Claubert & Gildia's Big Journey

The Curonian Spit (a.k.a Neringa) is a half island opposite the port of Klaipeda. The Northern half belongs to Lithuania, and the southern part is Russian. It's impressive dunes and forest landscape is a protected UNESCO world heritage site.



They are 4 fishing villages on the spit. The biggest and most touristic being the pretty Nida, near which are the biggest dunes. A nice day trip from our base in Smyltine, but we wouldn't recommend it for a stay, unless you don't mind hords of german geriatrics (nothing against our german friends :-)).





Smyltine, on the other hand, is empty: a decrepit yachting club, one restaurant and a rather nice hotel (where we stay). During the day, there is some activity due to the delphinarium, aquatic museum (quite ok for a rainy day), reconstructed traditional Lithuanian habitat open-air exhibit and the beautiful long sandy beach on the Baltic sea. It's also just a 7 minute ferry ride away from Klaipeda.

After a 8 hours night trip on the bus, we got to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. We found a great large private roof appartment in the old town, which compensated for the mostly overcast and rainy weather. But we can't complain as it was only the first time on our journey we had not so good weather conditions.



As a city, Vilnius can be described as excentric and cosy. Most cafes bear bizarre decoration even though the food is classically Middle European, i.e kraut, potato and sausages. Some streets have declared themselves an independent artist's republic, not to mention the weird Frank Zappa memorial. Besides these oddities, the usual stunning churches and old city (which, unlike Prag, Warsaw and Krakow, is not so touristy and displays some "normal" Lithuanian lifestyle).



Finally, we did a day trip to Trakai (30km from Vilnius), the ancient capital, built on a maze of ponds and canals. There are still some nice wooden houses and 2 "lake" castles, one of which totally renovated.

4 city visits in a row was enough, so we planned a stop on the Polish countryside to relax. We stayed in Mikolajki, a small village in north-east Poland's lake district.



The main activities are fishing, boat trips, hiking and cycling. We opted for the latter.



The lake and countryside scenaries around Mikolajki, Lukajno and Tuchlin are beautiful...



But for one's behind's comfort, we would strongly advice one to choose a bike with a padded saddle, as the roads are extremely bumpy (a nasty mix of cobbles, potholes and stones). Well, next time we'll know!

No Poland trip would be complete without a few days in Warsaw. We rented a flat for 2 nights in a 15 storey block in the purest 70's communist style (cf. Kieslowski's decalogue). It's central, near the imposing cultural palace offered by Stalin to the Poles in the 50's, and where the famous jewish ghetto once was.



But when the sun gets out, the city looses it's martial look and becomes quite inviting. Specially the old town, which was meticulously reconstructed after having been completely destroyed during WWII. So well that it's now a UNESCO world heritage site!





Beside this obvious tourist magnet, the city also has a vast array of museums, like the excellent modern art Zacheta museum (http://www.zacheta.art.pl).

Moving eastwards, 8 hours by train from Prag lies the medieval city of Krakow, once the royal capital of Poland.

Here again, we were lucky with the accomodation. At "Grandma" Ratajczak's, a breakfast of tea and fresh cake is served every morning in the room... with a big smile. Dzien dobry!



Krakow's well preserved historical center is a bit smaller than Prag's, but also less crowded (even though it's still very touristic).



Rather unsurprisingly, the hometown of Pope John Paul II is full of churches, the oldest dating back to the 10th century A.D. Even a couple of synagogues survived WWII.

A must for every tourist is a visit to the castle and catherdral on Wawel hill.

After Munich, we decided to continue our journey into Mittel-Europa with the magnificient city of Prague. Once again, everything ran smoothly... We found a beautiful and affordable room (fin de siecle style with high ceiling) in a friendly pension within walking distance of the historical center. The ideal base for city trekking!



As one might expect, Prag in August is full of tourists: package herds, Easyjet party weekenders, goth couples, backpackers...



Nevertheless, with a bit of patience and a sense for exploration, one can find some nice and relatively uncrowded spots. Even the Charles bridge is OK at night!



Finally, an amazing fact about czech gastronomy: their soft cheeses are excellent (but you won't find them in the touristic restaurants). Best appreciated with a dark local beer.

First stop: Munich. A smooth start as it was not too much of a cultural change for us.



The first 3 days were nice and cosy. On the program: visit of modern art museum (Pinakothek der Modernen - highly recommendable!), excursion to castle Nymphemburg, stroll in the city and its parks, heavy food (knoedel, kraut and sausages), good beer and friendly people.



The next 3 days we went to see our friend Sascha in Weilheim, hometown of some of the finest bands in Germany (Notwist, Console, Lali Puna...). Unfortunately, the weather didn't permit us to do our planned hike in the bavarian mountains. Instead, we did some swimming in the lake, some shopping and relaxed ourselves through the last rainy day at the sauna.

We organised a little party for the friends in the Jura. We had a nice barbecue at home. Unfortunately, not all could come (holidays, family gatherings, work...), but it was all the more cosier with those who did make it. A nice little party with close friends. Anyway, we enjoyed it a lot!



And now it's time to go...