5 Jun 2018

Lithuania. Happy birthday and what to do once you are here (1/3)

by | posted in: Car trip, Hiking adventure, in English, Lithuania, Vilnius University hiking club | 1

2018, when Lithuania is celebrating its 100th birthday, is THE time to visit and re-explore the country you would be surprised how many people do not know. And I can tell you one thing, whatever your stereotypes and expectations for this ex-Soviet country are, just forget it, because Lithuania is far more interesting, than people might think.

So say ‘happy birthday’ to Lithuania by learning a tiny bit more about this mysterious land of forest and swamps, visit it and share the word with your family and friends. Let me seduce you with the stories and pictures but once you come and see it by yourself, I promise, you will not be disappointed.

  • Hike. 33,3% of area is forest and there are not so many people around, the average density of whole country is 45 people per km^2. That means it would be a sin not to explore the nature of the wild Baltics on feet (or a bike). Especially that the climate is very fortunate for such an adventure as you can experience 4 seasons during the year, with snowy winters and sunny summers. Also, there are plenty of water: rivers, lakes, even the sea where you can swim after the long walk. The best thing about Lithuania is that the nature does not want to kill you here, as there are no venomous snakes, big and scary spiders, human eating plants or mutant ants that are a size of human palm. Instead of monsters here, in the nature, you will find 386 bird species (in the country that is only 2 times the size of Belgium), wild berries and mushrooms and the adventure you have always wished for. Moreover, hiking would give you an opportunity to explore not only the biggest cities in the country but also get familiar with the rural areas and it is a great opportunity to meet Lithuanians and befriend them (everyone should have at least one Lithuanian friend).

What to do if you are not familiar with hiking or are nervous to do it in a foreign country? Worry not, Lithuania is full of wonders and hiking clubs (almost every town has at least one), some of them are open for anyone to join, some ask for a hike fee. There are travelling agencies that organize commercial hikes as well. My favorite hiking club, of course, is Vilnius University Hiking Club, where I have spent 4 years of my student life and had head-exploding adventures. They organize free hikes around Vilnius usually and invite anyone to join. One of the commercial hike organizers that I find attractive too is TrenkTuras, they inspire people to try and overcome their limits in a safe environment. So what are you waiting for, Lithuanians are hiking, join them!

 

  • Rent a kayak. As I mentioned before, Lithuania is rich in water and there are hundreds of smaller or bigger lakes and rivers, that you could use as a summer getaway. If you like more peaceful floating on a water, get a boat and paddle around the lake, or even better, use the water ways that connects several lakes and conquer them all! For this one you might want to travel to Palūšė, which is in Aukštaitijos National Park and see by yourself what a great lake system we have! If you are more up to challenges you might want to pick a kayak and jump into the runny waters of Vilnia river, that floats though the central parts of Vilnius. It is magical, believe me. Kayak renting in Lithuania is very well organised, they will not only bring you and kayaks to the starting point of your choice, they will also pick you up where ever you end your trip. High class service and freedom is guaranteed for those, who want to make bigger distances or want to have a trip for several days and camp on a shore of the flow. All possible in Lithuania!

 

  • Go Second-hand/flea shopping. Lithuania is crazy about second-hand shopping, I like to jokingly say that this country has the biggest number of second-hand shops per Capita (I do not know if it is true or not) in the world as you could find them anywhere. I mean, everywhere for real; you could even find several stores in the old town in Vilnius or center of the smallest town in Lithuania that you could imagine. And these places are gold mines for style junkies as you could find vintage, one of the type clothes and accessories. For a good price too. Humana is the biggest second-hand clothes provider in Lithuania but not the only one for sure, some of the shops do not even have a name! For those who do not care about fashion, flea markets would be the Sunday church (usually happening on Sundays, actually), you could find there anything. And yes, this is a challenge. The biggest flea market that I know is happening every weekend in Panevėžys, which is an insignificant town in the North of the country, yet this market attracts people from all around the country (and even Latvia, as it is not too far). So there is no need to put your valet on diet, you will afford any Gucci bag in a second-hand provider.
Photo by Becca McHaffie
  • Visit a festival. Every summer day in Lithuania is like a festival and there is constantly something happening from music, to art, theater, science or food festivals all around the country. In my humble opinion, the size of festivals here is one big advantage, as they are not super massive, I think in European scale they could even be called small ones, but nevertheless it is still a fair amount of people having fun together. That means that by the end of the festival you will have at least 5 new life-long friends, bump into your favorite band at least once (this is how I gathered autographs of my beloved musicians!) and know all of the bar keepers by name. It is cozy, familiar and as a rule, surrounded by an amazing nature. And the bands, especially if you go for jazz or heavy music festivals, are quite impressive too, do not hesitate and check it out by yourself. So why not to combine your trip with a spice of pagan culture festival or headbanging marathon in a metal weekend?

 

  • Do not get lost in Kūlgrinda. Well this is a really really good one, I wrote it at the end so only the most patient readers could get this absolutely fascinating information because it astonished me so much, that I still have goosebumps. At anytime of the day I would be ready to pack my stuff and go to Kūlgrinda if anyone would ask me to come. This is basically touching the centuries of history with your feet and even recreating it (depends on your and your team’s role playing skills). Okey okey, but what is that mysterious and magical Kūlgrinda, you would ask and I would be very excited to answer!

In 13-14th centuries, when Teutonic knights gave Lithuanians hard time, people had to use creativity to win the fights and protect their people. Lithuania was (and still is) a rather swampy region which made it not so easy to travel though and local people used this feature of the land very well for fleeing or luring the enemy straight into hell. People made Kūlgrindas, which are hidden underwater roads, to help them to escape secretly. From the secret ways crossing the swamps or rivers, Kūlgrinda is the most advanced road, made particularly of stones; other types of roads, like Medgrinda, which is made of wood, or Žemgrinda, which is made of earth, did not survive long centuries to this day (or very few did, many were forgotten).

It usually took several years, if not decades, to make a decent Kūlgrinda, as these roads could have been made only during the winter, when the swamps would freeze. Then people would lay the stones, wood or earth on the ice and let it sink when the spring comes. It is though that wooden poles where used to stabilize the road so the stones would not be washed away.

Do not think it was very easy to find it yourself, as the road was 1-1,5 meter underwater, covered by swamp mud as well. Lithuanians attracted their enemies to the swamps and then used small secret underwater ways to get away, while the enemy with heavy weaponry and armor would sink in the mud. Kūlgrindas were kept in secret and betrayal was punished very hard.

These days not so many of them are known, as the knowledge died with people centuries ago. It is thought, that there still are 27 Kūlgrindos and 7 Medgrindos left. The oldest Medgrinda is found near Kernavė, the first capital city of Lithuania, and is dated to the 4-7th centuries! Kūlgrindas are mainly found in Lithuania but some of them are located in Kaliningrad, Belarus or Latvia, which are basically former lands of Baltic tribes, so most likely there are many more of them, than we can estimate now.

And now *drum roll* I announce you that one Kūlgrinda in Lithuania is open for tourists to walk through! And trust me, it is an amazing one too. It was first mentioned in 14th century by Teutonic knights in Lithuanian route report (Die Littauischen Wegeberichte) and later in 1903 by L. Krzywicki (Polish historian) who did a research on it. He wrote that Sietuvos Kūlgrinda is like a miracle, as stones are flat and big as a table and one can ride through it with 4 horses in a row but you had to be very careful as if your carriage drives to close to the edge it would sink into the deepness without any chance of rescue. By local people it is said that this Kūlgrinda is a work of giants as the swamp itself it 5-7 meters deep, so imagine how many stones people needed to sink to be able to have an underwater way that is only 1 meter in depth!? Now 3 parts of this Kūlgrinda are known: the first one is leading though Sietuva river, it is 250 meters long and 8-20 (!) meters wide, other two are leading though the swamps nearby and are 180-150 meters long, 3-4 meters in width. These days there is an official touristic pathway, covering one part of Kūlgrinda and some parts of the swamp and I believe it is a must do activity in Lithuania: to feel the stones with your feet, that are old as a history itself. And get incredibly dirty, of course, because getting dirty in a swamp is always fun!

Here you can see some pictures from a Kūlgrinda hike, here and here colleagues bloggers wrote about their experience during the hike (in Lithuanian).

And so flew the main 5 suggestions I wanted to share. But there is much much more in this tiny country, here are some short bonus suggestions:

  • Travel back in time to experience USSR with these guys.
  • Explore abandoned buildings, like churches, army facilities and factories.
  • Learn how to bake a real dark Lithuanian bread at Arklio muziejus in Anykščiai.
  • Taste Lithuanian beer in Rinkuškiai or Lithuanian mead in Stakliškės.

So this is it! In the next part I will introduce you to must see places in Lithuania.

Iki pasimatymo!

31 Mar 2018

Germany. 400km around Berlin

by | posted in: Germany, Hiking adventure, in English | 0

Sure, Brandenburg area is flat as a pancake but one can not complain about the lack of the nature, as the density of population is the least compared to other regions in Germany:  the full federal state has less inhabitants that the city of Berlin (The city is not part of the Brandenburg)! It also seems a place to be for water sport lovers as there are plenty of lakes and rivers, washing the lands. So “this on that” as Lithuanians say.

The only problem was the weather and the lack of company to hike with. As the winter did not want to leave Europe and spring was snowier than winter, I had no real nice weather opportunities to go farer from Berlin. But one weekend seemed promising, so I started to look for hiking opportunities intensively. I think it was a moment of luck to stumble upon an invitation for a hike around Berlin. After agreeing on details I was already preparing for 21km of adventure.

Everything began one early Sunday morning when I had to rush to a train station. As I refused to get a ticket one day before I had to be earlier to get it straight at the station. Even if I left the home with a huge time reservoir, I had a small shock to learn that I missed my metro train and had to wait 10 mins for the next one, which unfortunately made me a little bit nervous. Of course, I had to choose a wrong exit and then rush around the station to get in. Of course, at ticket machine there had to be a line of tourists. Yet, I still had some minutes left but once I had a ticket printed in my pocket I rushed into the tracks just to see that train is still not there.

The train trip took not too long and soon enough I reached the station of Fürsterwalde (Spree), where I was due to meet the hike organizer and other participants. As some of the participants arrived with bus or later trains, we had to wait for some time until the full party finally met for a hike.

Hiking and biking in Brandenburg is made easy as there are many official trails, well marked and maintained. For the hike we followed Route nr. 66 – Der 66-Seen-Wanderweg. This is the main Brandenburg hiking way, circling the capital of Germany, Berlin. The length of it is 400 km, so it is quite a distance to walk (or maybe cycle). The circle begins and ends in the capital of Brandenburg, Potsdam, and has several parts that hikers could complete.

Fürsterwalde (Spree) is the most populated town in Oder-Spree region, which is locate at the Spree river, which flows later to Berlin. The city itself was founded near the site of former Slavic settlement as these tribes ruled these lands before Germans started to inhabit the land. They even have their own language, which is the second official language in Germany – Sorbian. But to get things even more complicated, there are two different Sorbian languages: Lower and Upper. Upper one is mainly spoken in Saxony, and Lower one in Brandenburg. As I know Russian and a little bit of Polish, Sorbian languages sound heavily like mixture of those two, at least some words are the same. I think history of this region is fascinating and that Slavic tribes reached so far south in the Europe.

The town was first mentioned in written form in 1272, so it is obviously a quite old town. Sadly we did not plan to tour the town itself, so we went straight to the start of the hiking way, which was at the river side. As the weather continued to be fantastic, we started to lose our hats, gloves and not long enough winter jackets. We followed the river, direction Berlin. Spree starts in Czech Republic and flows though Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin, it is about 400km long (same as a hiking way around Berlin!). The water of the river is widely used for transportation, and it is very scenic in some parts.

The water line of our route was very beautiful to walk at the meadows and beaches extended to the far horizon, being hugged by forests around it. By the hiking way there were tables and barbeque places to have lunch or a rest, sometimes even with an art around. I was surprised how clean the whole trek was and how good the quality of the pathway was.

Without stopping but without rush we reached the Spree channel. The river itself has many “arms” and channels so it is interesting to canoe there, as you can actually get lost. As well, there is quite many water level changers, which is exotic for me as I have never used one in my life while water sports. We almost followed the wrong river flow but after very short D-tour we came back to the track we were supposed to follow. From there we took a little bit different road though the forest but as it is more crowded with bicyclers compared to a water line, we came back to the river quite soon.

For a moment I thought that the trip would go smooth on a road but soon we found ourselves stuck in a wet field. Wet winter brought a lot of water and some parts of land just got too soaked. Sadly it was not as fun as swamps but we had to sweat a bit for crossing it with dry shoes. A little but still fun. After the little wetness we reached the Hangelsberg station with no furthers interruption. In the station we sadly lost one companion, who wanted to go home earlier.

River flow and our way went different directions, this time we followed the forest road though the planted rows. The pathway was straight and rather monotonic and we were a tiny bit beside the schedule, time was pressing us to walk faster, sun hid under clouds and it became cold again. It was the last 7 kilometers and I was rather disappointed by the straightness and dullness of it. Little I did know that at the last kilometers of the route we will turn to the forest and walk in pedestrian only path. It was the most beautiful part for me as it was wild and muddy. On the last kilometer to the station we got the news that the train got delayed so we could finally relax just before the end and with no rush reach the train.

At the end of the journey strangers that I met in a morning became friends and we happily agreed to hike again and maybe one beautiful day, as, or even more, beautiful as it was that one cold but sunny day of an early spring in Germany finish the full 400km route around the Berlin.

31 Mar 2018

Germany. Wilderness of Berlin

by | posted in: Germany, Hiking adventure, in English | 0

I started to write this piece 3 times already, wanting to exaggerate the lack of sun I have found in Berlin while staying here but actually it is not true. Days are quite sunny and I try to spend any of them walking around the city, visiting the parks and places not mentioned in regular travelling books. I never had a chance to be a real tourist in Berlin and after some time it just doesn’t feel right to visit heavily touristic places, luckily Berlin is not only the Brandenburg gate and the Wall memorial; most likely even the real ‘Berliners’ haven’t visited all of the interesting spots one could find in this massive city having more inhabitants than my mother country Lithuania.

So one beautiful and not too cold day two of us traveled to Grunewald. I have been there at least 3 times, but only to a small part of it – Teufelsberg (German for Devil’s mountain), which is for sure a must see place in Berlin. This time the plan was to visit the forest itself and reach the lake with a mystical tower.

Grunewald is not so difficult to reach using public transportation from different parts of the city. There is also some sight to see on a way. Only after arriving to a train stop we realized that this is the same stop where Gleis 17 monument is.

History time: During the World War II Nazi regime conducted elimination of so thought “inferior” races, including Jewish, Roma, or disabled, homosexual people, as well as people of different political or ideological beliefs. Holocaust mainly hit Jewish population by taking lives of 6 million (!) people, as well as 200 thousand Roma people and at least 200 thousand  mentally or physically disabled people. For this goal special camps in rural area were constructed, people where took from their homes and sent to uncertainty by trains.

The first transportation in Berlin occurred in October of 1941 when 1000 Jews were deported to Lodz ghetto in Poland. More than 60 thousand Jews were deported from Berlin only and 50 thousands of them were deported from Gleis 17. This area was chosen of its remoteness, huge crowds of people being deported was not widely seen as this part of the town in sparsely inhabited. The last train left Berlin on February 1945.

These days no trains are leaving Platform Nr. 17 as it is closed and turned into monument for the terrible history. The entry is open for 24h and has no fee. On the ground tiles there are dates of each and every deportation that happened here, showing number of people and destination. School pupils come here with history teachers to talk about Holocaust, bring flowers and respect deported people with a minute of silence. People come here in groups or separately to light a candle and stay several moments. Unfortunately we had no candles so we paid our respect to tragic events and proceed to the forest.

Almost 4 minutes away from the station the forest appear. It is the biggest green area in the city of Berlin. In summer time this place is crowded by people walking around but spring has its perks as the area is relatively free. Luckily for the nature, not everything is open for visitors, the most sensitive parts are closed as a nature preservation area, where no regular human can enter.  It is mostly protecting amphibians and birds.

In my eyes it is very unfortunate that Berlin area is that flat. But on the other hand there is quite many high spots where you can see the vast panorama of a massive city. Once we entered the forest we could see one of them – Teufelsberg and the abandoned sky station on top.

History time: The Devils mountain (Teufelsberg) is not of natural origin. The story of how it was build is very much fascinating for me, this is why I think that this place is an absolute must during Berlin trip.

During the WWII Berlin was destroyed almost completely, it had unimaginable numbers of rubbish and debris. People had to do something with them, so they moved them into two designated places. One of them happened to be the Teufelsberg. Yup, so the whole 80m (120m above sea level) hill is pure debris of Berlin. It is absolutely impressive to climb there as it is quite hard to process in your head that the whole mountain is man-made.

Moreover, on the top of the hill there is another point of interest. You could find there an abandoned U.S. listening station which was used during the cold war.

So we preceded though the trees, enjoying sunshine and warmness. Recently a new touristic path way was constructed here and it is very interesting as it has a lot of small stops where they tell about nature, what we could see around and human impact to environment. Some parts of the todays part was used for taking sand for building, not this area is closed the being re-naturated. It looks like a lot of wild life is passing through there as they could have a peaceful moment for themselves and all around there are footprints.

Other interesting info station was a swamp, that used to be s quite big lake but as the water level dropped, the lake water went down to Earth leaving only a tiny pond with swampy surroundings. The stations were relatively close to each other, and one had even a small watching tower where you could compare a wildly growing or cleaned forest. It expanded our horizons for sure!

The most impressive was the last station before the tower. The installation contained the amount of CO2, in cubic meters, I think, one inhabitant of Berlin is producing, including transportation, household and industry. And when you see it made out of wood, and when it is two times taller than you, it shocks for sure! Of course, it was compared with one person in an African country, which is hundred times less. Made me a little bit depressed but I guess it could have been even stronger, so people after this would do something about it.

The easy and nice stroll through the park finally brought us the mystical tower, basically in a middle of nowhere, just standing there all tall and fancy. I really wanted to climb up there so were went looking for an entrance. Sadly the tower is not for free, and I would say not cheap. To climb up there, with our own feet we had to pay 4€ per person. Yet, we were already there so we had only to climb.

History time: The tower was constructed in 1897, to celebrate the 100th birthday of the German Emperor Wilhelm I, he was also a king of Prussia. At the beginning the tower’s name was Kaiser-Wilhelm-Turm (In English: Emperor William Tower) but after WWII it was renamed as Grunewaldturm, after the forest we have just hiked though.

As we enjoyed the view from the tower, the sun started to set. Then we realized the metro stop is not so close after all and we have to hurry a little bit to reach it with sun light. We decided to go back on a different way and try to reach different line than the one we came with. This time our route was following the long but not very wide lake. We were enjoying the last sun and many water birds. We saw the bunch of swans at the beach, we were not brave enough to go close to them but a tiny dog that was took for a walk did not hesitate and ran straight into them scaring the birds away. As annoyed swans swam further we continued our hike back to the train with the sun setting on our heels.

 

31 Jan 2018

Lithuania. The homeland of cranberries

by | posted in: Hiking adventure, in English, Lithuania | 0

It was basically the first time I actually tried cross country skiing and postponing it to an age of a young adulthood is a sin in Lithuania, a country that has a snowfall every winter. That year the winter was exceptional with lots of great powder and decent cold temperatures, most of the people I know spent their free time enjoying the pleasure of skiing in frozen forest, rivers, swamps and fields. I observed their social media feeds with a grain of jealousy and started to create an action plan for my first cross country skiing experience. The options I had varied both in length and difficulty, from an easy several hour tour around the neighborhood with friends to a hardcore several days skiing insanity with professionals.

So here I am, standing for the first time on borrowed cross country skis with 20 kilogram backpack in a swamp, prepared for 3 days of hike around the wetlands.

On the first day of the trip I was happy as a moon carrying my monstrous backpack and a pair of skis to the meeting point. What could go wrong? I was convinced that skiing is not very complicated and that I will learn it in seconds, also I was promised some tips and help from one of the best skier, whom I personally know.

My confidence was gone once company saw my skis. Well, you know, not really good ones, but oh well. Guys took their time to put some wax, prepare the kick zone for me and make them more usable.

After a short car ride I stood on my skis and was already regretting this decision. Companions blew with the wind and I saw only tracks in a snow. Falling once in a while I slowly pushed forwards, trying to keep my skis straight and thinking about every more I make. No, it was absolutely not as easy as promised, instead it was the hardest work out I have ever had! With a violet face and sweat soaking my clothes I sometimes reached the party, sometimes lost it.

With the pity on their face guys waited for me and in my mind I imagined how of a pain in an ass I must be. I just wished for them not to run too fast and leave me all alone. As I was cursing and feeling like a cow on an ice, the forest road ended, not we had to maneuver though a gap between the trees avoiding branches and bushes. Surroundings got wilder and less ski-able. Like skiing was not hard enough soon we had to crawl under or climb over fallen tress, as the forest went completely wild and no pathway existed.

After a piece of time we struggled our way out and a real swamp started. The sun was already setting and the forest, now behind us, turned pink. There was not even a single soul around. So we continued further to the first swamp lake where we planned to camp.

We had to camp on ice as in a swamp itself it is impossible to stand, walk and sleep: without skis you sink in moss and water at least until your knees, if lucky. I tried it and it was quite wet. I was dead tired and not very able to stand straight, but oh how good it was to put the backpack down. Without weight I practiced my skiing technique which improved since my first moments and after the filling dinner we enjoyed the clear sky and Milky way in its all beauty.

The next day something terrible happened, temperatures raised above zero degrees by Celsius and snow became wet and clumpy. We traveled from one lake to another lake carefully, trying to reach most of them, even if they were of a size of a small backyard. At some point we left our backpacks and made a loop completing our ‘see them all’ quest with some remote and not-really-on-the-way lakes.

The snow kept melting and at some point it was impossible to ski. Also not very possible to stand without skis. The thing we had to do is to get from one snow island to another to try to wiggle out of a wetland. As we traveled quite far, we had to hurry to reach the dry ground before sunset. Others fled first, without waiting for me, to find a suitable spot to roll our seeping bags and I had to follow the thin line of marks left by them. It was getting darker, I was getting more tired and the line was less and less visible by minutes. I was absolutely alone in this vast swamp, where, if lost, I wouldn’t trust my senses to navigate back. But strangely enough it was calming to see darkness getting the sky and distant forests around.

When I arrived guys already had had a good rest and started the meal preparation but I was not able to move any further. I ripped skis from my feet and just sat by the tree for a good half an hour. I have never been so done before.

Food during hiking is always amazingly tasty and dinner lifted my soul. Everybody shared almost last pieces of snacks, we spent almost all night outside as it was quite warm. But the next morning the warm night brought the warm day and even less snow was left in a swamp. We had to choose either torture ourselves trough the rest of the swamp or go straight back to the nearest village. As nobody found pleasure in snow- and freeze-less swamp our skis were directed to the nearest bar.

As we traveled the last bits of the melting swamp we spotted huge and beautifully red cranberries. Frost and snow made them unbelievably fantastic. All of us ducked on their skis and started to feast. Maybe lack of snow was not the worst thing that happened. The rest was smooth: I was still dead done after previous days but I was quite better at skiing. We took almost all day to reach the nearest town and the snow god was good enough to provide our route just with enough snow to be able to ski. At the end I had to carry them as I got fed up of falling and loosing the track but I knew where to find my companions. We all met at the local bar to celebrate successful adventure (for me) and a nice warm up (for them) before a real skiing hike in Finland. Of course, this time I was invited for two weeks trip but I believed I had to decline (still fresh memories of skiing), even if I was convinced (again) that it is not as hard as it looks like and I would manage it easily. Damn these guys, they are good at pursuing!

On February 2nd the World is celebrating the day of wetlands. On this day in 1971, at the shores of Caspian sea (Ramsar, Iran) the Convention on wetlands was adopted. Its mission is to spread the awareness of dangers swamps are facing due to extensive human activities and global warming. Hundreds of events are happening world wide, join them and spread the awareness. More information here.