Oi everyone, after a long delay and hours of procrastination I finally found some strength to sit down and start writing. This is a post for those, planning a trip by car in East-Central Europe, or for those wondering where to spend their future holidays. I recommend: visit Berlin, Prague, Krakow, and my hometown Vilnius all at once.
A day before hitting the road we've spent a day in Vilnius, had some take-away coffee, some lovely walks and talks in narrow streets of the old-town. If you come here, just get lost, don't use a map, slow down, find an outside cafe, have some pie and forget what you've left behind in your "real life". This is a place to get out of reality, to turn off your mobile and internet, to stop being on a diet, to read a book you've promised yourself to read for a year, to breath fresh air, to eat fresh vegetables & berries, and to get inspired by history and authenticity, that surrounds you in every step.
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| Vilnius, © |
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| Vilnius, © |
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| Vilnius, © |
So our trip has started early morning from Vilnius with a bag full of sandwiches, a GPS thing we didn't know how to
use properly and a car that was bought less than two weeks before the trip and not properly checked before leaving. Well, but we chose an adventure and there was no way back, I guess.
After getting lost on our way to Lithuanian-Polish board (thanks to some big construction works on the main road), driving towards it through small Lithuanian towns and villages, crossing the board and reaching Warsaw, we... stuck in a big traffic jam in the middle of shopping-mall area. It was so hot in the car even with the conditioner on and so smelly from the construction works and car gas around us, that I was about to get out of a car and go shopping because it was obvious that we are stuck for a long time. While I was just thinking of leaving a car for a bit and going to IKEA, I saw a woman getting out of her car, going to a near-by gas station for a hot dog. As much as I love hot dogs, that seemed wrong - she was like a deserter leaving us all behind her back choking with dust and smoke while enjoying her little happy meal. I didn't want to go to IKEA anymore.
Well but we drove fast since then - reached Krakow in few hours, a
lovely hotel "Kontrast" (perfect for those traveling by car in the region) and next morning we drove to see the old-town. I've always imagined Krakow being not only very historic, authentic place, but also a very yellow one. Don't start looking for logic where it does not exist (in mind of an illustrator), but I was right - it is a pritty yellow place.
Besides visiting main tourist points, such as main square, market, and
main old-town streets (although we didn't find any motivation to climb
into a hill and see the main point: the castle), we decided to get lost in
narrow little streets, former Jewish parts of the city. You can feel
history there in the air, not hidden under the layer of new paint. This
is what I love to see in historic places, so I was glad to get into few
small book-stores, look through scene of contemporary and classic Polish
illustration, see some lovely old fashioned store-windows, get some
ice-cream and find unexpected places such as gallery of Andrzej Mleczko -
famous local comics artist - have a chat there with him on comics festivals in the region, his
inspirations, and buy some little souvenir (who knew you can get a cup with a satiric illustration on Catholic church in Poland?) there from author himself.
We've walked all day long, not using any public or private transport, because we had only one day there and to be honest, that was enough. I left with being tired of walking but not being tired of Krakow. Which is the best compliment I could tell about any city in the world.
We've left early next morning and hit the road again. Our next stop was Prague, but we decided to have a lunch on our way there and stopped in Brno - the emptiest place in the planet, at least on Czech national holidays. We hardly found an open cafe with cold drinks and wifi, and left with a feeling of not knowing what to think of the place - let's say we were unlucky to get there when everyone else left the place and locked all of the doors before leaving.
And so here we are in Prague, a city that seems to be created by illustrators - colorful old town, ornamented houses (sweet as little pieces of a cake), lovely little shops full of toys, puppets, souvenirs (best I've ever seen - not kitschy, not campy, not old fashioned), little ships in the river, air-balloons in the sky, and horses carrying their fancy carriages in the streets. And don't forget those colorful doors that you can't stop staring at and wondering when Mozart will finally come out and greet you in his red coat. Prague is one of those places that manages to be a tourist destination and at the same time stays as authentic as possible (not like a big plastic Disneyland): it breaks your heart, it makes you smile, everything is there or around the corner.
A small tip for those planning to go there and preferring good food instead of local food -
Cafe de Paris hidden in one of little squares almost in the heart of the old-town: I can't tell you how happy I was to appear there in the middle of big summer rain - seems pritty simple place with a very small menu at the first glance, but then you get the best service ever, best food ever and best atmosphere ever - everything is right there, even lemonade. It's like coming to some family's home where everyone gets a warm welcome, a home-made dinner, a little chat and a feeling that you don't want to leave that place and go outside. It's like that only 10 times better. If you're in Prague and you're hungry, this is a place to go to.
After two days in either hot hot hot either rainy Prague, we've hit the road to Berlin. Hot dogs in gas stations, couple of wrong turns, autobahn with no speed restrictions, a green-zone sticker we couldn't find a place to get on Saturday and so here we were - in cute little double room at
Titanic hotel (not as little, as some commentators on booking.com were telling). At first we felt so tired we decided to stay in the room that night, but changed our minds in 5 minutes and so here we were on our way to central area's of the city and falling in love with Berlin with every step. It was my first time there and I didn't want to leave. There is no way to describe all book-stores, lovely little shops, cafes we saw while walking for 2,5 days there. The only disappointing thing there was a lot of closed doors on weekend, so again we were very unlucky with our timing there. But it didn't stop me from seeing
"Fashioning Fashion" at the Deutschen Historischen Museum, visiting a Bauhaus museum, and spending all my shopping budget on books, souvenirs, cards, etc before even reaching fashion shopping area. If you go to Berlin be sure you see North of the Centre which was my favorite part of the central Berlin - not that much of "iconic" stuff like gates, arks or obelisks there, but a lot of small boutiques, bookshops, little lovely yards, some street-culture places. If you're are a creative or someone who appreciates contemporary design / illustration, Gestalten gallery / store is a place to visit -
http://www.gestalten.com/ which is not far away from a very cute hand-made / boutique sort of shopping area in yards
surrounded by Rosenthaler strasse, Oranienburger Strasse and Sophienstrasse - this is a place to go if you look for some locally made fashion, sweets, souvenirs and other hand-made design items.
To be honest, for a long time I had a feeling that I have to go to Berlin although I've never been there before. I didn't
WANT to go there, I knew I
HAD to. It's a place that hit me with it's balance - old-town buildings next to modern architecture, next to soviet-type block housing seems perfectly fine there and I don't know other place where it would be so. Urban planning just amazes with logic, but at the same time it's alive, crowded with people and filled with pieces of nature here and there, such as birch trees planted into a sidewalk, a sun light hitting the best angles of architecture, river meshed with bicycle lanes, colorful pipes (still not sure why those were not under ground, but still, it looks very design-esque), and relax zones for real people, not for those abstract ones who live in heads of some bad urban planners. Geometric shapes seems to be placed in the best way possible in all of its beauty though the place still doesn't seem to be sterile at all.
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| my first impression of Berlin |
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| modern + classic |
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| this is what I call a bookstore filled with good design book covers. |
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| river as part of architectural landscape |
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| river as part of architectural landscape |
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| just a little something I saw behind the fence |
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| one of small boutiques I found in the hopping area in inside yards surrounded by Rosenthaler strasse, Oranienburger Strasse and Sophienstrasse |
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| lovely synthesis between nature and architecture |
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| I don't need to tell you a part of what wall this once was. |
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| Deutschen Historischen Museum, open on Mondays! |
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| The Berlin Holocaust Memorial |
As sad as it was, we had to leave with a night-stop in Warsaw, in a family run B&B which call itself [and charges as if it was] a hotel. We guessed our way out of the city (as our GPS had a half an hour coma) and reached Lithuanian board faster than expected, so we decided to have some traditional meat pies "Kibinai" for lunch in Trakai, Lithuania, not far from my hometown (and our destination) Vilnius. Instead of sleeping 48 hours after such a trip, next day we.... woke up early again and drove to the secret happy place in the middle of Lithuanian forest, surrounded by tenth of lakes and fog. It's one of those "middle of nowhere" places with a hammock hanging between trees, a book in one's hands, home-grilled steaks on the table and fresh berries behind the house. It was a sort of holidays you need after having European tour by car for your summer holidays :)
Dear Berlin, one day I will come back. For a month or two, not for a weekend. And till then - big times here in Vilnius where a big "project" is finally becoming a reality. More about that - in future posts. Till then - Berlin, I miss you.
