Baltics 2016 wrap-up

“Have you been to the Baltics?” Yes. Yes, we have.

We have been to Helsinki:

Sauna including jumping in the Baltic
Best rooftop bar (Skyview at Hotel Torni)

We have been to Tallinn:

Europe’s oldest continuously operating pharmacy (1422)
The III Dragons pub, an authentic cellar in the Town Hall featuring beer and hand pies served by surly women in medieval garb…
…which is also where we met Yvgenia, a seed biologist from the University of Latvia attending a conference there, who recommended that we visit the pub “Ala” when in Riga
Neighborhood locals bar featuring accordionist, danseuse/chanteuse, and sad drunk lady
Drinking Vana Tallinn and shots of Milli-millika, a vile concoction of tequila, Jaegermeister, and Tabasco sauce
Post-tour lunch and travel-tips exchange with visitors from Korea, Mexico, Colombia (living in the UK), at a restaurant where we had herring and crepe-like pancakes filled with salmon
The movingly-presented Museum of the (Soviet) Occupation
Climbing to the top of the steeple of St. John’s church, with its vertigo-inducing 1m-wide observation ledge

We have been to Riga:

Buying smoked pork and homemade black bread in the enormous (4 Zeppelin hangars) locals market
Experiencing two nights in a row of trying over 20 Latvian beers (mmm) with local cuisine while listening to Latvian folk music in Ala, a beer cellar dating back to the 13th c.
Taking the commuter train out to Kemeri National Park and renting bikes for a 20 mile ride through the bogs and forests

We have been to Vilnius:

Lunch with our tour guide and various visitors, during which we had the US, UK, Finland, Argentina, Germany, Croatia
A visit to the oldest university in the Baltics, including climbing its belfry, whose interior construction looks like it might give way at any moment
Staying in a former Carmelite monastery, Domus Maria
Dinner with Vita Reinys, who may or may not be related to Tonia, in a traditional and earnest Lithuanian restaurant where every aspect of the meal was carefully explained, we sampled different kinds of honey mead (traditional aperitif/digestif distilled from honey), and the host did a shot with us as we closed down the restaurant
A brief visit to the Lithuanian Railway Museum (located at the train station) followed by what is surely the world’s shortest ride between downtown and an airport: 5 km, 5 minutes, 1 stop

And we have experienced the Baltic culture’s major holiday, Jonines (St. John’s Day) aka the midsummer/solstice festival, at its major nature destination, the Curonian Spit (a UNESCO World Heritage Site):

30-mile bike ride along the spit, including a traditional Lithuanian lunch, a walk on the dunes, and a dip in the Baltic
Buying local smoked fish for dinner and washing it down with more honey mead
Watching the traditional ceremony in which young single women float their wreaths in the harbor; a wreath that floats away quickly means she’ll be married soon
Hanging out with the traditional musicians during the after-party

…and we did it all accompanied by Travel Penguin.

Baltics—check!