We’re getting ready to kick off our road trip through the Baltics! We’ve been planning this one for a while and had to dig deep on the research as it’s not a super popular travel destination, yet. We’re starting things off in Tallinn Estonia. All of the photos I’ve seen of this city are gorgeous and I can’t wait to see it in person. We’re also planning a day trip to the nearby Lahemaa National Park for some nature time.
Next, we’re driving south towards Pärnu, Estonia. Along the way we hope to check out some odd sites like the ruins of an old monastery and a prison – two separate places to be clear! We’ll check out yet another national park nearby before heading down to Riga, Latvia. There are a few things we’d like to check out while in town, like the photography museum.
From Riga we’ll pop down into Lithuania for about 24 hours to visit the Hill of Crosses, which is the stop I’m most looking forward to at the moment. I’ve been wanting to go there for many years. Then we’re back up in Latvia, driving over to the coastal town of Liepāja for the night.
From Liepāja, we’re driving south into the Lithuanian section of the Curonian Spit, a little sliver of land currently shared with Russian province, Kaliningrad. While there, we’ll visit the tallest migrating sand dunes in Europe and an outdoor sculpture trail ominously called the Hill of Witches! If we make it out of there unscathed, we’ll head inland to the second largest Lithuania city, Kaunas. We’ll be saying at a nearby spa for some rest and relaxation. Spa culture is big in this part of the world!
We’ll end the trip in Lithuania’s capital city, Vilnius. While there, I also hope to connect with some very distant relatives that I’ve never met. That may prove to be the biggest adventure of this whole trip!