huge fan of Vilnuis and raved senseless about it apparently. We can see his point! We wandered for hours, soaking up the sights, playing games in the snow and dodging the drug peddlers. We loved it, although you did get the feeling that if you so much as turned your back for two seconds we'd be sex trafficked out of there before you could say 'Taken'.
Food was a pretty prominent theme for us this week and we have quite literally, eaten ourselves sick each and every meal, resolving to start the diet when we're back in London. Our first meal was artery-clogging and if I go into too many details I might just be sick again. Deep fried bread to start covered in cheese (this was our first mistake), followed by a platter for three of creepy various regional dishes such as dumplings the size of a sparrow and fried mashed potato stuffed into an intestine casing. I know I'm prone to a touch of embellishment from time to time (motto being, never let the truth get in the way of a good story), but I swear on my 27 years we actually ate this crap!
We rolled out of the restaurant and kicked back into explorer mode, with me going as far as to suggest we walk across the frozen river (and we're talking the size of the Waikato River). It was all fun and games until I slipped on my arse and slid down the river bank, getting snow in places I would never wish upon my worst enemy. Time to go home we think! After the early start our only option was bed for an early night, but not before we turned on CNN for a news fix - a touch of home as memorial commemorations for the Christchurch Earthquake were covered.
We started our next day with breakfast in bed, as our brekkie was delivered to our room. Having not faced food since the potato disaster the day prior, we were a little apprehensive, but other than everything being incredibly, overly sweet it went off without a hitch. So with full bellies of bright pink yoghurt, we set off into the snow and sleet to explore some more, wandering through cobbled streets, slipping over occasionally due to the ice and just when we couldn't stay in the cold a second later, popping into a beautiful church to take refuge. Lithuania has two main religions - Lutheran and Orthodox and while all churches in Europe are beautiful, the Orthodox put on such an extravagant, colourful display it's hard not to be flabbergasted. A tad controversial perhaps when you consider the huge homeless problem in this region and contrast this with the gold-plated roof. As our tour guide in Latvia pointed out - God doesn't care whether your church is covered in diamonds, he just cares whether you're a good person.
After wandering over to the art district and stopping to have a good gawk at a farmers market, we decided we were in dire need of some good old hearty stodge. This time I went for my beloved borscht, which is a hot beetroot soup we fell in love with in Poland. Of course, the Lithuanians managed to make it slightly more unappetizing than the polish by chucking in chunks of fatty meat, but it still came as welcome relief given the previous day's potato fest, so we decided to tempt fate by ordering another two courses.
With sopping, frozen feet and being officially chilled to the bones, we ventured back to our hotel to take refuge with a nap and a good book, before heading out for a couple of hours exploring that evening, foregoing dinner for a Lithuanian chocolate bar or two from the local supermarket.
The next morning, after our neon pink yoghurt again, we set off for the bus station where we were Latvia-bound. The four and a half hour journey passed very quickly as we gazed out over the Lithuanian countryside spotting foxes, deer and the occasional bird of prey. Not to mention a few Snickers bars brought the night prior (this time sticking to the tried and trusted - we couldn't face another creepy Lithuanian dish and even the chocolate bars are that little bit odd).
As we crossed the border into Latvia, our first thoughts were that there seemed to be less snow as patches of grass were visible through the expanse of white and after navigating our way to the hostel and speaking with the owner, they confirmed this was the case. We had booked to go dog-sledding the next day, but because the ice was melting we decided to forgo the idea as rather than snowy, it was more muddy.
We had heard great things about Riga and it didn't disappoint. Our first stop was the Lido - a place we would visit every day we were there - and essentially is a large, Latvian, buffet-style restaurant where you can get more food you can cope with for about NZ$10. We had heard great things, but these were completely blown out of the water when we entered the restaurant. We split up, each one running around like a headless chook, unsure of what to do with ourselves. I dropped the ball the first time and was so overcome by choice I loaded up my plate with the first things I saw. Brad opted for an entire plate of meat - sausages, black pudding the size of an intestine, deep fried schnitzel etc. We ate ourselves sick again in 15 minutes, but not so sick that we couldn't head back to the dessert buffet for more. This place was amazing - you got to try absolutely everything and because each dish was only $1, what was the harm in trying it all!? Sufficiently full, we popped our explorer hats on and headed out to check out Riga, getting lost for hours, then finally finding our way to an amazing leather jacket shop, where we both picked up his and hers leather jackets!
That night we just relaxed at our amazing hostel, spread out on the couch watching the only English channels we could find, before getting a few much-needed loads of washing done.
The next day we were up like a shot and off to the very large Central Market, which was like something straight out of the 1980s and oh so Eastern-European! It was full of local produce, tacky boots and toys that looked like they were from the 1970s. The worst part was an entire meat hall, which stank of dead carcass and was chocka block full of various body parts! Ugh! After this we weren't in the mood for food whatsoever, but not ones to fly in the face of tradition, we set off back to the Lido for round two of the food binge and this time I opted for healthier options, sneaking the sly forkful of fried potatoes from Brad's plate!
Always keen for a walking tour, we joined one which focused on leaving the Old Town behind, heading out into the suburbs of Riga so you could really see how the locals live. Aside from the snow and cold, it was awesome and really gave us a great taste of what life would be like as a Latvian. Riga is famous for its art nouveau architecture and the buildings didn't disappoint, with each one prettier than the last. Like Lithuania, Latvia is also very poor, while the churches are grand and venturing out of the picturesque old town was one of the best things we could have done. The Jewish population was decimated during WWII and a mass murder took place in 1941, but rather than send the Jews to a concentration camp (too far away and too expensive to transport them) they packed 300 into the synagogue and burnt it to the ground, taking the thousands of others to big pits and shooting them all. It's just so hard to believe people are capable of such things.
The really interesting thing about Riga is the relationship with Russia. While 50 per cent of the people living in Latvia are Russians, the two cultures are not at all integrated and even have separate schools with each race not integrating with the other. Russia occupied Latvia for a number of years before 1941, and after the war. There was a brief period of three years during WWII in which Germany 'rescued' Latvia from Russia, paving the way for the Nazis to go about their brutal reign of terror. In fact, here's an interesting wee fact, the Latvians view the Nazis somewhat differently to the rest of the world and while they accept the genocide as horrific, they still celebrate the very controversial legion day every March 16th, which essentially celebrates the SS. It's quite controversial and they've received a lot of backlash about it - have a wee Google if you're bored.
The tour took us through the Moscow district, where people speak nothing but Russian, via what is known as the 'Black Market' - the creepiest market you've ever seen, where you can pick up a new phone, stolen from some poor sod the night before, for just 1 Lat! We also saw the former KGB headquarters where thousands were murdered.
After the tour we headed back to our hostel for a nap, restoring the body for a big night out in the Baltics. We joined a pub crawl which was leaving from another local hostel and immediately we formed a great crew - each one of us from a corner of the globe: Germans, Italians (including a Sicilian who gave us a thorough lesson in all things Mafia), English, Scottish, Canadian, Australian, American and a few Latvians for good measure. It was such a great night, bar-hopping and trying not to get stabbed by the creepy locals and we made some great new friends. Brad even managed to successfully start a round of 'Pole Dancing Olympics' in which all the guys took to a pole in one bar to represent their nationality. Brad did NZ proud!
The next morning, a little worse for wear, we set off for our beloved Lido once more and were blasted with blizzard like conditions which made Riga all the more beautiful. After another disgustingly large breakfast, we battled our way through the snow towards the Black Market, which we were keen to see up, close and personal. This was a surreal experience in itself and we've never felt so far away from home on account of this side of Riga belonging to an absolutely different side of the world entirely.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent battling the snow and soaking up the last of the Baltics, before calling it quits due to cold and instead opting to spend our last few hours cosied up at the hostel!
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment