From Riga to London – Brussels

Posted on 16/03/2024 by ainarsbl

After a trip from Latvian capital Riga to Berlin in Germany by coach and from Berlin to Belgian capital Brussels by train on the second day of our trip, we woke up at the hotel in Brussels on the morning of the third day of our trip from Riga to London in England.

We bought tickets for the Eurostar high-speed train well in advance, the departure was scheduled for early afternoon, so we had a relaxing breakfast without any hurry and then spent our time lazy on the ground floor of the hotel. The first two days of our trip were quite exhausting and we did not want to visit any city sites before leaving Brussels.

Brussels

Brussels is the capital of Belgium, although it often means the European Union and its institutions. It also houses other important institutions, such as the Benelux Secretariat and NATO headquarters.

About 1.2 million people live in Brussels. It is interesting to note that, although the city is considered to be French-speaking, it is part of the Flemish part of Belgium, forming an enclave. Until the end of the 19th century, the dominant language in Brussels was Flemish, but then French prevailed. There are two official languages in the Brussels region nowadays: French and Flemish, however, English is used widely too.

We deliberately chose the hotel near to the south station Gare du Midi, because the train arrived there from Germany the night before and from there, we planned to continue our trip to London.

High-speed trains run from Brussels South Station to the United Kingdom (St Pancras station) and European Union destinations such as Paris in France. The difference is that before boarding a train to London, you have to go through customs and border controls as you would have to do at any international airport.

Trip to London

It also means that you must arrive at the station sometime before the train leaves and there are duty-free shops at the station. However, it must be said that the prices in those duty-free shops are abnormally high, and it is likely that shopping in the city could be even cheaper. At least, those are my personal observations.

We had calculated the time correctly so that we would not have to wait long for the trains to arrive. After a short time in the waiting room, we could already go to the platform to get on the train.

The journey itself was not particularly admirable, apart from the fact that the speed of the train was close to 300 kilometres per hour (perhaps the feelings would be more impressive if we were using this train for the first time). The only stop on the way was the French city of Lille. Passengers were picked up there and we went on without any delay.

The journey from Brussels to London took just two hours and ten minutes and a ticket in a standard car cost £ 60 (€ 75) per person. It must be said though that this is a relatively low price for a trip that can cost 100 to 200 pounds or even more if you do not book your trip in advance. Prices are often lower on weekends (especially around noon) but higher on weekdays. There are usually about five one-way trips on weekends and six on weekdays (seven on Mondays).

London St Pancras Station

Eurostar trains arrive at St Pancras International Station in London. It is connected to London Euston station, one of the busiest stations in the UK, with domestic trains departing and arriving there.

If you happen to be nearby, it’s worth to go and look inside. The hangar, where the trains arrive, is both huge and at the same time cosy with a large clock on the wall and a statue at the end of the platform, which represents the joy of meeting.

Further from the station, there are a lot of opportunities to find the desired means of transport to go to the city. There is London Euston Train Station, the London Underground, buses and taxis outside and King’s Cross Railway Station nearby, which has a ‘Harry Potter shop on Platform 9 3/4’. Of course, the souvenirs related to Harry Potter are sold there.

So, our a bit less than three days long trip from Riga to London ended successfully in London. If you want to read more, there are other two posts about this trip from Riga to Berlin and from Berlin to Brussels.

Mainau Island in Germany

Posted on 03/02/2024 by ainarsbl

Sun, flowers, and spring

The next morning, after the usual grey April day in Riga, we were awakened by the rays of the sun – our break in Germany had begun exceptionally well! From the window we had a fantastic view towards vineyards and all kinds of flowering shrubs and trees; we felt like on a real spring holiday! We planned to visit Baden–Baden and at the end of our trip visit Mainau Island.

To enjoy these fantastic changes, immediately after breakfast we went for a walk around the town and without realizing it, reached the next town. The Easter morning service had just ended, the clock was approaching noon, and the local Germans were slowly gathering for family lunches at local pubs. Great tradition – in most cases, at least three generations of people gathered around the tables.

Before moving on to Mainau Island in Germany, after visiting the thermal pools and sauna complex in Baden-Baden, we walked around the city, which has both its unique charm and something special, such as the German order, which strangely coexists harmoniously with the Russian language heard in many places.

In the holiday complexes do not be surprised that you will be spoken in Russian, because some of the service staff came from Eastern Europe in the late eighties or early nineties. This short break in Germany was coming to an end and we had to move on.

Mainau Island

As I said before, this episode of a short break in Germany is from another journey. The island of Mainau is in a completely different corner of Germany we visited returning from Switzerland. The region around Konstanz did initially give an impression of a remote not that exciting area, however, the beautiful island successfully dispelled that first impression.

The description here is not a comprehensive one, because the island of Mainau must be enjoyed looking at it and the impressions gained are difficult to transfer in words. Here are some photos from the visit below.

Flowers all around

There is a botanical garden on the island and the visiting time was specially chosen for spring; all the spring flowers were blooming there. The island is not large; it is possible to walk around it in a couple of hours. However, it takes much more time because the created lawns, greenery and flower beds are admirable, and you can’t just walk without eating in one of the cafes during your visit.

At the beginning, the price for a visit to the island (adult ticket 17 euros, family ticket 34 euros) seemed to be quite high, however after visiting the exposition we realized that the work invested in creating and maintaining the island is huge and requires a lot of investment.

Tropical and butterfly houses

Among the gardens on the island are several buildings with shops and various expositions. The most outstanding is a tropical house with a huge collection of orchids – it is so beautiful! The other very special place is a butterfly house, where butterflies of various sizes and colours live in tropical jungle conditions.

Iceland

Posted on 20/12/2023 by ainarsbl

So far, we have only been in Iceland during the winter. And we love all about it – snow, ice, glaciers, wind, lava fields, geysers and especially sunny days and Northern Lights, which we have been lucky enough to enjoy.

Along with Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Faroe Islands and Denmark, Iceland belongs to Europe’s Nordic region. Iceland is a volcanic island and lies on the border between Eurasian and North American Tectonic Plates. That makes Iceland a hotspot of many active volcanos.

The total area of Iceland is 102,775 square kilometres (39,682 square miles) making it No. 106 on the list of world’s countries by territory. The population of Iceland is around 346 thousand people and it is 176th in the world with a very low density of population – only 3.5 people per square kilometre.

Getting around

If you travel to Iceland, you may recognise that many tourist attractions are located almost like bus stops on your route. Of course, getting there may require hours and hours and, sometimes, traffic may be suspended for some days because of snowstorms, strong winds etc.

If some of the attractions you have booked are located off-road, for example, visiting ice caves, you will most probably be picked up by organisers somewhere in a parking space near a major road.

Another tip – you would normally pay a deposit for booking particular activities, for example, if you wish to enjoy dog sledging. These attractions may be cancelled due to weather conditions.

Most probably, you will not get another chance to do it again during this particular trip, although do not worry – organisers will make a refund relatively quickly.
So, always have a plan B to replace this kind of unpredicted events with other activities. Planning a trip to Iceland you may never rely on Iceland’s changing weather.

Golden Circle

Many people have heard about Blue Lagoon, which is a famous recreation facility near Iceland’s capital Reykjavik.

If you visit Iceland for just a few days, Blue Lagoon would most probably be one of your destinations. It is located some 50 kilometres from Reykjavik and 20 kilometres from Keflavik International Airport (keep this in mind when planning a trip).

You could also make the Golden Circle, which is a tourist route you may use to familiarise yourself with a very small but diverse part of the island. The length of the route is about 300 kilometres; it starts from Reykjavík and goes into central Iceland, before returning to Reykjavik.

This route may be booked as a guided tour or you can drive your own rented car. If you rent a car, the Golden Circle may even be a perfect trip for a day. You would visit three major locations – The Geysir Geothermal Area, Gullfoss Waterfall and Thingvellir National Park.

Outer circle

This is how I call it, perhaps there is another name for it, however, the idea is that if you keep on Route 1 from Reykjavik, you will return to Reykjavik after going all around Iceland.
This would be suitable if you have arrived in Iceland for more than just a couple of days, fancy some extreme feelings, rent a car and are willing to drive almost 1350 kilometres (850 miles).

Here you can also see a screenshot from Google Maps to get an idea of what I mean. There are many attractions along this route; just to name a few: Hvalfjörður Tunnel (part of Route 1), Akureyri (a small and nice town with public thermal bath facilities), Hverir Boiling mud pits – a fantastic natural phenomenon just on the side of Route 1.

Easter in France

Posted on 10/12/2023 by ainarsbl

During spring, after a short rest in the Baden-Baden baths in Germany, we decided that it would be nice to spend part of Easter in France; we decided to visit one of the most famous cities in the Alsace region, Colmar.

Alsace

Alsace is the fifth smallest of the 27 regions of France, at the same time one of the most populous – 220 people per square kilometre. By comparison, the population density in Latvia according to 2020 data is less than 30 inhabitants per square kilometre, while in the United Kingdom, it is 270 inhabitants per square kilometre. The Alsace region has historically even had its Alsatian language, which could be a German dialect of French; about a third of the population is still able to communicate in Alsatian. As is common elsewhere in Europe, many settlements have German names alongside French names.

Alsace’s largest city is Strasbourg, home to many European Union institutions, including the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the European Court of Human Rights. It is also interesting that Strasbourg is the second largest port city on the Rhine River.

Easter market in the old town of Colmar

We had read before that there is a market in the old town of Colmar for Easter in France, where you can buy a variety of French country delicacies. Besides, this market is largely aimed directly at the people of neighbouring Germany, because Colmar is only a few dozen kilometres from Germany – just cross the Rhine and you are there.

We found one of the few free parking lots less than a 5-minute walk from the old town of Colmar and headed for the city’s central square. In the very centre of the old town, next to a large church, there were mobile stands with a variety of groceries. What is not quite typical for France – most of all sellers spoke German; more precisely it was probably not German, but Alsatian. Quite a few also understood English, so before buying something particular, it was possible to find out more about it.

Homemade cheese and bird liver pate

We had already bought Alsatian produce in Germany, so at the market we found good things for snacks – homemade cheese, poultry liver pate and dried ham; Italians have a very similar to it called prosciutto.

dairy display in france — Dairy display in France

A little about bird liver pâtés: for the first time in France, we couldn’t understand why there is such a big price difference for the same products – duck or goose liver pâtés, known as special French delicacies – really good stuff for celebrating Easter in France.

It’s quite simple – the price depends on what percentage of poultry meat is added to the liver pate. The more meat, the cheaper the pate; the higher the proportion of liver, the more expensive the pate. Of course, the prices of goose, chicken and duck liver also vary. If we want clean delicacies, then we take a clean liver plate, but if we want to eat a lot, then the liver should have more meat. Like any other delicacy, pure liver pate in large quantities is not so enjoyable.

A bit more about Easter in France. Of course, the celebration of Easter in France was not nearly the same as the celebration of this holiday in Poland, however after various open-air exhibitions and decorations, one could sense that the city has a festive atmosphere. The lively activity in the city centre also testified to that. It should be noted that lunch in France is pleasantly cheaper than in Germany. In Germany, there were many beautiful holiday decorations near private houses, however in the cities we did not observe any common holiday events. To be fair, it must be said that in small towns, however, many Germans attended churches.

Strasbourg

We returned to Alsace about a week after our Easter in France experience to spend there another night before going home and having a little sightseeing around Strasbourg.
It was a complete coincidence that we found and pre-booked the Hôtel Au Couvent du Franciscan, built by ancient Franciscan monks, located almost in the heart of the city. This hotel has not been associated with the church for some time, however, it has retained the ancient charm of the monastery. It was pleasantly surprising that the triple room consisted of two separate bedrooms. The hotel only had one star, although the location and price were very good value for money. The continental breakfast was also unusually generous for France.

Strasbourg Old Town and Cathedral

After several weeks of rain all over Europe, the weather in Strasbourg was finally sunny and very suitable for exploring the city. The grass was green, and chestnuts had already started to bloom. Strasbourg’s Old Town is located on one of the islands. There are a lot of canals in the city in general, although we had not enough time to sail with one of the boats that ran along them.

The whole of Strasbourg’s old town, located on the Grand Island, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988. One of the most impressive buildings in Strasbourg is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg. Its construction began in 1176 and was completed in 1439. For a long time, from 1647 to 1874, Strasbourg Cathedral was the tallest building in the world and today it is still the sixth tallest church in the world, with a peak height of 142 metres. Another interesting fact about the cathedral – although it is believed that the cathedral was originally built in the style of Romanesque architecture, it is also mentioned as one of the best examples of Gothic architecture.

Shopping in Strasbourg

There are other beautiful buildings in Strasbourg, many canals, squares and simple dwellings. The city has a good public transport infrastructure, low-floor trams of modern design run through the old town. The Galleries Lafayette department store is also located in the city centre. These French stores can also be found in Berlin, Casablanca, Dubai and New York, although they originate in Paris. However, small shops and cafes along the streets may seem even more interesting.

So, the first half of the day flew away and we had to leave France. Before ending our Easter in France trip, we had lunch and once again had the pleasure of eating a lot more food for the French euro than we would get in Germany for the same amount of Euros. Another important thing for visiting the old town – we took advantage of the fact that in our hotel parking lot, it was allowed to park our car until afternoon free of additional charge.

This Easter in France trip included two other destinations for which separate descriptions are available on this blog – Baden-Baden and the island of Mainau in Germany, and a trip through the French and German parts of Switzerland.

South of Norway

Posted on 02/12/2023 by ainarsbl

Arrival in Oslo

To have a short break in June, we went to Norway for a few days to look around and visit Norwegian fjords. After landing at Oslo airport, we picked up our pre-booked car from the airport car rental office and started our trip. We were lucky that instead of a smaller car, we were upgraded for free and got an excellent Volvo V40 – very nice welcome to Norway!

We were thinking about visiting the south of Norway for a long time and finally did it. And, here is the first tip – be prepared to pay for the toll road immediately after leaving the airport if you go to Oslo (there are other toll roads as well).

You can pass control points without paying (what we actually did without a previous intention), however, surveillance cameras are in operation and you will be detected and charged anyway.

The second tip – if you see a parking place for a charge somewhere in the middle of nowhere – make your best effort to find a place to pay for it to avoid penalty charges (still wondering how they managed to recognise that our car was in one of these places). So, visiting the south of Norway is not cheap, however, you may get charged even more if you are not careful enough.

The capital of Norway Oslo is the largest city of Norway. Its metropolitan area has a population of more than 1.4 million people. In addition to this, Oslo is the third largest city in Scandinavia and the most expensive city in the world (according to data from the last decades).

Stave church in Heddal

We didn’t have plans for Oslo and just went through it to reach our destination – the south-western coast of Norway. After a few hours of driving the first stop we made was to look at some old stave church in Heddal. A stave church is a medieval wooden church with a post and beam construction related to timber framing.

hedal church in norway — Hedal Church in Norway

The wall frames are filled with vertical planks. All of the surviving stave churches, except one, are in Norway (the remaining one is in Sweden). The church itself was an interesting, impressive wooden building and it really was worth to see it. I still remember the smell of the surrounding area – it was a very heavy smell of tar all around.

Camping in Norway

Camping rather than staying in a hotel saves a lot of money in such an expensive country as Norway. Almost everywhere in Norway is allowed wild camping (you should not even ask permission from a land owner if you stay on uncultivated land for a couple of nights), although we were travelling with a child and for that reason were not considering that option.

We decided to stay near the fjord. To find a campsite anywhere in Norway, you can use a multilingual camping portal. (there are some 13 languages available to choose from).

You may search by region, camping chain, city, attraction etc. At the time we were in Norway it was not that easy (we did not even have a booking in advance, relying on fortune), however finding campsites nowadays is much easier.

sheep on a road in norway — Sheep on a road in Norway

If you are travelling in July, the weather is good enough to stay in your own tent. There are comfortable bungalows available as well, though they are not cheap at all. But you know – there is nothing cheap in Norway, especially food. However, the emotions you get from visiting Norway and enjoying nature there are even more impressive than you could imagine before. There is another blog from this trip about fantastic Norwegian waterfalls and nature.

Around Switzerland

Posted on 20/11/2023 by ainarsbl

Autumn trip to Switzerland

This is one of the parts dedicated to our trip to Switzerland in early November. Almost immediately after crossing the German border towards Switzerland, we recognised the first mountains. It was while ago when we went to this trip and we enjoyed this beautiful landscape for the first time in our lives – that was so amazing!

However, we still had a way to go and the next short stop was near Geneva Lake. It was even more impressive – a huge lake on one side and mountains all around. The Autumn colours of trees made this landscape even more beautiful and enjoyable. During the next few days there were planned two different trips – one to the capital of Switzerland Bern, and another trip to the mountains (3000 metres above sea level!) to get an even more extreme experience.

mountains in switzerland — Mountains in Switzerland

As we had accommodation in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, it was interesting to visit Bern as it is located in the German-speaking part. The Old Town of Bern has been listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site since 1983. Sightseeing was really interesting.

We settled in the small sky resort Leysin. It was a bit surprise that there was no snow around on the top of the mountains. As it appeared later, that year was widely known for lacking snow. However, our goal was to travel around and this obstacle did not bother us much.

Visiting mountains

Another impressive experience was visiting Glacier Les Diablerets, located 3 kilometres above sea level. Cold wind, clouds above and below with impressive alpine landscapes around – beautiful and stunning!

It was very convenient and also interesting to have lunch in Botta Restaurant.

motorway in switzerland — Motorway in Switzerland

Coming down from the top, there was an incident – a mountain lift stopped over a deep gorge. Probably, it was caused by lack of electricity, who knows. The feeling was not the best one for five or even more minutes because a strong wind was swinging the cable car. Even a company of climbers started to be nervous after some time but fortunately, the problem was fixed soon after and we continued our way to the parking place.

The Italian part of Switzerland

Every trip should finish sooner or later. Because Switzerland has also an Italian-speaking part, we decided to visit it before coming home. After crossing mountains through the tunnels, it was another world again – road signs in Italian, cliffs around, and very high waterfalls coming from the cliffs.

After driving for a while, we reached Lugano. In the beginning, it was even difficult to adapt to the surrounding activity – people speaking, sports cars passing, loud ducks in the lake, and palm trees on the streets. But in general, it was a very nice place to enjoy life!

Late in the afternoon, after sightseeing in Lugano, our trip to Switzerland was almost over and we started our way back home. One last night we spent in Switzerland but on the next day, before arriving in Germany, we made a short stop in Lichtenstein.

It is a common thing that after visiting a beautiful place there is a wish to return again. We actually did that several times afterwards. For myself, the most fascinating thing was to see how the majesty of nature is combined with human creations. For example, highway viaducts over gorges, buildings on the edges of cliffs, very long mountain tunnels and simple asphalted mountain roads sometimes hang over an abyss.

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