Vilnius/Trakai, Lithuania

Ahh, Vilnius (sounds like the arch-enemy of a superhero, right?), my last stop on my way out of the Baltic states and into Poland. The drive from Kaunas was the most simple of the journey so far - 1 hour of straight and simple motorway until I reached the well-signposted campsite.

The site is fairly simple and central - just across the River Neris from the city centre and I am certain that I was in the right place at the right time...

The first night was the Summer Solstice celebrations in the Baltic states (a big holiday festival here) and having already met an English couple, Will and Claire, at the campsite we headed down to the riverside just a few minutes walk away where the celebrations were starting. It was a great night out with dancing, chatting and (mostly) drinking but I can summerise it best like this:

• Traditional dress and the patriotic national anthem
• Free sausage
• The "Wicker Man" style celemonial bonfire and nearly setting alight the picnic rug
• Saving the Belarus girl from the strange old hermit man
• Lithuanian dancing to the country's own "Justin Timberlake" (Nima, or Mino, or something?)
• The confused old man of "Disco Club"
• Will on stage with "The Sheriff"
• Retiring to drink Riga Black Balsam and Noilly Pratt

I'm sorry we randomly grabbed you "Disco-Club"

The next day was much more normal and I biked into town for the first time to see the city. Cathdral Sqaure is the place to start from where the iconic Bell Tower stands in front of the huge cathedral while just around the corner are the Palace and University. Just to the east is Gediminas Hill where a tower still stands as part of the upper old stone castle. It gives a great view out over the city and houses a small museum.

This might be my favourite picture of the trip so far.

From Cathedral Sqaure the most popular road, Pilies Street, runs down towards the Gates of Dawn - the traditional main entrance in the city wall and now a religious centrepoint. In between it takes in the Town Hall and God knows how many churches (Lithuania is much more religious than Latvia and Estonia).

Most of these are hugely grand buildings, inside and out. Jesus was supposedly a humble carpenter right? Not a flashy millionaire oil baron. Stunning as they are, surely all that money for gold statues, marble columns and chandeliers could be put to better use?

South-east of the city centre lies the Uzupis region, a bohemian republic of artists and musicians and my kind of place. The main square hold the bronze angel sculpture while the bridges over the river are full of Love-locks (Engraved padlocks which are common across the Baltic states where a couple lock their message to the side of a bridge and toss the key into the river) - I think it is quite a sweet tradition.

The region has its own adopted anthem and president and has displayed it's own constitution in 10 languages on the main street. It includes such gems as:

• "Everyone has the right to be happy"
• "Everyone has the right to be unhappy"
• "Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation"
• "Everyone has the right to be misunderstood"
• "Everyone has the right to have no rights"
• "A dog has the right to be a dog"
• "A cat is not obliged to love it's owner but must help in time of need"

I was clearly in too good a mood on the final day in the city so I decided to take in the Holocaust Museum and the Museum of Genocide Victims. The Holocaust Museum is only small but recounts the tales of various different Jewish groups persecuted by the Nazis during WW2. Most of the these stories end "...and they were all killed by firing squad and the camp was liquidated".

The Genocide Museum (or KGB museum locally) is rather eye-opening as it is set in the old KGB cells with each holding cell measuring a grand total of 0.6 square metres, just enough to stand. If you were unlucky, you got a bigger cell with a tiny pedistool above an ice bath so you got a good dunking everytime you lost your balance. Communal showers were once a month but water temperature varied - boiling, freezing or somewhere in between depending on the mood of the guard. The execution chamber is particularly harrowing too, while the dead bodies were often left in the public marketplace as a reminder to others.

Before leaving for Poland, I decided to stop off in Trakai to visit the grand castle on the lake. It is only 30 minutes down the road and I was lucky enough to get a great evening for it. I decided to hire a boat - a very reasonable 10 "Leroy" Litas (£2.5) per hour - and rowed around the castle.

The lakes are lovely in the evening sun when the vast majority of the tourists have disappeared. The only people left are a few few old local ladies fishing for supper on the foot-bridges. The brick castle itself is pretty modern looking and not quite as spectacular as it's surroundings but certainly worth the trip.

It's now only a 7 hour overnight drive to Warsaw as I leave the Baltics behind for Poland. Luckily I have a Red Bull handy - other energy drinks are also available.

Kaunas, Lithuania

I left Riga with mixed news. It was great to hear that my mum and sister had confirmed their flights to come out and visit me for a week in Budapest later on the trip and also that Anneli would be flighing out for a few days to meet me in Prague. The bad news is that I would now not be able to visit Minsk in Belarus after various border crossing complications (I now plan to visit Ukraine instead).

Anyway, on to Lithuania. I had a only decided my next stop just a few hours before leaving Riga in the pouring rain (acting mainly on impulse as has been the best way so far) but I am trying to get a better feel for each country outside of their capital city so I stopped for a couple of days in Kaunas.

Kaunas is Lithuania's second city and was previously the capital between world wars. It has plenty to offer for a traveller and the old town, much like Tallinn and Riga, is the best place to start. My campsite was fairly dull although it does have a small swimming pool and is about 4km from the city centre so it's easily accessable by bike.

The centre of town is full of grand old baroque building, like several other baltic cities, but nowhere near as busy with tourists. The central square, Rotuses Aikste, is home to three major buildings - the Palace of Weddings, St Francis Church, and St Peter and Paul Cathedral. The "Palace" is a stunning white building and looks amazing when lit up at night while the Cathedral is very grand and detailed inside despite the rather modest exterior.

Along to the north-east from the main square is Christ's Resurrection Curch, a rather posh 1930's building with a great view out over the city from the top. To the west, the castle dominates the region where the Neris River and the Nemunas River meet but the majority of the structure has only been rebuilt in the last few years and is not the most intereting to look around.

In between are the former Royal Palace and the domed towers of the Archangel Church which are linked by the town's main street - joining the old cobbled streets with more high-rise modern buildings.

Elsewhere, The Museum of Devils is a rather odd but a worthwhile visit with over 2000 demon artifacts (many collected by artist Antanas Kazlauskas) although visitors are able to contribute to the collection themselves and there are many different nations represented over three floors. It is a bit surreal but represents an important part of local folklore and old stories.

Devil Stalin chasing Devil Hitler

Now I can finally complete the set of Baltic states on my wall as I head for Vilnius.