Lithuania: Aukstaitija National Park

Wed 5th July

We've had our next dost of the city stuff so back to nature again. This time the Aukstaitija National Park just north of Vilnius. The train there was so hot as it was filled to capacity with local Lithuanians heading towards various destinations, a public holiday long weekend here. The 6th July being the commemoration of the coronation of the 1st and last Lithuanian king - Grand Duke Mindaugas. We'd totally forgotten about this and on arrival at the National Park we really battled to find accommodations. The park campsite had a bungalow for 1 night only, which we took, and the possibility of hiring a tent for the rest of our stay. We had to wait 'till the next day to find that out! We were so hot and sweaty and all we wanted to do was shower but guess what, the showers were locked!! Dunno why but they were. The rest of the ablution block was useable but not the showers!! So... we had to remain dirty and sweaty until the morning. Yuck. Before bedtime, which always tends to be quite late as the very long day light hours are so disorientating, we headed down to the lake to watch the incredible sunset. One of those picture perfect ones. Blood red sun, reflections across the glass smooth water and colourful boats bobbing in the lapping waves. Once the sun had disappeared, the entire area turned into a kaleidoscope of rainbow colours and stayed that way for at least 2hours!!! Wind doesn't seem to exist here and the quiet peacefulness of the scene was only broken by the gentle lapping of tiny waves on the shore. Paradise indeed and food for the soul. We returned to the National Park to eat, at the only tiny place in this tiny village called Paluse.

Lakes, Pagan Sculptures, Bicycles and Bees

Thursday 6th July

The battle for accommodation. Straight to the info office to make enquiries about cancellations, either in the park or at a local home turned Bed and Breakfast. The Lithuanian conservation chap in here was very helpful. He made numerous phone calls, all booked up. Eventually he heard about a cancellation right in the parks main building, for 3 nights, we took it. Before this dilemma, we'd had tentative plans to hire a canoe for 2/3 days and take off up the lakes somewhere and sleep under the stars. We were very close to doing this when our conservation friends sorted us out. After a bit of a wasted but necessary morning, we walked a short trail in the forest and discovered some very interesting wooden sculptures - almost like totem poles - scattered around everywhere. I'd like to find out the significance of them but think it's something related to ancient Lithuanian pagan culture. There's a slightly eerie feel as you wander through the trees and come across these symbols of ancient beliefs. Early afternoon saw us back at our tiny eatery and who should walk in but our helpful conservation guy. We invited him to join us and learnt a bit about his job here. Late afternoon we took off down to the beautiful lake for some relaxation therapy! We sat around for what seemed hours, the sun began to set and at 9.40pm the enormous red ball sank behind the treeline. The sunsets here really are incredible.

Friday 7th July

Hot, hot, hot... and we'd planned to hire bicycles to get ourselves around these beautiful lakes. Should we or shouldn't we? Problem is we have limited time here so bicycles it was. The hire shop here let us test our bikes first and off we went. We started on the tar road out of Paluse - our little village - and headed out towards the next villages, all quaintly situated on a corner of a lake. It was going to be a long hot day as the sun pounded down on us... We cycled 26km before turning off onto a dirt road which would take us to a minute forest village, on the edge of the Mincia Woods, called Stripeikai, which is where the Ancient Beekeeping Museum is situated. The dirt roads around here were horrible to cycle on as they were mainly slippery sandy terrain! I walked a lot of it pushing the bike through the soft stuff, uphill and in hellish heat, whilst David gleefully took pics to laugh at afterwards!!

The beekeeping museum was set up in 1984 and tells the story of ancient beekeeping from the 15th century. A fascinating place with one of the wooden sculptures being a beehive itself. With sweat still pouring off us, we cycled on towards the next village for some very needed refreshments. I didn't think it got so hot here - a bit like Durban in the middle of summer! On the return route we pedalled through the forests alongside the peaceful lakes, so peaceful but oh so hot... We handed back the bikes looking like overheated lobsters!! We hit the showers to cool off and headed straight down to the local street cafe for alus [beer in Lithuanian], and there we stayed right up to sunset.

Saturday 8th July

We had to start thinking about how we are to get out of this place. The village we're in isn't the most accessible for international train/bus routes. We had a helpful chat with our conservation friend at info and he told us that backpacking travelers like us are pretty rare in these parts! Everyone has a car so he battled to find a few ways out for us. We took a trip into the main village of Ignalina - still very small - to visit the bus/train station. Not much joy there. Seems there is only one train out, a night train, which would get us to Riga in the middle of the night. There has to be a better way. We studied our map for a while and found a small town which may have international connections for busses so we opted for that choice. Bit of a chance but at least we have the time. In Ignalina we found the town centre and it was a hive of activity. Turned out there was to be an afternoon of celebrations and concerts to commemorate their holiday weekend events. Instead of heading back to our village we stayed to enjoy a real Lithuanian festival of dance, national dress and music. A day to remember as we were the only true foreigners amongst hoards of locals. We sat at a table with them sharing their fun and their body language told us they were happy we were there. One old lady disappeared and reappeared with some local cheese of some kind for us to sample! The gesture was from the heart and it felt good to feel so welcomed. At the end of the afternoon we'd missed the last bus so we decided to hitch a lift for the 5kms back. Within 1 minute a friendly Lithuanian stopped and it turned out he was staying in our village too! The helpfulness and friendliness of this nation never ceases to amaze us.

Sunday 9th July

A sit-by-the-lake day today with a possible walk in the natural botanical gardens thrown in. The walk didn't materialize however, as we watched the huge thunder clouds rolling in. WHAT a relief from the heat when the rain came tipping down. We were still parked off on the lakeside when the first huge drops descended and a short but hectic wind picked up and turned the oh-so-peaceful glass smooth lake, into a stormy sea! Masses of people hurriedly packed up but most just remained where they were, firmly submerged below the waters of the lake!! It was far from cold but at least some of the intense humidity had gone.