Europe India Trip: Day 36–37: Riga (Latvia) — Kaunas — Alytus ( Lithuania) ride [May 18–19, 2023]
This is part of my Europe India solo motorbike trip . Please read the post for more context.
As mentioned in my previous post, my plan for the day was to leave for Kaunas in Lithuania from Riga in Latvia. I chose Kaunas & not Vilnus for my next place as Vilnus is a bit of detour in east & I wanted to then head to Warsaw & eventually Krakow.
I had spent some time looking for a place in Kaunas. Surprisingly none of the cheap hotels showed up in Google Map. When I messaged a hostel owner through their site via email, he responded saying there is basketball tournament in Kaunas & that is the reason all cheap places are booked. I found a place for 10 Euros south of Kaunas, around 80 kms & I decided that I would do the booking once I am in Kaunas. The place name was in a town Miroslav close to Alytus & the place name was Nakvyne Mirosalv
In the morning, Andres, one of the guy from hostel management of Hostel Riga Kvant came to me & told me that the manager of the place did not agree to the 10 Euro price (I negotiated this the previous day) & I need to pay the balance 5 Euro. I asked him if I can see the manager & he said that the manager will come in half an hour. I had thought of leaving early but then I thought of making myself breakfast as I had some time.
The manager did not come in & Andres came & told me that he spoke to the manager & he isnt agreeing. I then tried calling the number of the manager but he dint pick. After a few futile attempts, I gave up, paid the extra 5 Euros & started to Kaunas.
There was decent bit of traffic while leaving Riga. After an hour, I was passing some small city & a cafe next to the road caught my attention. I stopped to have a coffee there.
I entered Lithuania at some point & stopped to take some pictures. I took a petrol station exit & stopped there. It seemed like a farm with some exotic animals.
I started to ride & was a hungry as it was around 3 PM. I remember seeing a cafe on roadside in a town, taking a turn later to come to it, only to realize it was closed. I decided to just look up a petrol station & eat something quick & cheap. But then I found a petrol station with Subway. How could I have said no to Subway :). I rode to the place & figured 2 bikers from Finland have just reached the place before me. We just waved but did not have any conversation. The Subway was in Aristava, a city between Panevezys & Kaunas .
I then looked for my next destination & figured that the Ninth Fort is on the north from where I will be entering Kaunas. So I put that as destination & rode to it.
A bit about Ninth Fort — apparently it was center of Nazi extermination & concentration camp. Russians built memorials during their occupation of Lithuania.
There was a 6 Euro ticket to go inside the museum but I chose not to. The museum closed at 6 PM & I was at the place by like 5:20 but I just decided to see things from outside.
I figured it was time for me to book the place in Miroslav & to my surprise, the place had disappeared from Booking.com . I found the phone number & spoke to the person managing it, who in some barebone English explained they dont have any vacancy for the day. I called him after an hour asking if I can pitch my tent in the open area (I could see it in picture) but I think he did not get my point & he said the camping area is close to the sea/river & that is far. It did cross my mind that I just ride to the place & explain to him in person, but then, I thought it would be too risky & ditched the idea.
I had messaged a few Airbnb hosts in Kaunas & I got a cheaper quote from one of the owners. It was for 23 Euros & I messaged the owner if he would consider 15 Euros which he refused. I then went back to him saying if it is ok to pay him 20 Euros in cash & I save 3 Euros in Airbnb commission & he did not respond. After waiting for more than an hour & running out of options, I booked the place & messaged the host that I would come in later after some Kaunas sight seeing.
I then rode to Kaunas Castle . I need to admit, the place around Kaunas Castle is probably one of the best views/scenary that I have seen in any old town so far.
I then proceeded to the old town market & as usual, the cobbled stone street was the first to capture my attention.
I looked up ‘cheap beer’ in Google Map & found Shamrock pub . I walked in to the place & ordered myself an Engleman Unfiltered beer for 3.8 Euros. There was an elderly gentleman at the bar table & he started to have conversation with me. There was another guy with his girlfriend on the other side & he asked me where I am from. We had a bit of conversation & I took a pic with them.
I asked for some local food recommensation to the young guy & he suggested Užeiga “Pas Jadvygą”. But the place was closed then so I decided to visit it the next day. I then decided to go to the next recommendation for cheap beer which was Bo Bar . I had a double horn beer & pizza. The pizza was pretty cheap for 5.5 Euros. The beer was a bit expensive from Shamrock for 4 Euros.
I then walked back to my bike parked next to the castle. The monuments looked pretty good with lighting so took some quick pictures.
I realized my Airbnb host hasnt responded & it was about to be 10. I figured that the latest checkin mention was for 10 PM. I had messaged the host from Bo Bar that I would be late & would come by 10:30 PM but there was radio silence. I tried calling the number provided by Airbnb but that had incoming calls barred. I found the number on Whatsapp & messaged/called it but no response. At the moment, I decided to reach out to Airbnb support for help. I just waited outside the castle for the next steps.
I also recorded a video of the castle while waiting. The music played by the nightclub next to it was pretty good.
I finally got a reponse in whatsapp from the host & he asked me to come over. Also passed me his wife’s number who is at home. It was a bit of ride & I was at the place by like 11:30 PM. The place was ok. It had a bit of a stench but well, I was happy that I have a place. Also, this was the first day in my trip when all my hacks for securing a cheap place failed & I paid 23 Euros for a place. I had paid 30+ Euros before but offlate, I had become pretty good at finding a cheap place & since Stockholm stay, I was able to get all places for well under 15 Euros per night :).
As for my next destination, while waiting for response from the Airbnb host, I figured I was pretty close to Belarus border & visiting Grodno would be a good idea. But I could not find any cheap stays as because of Ukraine war, Belarus places had been taken off from popular sites like Booking.com & Airbnb. I figured I will take a call on this tomorrow. Else the plan was to ride to Warsaw anyway. With the thought, I slept off.
I woke up next day, packed my luggage. I also figured that my right indicator has gone kaput again (it actually happened the previous night when I was riding to the Airbnb). I anyway had plans to meet friend of Nailia (the biker girl I met in Norway) who has a garage in Krakow. So I figured I would probably not worry about it for now.
I also had plans to visit the place for authentic Lithuanian food that I was told to me the previous day. But I was torn betwen the place & a good coffee place. After some thought, I decided to ride to New York Cafe that I had found on Google Map & they had excellent reviews.
NYC cafe was right in the middle of the town & the place had decent traffic. I found a place to sit & decided to write the blog there.
I also used the time to join some Belarus groups on Facebook & posted the question about stay finding. I found Anurag Mehta from Belarus who responded to my question in Welcome to Belarus facebook group. Anurag was quick to message me as well & then we had conversation on Whatsapp. I asked Anurag’s help in speaking with Hostel Sarmatiya that I have found on Google maps & their website showed bed for 10 Euros. Anurag called & confirmed to me that they have bed available for next day. He also very generously offered any help if I need it in Grodno. Also provided pointers around money exchange, buying SIM card & various other things. I was happy that I found him & that kind of gave me the required push to head for Belarus as I was in two minds.
It was 3 PM & I had booked the place in Altyus south of Kaunas for 10 Euros during the day itself, as I was not sure if I would ride to Warsaw or Grodno (Belarus). I then decided to withdraw around 50 Euros for currency conversion in Belarus & then head to the place in Alytus.
I remember when I was walking from the cafe to the ATM, I saw a police car & a biker. I was like — maybe I parked my bike wrongly & the police is here to question me. I moved on without looking at my bike & thought that if the police is still around when I come back, I would possibly confront them. Thankfully, they were not there when I returned :).
I then rode to Nakvynė Miroslave & reached the place by 5 PM as it was around 100 kms away. The place was a large building & probably something like center of the town with some accommodation. It was self checkin with codes sent to me on Booking.com . The room was the largest private room I would have booked for 10 Euros so far in Europe :).
I thought of spending time fixing the malfunctioning right indicator but then gave up & decided to chill. I walked to a grocery store nearby, bought myself a beer, eggs & bread; had the beer in the evening while talking to my wife; cooked dinner in the night, completed my pending blog post from NYC cafe & slept off at around 11:30 PM. The next day was to try my luck entering Belarus. While all the signs indicated the stars are with me, it turned out to be not a successful attempt. Details in the next post.
