Camper Place, mini camping Lithuania

Not only the best, also the friendliest, nicest and cheapest place we stayed and although most things are works in progress it had the best facilities. Two large, clean, airy shower/wc's one with a guests washing machine (€3) and another toilet at the reception cum bad weather hang out and apothecary!

There are two distinct camping areas to the East and West of the house. The one on the West has two rows of evergreens which provide shade for the vast majority of the day.

We chose the West side which had the best cherry trees, the strawberries, plus a table and two benches

There are numerous cherry trees, plus strawberries, herbs, n veg. We were told to help ourselves to herbs and fruit - in a year when Daiva has been working on them they are (may be) sold.

The hospitality of Kees and Daiva is mind boggling, it would be exceptional in the Netherlands, in Lithuania it was like entering a magical world. 

Daiva an ex teacher has encyclopedic knowledge of the local flora, great relationships with the local fauna, including a family of hedgehogs, a grass snake, cats, a dog, sparrows, swallows, flies and mozzies!

This was the first ever designated camper site in Lithuania. The main difference between this one and all the others that we stayed at was the intention. It is not perfect, many things show the lack of available capital, with inventiveness and creativity often replacing professionalism. In contrast to some places where the cash obviously flowed like water into the projects, the clearly felt aim here is to give the guests the best possible (ecological) experience of the camping, the hosts and Lithuania. e.g. This was the only campsite with soap, where the w.c. and hand paper didn't run out! One other had dispensers (for show or summer maybe). On arrival Daiva brought us a cup of her excellent 'abracadabra' (same term in Lithuanian!) herbal tea with a massive teaspoonful of creamy honey.

Daiva has made a hand drawn map of the locale, she collects, dries, packages and sells local plants providing the Latin name and where possible the name in up to 7 languages, there is also (cheap!) delicious, natural honey from their farm available.

There are numerous rave reviews of the site and Kees and Daiva. Having described the place as perfection - my idea of being told to eat as many cherries as I want and can - and heaven - getting to sit in shade, with wifi, cherries, strawberries, local beer and having no time on the internet due to the possibility to learn from a generous master! The least I can do is add my own praise

Europos Parkas

An expensive day out by general Lithuanian standards: €8 entry pp €2 parking €1.50 to take photos!

Like so many things here excluding the nature, disappointing. 

The park is beautifully laid out. Huge, generous grounds, lots of space for each art work, carefully placed within an environment. Lovely walks from one piece to the next, nice mixtures of shade and sunlight. 

It's silly things like the silver plates with artist info, some unreadable cos of the sun reflection, even more are faded. 

Lots of what I call 'wank art'; (popular?) artists who get huge grants and make big HUGE meaningless crap instead of small meaningless crap that they can bullshit about til the cows come home about.

The aforesaid are interspersed with deep, amazing, clever, tricksy, subtle pieces.

You can buy a postcard to send to friends with a special postmark for Europe it costs €2! 

The lady at the gate recommended the restaurant, which is over priced, has a very badly translated menu and nothing we were interested in (e.g. soup of the day?!) is available today. The waitress speaks fair American English, she is polite but typifies my experience of Lithuanian attitude in a sort of off hand coldness, that doesn't invite any attempt at warmth or friendliness and doesn't issue any. 

Our visit is cut short by my mate (who is always late insisting we return to Vilinius exactly at five - I said we'd be back 'around 5' - got phoned at 1 minute to. 

Himself didn't mind was already fed up of my commentary

I didn't take photos of the pieces I really disliked!

 

Rinkusˇkiai Restoranas Alaus Kelias

We are staying in a fab campsite with no eating facilities, it was super hot and I felt disinclined to cook, so we decided to have huge bought lunches and easy evening meals (hence some weight loss).

We picked a brewery to go to with a well recommended restaurant attached.

When I saw the building, the full car park and the car loads of trendy, budding Lithuanian elite, I tried to persuade Himself that we should go and look for the other place our hosts had suggested to eat at. Luckily for me, its proximity to the brewery and his hunger (due to my tardiness with time) meant that he over ruled me. "Just have a look at the menu and if you hate it I will just have a kvass n you can hv a beer!"

First the waiter surprised me; professional, open, polite, helpful, eager to be of service, no hint of attitude, toadying, patronising or arrogance - the kind of waiting on that Americans hope/dream of giving, that Germans and Austrians take for granted.

I will start with the pointers for improvement so I can freely wax lyrical about everything else.

The net chairs outside are too low for the tables. I noticed it as soon as I sat down and  my deep dish of soup compounded the issue!

The waiter didn't gone back often enough and left too soon missing orders for at least three drinks, another kvass for Himself and my usual 2 glasses of wine. I did get a last beer for during the brewery visit.

I got a completely different meal to the one I ordered! Didn't matter, however both were supposed to be served with mash. What I got came with very bad chips. Unfortunately the roast potatoes that came with the lunch ordered by Himself were also way below par for the rest of the meal.

Complaints over! More or less. 

I started with a beer an Alaus kelias and Himself a kvass* both were delicious. I can't do kvass when I'm wanting alcohol but for a refreshing non alcoholic drink, I haven't found much better.

We ordered, me, Thai tom yum, Himself, beetroot soup. The beetroot soup was mild, earthy, thin, creamy, light, a gorgeous purply pink colour, flavoured with dill, cucumber, a half boiled egg and served with hot boiled potatoes with a dill garnish.

My tom yum was pinky red, richly filled with carrot, paprika, mushrooms, I think there was pesto or something like it. It arrived with a green oily dollop that looked great but as far as I could tell left no trace of flavour. Though the soup was tasty, spicy, well flavoured none of the usual Thai flavours (lemon grass, laos, lime leaves) jumped out and I had to add some of my own chillis in oil to get it up to speed. All that not withstanding, the soup was a perfect introduction to Asian flavours and warmth for unaccustomed palettes and those, like Himself who like spice but mild.

I ordered pork tenderloin with prune sauce, roasted garlic, cheese crisps and mash with a side of vegetables. I got grilled tenderloin, with peas, (dried) cherry tomatoes, crispy bacon, horseradish sauce and mash.

As I said the mash was marked by its non appearance, the peas were very badly cooked, I am guessing by their cracked bullet like exterior either reheated or not cooked in water.

Himself ordered the ribs supposedly with vegetables and wedges. The wedges were (old) roasters which like the chips we took one look at and left to their own devices! The veg was sauerkraut. 

Let's please ignore the supreme let down of the veg. The sauerkraut went amazingly with my pork tenderloin, far better than with the ribs, the dried cherry tomatoes were actually perfectly roasted as was the bacon garnish. The horse radish sauce was unnecessary and didn't contrast brilliantly with the drizzle of light beer marinade.

Ignore everything else I have said about the meal because everything I have mentioned faded into insignificance with the meat. When I put a piece of the ribs in my mouth I felt pity for every practicing Jew, Muslim, Hindu, 7th Day Adventist and all the other non pig eaters of the world ever born!  At the same time my mouth sent praise thanks and gratitude to the pig eating forest dwellers of Northern Europe! Both ribs and tenderloin were delectable perfection. So well cooked, moist, aromatic, tasty but with completely different textures, flavours and feel in the mouth. Generous portions without being over the top, that completely satisfied. The side order of vegetables were a good sized bowl of the mind bogglingly delicious Lithuanian cucumbers, sun ripened tomatoes, just enough red onion and a simple vinaigrette, it was the perfect accompaniment to both meats, especially considering the state of the spuds!

Everything I read agrees with me, this us an excellent place to eat. Most say it is more international than Lithanian I think it's fusion, which takes the best of traditional Lithuanian cooking - methods, ingredients and international standard recipes and ingredients and gives them a tweak in each other's direction.