Category: sights and sites
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Sweden felt like home
My Swedish friend of many decades picked us up from the ferry. Everything in Stockholm felt so familiar and English – even TV. The ice cream is even better though. Who can beat the epic taste of liquorice and raspberry ice cream by 3 Friends / 3 Venner? All plant-based. After an overnight in Stockholm…
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Tall tales and tails in Tallinn
Baspie the Railway Dog found Tallinn Estonia a relaxing city for a dog. Away from the mosquitos of the forests, and lacking in crowds in early June, despite a cruise ship with numbered tour groups doing the rounds. People like dogs in Tallinn, so Baspie got plenty of attention. We took it easy in the…
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City stress travelling with a dog
Cities just aren’t so fun with a dog, let alone for a dog. Many of the pleasures that may have been enhanced by a human companion are not shared with my dog, from beautiful architecture to restaurant cuisine. I’ve actually avoided stopping in some big cities Interrailing with my dog. Railway Dog and I avoided…
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Sigulda and the Gauja River National Park, by train
Only just over an hour on the train from Riga, the capital of Latvia, is Gauja National Park. It’s a combination of native forest and river. It’s fabulous and accessible by public transport, so would be easy to do a day trip. To access the national park, the train station choice is to get out…
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Cheating at bird watching – a beginner’s tale
I’m new, this week, to birding. Railway Dog and I were hiking with some lovely people from Germany and their dogs in Nida, Lithuania, a few mornings ago. I’ve downloaded the apps one of them recommended: Birdnet and BirdLasser, and in the process found Merlin. Merlin seems to combine the two, with both identification and…
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Klaipeda and Nida, the sandy West coast of Lithuania
We arrived in Klaipeda close to midnight, thanks to the only train options there from Siauliai (or Vilnius or anywhere) being very early or very late. On the plus side, I didn’t get hassled for not having a reservation, there were no dog issues, and my Interrail pass went down okay. After a bit of…
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Siauliai, Lithuania, for longer than anticipated – Interrail hiccups
A quick overnight stop in Siauliai turned into 26 hours. Instead of a lunchtime train to Klaipeda, there wasn’t one till 20:47. Thus I discovered that in Lithuania the train times are not as in the Interrail Rail Planner app. There are likely to be fewer trains except in high season. So it’s best to…
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Into Lithuania
Only one train a day goes to Lithuania from Poland, the only Interrail country to the south. But that’s actually good for here. In 2020 it was one a week. During the pandemic and until May 2022 there were no border crossings by train at all! I want to head to Latvia and Estonia after,…
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Seeing an elk in Elk, Poland
At the centre of Elk lakeside you can hire all kinds of boats. For 55zl (about 11€) I hired a kayak for 4 hours of pootling a fair few km round the natural lake. Baspie jumped right in and we had one of the best days together. He even got quite soppy, snuggling up in…
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International historic boat collection at the National Maritime Museum branch at Tczew, near Gdansk
Where in the world has a top conservation lab for historic boats? Tczew (pronounced a bit like ‘chef’) is an easy train ride out from Gdansk on the main line to Malbork and Warsaw. There you will find the impressive lab which you can view from above as well as an excellent Polish and international…