August 25 to September 6
Latvia & Lithuania

We really didn't spend that much time in Latvia this time. It was sad but we found the east side to be very depressing.  I keep thinking if this is the case now, in summer (22 degrees and cloudy) what winter will look like (minus 35 degree!)...all we could see were mono blocks, very old shops (circa 60' but without flair) and a general feeling of abandonment... so we hurried up and crossed borders again to Lithuania.

Our first stop was Paluse National Park; but then it was not the only park....that pretty much sums up all our time in the Baltic countries.  We truly enjoyed so much the nature. We spend all the time looking and staying in the forest. It is a time to slow down, rest, run again, do BBQ, bushwalks, mountain bike, always a river or a lagoon somewhere...

A glorious bike ride on the forest, around the river with autumn colours around us

           Vilnius is such a cool city. Arty. It keeps reminding me of Budapest in smaller scale

The old city with a magnificent square, the cathedral, the gates, the churches, town hall, all the university buildings, the Jewish quarter. It was great to spend some days here after so many days in the bush, as I love the change of pace and the diversity of our trip.We rode along the river and visited the old KGB museum which is so scary and upsetting.

Arrived in Druskininkai in search of adventure and relaxation. We have heard about their fantastic water park with massive slides and their even more impressive spa resort area. And we were not disappointed! It took Hecti a few goes to erase the latest toboggan slide more than 20 year ago when under the wise advice of B (a teenager then) he dived head first, resulting in a shocking injury (and an emotional trauma!) But after a swim in the paradise pool with waves and  floating around the lazy river we were ready to tackle the slides! And it was a challenge! Starting from a 7 floor up, the longest (and crazy) slide. On the dark, with music and disco lights...sheer fear! After a few hours of laughing and trying here and there we rewarded ourselves with an all adults 20 saunas with treatments, swimming pools, spas , hamman and all the luxuries around! We love getting pampered and in every culture we found different rituals,,,,here the interesting one is to be in an extreme sauna and people hitting each other with a branch of oak with lots of  leaves to "open the pores and purify the skin"...it look very strange!

Ready for the next challenge! and a huge one it was! Such an incredible adventure!!!!! Three rope courses, 2.5 hours, at more than 15m high, 40 intense obstacles, more than 10 flying fox, no help and finishing with a massive 2 way flying fox crossing the river!!! Crazyyyyy.... we did it!!! So demanding, we felt exhausted after finishing and totally proud of ourselves...... and we had a massage at night just to loosen up the very tense body!....

Next, heading to Poland!! Bye, bye Baltic countries; it was a blast!