Baltikum 2025

We spent almost the entire year discussing this year's vacation destination. Since we decided to finally break tradition and skip Mácháč, we finally had plenty of time for something longer. I wanted to go to Norway, Roman wanted to go to the Baltics. As often happens with us, I adjusted my opinion to Roman's, as did the kids, and we started looking forward to the Baltics. Robin was preparing for his geography exam, so he studied and planned accordingly. About two weeks before the date, Ivan called to say he was going to Norway. At that moment, Roman changed his mind and also wanted to go to Norway. So our priorities switched. But we only had two weeks reserved for the vacation, which is too little for Norway, so the Baltics finally won.

I'm writing the travelogue alternately in the present and past tense, depending on when I was writing it. I might stylistically adjust it after returning, but knowing myself, I won't have time after I return, and whatever I don't do here won't happen. So I apologize for the imperfections in the text; I will just throw it in as is.

Saturday, June 28,

After the heat that prevailed all week, today has surprisingly normal temperatures. And it will be another 10 degrees cooler in the north. I should probably pack away the summer dresses and throw in some sweatshirts instead.

Around noon, we finally start and head towards Olomouc and Ostrava. Lunch at the Moncosi roadside restaurant.
Along the way, the first photos from friends who are heading to Mácháč for their vacation start coming in. According to the radar, it's 30° there. This year, for the first time in ten years, I won't see Mácháč. Boohoo. Was it a mistake to skip it? It wasn't. Stop whining. We didn't want to go there. So don’t sulk and don’t envy.

While driving, I realize that the Snopks are actually going to the Baltics. The parents of Lucie's classmate from elementary school. I was in touch with Lexa in May for work and we were collaborating on that order for Emil Open. We discovered during social conversation that we have the same destination this year, including the same date. So we plan to meet up somewhere. I just don’t know if he meant it just socially. We don’t know each other that well and I’m not sure we’ll have anything to talk about.

We stop at a gas station near Bohumín. As we leave the gas station, I see a camper van waiting in line at our pump. We should leave quickly so we don’t hold them up. I notice that it's the same van that the Snopks have. Well, it actually is the Snopks. So we met quite early 😀
We are both happy about the random encounter and agree to meet up on the way. But we have different goals today. They are going to Krakow, the Polish Maldives, and we want to get as far as we can. We continue on the winding Ostrava highway and then on an even winding Polish road. Hopla hopla ... Let’s make sure our wheels don’t fall off.
In the afternoon, we pass through Warsaw. I offer Robin to stop there, but he and Roman want to reach Druskininkai today. So we have our work cut out for us. We expect to arrive around midnight.
About 180 km before the destination, we leave the highway and continue on the local road, then on a smaller road, and even smaller, until we were rattling along a dirt road across the border into Lithuania. In Lithuania, the dirt road continued for a while, but after a few kilometers, we finally arrived back in civilization. Around midnight, we finally reached Druskininkai.
At the parking lot near the hall, there was a barrier, also at the campsite, but the P4N app guided us to a large unpaved area where we finally settled for the night. Lights out was around two o'clock. So good night

Sunday

Today we didn’t wake up until around ten. But when I look back at the entire day in the evening, it seems incredible how much we achieved and experienced today. Some moments, such as our visit to the Belarusian border, are already overshadowed by other experiences and it feels like they were two or three days ago.
At breakfast, Robin laid out the options for what we can do in Druskininkai, and there were plenty. We debated for a bit about the order in which to do things. In the end, cycling won out first.
Druskininkai is a small spa town with beautiful surroundings and well-maintained bike paths. After just a few meters of riding, we arrived at a series of ponds with beautifully landscaped surroundings. We continued along the clean asphalt bike paths and couldn’t get enough of how nice it was there. Our goal was the border crossing to Belarus, which we reached after about 12 kilometers. On the four-lane road leading to the border, on which we didn't meet a single car, we arrived somewhat hesitantly at the border crossing. However, we decided not to take photos. We didn't know the local rules and didn’t want to spoil our vacation over a photo conflict. We took a photo from a safe distance instead and then we dived back into the forest and into the labyrinth of the beautiful bike paths here.
Our next stop was the Snow arena, where our kids go to practice. It was very calm there, which Robin explained as being due to an ice change break. So, we properly explored the hall, froze on the viewing terrace above the slope, where it was already below zero, and had lunch. In the meantime, ski teams started arriving, even from Italy, and before long, the hall was bustling again with plenty of skis.
From the hall, we continued along the biking path by the river, checked out a nice, pleasant campsite, and returned to the car around the ponds and fountains. But the program was far from over. We packed our swimsuits and towels and rushed to the water park, where we spent a delightful three hours in the water, in the hot tub, on the slides, in the restaurant for dinner, and finally on inflatable rings in the artificial waves. We had a lot of fun.
Then came a quiet final evening walk through the calm little town.

And now we have the first part of the vacation behind us and are speeding towards Vilnius. However, tonight's stay is planned to be before that, in the island town of Trakai. We will see what we can find in terms of accommodation there.
In the end, we camped at a lovely spot by the water after scouting two locations... The final path led to a track that was more suited for pedestrians or cyclists. Roman initially refused to come here, but Robin and I insisted and overwhelmed him with arguments that it was on Mapy.cz and also P4N. Hopefully we can get out of here tomorrow. If it rains, that could be a problem.

For motorhome users: https://park4night.com/en/lieu/271338/open/
We tried https://park4night.com/en/lieu/442487/open/, which worked without problems, but it was too much in civilization. Next, we tried https://park4night.com/en/lieu/520235/open/, a nice spot, but Roman thought our car was too big for it and we would take up too much space.

Monday

We’re struggling with the starts again; we woke up at 10 again. It was relatively windy and cool today.
Our first destination today was the island town with the water castle Trakai, located about 2.5 km from our overnight stop.
What does Wikipedia say about it?
Trakai (in Polish Troki, in Czech Troky) is an ancient district town in southeast Lithuania, located about 28 km west of Vilnius in the Vilnius region. It has an area of 11.5 km² and a population of 5,266, mostly Lithuanians and Poles. Trakai was the seat of Lithuanian rulers in the Middle Ages, and it is home to one of the most significant landmarks in Lithuania, the water castle of Trakai.

A nice place, lots of tourists, mainly retirees. The town has beautiful Lithuanian folk architecture. Photos will probably say more.
This time, we had lunch in the car. After coffee, Roman took a bit of home office time; I did too, but there wasn’t much to do yet.
So the rest of us finally just hung around (I’m actually writing this right now) and waited until we could finally move to Vilnius