Sicily small tour

or
A vacation without my family

It was supposed to be a nice easy trip a friend of mine and three kids. As the plans are always a subject for changes, my kid had to stay home with the dad. So I've got a week of vacation for myself. Being a mom and going away from your kid for the first time isn't easy, but as the kilometers grow you understand that there is nothing else to do and you start enjoying your trip.

So, we've spent a week in Sicily making a small circle from Trapani, via Castellammare del Golfo, Terrasini, stopping for a coffee in Corleone (no mafia around), Sciacca, Marsala and coming back to Trapani again.

Some good points to see:
- Zingaro reserve - best place for swimming probably in all Sicily, as the beaches are accessible by foot only and therefore stay clean, cosy, and natural. The park itself is a popular place for hiking
- Erice - an impressive hill-city-castle in one. A nice, but too much touristic place to see.
- Greek archaeological site Selinunte - museum of ruins under the open sky. Take a hat or a scarf and plenty of water on a sunny day.
- and the paradise of kiters close Lo Stagnone lagoon. It has a goog restaurant. Also, nice view guaranteed.

Iceland from the bike

read the whole story in http://islandijanuodviracio.blogspot.com/ (sorry in Lithuanian language only)

Polish Easter

or
Sick climbing

Do you know that pole children on the 2nd Easter day are running with water guns and are allowed to wash anybody? Nice tradition, isn't it? No surprise that the air temperature that day was up to 10°C only. Now I do know that too as I was one of the washed ones in the camping area we've chosen for our climbing Easter weekend in Sokoliki.

I was sick when we left Vilnius and I was sick when we came back, so the trip had no effect on that. I was physically not able to climb a lot, nevertheless I've managed to spend a nice sunny day on a wall doing some nice pretty easy trad routes.

The guys on the contrary were very active with climbing, while I've kept sleeping in a sun beside the wall. One day they have chosen a quite difficult but short boldering route, but it was occupied by two stylish poles who didn't manage to make a move and clip in the 2nd point. Our guys asked for a try and both made it in the 1st attempt. What a disappointment for a poles. On the other day they've chosen a very popular peek with a staircase and the watch platform on the top of the rock, where besides the noisy drunk youth some oldschool guys came for a trad climbing. Their cam stuck almost at the very top and we've challenged our youngster to take it off, because he managed to take one in a similar position a day ago. The old schoolers promised a glass of beer which we have never taken.

Well, the spring in Poland was some 2 weeks behind compared to Lithuania. We had a very nice time and good time away from daily routine as well the feeling 'that the spring is yet to come'

Test drive of new bike

or
Looking for the spring in still winter Samogitia

We've left Vilnius with cars heavily loaded with bikes on Saturday morning and came home late at night (or I should say early in the morning) to Monday. There were 15 persons and our lovely dog in 3 cars.

We've started from a lonely house next to the main road Šiauliai-Kretinga and went directly to the north. Šateikiai has a very nice church, where the Lithuanian master of arts and music Čiurlionis (this year is 100years anniversary of his death) has married his love of the life. Also there is a good looking old wooden manor. In the woods before Šateikiai we went looking for remaining of the soviet missile launcher places, but as they were dismantled, we've found old storage complex hidden in the woods. Well, these two places were the most exciting man created places in the trip.

The rest biking was really exciting in a different way. Still pretty cold weather, frozen lake of Plateliai and fog above it in the morning, cozy cemeteries and plenty of mounds varying in sizes and shapes. Since we had a dog running besides, we replaced paved roads to forgotten paths, crossing flood tided areas and beaver's dams, sometimes going straight through the meadow till the visible gap far away in the woods.

Thanks for Kubas, who organized the trip (he's already the author of one Bicycle travel book, and hopefully soon he'll launch another one); for French guys, who brought some international mood and didn't get cold; and for Samogitia for the amazing hills and dancing Grus grus.


Picture (c) DeGama

Doing nothing

or
Little vacation in the capital of Europe

Guess what - I'm getting used to doing nothing during my vacation. A cheap flight from once-upon-a-time temporary capital of Lithuania to the current capital of Europe and I'm far away from the daily routine and cold spring.

Well, Bruxelles is famous for peeing boy - checked, beer - of course double-checked, chocolate and truffles - also checked, and EURO parliament - also checked accidentally when we missed the last entrance to the Dinosaurs museum. From myself I'd like also to add super-relaxed people, who do not hurry and spend their time simple staring at something or nothing, who walk in coats or short-pants or even foot-naked at the same time, drive "Brompton" in the streets, also, there are plenty of second hand book shops just around the corner, and bars next to each other, but still full of people daily.

Good place for doing nothing.

p.s. they're still smoking in the bars

Islands as the amber necklace on the Baltic sea

or
I want to ride my bicycle

Did you ever notice that the shape of the Baltic sea reminds a woman on her knees holding Finland on her stretched out hands? So the archipelago of Åland Islands, where we've spent a week on bicycles, are located at the level of the Baltic woman's chest just without the lace to keep them together :)

There were four of us and my little nephew John, who was at the age of 1 year and 2month at that time. He was safely sitting on the back seat behind his dad in a comfortable seat and sleeping most of time while cycling. The rain on the plastic raincoat was only interesting for him, the birds, ferrys, islands and other objects he knew were all entitled by two front letter syllables, sleeping in a tent was just another game, and water was the attraction #1 without possibility to take him out without at any cold. For the rest of the riders it was a really nice trip, another experience, and fun watching the kid putting his first steps ;)

And what about the islands? They are great! The ferries are free of charge for bicycle drivers (except the special bike ferries), the roads are red paved but of good quality, the bolders in the north of the main islands are full or problems and with some good magnesium whiten holds for tracking the routes, people are friendly, and islands are full of "Loppis" - yard sales so to say.. For sure worth a visit on a bike with a boldermat, climbing shoes and a bag of "chalk" ;)

12 ice creams

or
Latvian underwear

Few years ago in one of the blog entries I've introduced the Lithuanian law that increased the number of vacation with extra days. Now the law is changed, but from time to time we still have long weekends, which you can use as an advantage and significantly increase feeling of having more holidays. It just happened so that we had 2 long weekend in a row. One we've used for climbing in Frankenjura and another for a new pssion - cycling - in Latvia this time.

Eventhough, our plan was not to exceed more than 50km per day, in four days we made a circle of 300km. Now that was nice!!! Going by seaside and sometimes being washed by the waves, riding on paved and unpaved roads, pushing your new best friend through the free sand or dunes, sleeping on a sand and under the rolled stack of hay, watching the sun going down and red sky all night long, swimming in most of the water bodies, eating ice-creams at every stop and running away from mosquitos, which you can find even on the beach.

While traveling we were always followed by the idea that Latvian seaside till Kolka soon will be occupied by friendly Lithuanians having vacation. At the moment Lithuanian has bare 99km of the seaside, which goes for almost 34 Lithuanians in 1 meter of the seaside, while in Latvia this rate is only 4. So why not to "share" a narrow piece of Latvian costline with a friendly intentions from the brotherly love? :D


Picture (c) Dovile

Kur puikūs slėniai sraunios Dubysos

arba
Vasara vidurio Lietuvoje

Dėdė Maironis eiliavo, bet eilės atspindėjo tik dalį teisybės. Pirmąją, slėniai iš ties puikūs ir kitaip jų net nepavadinsi. Antrojoje, priešingai gerb. poetui, upė visai nesrauni ir, jei vėjas pučia prieš srovę (įdomus reiškinys, ar ne? Juokiuosi), netgi tenka gerokai pairkluoti.

Gal dėl slėnių, o gal dėl ypatingos atmosferos, čia liūtys apeina aplinkui.. Griaudėja, žaibuoja, grąsina, bet apeina ratu ant galvos išspausdamos vos kelis lašus.. Galima sakyti, kad mums pasisekė, nes vasarinės liūtys xxi amžiuje gerai nuvalo Lietuvą: nuplauna iki triusikėlių ir medžius išvarto, kad neaugtų kur nereikia.

Life in Syria is neverending

or
Mafi mushkila

The foreign affairs ministry of Lithuania recommends not to go to Syria (do you feel the difference between "recommend not to go" and "do not recommend to go" - this powerfull play of words...) Well.. Despite of this there were four (me, Romas, Kuras and Raimis) of us who visited Syria to try a different way of travelling. The minimal set of items for a person included:

• backpack for souvenir back home - total 1 (small)
• additional set of clothes (besides the one you're wearing on) - total 1
• toothbrush - total 1
• wallet with several currencies (Litas included as souvenirs for locals) - total 1
• passport - total 1
• photocamera - by accident it happened so that everybody took one - total 1

The advantages of this are:

• Leave the hotel and go
• Everything you have is always with you
• Don't worry be happy in case you loose it (but this didn't happen luckily)
• And the most important advantage is that you realise how little you need for a living!!!
  

Well, let's go straight to the results:

• Visited airports: Riga International, Istanbul Ataturk and Giazantep International - total 3
• Visited cities: Riga (Latvia), Istanbul (Turkey), Allepo, Palmyra, Tartus, Homs, Damascus (2 days) - total 7
• Visited ruins - Citadel of Allepo, Qal'a Sim'an, Al Bara, Serjilla, Qala‘at Ja‘abar, Rasafa, Qasr-al-Heir-al-Sharqi, Palmyra, Tartus, Arwin island fortress, Krak Des Chevaliers, National museum of Damascus - total 12
• Days spent on a trip - total 10
• Pictures taken - total 180 (plus almost more than a thousand pictures from the rest
  

Would you like to get more statistics? Well, the living is cheap, the prices are low (but you must bargain always and everywhere), people are friendly, weather is fine, and the company is sometimes hungry... I recommend you to go and see it with your eyes. All the stories are worth nothing until you experience them by yourself.

For Katarina

or
Spring, holidays, climbing, and trousers

I was there last year the very same time when rapes and dandellions blossom with that crazy yellow on an extreme green grass. And the sky is so blue to enlarge the contrast and emphasize the impressions.

This time it was somehow realy special.. Blossoming chestnuts in Wroclaw, good belgium beer (thank you Dima, now I know the taste of beer), starry nights with crazy planes, unique company, and amazing food... I almost lost my climbers trousers (there is a theory when you're worth to wear a checked climbers trousers made by Rejoice), but thanks for Villy who saved it and kicked my ass :)))


Hey, it seems that I'm still too excited to put all my feelings in a single blog entry, therefore wait for a 2nd part ;)

High Tatry - autumn session

or
Who said you shouldn't come back to the same place twice?

All Saints’ Day is a mixed celebration of Catholic tradition when religious people thank to the Saints of the Church. It is also referred to a pagan custom to honor the souls of the dead. Whatever the reason is, during this weekend majority of Lithuanians is visiting cemeteries and lighting the candles in the memory of those who are no longer with us. Nevertheless, there are some exceptional Lithuanians, who travel some 900 km to visit mountains and share the mountaineering experience with colleagues, new friends, an acquaintance, etc.

This time we traveled the same route as we did during midsummer’s day, only from the opposite direction. To add some value we climb a mountain (Široka veža) and enjoyed the round rainbows around our shadows on the clouds.


(sorry for a bad quality - enjoy the view)

How to spend the winter in summer

or
Holiday destination - Kazakhstan

"The plane from Riga landed in the land with a trees only next to some few rivers", was the first idea that came to my head. First strict bargains for the price of taxi from the airport managed by our new friend Audronė (who currently lives in Almaty) brought us to central Asia life. "We're not going to master this art of bargain during our trip", was my second idea that struck my head that early morning.

We've spent a day in Almaty - a city that starts in steppes, and ends at the foothills on Tian-shan mountains. We've hurried to the mountains of gods (as we were told by the mountain guard Isa) to break the rules of a national park, to try ourselves in difficult situations, to enjoy a good company, to see the Zailyisky Alatau, to travel... We didn't climb the highest mountain in the Northern Tian-shan, but we enjoyed our trip. We didn't reached our main goal, but we discovered something new in ourselves and each other. We didn't see the rainbow, but we were followed by a good weather. We didn't see the famous lake Issyk-kul, but we've spent 13 wonderful days in the place, where we wanted to be. We've properly spend the winter in this summer.

It was strange to see so many people, when we came down the mountains. It was so wet in Chymbulak, when we went for sightseeing there. It was really hot and dry in the Charyn valley, when we organized a small out-of-city tour. It was raining in Riga, when we came back. It was cold in Vilnius, when they brought our lost baggage. It is so good to remember, when I tell the stories for my friends.




Would you like to see something more? Look here. It's called "nowhere". Thank you, Arūnas.

Some interesting facts about Kazakhstan:
- By it's size Kazakhstan is bigger than western Europe
- There is no official religion, nevertheless the majority of people are Muslim
- This is one of the richest countries in world in a sense of minerals found
- The capital of Kazakhstan is Astana (from 1994), which translated from Kazakh language means simple "Capital city". It's a brand new name for a village in the middle of nowhere.
- Almaty, which name means "Grandfather of apples", remains as the southern capital. This historical capital and the largest city in Kazakhstan is still the destination number one. From the steppes in the northwest to the mountains in the southeast.
- The national museum has a whole floor dedicated for the president

Midsummers day in High Tatry

or
There is always a rainbow afterwards

Sun was setting down over the mountain and water was running still down the walls..
Tatry is a mini copy of mountains.. Suitable for any long weekend as well as for training during the winter.. A midsummers day is also OK.. On snow, with crampons, and exercises "how to brake sliding down the ice slope".. Wet! Very wet!! Nevertheless, worth to try.. =)

Nice trip.. Nice company.. Nice "chatas"..
Good food.. Good weather.. Good training..

We should come back here in winter.. For ice walls at least..

I love vacation..

or
Ice climbing Dolomites 2008

I cannot get rid of the feeling that I'm working for holidays.. This time I was in Italy. Some say "again", I say "one more time", but for sure not the last one :)

This time we took an ice climbing course. It was nice to discover a narrow valley close to Sottoguda full of waterfalls all covered by a number of winter climbers. Val gardena for the second day was also nice, but not so impressive. Nevertheless, the two stage waterfall with a warning sign "NO ice climbing" and a constructions place for a new tunnel just below the waterfall improved the situation.

Ice climbing is really hard mentally, because you must trust the crampons and the tools, but not your legs and fingers. It's cold, because the walls are always in the shadow even in the sunny Alps. It's expensive, because of the price of specially designed tools. It's dangerous, because walking on the ice is always risky. It's what I like, but I don't believe I've enough power to make it professionally and lead climb on a winter route. Nevertheless, it's really fun ;)

Well one vacation is over.. It's time to plan another one. For the next independence day. But first, I'd really thank you, guys, for a company, fun, Bologna, sledge riding, good wine, food culture, and many other things. Shortly, thank you guys for a perfect vacation and being with us... I really appreciate it ;)

Happy holiday!!!

or
Snow, diploma, and bad taste party

Time comes and in the Alps it starts to snow -> Skiing season is open!
Time comes and you have to show up your pretty face to the rectorin and with a perfect smile in a stupid pajama proudly accept the hard rolled diploma -> I'm done with the Free university of Bozen-Bolzano.
Time comes and instead of fancy UniBall you choose a Bad taste party -> close friends in a cozy atmosphere.

Time comes and a plane lands in your home country -> can I come back?
Time comes and everything settles down in a normal routine work-home-work -> Whoaaaa!!!! Can I come back??

108 laipteliai aukščiau jūros lygio

arba
pagaliau atostogos

atostogos yra gerai, ypač kai jų JAU reikia arba jautiesi jų ITIN nusipelnęs. Jūra, uolos, saulė - tradiciška, bet ne man -, keistai susigrūdę namai sujungti laiptų voratinkliais - smagu ir netikėta. Atostogų būstas įsikūręs 108 laipteliai virš jūros lygio. Pusryčiams briosch ir kapučino kavinėje pačioje laiptelių apačioje, vakarienei vynas ir truputis tirolietiško kumpio. Atostogų dvasiai palaikyt lengvas pasivaikščiojimas laipteliais ir takeliais (apie 5val) ir keli lengvi pasilaipiojimai. Vis tik atostogos. Smagu... Labai smagu...

Riga on my mind

or
Best wishes from the 25th floor in Riga.

Nice view, perfect sofa, good tea and a book about the Baltic artists in a nice cafeteria 94.740 meters above the river Daugava for the employees of HB and their friends only ;) I like this city from the top..

Nevertheless, it's time to go sightseeing.. Sun, +7 - perfect conditions.. A friend of mine got a joke: "Ryga is a nice city, but there are two many latvians."

Honey moon

or
Kam ciotka? (Who is totally satisfied?)

Play with the words - discover smt new.. :)

Three weeks in the Far East of Russia (the peninsula called Kamchatka), in the most romantic place for honey moon - not mine this time :) - with five deeply affected friend and a new born family.. This was a real trial period for tolerance, attitude, friendship, guidance, and resistance for the rain.. This was a good lesson for everybody not excluding myself..

I could tell you how we did it.. I could tell you the facts about the trip.. I could tell you about the experience we gain.. I could tell you about the natural beauty, real danger, and passion to go.. Instead take a look at the picture full of magic, beauty, and mystery.. Instead go there and see everything with own eyes, feel with own heart, get the personal experience and then, please, tell me how was it..

Blyninės beieškant

Talinas gegužės 8-tai

Taline turėjau keturias užduotis:
1) Užmegzti pažintis - puikiai pavyko
2) Rasti blyninę - visai nepavyko, nors net prie Jūros nuėjau
3) Nusifotkinti prie bronzinio kario - net nepasiėmiau fotiko
4) Susipažinti su Talinu - Pliusas iš didžiosios P

Gražu ten ir ypatinga.. Raudoni stogai žvelgiant nuo viršutinio miesto, saulė keičianti lietų, nesuprantama ir neidentifikuojama kalba, puikus ofisas buvusiose Kalev fabriko patalpose, (baltas Kalev šokoladas su mėlynėmis - mmmm...), mergaitė iš Honkongo ištekėjusi už esto, "politseinik" ant kiekvieno kampo ir nesutramdomas juokas kai sakai arba išgirsti "tere" (Kur čia estams suprast kas čia taip juokingo.. O aš vis sveikindvausi ir Romką prisimindavau).. Kitasyk reiks savaitei atskrist ir vietinius barus išbandyt.

Ai laik vojaž

nerazumem po polski

Su kiekviena nauja kelione mama pasukioja pirštą ties smilkiniu ir ramiu balsu paklausia kada susitupėsiu.. Atsakau gūžčiodama pečiais, kad ko gero niekad..

Šį kartą susipažinimas su Lenkijos gamta, o tiksliau Juros beveik "periodo" parko miškų, kalvų ir uolų išbandymas..

Trumpas komentaras apie Lenkiją: gražus miškas (su pasislėpusiomis uolomis ir dviratininkais), gerai prakaltos uolos (sudėtingumas lenkiška sistema nuo V iki VI.6+ arba nuo 5 iki 8b+ pagal prancūziška), daug žmonių (ir lietuvių tam tarpe), puikus kultūringas kempingas (10lt žmogui dienai su dušu ir tualetiniu popieriumi), 10h vairavimo iki Vilniaus (neskubant 12h)..

Trumpas komentaras apie kelionę: gerai palaipiojom, gerai pasivaikščiojom, gerai pasikultūrinom, gerai atrodėm, gerai pavalgėm, gerai išmiegojom, gerai pailsėjom, gražiai padainavom ("ne otdam mi Wilnia").. Smagu buvo.. Net Lenkija patikt pradėjo.. Gal kad labai jau arti Čekijos buvom..