This weekly wrap-up covers our journey from August 11 to 17. We left Gdańsk for Warsaw on Sunday morning, then headed to Vilnius, Lithuania, via bus on Thursday.
Favorite thing we ate: Megan is still not over all the delicious potato pancakes in Central/Eastern Europe. Her favorite pancakes this week were the potato pancakes with meat at Alinė Leičiai in Vilnius [pictured above, top dish]. Jonathan’s favorite meal this week was the delicious fried pierogis we ordered at Gościniec (multiple locations) on our first night in Warsaw. The pierogis are not pictured because we positively inhaled them after our train ride from Gdańsk, which was supposed to be four hours long but ended up being 7 because we spent three hours sitting at a station in the middle of nowhere. And people say buses aren’t reliable! 😉
Favorite thing we drank: Jonathan tasted a flight of six whiskeys at Podwale Bar & Books in Warsaw [above left]. Megan enjoyed her mulled wine at Hidden Bistro, located inside Warsaw’s city walls [above right].
Favorite thing we did: Did you know Chopin lived in Warsaw for most of his life? Jonathan found Chopin Point, a small venue where Chopin played when he was 13 that offers one-hour Chopin piano performances every evening [above left]. Even though I know nothing about classical music, it was amazing! The pianist was so impressive. Megan loved our Saturday afternoon in Vilnius. We visited a market in Old Town for local cheese and sausage, then hiked up to the Three Crosses Hill to have a picnic and read [above right]. It was lovely.
Biggest splurge: Getting drinks at Podwale Bar & Books in Warsaw. One cocktail and one whiskey flight was almost $60, which is not the worst value, but definitely a splurge for long-term travel. That’s what we get for fulfilling our champagne whiskey taste on a beer budget. 😉
What we’re reading: Jonathan finished To Shake the Sleeping Self by Jedidiah Jenkins on audio, and he is now reading The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Megan read Flights by Olga Tokarczuk (originally published in Polish) and started Between East and West: Across the Borderlands of Europe by Anne Applebaum (a travelogue from Kaliningrad to Odessa in the early 1990s). During our 8-hour bus ride, she listened to With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo and started The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman.
Total walking distance: 38.5 miles (we hit our 5-mile goal every day this week except Thursday, when we spent 8 hours on a bus, so I’m happy with that!)
Up next: Continuing our Baltic capital tour with stops in Riga (Latvia) & Tallinn (Estonia).
