Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Friday 12th of July
06.31 It is early morning in our basement room at Iroom (https://iroom.pl) in Lublin. Even though it is early morning, there is someone outside driving some kind of motor vehicle.
06.54 A simple breakfast has been made in our shared kitchen, which is next to our room. Now there is not much time left here. Apart from an excessively high temperature in our room due to the weather, this accommodation has been good. It is new, fresh and flexible in every way. In addition, we had the opportunity to wash clothes here.
07.14 We will soon be ready to leave our room I01. What awaits in the next city? What happens before we get there?
07.43 It's going well in the morning light. We seem to have strength and energy for this day.
08.03 It was easier and smoother to walk to the station now that we had better knowledge of the route. Now we are sitting on a bench on the platform of Lublin Główny station. We are waiting to board the train.
08.16 Information about carriage information was lit up on a display. We boarded in first class in carriage 1 and are seated in seats 61 and 62. Cool air and calm music fill our carriage. To get a seat on this train we need to travel in first class but it wasn't that much more expensive.
08.31 Now we roll again. The last time we rolled out of Lublin was the summer of 2002. Then we were going south to Przemyśl via Stalowa Wola. Today the journey goes north.
09.14 It's really comfortable here in first class. I also think the views are better.
09.20 A while ago we passed the town of Puławy and now our train is crossing a bridge over the Wisła River.
10.06 Arriving in Radom, we now sit and rest on a park bench. There will be a short wait for the next train from here. We have bought some snacks in a Żabka kiosk. Christer is in a really good mood because the swelling in his ear went down when we got here. Now he hears as he should again and marvels at all the sounds the human ear can perceive when everything is working as it should.
14.44 One of the first photos we took on Polish soil in 2000 was at the Wysoka Brama city gate here in Olsztyn. Now it has been done again. Where there was a parking lot 24 years ago, however, it is now some kind of archaeological excavation. We have also seen a poster with Swedish singer Måns Zelmerlöw. Has he had a concert here or is he coming here soon?
17.43 We sit here in the greenery by the river Łyna and watch people walking by. It's a nice summer evening.
21.46 During the walk home we ended up behind a vehicle that decided to sweep and water the streets of Olsztyn late on Friday evening. We eventually came up to the Staromiejska pedestrian street again.
Saturday 13th of July
We have arrived at Lublin Główny.
Christer is waiting for today's first train journey.
The first train journey ends in Radom.
We have arrived in Olsztyn.
We rest on a bench in the greenery.
Åns Zelmerlöw, or is it Måns?
Wysoka Brama, the gateway to the center of Olsztyn.
The beers are served at Restauracja Sphinx.
Peter is eating a late lunch at Sphinx in Olsztyn.
We have moved into room 10.
There are interesting objects hanging on the wall outside our room.
Staromiejska pedestrian street in Olsztyn.
Staromiejski Rynek (Old Town Square).
Christer is having a bench break in central Olsztyn.
Someone is playing with a ring.
A sculpture of Mikołaja Kopernika (Copernicus).
Łynostrada, promenade along the river Łyna.
Olsztyn's Old Town Hall.
Christer visits The White Bear Coffee.
Here we´ll stay one night.
We have sat down at the brewery pub Browar Warmia.
Peter eats a good dinner at Browar Warmia.
The evening's dinner venue glows in the dark.
Olsztyn's streets are cleaned before the weekend.
08.21 The room could have been cooler and my bed could have been in better condition. It seems to have a hole in the middle of it. Now travel preparations are underway. Today we are going to our last Polish city for this time.
09.16 Now everything is done and ready. Now we're departing soon. However, not with speed. 09.34 During our walk towards the Olsztyn Zachodni railway station, we make a bench stop. We want to cool off and kill time so that we don't have to stand on the platform. The air is clearly better out here than inside the room. 10.06 Our final train journey between Polish destinations has begun. Now a few track hours await. 10.34 Since the last time, we have mostly stood still at one and the same station, Olsztyn Główny. It must be adjusted against departure times, other trains and other things. Had we known that the train would be stationary here for almost half an hour, we would have rather taken a longer walk and got on the train here instead. 10.36 Now we finally roll out of Olsztyn Główny. Information is heard in the speakers. I hope for a calm and cool train journey, a journey without too many serious incidents. After all, today is July 13th. 11.21 No drama here inside the train, but we have seen traces of drama outside. We have passed storm-felled trees, a forest that appears to have been hit by a tornado or something similar.
In this Gothic castle there is a museum, Muzeum Warmii i Mazur.
We get off the train in Ełk.
The railway station in Ełk.
Our accommodation is next to the railway station.
While waiting for lunch, a few lines can be written. The restaurant is Tamm Thai.
The fountain in Miejski Park Solidarności.
11.36 There is life and movement out there in nature. Deer have been sighted from our train window. We are traveling in a lake-rich forested area, a region called Masuria (Mazury). Here are the Masurian lakes.
11.59 The compartment colleagues got off at the station in Pisz. We will continue. 12.30 The journey continues so peacefully, but I'd rather arrive than travel much further. When we traveled here on our first train trip in 2000, we talked to a young Polish couple who were going to travel on through the Baltic states and Finland. How was the trip? What are they doing today? 13.23 When we arrived in Ełk, we had problems finding our way out of the station area. The entire station area was under reconstruction with temporary roads off the tracks. Our old trick to study and copy what others are doing turned out to be a bad tactic as we followed a few people who went wrong way. Once out of the track area, we went to the Thai restaurant Tamm Thai (https://tammthai.pl) for lunch. 14.38 The lunch, which was good, ended with the first coffee of the day. After shopping at yet another Frog (Żabka store), we are now checked into room 8 at Hostel Open Tours (http://hostel.elk.pl), an accommodation in the same building as the railway station. 15.57 After a quiet moment in the room, it is time to take a look at the last Polish destination of this trip. We have also selected our seats on the flights to Istanbul and Mauritius at the end of this month. It costs extra but it can be worth it. I don't want to be completely squeezed in when I have to travel with a catheter and need to go to the toilet whenever I want.
Kościół Rzymskokatolicki Pw. Najświętszego Serca
Jezusowego w Ełku.
Jezioro Ełckie (Lake Ełk).
The Zabytkowy Most bridge leads out to a castle ruin.
A boat on Jezioro Ełckie (Lake Ełk),
A car drives around in the lake.
Nice walking path by the lake.
16.37 We have left the accommodation and the railway station behind us and follow the street Armii Krajowej towards the center and the lake city is situated by. Ełk in Masuria has 63,897 inhabitants and was part of German East Prussia until 1945. Then the town was called Lyck.
16.55 Once again we are sitting on a bench in a park. People walk, stand and sit. Pigeons chirp and the wind cools. The park is centrally located in the city and is called Miejski Park Solidarności. 17.13 During our stay on the bench, Christer filmed a bit with his phone. Two girls cycled by and one of them happily waved at us while we were filming. 17.31 After stocking up, we went down to a park area by Jezioro Ełckie (Lake Ełckie). The church bells are ringing and we're going to get literary for a while. In the women's Wimbledon tennis, Barbora Krejčíková from the Czech Republic won the final. 18.08 Out on the lake, boats and a car drive around. But the car is a boat too. It just looks like a car. Happy people sit on board and toast with their beers. It is a lovely summer evening here by the lake and there are many people in motion. 18.33 We have been sitting on a bench by the promenade along the lake. Now, however, it is time to walk home again. We'll take another route back for variety. 19.07 Now we are back at home in our room. Now we are thinking about whether to eat or shop first. 19.32 In a nearby mall, Brama Mazur, there is the supermarket where we will shop later. Just outside it in another building is a cinema but also the restaurant The Flame Grill Restaurant & Bar. There we are now. Christer had to pick up the menus for us and no one seems to show any interest in taking our orders.
Christer has finally received the food at The Flame restaurant.
Plac Miejski outside the shopping mall Brama Mazur.
19.45 It was a long wait to order, but now it's done. A bored waitress finally did her job. A new wait has begun. When will what we ordered arrive?
21.10 It was worth the wait. The food was better than the service. On the way home we went to the Intermarché supermarket. There we bought a local evening beer, breakfast and food for the train journeys tomorrow. 21.50 The evening coffee was strong. What kind of coffee did I actually do it in? It didn't dissolve like classic instant coffee does. 22.40 The last evening beer in Poland was the local Mazurskie India Pale Ale. It was certainly an IPA but lacked the special touch you expect. Now we're going to sleep. Hope we don't get too disturbed by trains and calls about trains that we get when we live in a railway station. The advantage is that we have a window view of the tracks and can see when the train arrives tomorrow morning.
Sunday 14th of July
06.10 This is the day when so much happens. It's France's national day, the men's Wimbledon tennis final, the European Championship final in men's football, Crown Princess Victoria's birthday and our departure from Poland. But above all, it is the day when our friend Roberth's annual bicycle adventure begins. This year he will travel along the St. Olav´s path to Trondheim in Norway.
06.24 Things happen when we sleep. During the night, a 20-year-old man shot at Donald Trump. The former president was holding a rally in Pennsylvania when shots were fired. One of the bullets hit Donald's right ear. The shooter and one other person are said to be dead. 06.47 It has become time for us to go to one of the last Polish railway stations for this summer. Rarely have we been so close to a train as this morning. We see it through the window. 07.23 Our train hums. Does it want us? We mostly want it to start rolling. 07.38 Ełk waves goodbye and wishes us a happy journey. Now the journey begins from this country. Beyond the horizon awaits a country we haven't been in for a long time. 08.24 The local train from Polregio takes us ever closer to the next station for us. There is a short wait. 09.17 So we were back outside the railway station in Białystok. The last time we were here was in 2001. That time we slept in the city. Now we have just over an hour to wait until the next train arrives. 09.33 The railway station was left for a while. We are in a small skate park. Within half an hour the train will enter the station. 09.55 The train will soon arrive. Towards the station! It's a short walk there, partly underground. It's good because it started raining.
Early train journey from Ełk to Białystok.
Sunday's first train journey ends.
Sorry Białystok, we can't visit you this time.
The railway station in Białystok.
The walk from the station goes underground.
A break at Skatepark Plaza, Białystok.
10.10 Our train is late but it will come. We are standing on platform 1, ready for the leap out of Poland. We will be happy to return. There is a lot to see and the price level is still very good.
10.23 The train came in as it should. We got into carriage 13. Then we looked for the compartment with our seats. There were already some sleeping younger girls sitting there. After some discussion, a girl has moved and we are at least sitting in the right compartment. The girls seem to belong to a larger group of scouts. 11.59 Bicycles are led past our stationary train. A woman laughs in another compartment. Now we start rolling and and information about the next station, Suwałki, is heard. We have since last note passed the geographical center of Europe. One of the candidates anyway. It depends on how you count, where you consider Europe to begin and end. 12.45 We have been standing still in Suwałki for some time. Those sitting in "our" seats have picked up a guitar and what I believe is an ukulele. 13.26 Information was just given that we will arrive in Mockava in ten minutes. There we will leave for a change to another train, a train adapted to the track width of the rails that will take us through Lithuania.LITHUANIA
13.39 The train has left and soon we will also leave Polish time. We and others with us await the next train. We are just inside the border and in Lithuania.
CHANGING TIME ZONE
15.21 We are on board a Lithuanian train and have therefore also switched to Lithuanian time. It is again uncertain about the seats, but we are sitting down anyway. 15.55 Although it has been a long time since the last time, traveling by train in Lithuania is just fine. This train is of the regional train type and I think there is free seating in here. There are many people who want to travel today. There are not enough seats for everyone. We have just stopped in Marijampolė. 16.25 So we were seriously back in Lithuania. We got off at the station in Kaunas and are about to get to the accommodation. In 2001 there was only a short stop at this station. We look forward to seeing the city for real this time. Kaunas is Lithuania's second largest city and has a population of 289,380. 17.00 Now we are starting to get the TV, AC and WC working in room 519 at the hotel Ibis Kaunas Centre. Ibis has let us stay before. We have stayed with the Ibis chain in France, Morocco and England. 18.00 After showering and consuming some of the travel food, we will plan the coming evening. 18.38 The planning has given us the insight that we are not allowed to buy beer for the football. On Sundays, like today, they are not sold after 3pm. On weekdays, the buying stop is at 8pm here in Lithuania. The country has made various efforts against alcohol consumption in the form of changed age limits, increased taxes and restrictions on when you can buy alcohol.
Time to change trains and countries.
The station in Mockava. Here the width of the railway tracks is changed.
On the way to Kaunas in a full train.
Kauno geležinkeli stotis, the railway station in Kaunas.
Solar energy on the roof of the bus station.
Ibis Kaunas Centre, the first Lithuanian hotel of the summer.
18.54 We have left the hotel to go for an evening walk here in Kaunas. Now we have reached the park Ramybės parkas.
19.15 In the shopping mall Akropolis we have found the restaurant Talutti (https://talutti.lt). Now it will be, we hope, real food and drink, a simple dinner. 19.34 Now we have had to order. The waitress sounded worried when Christer ordered the Benjamin, it's their double burger. It is big according to her. I ordered pizza. With the food we drink Lithuanian beer brewed here in the city, Volfas Engelman. Since 2011, the brewery has reverted to its original name from the 19th century. When we were in Lithuania last time, their beer was called Ragutis. 21.11 Pickles on a pizza?! It was one of my pizza's ingredients. Interesting, yes. Culinarily, No! Before we went home from our city tour, we did some shopping for the football and breakfast. Inside the Express Market store there was a grumpy man who must have bought his drinks before 3pm and also consumed it afterwards. He wanted, I think, for us to assist him in some way. In the Wimbledon tennis men's final, Spanish Carlos Alcaraz won 3-0 in sets against Novak Djokovic from Serbia. 22.01 After watching the first film from Roberth's fourth bicycle summer, we will now watch the European Championship final in football between Spain and England. 22.24 There are chances here and there in the final. The ball rarely sits still. That's zero goals each and a moderately engaged Lithuanian commentator. Now Harry Kane received a yellow card. 22.49 No one has managed to score, but several have sluggishly tried. Do we miss our football beers? Well, I don't know. Maybe you can have fun without beer support. We try anyway.
Beautiful art at the Kauno životima inovacių centras.
Vytauto prospectus, Kaunas.
Akropolis shopping mall. Here we will find a restaurant.
The restaurant Talutti has been found in the restaurant part of the Acropolis.
Dinner at Talutti's.
The Euro 2024 final in our hotel room.
23.05 The second half has barely started when Spain manages to score through Nico Williams. Is it now that England wakes up and starts playing?
23.32 Palm trees bear fruit like dates. Palm trees bear coconuts. Palmer equalized in the final, 1-1. Cole Palmer fired a long shot that went into goal. 23.46 Spain suddenly make it 2-1. Substitute Mikel Oyarzabal is the goalscorer. 23.49 England have had two consecutive chances to equalize without success. There will be four minutes of extra time. 23.55 England lose their second straight European Championship final. Spain are champions and we are drifting off to sleep. Tomorrow we will see more of Kaunas.
Monday 15th of July
08.20 It's a normal Monday morning, a morning when you shower and eat breakfast. The somewhat unusual and original thing is that it takes place here in Kaunas and Lithuania. The European Football Championship ended yesterday. Now we can focus entirely on our travel and have no match times to adapt to.
09.26 The sun is shining out there. In here we start getting ready to spend a number of hours seeing and experiencing Kaunas before traveling on in the afternoon. 10.15 Our backpacks are left at the hotel in a storage room. We ourselves are in a park. It's the same park we made a quick visit to yesterday, Ramybės parkas. We have seen the Orthodox church Kauno Kristau's Prisikelito cerkvė. Right near where we are sitting right now is a monument to those who died for the motherland. It was built in 1930. Unknown Lithuanian soldiers rest there. 10.27 Before leaving the park area, we looked at the sculpture of Alexander Jogailaitis (Alexander Jagiellon). He was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1492 and also King of Poland from 1501 until his death in 1506. The bronze sculpture will be inaugurated today and is a completely new feature in the cityscape. 11.03 The park was left. After a short visit to the Akropolis shopping mall for toilet errands, we then walked along the river Njemen. Right now we are pausing under a lamp post. It is 1,3 kilometers to the city centre. No padlocks are seen in the wire railing towards the river. If there are missing love pairs, padlocks or they are cleaned away, the padlocks that is.
Kauno Kristau's Prisikelito cerkvė, an Orthodox church.
Monument to those who died for the motherland.
Today, this sculpture of Grand Duke Alexander Jogailaitis (Alexander Jagiellon) is inaugurated.
The river Njemen flows through Kaunas.
Peter by the Njemen.
Vytauto Didžiojo Bažnyčia (Church of Vytautas the Great).
11.32 After passing under the Bridge of Vytautas the Great (Vytauto Didžiojo tiltas) and past the Church of Vytautas the Great (Vytauto Didžiojo baščia) we are now in the central parts. The square we are at is picturesque. It is called Kauno rotušės aikštė and can be translated as Kaunas Town Hall Square. Who then was this Vytautas? He was Grand Duke of Lithuania 1392-1430 and is best known from the Battle of Tannenberg or the Battle of Žalgiris in 1410. It was a great Polish-Lithuanian victory against the Knights of the Teutonic Order.
11.47 Right now we are standing by some large insects. It is a work of art in memory of film director Ladislas Starewitch (Władysław Starewicz). 11.55 We have walked to Kauno pilis, the Gothic castle here in Kaunas. We stop here for a short while to photograph and admire the structure. 12.04 Now that we have documented, oh a lady sneezed three, no, four times, the area at and around the town hall square, we will eventually go towards lunch. We are thinking of visiting a Georgian restaurant. 12.16 Mr Nordin is currently at Åre old church. Our friend Roberth cycles on towards Norway. We here in Lithuania, on the other hand, are at Mtevani. It's not the restaurant we first found but at least a Georgian restaurant just like we had planned. For lunch we have ordered chatjapuri, Georgian pizza. 13.25 That was a good lunch, more filling than regular pizzas. It was exactly what we needed. We were really full and the food brought back memories of our trip to Georgia in 2008 when we ate something similar. 13.57 After a long fast walk, we are back in Ramybės parkas. We got here via the long pedestrian street Laisvės Alėja. With its 1,6 kilometers, it is one of the longest pedestrian streets in Eastern Europe. It ends at the large beautiful Kauno Šv. Arkangelo Mykolo Bažnyčia, Church of the Holy Archangel Michael. Now we cool off before reuniting with the backpacks at the hotel.
Peter tries to talk to the priest Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas.
Kauno rotušės aikštė, Kaunas Town Hall Square
Monument to remember Ladislas Starewitch (Władysław Starewicz).
Is the text correct?
Kauno Švč. Trejybės Bažnyčia.
Kauno pilis, the castle of Kaunas.
14.37 After picking up the backpacks that were left for storage and some drink purchases inside the bus station, we are now on board a train for a Lithuanian inland journey. The train hid a bit shyly on a side track so it wasn't entirely easy to find.
15.57 A laughing child is heard in the compartment. Within twenty minutes we´ll arrive in a new capital for this trip, but we have been there before. The two visits were made during the summer trip in 2001 and on an Easter trip in 2005. However, we have never gone there by train before. 16.24 Once we arrived in Vilnius, we lingered at the railway station. Here we have bought some coffee that we will drink before we go to the hotel, which is not far away. We also took turns doing a little shopping at the IKI Express supermarket in the station building. 17.12 We are once again staying at a hotel called Panorama Hotel (https://panoramahotel.lt). We are also for the second accommodation in a row in room 519. At check-in, the check-in lady Irena had different price information than we did. She settled for our lower price and blamed it on a glitch with their computer system. It is important to keep track of what you have to pay. It's nice to be here after an intense day in Kaunas. Now we're going to rest. 18.13 We stay again in a hotel with questionable air quality. We have solved it by having our large room window completely open. Below us stands one of Vilnius local buses with a message that Vilnius loves Ukraine. The capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, is only 3,5 kilometers from the border with Belarus. 541,505 inhabitants live here.
The Catholic Cathedral in Kaunas.
Christer is having lunch at Mtevani.
Even the beer is Georgian!
The signatory of the Law of Independence of Lithuania, lawyer J. Vileišius.
The long pedestrian street in Kaunas, Laisvės Alėja.
Church of the Holy Archangel Michael (Kauno Šv. Arkangelo Mykolo Bažnyčia).
18.48 Enough with resting in the room for a while. We have to get out before the beer ban kicks in in an hour. Breakfast does not need to be purchased. We will eat it here at the hotel for the next two days.
19.35 We found the shop Maxima. It was good to buy drinks, drinks both with and without alcohol. Now we are thinking about what to do with dinner. Does the filling lunch still keep hunger at bay, or is it the heat that dampens the appetite? 20.42 In terms of meals, we also continue the Georgian theme during the evening meal, mostly because that option was the best in the immediate area. Now we have ordered a Georgian dinner at a restaurant named like the dish we had for lunch, Chačapuri. 22.04 It was good to eat again. We sat comfortably at some outdoor tables. Now we say goodbye to Georgian cuisine for this trip. It is now time to unwind and plan for tomorrow as we will spend the whole day here in Vilnius. It will be interesting to see how much we recognize and what has changed. 22.50 While waiting for today's bicycle film from Roberth's trip, we have a Lithuanian evening beer each. 23.50 No film from Roberth has yet been seen and JD Vance will be Trump's vice presidential candidate in the upcoming election in the United States. Nothing more happens here than waiting for Tuesday by sleeping.
Panorama Hotel, Vilnius.
View of Vilnius.
Pylimo gatvė, Vilnius.
Christer has received his food. The restaurant is Chačapuri.
Christer's Georgian dinner.
Peter at an outdoor table at Chačapuri in Vilnius.
You can see 58 photos from July 12 in this photoalbum.
You can see 35 photos from July 13 in this photoalbum.
You can see 27 photos from July 14 in this photoalbum.
You can see 72 photos from July 15 in this photoalbum.