Lithuania 🇱🇹 and Latvia 🇱🇻
Written on September 30th, 2022 by Renan Greca
I have to say in advance that the last leg of the long-ass trip of July 2021 was not as interesting as what came before. Let’s be honest — we went to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to scratch them off our EU/Schengen maps more than anything. Well, at least those countries are small and relatively quick to visit.
Lithuania
We flew from Warsaw to Vilnius and I cannot, for the life of me, remember what that airport looks like. I also don’t remember if we took a bus or taxi to the hotel, which is located right next to the city’s main train station. What I do remember was that Lithuania was surprisingly strict with covid regulations and we had to quickly fill in an online form before boarding the flight. The airline personnel was a bit annoyed — but everything worked out.
Our hotel was on the fifth floor, if I recall correctly, and on the floor beneath it there is a cheap 5€ hostel. This surely caused some discomfort on the elevator rides, as we crossed paths with some folks that looked anything but friendly. That said, we didn’t have any problems with our stay and even managed to do our laundry in a washing machine that was available at the hotel. Remember kids, when taking trips for more than two weeks, plan your laundry days in advance!
The city center was definitely nicer than the area surrounding the train station, but nothing extraordinary. As usual per European cities, there are some churches to see, some historical buildings and whatnot. If you’re spending a day in town, the mandatory spot to visit is Mount Gediminas, a hill right next to the historical center with a medieval tower built upon it. It provides a great view of the city together with some history about the place. You can climb up by foot, or pay a small fee to ride the small funicular (one way or both ways, as you prefer).
One of the most unique attractions in Vilnius is the Vilnius-Lublin Portal, which was inaugurated during the pandemic. It’s a collaboration between the universities of Vilnius and Lublin (Poland) and is essentially a live stream video feed placed in both cities. The idea is to bring people together in a period of necessary distancing. It’s fun to walk by it and wave to the people on the other side; and at night it glows strongly in front of Vilnius’ train station.
On our second day, we used the CityBee app to get a car rental paid per minute. With the VW Golf, we drove for about 40 minutes towards Trakai, a village located between lakes. The main sight there is Trakai Castle, which is located in a small island connected by pedestrian bridges. That’s not really why we went there; Debo really wanted to try the local snack, kibinu. It’s quite similar to the empanadas we get in Latin America, but I can’t complain — it was great!
You can also reach Trakai by train. We opted for the car because the train schedule was a bit inconvenient and, considering we would need six tickets (two for each person), the price difference was minimal.
Finally, when we were done with Vilnius, we went to a local mall to eat — for some reason I always like checking out malls in different countries to see what kinds of shops they have (and to see what’s expensive and what’s cheap!). The surprising thing about Akropolis Vilnius is that its food court is built around an ice hockey rink, so you get to watch the kids practicing or even pro matches while you dine.
Latvia
We took a bus ride from Vilnius to Riga, with a front-row seat to observe the… well, rather boring Lithuanian countryside. Riga itself fared better though, and was certainly fun to walk around in. Its primary feature is the five or six sharp towers that populate the skyline; some are churches, but the city and national government buildings also fit into that architectural style.
Even though Riga is right next to the Baltic sea, it’s not really a coastal city; instead, it’s built around the Daugava river. At the Latvian Academy of Sciences, you can reach the terrace and get a panoramic view of the city, including its historical and modern parts.
Other spots worth checking out are the Lavian National Opera, the Town Hall, the Cat House, the Dome Square, and the houses known as Three Brothers. Riga’s historic center is very small and walkable, so all this can be done in a single afternoon.
Also in Latvia we took a short-term car rental to visit some towns and castles in the vicinity of Riga. Our first stop was the Castle of Sigulda, which are well-preserved ruins from the 13th-century. Aside from the ruins themselves, the place is worth visiting because it has a privileged view of the Gauja river, around which we can observe three other castles from different periods (it’s all explained in the signs there).
One of those is Turaida Castle, which can easily be reached by driving only 5 or so minutes from Sigulda. Aside the castle itself, the visit was worth our time due to the park that surrounds it, which is full of nature and also includes an open-air sculpture museum.
We then headed to Cesis, which was actually our main objective that day. Cesis is a slightly larger town in the Gauja river region, and of course has a castle of its own. The castle is made into a nice touristic destination by the medieval enery going on — all the museum workers are dressed in period clothes and there are stalls showing some of the foods and techniques that were available at the time.
The medieval experience is hightened when we visit the castle’s basement using only a candle lantern as a light source. On the upper floor there is a projection room that shows a movie illustrating the history of the castle; it’s not just projected in a flat screen, rather it is seen all around the cyllindrical shape of the tower. Right outside the castle grounds, there was a street fair going on, with people showcasing their local food products and handcraft.