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The town, in fact all of Lithuania is quiet, we find out it is a public holiday, although the restaurants are open, and this city is full of them, as this is one of those cities where stag and hen parties we thought we would see a few, and we do, as the booze is cheap. The local people are known to not be the most forgiving, but most that I saw took it all with good hearts, after all guysd in pink morph suits and girls dressed up, they have, I wonder what they think of the Brits? and the Americans come to that. We also see a lot of High end cars even a new Rolls Royce, this is a City on the up, maybe not all legit, (even the town guide admits to that), but it is only fraud they are into??. We try the local fare and plan the next two days, over a beer it will be one in the town itself and one at Trakai Castle about 25K away.
7th July
We decide to have an admin day first, I clean the bike, it is covered in Big big flies, I use bottles of water, some chrome cleaner and polish I have carried, this takes about three hours in the searing heat, and Jack does the banking and some washing. All clean and shiny, and a few chats with the other Hotel guests, why is it the old men have always owned a BSA??.
We take a walk through the old town it is beautifully looked after, there is a small amount of graffiti but not as much as some of the other places we have been through, we visit the KGB museum, which gives us a real incite into this little county, which has been oppressed so many times over the past centuries. No wonder they are so proud of where they come from, even the cop cars carry the national flag! It also makes us reflect on how little we know about some of these countries. The people are welcoming, and the atmosphere is friendly, they are quite forward thinking, every hotel, bar etc has free wifi, and it seems fast, why not the home?, there are a few drunks and men of the road about, but no more than the UK, after a beer in the main square we plan our next routes to Latvia and Russia, then meal and bed, oh I hear Andy Murray has won wimbledon.
8thJuly
Trakai Castle, this is castle on an island about 20k from Vilnius, and is an important site for the country, so off we go, on the bike a bit worried about leaving the helmets, oh, we get lost on the way, even though we passed it coming into Vilnius. Still saw some signs and we got there, it is heavily geared up for tourists, paid parking everywhere, as we pass down the little old towns main road, a one legged old lady in a wheel chair waves at us to stop, and in her own language, I guess its Lithuanian, we get the jist that she wants us to use her garden to park in, its a pound for the day, the bike is safe off the road, and being guarded by a one legged old woman!! duly locked up, she even offers her house to put the helmets in, how good is that? happy the bike is safe, we wander to the most fabulous castle we have seen in long while, it is on its own island surrounded by calm lakes, quite idilic, we do the tourist thing and get to know even more of this country and its heritage, after a break and an hours boating on the lake, we have had a nice day, now it is back to the hotel,(we don't get lost!) to pack ,cool down and go over the routes again. At the moment the bells in the churches have gone a bit mad, (this city has some 35 places of worship of all denominations and all beautifuly looked after), still tomorrow we move on to Latvia.
This has been a real treat visiting this country and much more than we expected.
- comments
Mr Charles Wild Martin Mum says this is a jolly good blog!!! we have taken a real interest in your travels and we are glad you have had an interesting and enjoyable time Mum and Dad
Lynn Hi Jackie and Martin, sounds like your having a marvellous time apart from as you say " a few hiccups". I'm very jealous of the places you are going to and have seen, expecially Russia !!!. The pic's are fantastic and tell a storey of their own. We are all ok at home, have been sorting Sean out ready for China, he is possibly going on about the 10/08/13, so watch this space. Keep enjoying you holiday and look after yourselves. Love Lynn