Not wasting any time in Moscow, we went on our first tour after dinner: 3 hours in the Moscow Metro (Моско́вский метрополите́н). Dale arranged all our tours through Happy Moscow Tours and we were lucky enough to have Ludmila as our tour guide on two occasions: the Moscow Metro; and, the Kremlin (in her other … Continue reading
We had a noon flight to Moscow, Russia, so we only had time in the morning for breakfast and packing – not going to be needing those biking shorts anymore on this trip. We were flying on the Russian government-owned airline, Aeroflot (Аэрофлот in Cyrillic), one of the oldest airlines in the world, having been … Continue reading
We hopped in the van in Kaunas on the final day of our cycling tour of the Baltic countries and drove for about an hour to Elektrenai on the edge of Lithuania’s “Lake District.” Again the description of the ride was a little inaccurate. For about an hour, we cycled along a road heavily used … Continue reading
Our eighth biking day – and third day on our own along the Lithuanian coast – started with loading our luggage into a local taxi for transport to the Nida ferry dock. We all rode our bikes there and waited for the ferry to take us across the Curonian Lagoon to Ventė on the mainland. … Continue reading
Having spent the night in a very nice hotel just opposite the ferry landing in Klaipėda, the Old Mill Hotel, we awoke rested and ready for our big biking day: 68 km, about 42 miles, an all-time long bike ride for us. But, first, we had to wait for the hand-cranked, swivel bridge to open … Continue reading
We arrived in Šventoji on the northern end of the Lithuanian coast at 4:00 in the afternoon after riding in the van all day from Rīga. After some debate (given the lateness of the day), we decided to join those of our group that wanted to ride bikes from here to our hotel in Klaipėda, … Continue reading
In Rīga the next morning, Monday, we greeted our new van drivers and loaded the bikes onto the trailer behind the van we and the two German couples in our group climbed aboard. About an hour later we crossed the border into Lithuania. Since both Latvia and Lithuania are in the EU’s Schengen Area, there … Continue reading
From Tallinn to Rīga we have been transported by bus with our luggage stored below and the bikes in a trailer behind. For the most part, we have boarded the bus in the morning and been taken to where we begin our day’s bike ride, then we are picked up at an arranged destination later … Continue reading
Our fourth biking day was the shortest distance (about 13 miles, 21 km) and the best ride so far; good weather, too. Most of the day was spent in Latvia’s Gauja National Park, the country’s largest, which takes its name from the Gauja River that flows through it. After cycling through the town of Sigulda, … Continue reading
As I mentioned in my last post, our third day of biking was to start in Otepää, Estonia, billed by our tour operator, Baltic Bike Travel, as the “Estonian Switzerland.” Having now completed the ride, I’m mystified as to how they settled on this description. For the most part, we peddled through countryside and vegetation … Continue reading
