Europe Day 31: Rural Latvia and Lithuania

Today I took a long, winding drive from Riga, Latvia, to Vilnius, Lithuania.

I’m struggling a bit with how to write sensitively about some contrasts I’ve observed among the Baltic States. At an admittedly quick glance (roughly a day in each country), there are profound apparent differences in economic status despite their shared history of gaining independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and subsequently joining the European Union.

Herewith, some photos from rural Latvia and Lithuania.

Riga, Latvia

Vecumnieki, Latvia

Sproģi, Latvia

Viesīte, Latvia

Zarasai, Lithuania

Zarasai, Lithuania

Zarasai, Lithuania

Mažeikiai, Lithuania

Videniškiai, Lithuania

Želva, Lithuania

Tonight I’m in Vilnius where the airport is closed for repairs.

Good news: I knew that already, so tomorrow’s flight is booked from Kaunas instead with enough time to drive there.

Good news (for me) #2: Because the airport is closed, there aren’t so many tourists. I got a very nice upgrade to my room.

Good news #3: Old town Vilnius looks charming.

Bad news: It’s raining like crazy here, so no photo walk tonight. (When I drove in, a car in an adjacent lane hit a rut in the pavement and kicked up so much water that I could not see for a couple of seconds!)

Vilnius, Lithuania

Tomorrow and Thursday, there will likely be no photos as I’m moving place to place quite a bit (Amsterdam and then Cologne) and spending time visiting people in both places rather than making new photos. See you on Friday, when I’ll be traveling solo again.