Europe 2023

After days and days of various forms of inclement weather over the course of several cities, it was nice to wake up and see the sun. Perfect weather for a visit to Trakai Castle, a castle begun in the 14th century, added to and modified over the years, attacked, ruined, rebuilt, left to rot, restored etc. This seems to be the course of most castles that are still open across Europe. It is now a museum and sits on an island in a lake at the town of Trakai, about a 25 minute bus ride from Vilnius.  The day was quite gorgeous. Either these ducks were in denial or there was something really tasty down below... This post will be short, and mainly pictorial because the images show much more than what I could describe. The displays in the first few rooms were very museum-y, showcasing regional items from the relevant eras of the castle's occupancy. The way that it was laid out actually guided people through quite well, without making you feel too much like you were being shepherded. Unfor...

Well, all I can say is "I'm an idiot!". And don't talk to me about improving my negative self-talk. I truly am an idiot. We'll get to that... We left Riga in the rain, getting a Bolt (like Uber) to as close to the bus stop as we could, then making a mad dash in the mud to the terminal. We finally got aboard the bus and felt warm and dry for the first time since leaving the weird apartment. The bus ride from Riga to Vilnius is just over 4 hours and is pleasant enough, passing through rural areas and small towns. There is a detour in place for road works at the moment and we had to cross the border at a place different to the main border crossing, on a tiny road near a tiny village with tiny roads that obviously weren't made to have buses navigating between the centuries-old clay and mud-brick buildings.  But the only thing that actually denoted the border between Latvia and Lithuania was the police car sitting off to the side. They did nothing and we continued ...

 The 4 hour bus trip from Tallinn to Riga, capital of Latvia, was punctuated by rain, rain, rain, and a touch of hail! And the wind hadn't abated. Riga Bus Terminal is currently surrounded on almost all sides by major works that they are doing to the railway, roads and tram tracks.  When we arrived rain was persisting down. We all disembarked from the bus and then stood around in the rain while we waited for the luggage compartments to be opened. The driver (still sitting in the nice warm bus) seemed completely oblivious to our misery and took his sweet time. We were finally able to grab our suitcases and bags and run (as much as we were able with aforementioned luggage) to the terminal. Minimalist is probably the nicest way to describe it. Hopefully this terminal is getting an upgrade as part of the works that surround it... A side-effect of the heavy works is that the cars of the Baltic version of Uber (called Bolt) can't get near the terminal. We had to head out in the rain...