Day 25 - Kernavė, Lithuania - Amazing little Village

Tony's View

We got a little late start today thinking it was only 36 miles, and check-in was at 2:00pm. Well, it was hot, hilly and very windy today. This was the first day it was hot enough that I ran out of water. 

This is a picture of me emptying my third and last bottle. 

The hosts of the place we stay at last night were very friendly and we got to eat many blueberries off their bushes. When we took the picture, they were eating them with us. Very interesting people.

 Here are two pictures  of the hills that don't do them justice. They look flat unless you really look close. Only reason I added them because we stopped and took the picture. 😀

I walked in this moss at one of our stops and it was super cushy. Reminded me of the survivor show called Alone where they use it for bedding. 

This is our Airbnb tonight 5 bedrooms and each bedroom has several beds. It is huge.

Here is a picture of the cool homemade playground at this Airbnb.

We went out to eat at one of the few  restaurant in this small town. When we got there, it looked very mysterious. I continued to look around for the actual restaurant. 

I got here and at least there were some outside tables. Then Joan came in with me and we asked if they serve food here. The guy was super friendly and said yes. He showed us the menu and explained it to us. One of the most unique places to eat. He asked where we were from and we said the United States. He told us we were the first ones from the USA this year, and that very few Americans come to Kernavė.

Here is where we ordered and met the owner/receptionist/waiter. 

While sitting there, the owner's border collie, Milka, came and sat right beside me. She was a very calm dog although the owner called her a lazy border collie. She liked Joan as well.

My potato pancakes showed up with fresh mushrooms that the owner hunted earlier today in the woods. He made it especially for me after I told him how I liked last night's potato pancakes with a mushroom sauce. It was very good. In the background you can see the friends that we made. We were the only ones there. It was so much fun and interesting.

The owner wanted to know if we wanted a tour and we said absolutely. This is a picture of a witch on the top of the chimney that had a very interesting story, but I don't remember it.

This was outside the bathrooms or here called WC. He said the picture on the wall is Trump.

Some other cool pictures

Another story I forgot

Joan among more medieval characters.

One of the many cars that he is restoring. The engine is in the trunk.

Here are some sleds and really old carts being restored.

This is an old fuel barrel from 1941 used by the German Wehrmacht.

This is a cool wooden bus that he made to take tours in the woods. Notice the witch on the top. 

One of the guys who was sitting beside us owns a dog food company next to the area of the restaurant. He was also on the tour of the restaurant owner's property. The dog food company only uses fresh food. He worked with some champion dog sled guys and they wanted the best for their dogs. It worked out well for the dogs, so he started to sell it. He had a fascinating story. He gave a tour of his facility. He showed us the process from start to finish. He had big freezers to hold the ingredients from frozen, chicken, beef, and other fresh ingredients. 

This is some of the equipment used to make the patties. He said it was very clean, but while running there is blood all over. The patties that are made into dog food in the shape of hamburger patties. They sell the frozen patties to places in the Baltic States, Poland and Czech Republic. He said that he has more demand than he can produce, but is taking growth slowly to be able to manage it.

Kernavė is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it provides exceptional testimony to the evolution of human settlements in the Baltic region over ten millennia, (10,000 Years ago) and with its impressive hill-forts, shown in the picture. We were at a UNESCO site and didn't even realize it.
When done viewing this site, I needed a beer. Joan went to the bathroom there, so I felt obligated 😂.

Joan's Extras

Yes, dinner was fascinating. We had no idea what this place was when we were walking up to it, but since a few guys were eating we investigated more and it turned out to be such a fun experience. 

The whole property that the restaurant owner showed us was formerly a Kolkhoz. I asked him to write the word down so that I could research it. It was a collective farm under Soviet control. The members got paid based on the revenue of the farm. He had so many stories about what each room used to be during the Kolkhoz. People lived there under a huge building and had one bathroom. He uses those rooms now for visitors. He said that we could have stayed there instead. He also has a camping area with an outdoor bar. The huge garages he uses to rebuild the old cars, and the barns he now uses for entertaining. He holds events like theater shows, puppets shows, weddings, etc. When he takes groups out into the woods in the wooden car, the passengers get to dress up in one of his many costumes. The witch theme which he talked about has a long tradition in Kernavė, so he expands on it with witch crossing signs, a witch on the wooden car, etc.

I had a traditional Lithuanian dish for dinner which was a seafood kebab with rice and vegetables. My plate was loaded with salad, berries from the north, olives and watermelon. My drink was another Lithuanian specialty called Gira. It is a dark fermented drink but without alcohol. 

It would be so fun to go back several years from now to see what has changed in Kernaveland (What the restaurant owner calls his area/former Kolkhoz).

Tomorrow is our last bike ride. I'm sharing a picture of my shoe that I did a Marla repair with some tape. Marla had some soccer cleats that still survive today because of her creative repair work. I just want mine to make it one more day.