Białystok to Vilnius

 

Day 21 - We bought our Białystok-to-Vilnius train tickets in Warsaw and didn't realize what a bargain we would get. We boarded our Polish train at 10:30 am and it travelled to a town of Suwałki on the Polish side of the border. 

For some reason, perhaps track renovation, we had to disembark and board three buses. We were driven for more than one hour across the non-existent EU border with Lithuania. Mockava is not really anywhere. It was in the middle of woods on a dirt road. However, we were promised that a Lithuanian train would come to pick us up.

 

It arrived on the dot and we continued to our destination in the capital of Lithuania. 

 

We checked into Hotel Ivoleta at around six o'clock pm.  Oh, we had to change the clock an hour ahead for this part of our trip.  We were pretty tired although we hadn't done much except watch the scenery from train and bus windows today.  We couldn't help but walk a little about the Vilnius historic city center. (This is a Wikipedia link.)

 

We will have our work cut out for us seeing this city in three days!

The City of Białystok on a Sunday

MORNING WALK 

Day 20 - Jay and I had a good breakfast in the hotel. We knew it'd be a rather relaxing day, so we slowly returned to see exactly how many minutes I'll take us to walk to the train station tomorrow morning. We noted when we came on Friday, that a lot of work was going on at the station and in the vicinity. Whereas, we walked over the tracks, we saw how much easier it'll be to roll the carry-on suitcase through a special, newly-built pedestrian, bicycle, and car tunnel. It was designed to make access to the main part of the city easy by foot. We determined twenty minutes will give us a lot of leeway. 

We walked a bit on the other side of the station. There was a very large market with much clothing for sale. We also walked up to the rather obvious, St. Roch Catholic Church on the return to the hotel.

 

 

LUNCH AND ICE CREAM WALK 

From the hotel, we had to walk back towards the old part of town for a restaurant. It was probably one of the best weather days of the local year and a lot of people were out in it.  We found a nicer restaurant and had a fine lunch for around $US 25 in total including my 500 ml beer.

NON-DINNER SIT

At the last minute we decided against having dinner out.  We've honestly eaten so much on this trip!  I'm glad that my watch tells me now many extra calories I've burnt as well as the actual kilometers walked.  We thought we might get by with fewer steps today.  That was the plan.  It sort of worked as at the moment my watch shows we only walked 8.3 kilometers.  That might be less than any day since our first, full day in Berlin back on May 29th!

We didn't need to walk all the way back to the restaurants.  Instead we picked up a few items such as bread and cheese in a local convenience store chain named Żabka that's right next to our hotel.  Therefore, our 'walk' consisted of going out to the road and finding a bench.  The air in the evening will get a little cooler tonight because it is so clear.  Today, the temperature got up to around 25°C.  The wind was not forceful but enough for us to see some gliders circling overhead earlier in the afternoon.

 

It surely was a day with a lot of blue sky!

A Saturday in Białystok, Poland

Day 19 - We came here as it's on the way to our next destination.  On Monday, we have train tickets from here to Vilnius, Lithuania.  This city of around 300,000 people is making a great stopover for the weekend.

Today we started by walking to see the Branicki Palace. (This link provides Wikipedia information.)  We continue to put on between 10 and 14 kilometers per day!

Several times today, I saw that we were exhibiting new travel traits.  We sat for a total of a few hours today on park benches simply watching life walk past.  When we were younger we rushed from place to place but now are not in a hurry.  We can take more time to savor a scene.  

There were a lot of people watching to do here on a great day.  As the winters are a bit harsh here, folks relish their time in the sunshine when summer rolls around.  We could tell that the main pedestrian areas full of restaurant tables are set up just for summers.  Even the large ferris wheel is a temporary installation during the months of summer. 

There are lots of arts and educational institutions in Białystok.  However, we're happy we made it here during a time of year that is skewed more towards tourism than academic pursuit.

Warsaw to Białystok

Day 18 - Although our train wasn't due to depart until 11:50, there was no reason to hang around at our hotel after breakfast. So, we had everything packed and were waiting for a tram at 10:00. We proceeded to the Central Station, helped some people at the station find the ticketing section, and got on the train that promptly left for Białystok.

 

Exactly at 2:06 pm we pulled in to the train station in Białystok.  I had set up Google Maps to show us the route to our hotel by walking as it said it was a 16 minute walk.  It was right.

 

We were hungry, so our first task after checking in was to find lunch. As it happened Jay had seen about Hocus Pocus, a buffet style restaurant right near the corner to the Hampton Hilton. What was unusual for us, was it was cafeteria-style where one pays by the weight of the food chosen.  The food was all labeled in Polish but it was rather self evident.  The meal was good and definitely worth the $15 total bill.

 

 

This city has a population of around 300,000. It is known for it arts and educational institutions. We could tell the influence of the students and when walking the average age of who we saw must've been about 25. There were so many pizza places around that I mistakenly wondered if Italians had once settled here. Rather, I guess it is the influence of having many Polish and international students. 

I think I'm going to enjoy our weekend here.  It feels like an it'll be an enjoyable place.

 

Train travel in Europe is easy and stress-free.  We had breakfast in Warsaw but lunch and dinner in Białystok!