From the Poles to the Polls!

Walking across the
Slovakian border

Ždiar is the largest village in a group called Belá Tatras, right near the Polish border in Slovakia. Filled with quaint ‘Goral Cottages’, the town is set in a picturesque valley, surrounded by the most-impressive Tatras Mountains, and is home to a small local history museum, a post office, a few small restaurants, a much-raved-about pizza place (which was never open while I was around!), and The Goulash Man – who drunkenly slumbers in the kitchen of his restaurant, and once woken up, makes an amazing goulash at any hour of the day. Of course, he then goes straight back to sleep behind the counter!!!

I spent three nights in Ždiar, staying at ‘The Ginger Monkey’ – an old house-turned-hostel (where unfortunately one of the staff took an immediate dislike to me, and can only be described as a total bitch) – and conquering the ‘Lake Walk’, the ‘River Walk’, and ‘The Goulash’. I spent every available moment relaxing in the sun, teaching fellow travellers the life-changing goodness of ‘Prawo Dzungli’, reliving childhood riddles and games, and buying a canister of dry ice to burn each others warts and other travel-in-India-related growths off of our bodies. Entertaining to say the least!

The walk was worth it - the lake!

Poland - the good, the bad, and the inside of the wardrobe!

This morning I write from central Romania, speeding along the railway from Cluj Napoca to Sighisoara, a small city in southern Transylvania, and one of the many debated homes of the famous Count Dracula! Tomorrow marks 4 months of travel, and it’s hard to believe I am already one third of the way through my adventure; however I must be beginning to miss the comforts of home, because right now it’s tempting to pay a return air ticket just to pop home for one of mums vegetarian lasagnes, and a decent bread and butter pudding!

The Market Square, Warsaw

Warsaw, the capital of Poland, is a fantastic big and busy city, which has borne the brunt of conflict throughout the ages, and today offers an amazing look at European history throughout the past 1000 years. Unfortunately I unwittingly chose to visit Warsaw on Constitution Day, in which all the shops were closed, and the streets closed for various parades and celebrations, however still had a great day wandering the crowded streets and doing some decent people watching!

Food, glorious food... and a bit of travel!!!

Ingrida explains
Latvian weights

Climbing off the bus in Ventspils, I was met by the always smiling, super hospitable, friendly and chatty Ingrida. Ingrida and her daughter Marija live in Ventspils, a small port city on the Latvian coast, a bumpy three hour bus ride out of Riga, and home to an array of weird, yet wonderful surprises dotted throughout the streets and parks of the small city. Home for the next few nights was Ingrida’s quaint and homely cottage, in the outskirts of the city, and filled to the brim with family photographs, souvenirs, knick-knacks, flowers and food, all surrounded by her beautiful garden – quite the impressive view from her cottage kitchen window!

The BEST cheese EVER!

The cottage has been in Ingrida’s family for many years, and although it has no bathroom, plumbed water or mains gas, has to be one of the most welcoming, warm and comfortable places I have stayed. I was greeted on my first afternoon with a wonderful hot stew for lunch, straight off the wood stove, and accompanied perfectly with delicious dark Latvian bread and butter – and this was just the start of the food!!! Throughout my days in Ventspils, I was incredibly spoilt with amazing Latvian food, happily devouring my way through loaves of dark, seeded bread, multiple desserts, chocolate, coffee, cheese, wine, more cheese, a bit more cheese, and hot cooked breakfast, accompanied by yet more bread… and more cheese of course! The food was ‘sensational’, cooked and consumed beside the wood stove in the small kitchen, and made better only by the interesting, challenging and thought provoking conversations that went with it.

Bring on the Baltics!

Sunshine!!!

It’s been a while since my last update, but I have been inundated with great weather, great company, and great food… and that leaves little time to worry about blogging! Today I have, however, managed to combine these all together, and I am writing from beneath a beech tree, lying on the grass beside the Vilnius Cathedral Square, munging into a selection of thigh-increasing chocolates and lollies, watching the world pass me by. I have been in mainland Europe now (I still don’t know where Russia belongs!) for just over two weeks, enjoying the mild (and now even warm!) weather, learning about the history and culture of the Baltic states, meeting countless amazing people with amazing stories to tell, and getting back in touch with the many western comforts I had come to forget about in my 3 of travel so far.