July 10 Lithuania

Ninth Fort Museum and Memorial

Every time we get to a new country there is a mixture of anxiety, a feeling of being overwhelmed, uncertainty but also excitement. It is very difficult to explain but we feel that there is always so much to see and we don't know where to start, and certainly don't want to miss a bit.

Our entry to the country was through the War memorial in Kaunas. A war memorial plus a deportation centre and museum of both the Nazis and the red army or the Russian occupation. Such a despair! It is incredible to think that there could be any survivors today of the horrible century that these people have lived.

We are coming back to Kaunas to visit the city which we didn't as the rain forced us to continue our travel to the cost.

Now we can finally experience Lithuania. First impressions: lots of greenery, bike paths, beautiful and cool women and petrol stations with wifi selling vodka!

12 July: Klaipeda is a port village that once was a centre of trade and commerce in the country and today is just a sleepy town, with cobblestone streets and a big working harbour. On the other side of the old town they built a big shopping centre. The highlight is the 50 km island, just a ferry across, that continue to Russia. We did a mega bike ride ( I said mega because we haven't done much physical activity since arriving from Fiji!) on the Neringa island, 23 km through the forest, dunes on one side and "lagoon" on the other. Crashed on the small holiday village of Juodkrante for coffee and cake but got distracted and instead walked on the "hill of witches", amazing wooden (scary!) sculptures all along the forest. Exhausted we took the bus back to the ferry terminal.

15 July we arrived at Palanga, another seaside village. This one has plenty of 5 stars hotels and the greenery around is just magnificent. It is a real pity that the weather is not helping. It is cloudy all the time, and cold and it rains here and there through the day and madly at night. We finish another bike run  on a spa and massage place....ahhhh!!! I love trying massages from different cultures!!!