Warsaw

After navigating a confusing bus and tram route from the campsite and into the old town we were a little worried. The whole place was swarming with Police and Army officials. Was something going on that we didn't know about? As it transpired, there was some sort of Police ceremony where officers were being given awards and there was a generally "let the public climb all over our kit" day.

Warsaw is our 8th capital on this trip and I'm afraid to say that for us it ranks fairly low on the list. The old town is nice but there is something a little faux about it which I think may be due in part to a lot of the old town having being reconstructed following World War II. We spent several hours walking around, hoping it would grow on us but it just felt a little cold despite the flower beds. Our usual tact of "getting lost" in a place didn't really happen as we were soon out of the touristy areas and into the modern metropolis that has sprung up around it.

Overnight Location GPS: (52.21438, 20.96537) - Camping Astur 123 4km outside of city centre, need to get 2 x buses or 1 x bus & 1 x tram to get into centre. Facilities/outlook not great.

Malbork

We've been in Poland 4 days now and we've got to be honest, we're finding it hard to form an opinion. Whilst it is of course early days the sheer amount of traffic on the roads and standard of driving is by far the worst we have encountered so far on this trip. This is due in part as a large number of the main roads are single carriageway except for a narrow shoulder which we seem to spend a lot of our time driving down to either avoid oncoming overtaking traffic or to let people passed so they don't take us with them in their maneuver!

At this point there doesn't seem to be a great deal of either Wild Camping opportunities or Aires so we visited a small German owned campsite called Agrotouristik for €12. The owners were incredibly friendly and it was more like staying in the garden of a country house then it was staying on a site. The 'toilet block' if you can call it that rivaled most of the hotels we've stayed in and included a black and white wet-room with a shower for two!

From here we made our way to Malbork, a double page in the guide book and usually something not to miss. While the castle was certainly impressive, the surrounding "Festival" was not. We christened it the "Festival of Tat"  - if plastic swords and viking helmets is your thing you could fill your boots!

Overnight Location GPS: (54.04194, 19.02389) - Campsite right next to castle - clean facilities £10/Night

Vilnius

Having loved Tallinn but having failed to fall in love with Riga we didn't know what to expect from Vilnius, our last capital before we exit the Baltics and enter Poland.

First stop was the Hill of Three Crosses which required a good sense of direction to locate since no signs were present to help you to navigate the maze of paths in the park leading up to the monument. Having made the accent we were greeted with an almost perfect blue sky.

Next on the list was the Castle, also located on the hill. We made the second accent on foot choosing to ignore the cable car journey although I suspect it would have only been a £1 at most since the castle itself was only £1.25 to enter. The view of Vilnius from the top was excellent and you can see the clear divide between the old and the new town.

We marveled at the architecture on display, the immaculate main shopping street with a selection of 'Western' European shops (largely empty) pedestrianized and lined with lush green trees and the market stalls not selling tat but local produce and crafts of wood and linen. At the main intersections there were large immaculate parks where we stopped for a lunch of bread and ham in the company of tame sparrows.

 At the end of Gedimino Street just before the river the theme reverted back to that of Soviet occupation with the street furniture that reminded us of Karosta and some an ere memorial to victims of genocide which appeared to have little or no tourist attention.

The old town, while windy, did not have the claustrophobic feel of Riga and we explored the streets. The restaurants here seem to sell largely Lithuanian Cuisine which involves a lot of mash potato from what I can see! The big chains haven't made it here yet, but you can get a drink and a Pizza for £3!

There are some lovely buildings in the Old Town of Vilnius, we enjoyed strolling through the side streets seeing some fantastic architecture along the way. 

Overnight Locations:

Vilnius City Center GPS: (54.68505, 25.29250) - Small off-street parking area next to park. Free on Sundays, 2LT per hour Mon-Sat 8-22. Only suitable for 6m Panel Van.

Vilnius City Camping GPS: (54.67731, 25.22598) - Outside of city center - £17/Night

Trakai Island

Uh-oh. It's one of those again. The leaflet that has been glaring at you from the door pocket for hundreds of miles, getting your expectations up - will it deliver?

The first thing that strikes you about Trakai is the ingenuity of the locals. Every old lady with a little bit of land is stood at the road side gesturing for you to park on their land for a fee much less then that of the municipal carparks - but with a block parking strategy previously reserved for long term airport parking we didn't fancy our chances so stuck to a council owned space at an inflated price.

The castle is certainly pretty and worth a wander around, but I wouldn't go in. We did and were greeted with a  bit of an odd ball Museum rather than original features, rooms decked out with glass cabinets displaying a large quantity of random artifacts with little or no Lithuanian heritage and seem to exist to bulk out the experience for the benefit of coach bound day-trippers from Vilnius. I wouldn't go as far as to say it is a trap since the aesthetics of the island has genuine appeal and it's worth a visit if only to admire the ingenuity of the locals selling glasses of Kvass to unsuspecting tourists at £1 a glass from supermarket bottles costing less than 50p!

Kaunas & Ninth Fort

When leaving Neringa we met Leva & Martynas who looked far too respectable to be asking people for a ride to Vilnius and given that it was starting to rain we agreed to take them the 130 miles to Kaunas which was our next destination. They had been visiting family on the island and were returning home - it seems this is a popular way to get around in Lithuania but we've not seen anyone we'd invite into our van before or since!

As it turned out Martynas was full of information and most of the trip was spent collecting tips on where to park and stay both in Kaunas and the capital. We dropped them off at the Kaunas junction and they e-mailed us later to thank us for the ride - we wish you well!

In Kaunas we parked exactly where Martynas suggested and alongside two other motorhomes. After being severaly reprimanded by the Swiss van next to us for our dripping waste tank which had opened on the rough roads, we wandered into the city to explore.

As with many cities in Lithuania it is broken into 'Old' and 'New' towns with a clearly modernized high street but wander too far from the beaten track and you are instantly taken back 20 years into Soviet rule. Clearly much progress has been made, but much more is still to be made. We were able to get a new battery for Sophie's watch so all was well.

When we returned to the van we were greeted by the same Italian van we had parked next to in Neringa. With neither of us having a common word between us we conversed by way of Google Translate, pointing and the universal sign for "sleep" (two hands together, head crooked) - they wanted to know if we were staying the night.

The following morning we visited the Ninth Fort - a sort of mini Auschwitz where 30,000 Jew's were murdered. We decided against visiting the Museum but had a good wander around the enclosure before it opened which purveyed a chilling sense of calm.

Overnight Location GPS: (54.89985, 23.88706) - Large carpark next to the old town with toilets. No marked bays so suitable for any size motorhome. 8-17 25p per hour.

Neringa and Nida - It's a Trap!

As we passed over into Lithuania the roads almost immediately changed to a smooth dual lane motorway - possibly our best roads since Denmark. We passed through Palanga which was a bustling seaside resort town similar to Parnu in Estonia. We stopped at the tourist information office who only seemed interested in getting us to stay and not very helpful with anything further afield so we left clutching a fistful of leaflets on beach activities which went straight in the bin.

We'd been trying to get some information on Neringa for a couple of days since Lonely Planet ranked it in it's top 5 and similarly our Eyewitness Guide said it was a must see but couldn't explicitly state why. The reason for it's popularity is largely due to the fact that it accounts for the majority of Lithuania's coastline and the lagoon which exists between mainland Latvia and Neringa is polluted and swimming and bathing is forbidden where as the island itself has miles and miles of blue flag beaches and clear sea.

I'm afraid I've got my 'tight yorkshireman' hat on for the rest of this post. We rolled up to the ferry and handed over £28 for a return ticket for a vehicle between 5m and 12m which is by far the most expensive ferry for the distance so far on this trip since the crossing is roughly half a kilometer. We thought that this would include entry to the National Park since you're getting the ferry there where else could you be going, right? Wrong! Once you've driven a few miles there is a toll for which a vehicle over 5m is required to pay a further £17 bringing the total to £45. It's a trap! To compound issues there is only one campsite in Nida which charges a further £25 a night - not that we had any intention of using it - we stayed at GPS: 55.4206, 21.05785 right next to the beach for free.

To get the negativity out of the way I'll go on to say that in addition to the costs many of the car parks in Nida and around some of the points of interest are further chargeable but you can bypass these by parking a bit further afield like we did. There is also nothing really there in terms of attractions - just lots of lots of sand and two pleasant villages. Even the tourist information office charged for leaflets!

Nida

On the flip side, there is a cycle track which runs the whole length of the park and cycle hire is available in Nida is as little as £10 a day. There are two beaches where you can wild camp for free on the western side of the Island thus avoiding the lagoon and we were joined by a couple of other campers on all nights.

In total we spent three nights in Neringa and were fortunate that except for the last day the weather was scorching. We enjoyed the beaches and spent an afternoon walking around Nida stopping to have a lunch of Muscles and Seabass which were cooked fresh in front of us, the price was just £20 including drinks and a chocolate souffle to share so at least all the prices weren't extortionate. We visited the huge 'moving dune' which just looked like a large expanse of sand to us!

If beaches are what you're are looking for I would travel into Latvia and visit Liepaja's blue flag beach for free instead, but if you're desperate to get on a bike then I guess entry into the National Park would be worth it. Certainly if you're in a car the price is roughly one third of the price if you are over 5m which makes most of what I have said on cost irrelevant.

If you want to download the panorama of the sign (above) I took which is the closet thing I could find with regards to information on what is actually there click on this link (click) and choose 'Actions' and 'Download Photo' to get the full sized version.