Baltic Adventure

Mylene, Coenraad and Coemy joined us to travel for a week in the Baltic States. None of us had ever been before,so it was to be a bit of a surprise trip. We picked them up in Kaunas, Lithuania and headed north. The Baltic countries look poor compared to western Europe and the farming landscape dominates. Travel in all the Baltic states is pretty slow and they do not have many highways. Each state has its own currency, so it is a matter of ATMs and exchange rates all the time but things are definately a lot cheaper. Campsites are few and far between and not all quite up to western European standards. In the major cities the campsites were in the grounds of the expo centres and on a few occasions we ended up in the carparks of hotels and restaurants. Despite this and the rainy weather, we still managed to have a few great braais!
Of the 3 capitals, Riga in Latvia was our favourite, with great squares and architecture and a good cafe culture. Tallin, Estonia is bigger and more touristy.
In Villnius, Lithuania we rushed into town to watch the Bokke play rugby against the Aussies, but the only Irish pub had a faulty TV satellite! It was a Saturday and we were amazed by the number of weddings taking place. There were queues outside the churches,three weddings deep. It was quite extraordinary to see so many couples rushing around town in Limos, followed by retinues with still and video camera men following close behind.
We went cycling in Parnu and one of my favourite places was Jumala, a beach resort in Latvia.
The beer of course was good and cheap and we enjoyed sampling different foods. Perogies are dumplings with different fillings and in the market in Riga, we found something just like vetkoek and mince, and that made Coenraad's heart glad. City hopping is not much fun for a child, but Coemy was a little angel and very at home in the campervan.