A little bit more than one month has passed since I returned home from Lithuania. Since then, the season changed, and although the weather is still hot, soon I will have to prepare myself for a change as well, like if every autumn was is the beginning of something new. This means that I'll have to turn retrospective these days, looking back to memories I had in the latest period in my life. This obviously includes this journey, the story of what I left unfinished.
I don't deny the fact as I was uncertain to write about my meeting with Igor, because I was afraid of what reactions I get. But now I am certain that I was wrong. Still, I only want to tell that I've never met anyone before when I would feel that I knew this person for ages... And that we don't have to adapt to this crazy world to be accepted by someone as we are. We met in
Šiauliai, and visited the Hill of Crosses - you can search for pictures of it, read the relevant wikipedia article and after, forget about it - none can really describe the amazing spirituality of this place. And right the same day, I got to the Baltic Sea, saw one of the most dramatic sunsets I have seen in my life, and when the night fell, I saw young people having fun everywhere in that town. I spent a night having a long, refreshing sleep in a tiny apartment in a small house - it reminded me of my childhood days in our old house in Balatonföldvár...
I love Palanga.
Next day, my hosts (
Audronė and her family) brought me to the beach again, where I could finally bathe in the sea or just sit in the sand and watch people. I am still speechless of the wonderful hospitality I got from my hosts, they made me feel the magic over and over again. I went to church with them in the morning, had some white cheese, dark bread, lašiniai (no comment for this one) and many other things like that during the day, and shared stories, feelings, lives.
Unfortunately this was the last day with nice weather during my stay, so the next day (after meeting my next hosts, Aurimas and Renata, seeing another sunset and spending the night in
Klaipėda) I departed to Nida and Curonian Spit in continuous rain. I don't have to mention that I got totally wet, and although the rain stopped until I arrived there, the sky was covered with thick gray clouds during almost the whole day. But thanks to the weather, I could see the amazing beauty of the nature without any annoying tourist groups in sight, and as I was alone, nobody disturbed me when I sat on my raincoat between two dunes and stared in the endless, thinking and feeling :)
Liepāja in Latvia, on the next day was also beautiful. :) It was a shock for me though that I almost froze (I left my pullover at home), I (almost) got lost, I was almost tricked in one shop (although not deliberately, I think), and I didn't have enough time to visit Karosta and the once-was Soviet military base. But I loved
Liepāja coast and, especially, the lake. I really want to return to Latvia one day to discover other towns and hidden beauties...
And I am afraid I am only repeating myself when I am talking about my train journey from
Klaipėda to
Vilnius, my feelings towards this bohème city, the small, lovely streets and the living, new cityscape with high-rises, the view of the
Neris and the hills around Vilnius. Somehow I loved the feeling of the city, it has something that I miss from Budapest, maybe it would be some witty craziness and playfulness, I don't know... I spent a lovely time with
Edita, Laurynas (the Wise... ;)), another friend of Edita whose name I can't remember :(,
Lina (I was with her when saw night Vilnius from above, with
Švyturys and
Badacsonyi Merlot... where are you, Lina, I really waited for you to come to Hungary this August... :(),
Miglė and
Jovita. I saw some of the dramatically beautiful lakes of
Aukštaitija National Park and before I finally had to leave Vilnius, I could wander around the old town, saying farewell to this country that brought me so many wonderful memories and experiences. I can recall the feeling when I was about to go to the train station in the evening, it was almost dark and raining, the lamps of cars painting such a strange ensemble of lights on the pavement. And I cried. (Yes, this is a thing that I don't want to hide, but anyway, I cry really very often, so... ;))
But I felt home already when I arrived back to Poland. If Poland was a person, I am sure I would love it as a parent, or a very dear family member... And wherever I go, I can only feel that Poles and Hungarians are
really friends... Amazing. ;) I was so lucky to get to know Białystok and Warsaw being with you, Ewa, Wojtek, Małgorzata and Scott :)
So... that was it. That was it? No. But at least you get the brief story now, and let's hope it isn't finished yet. By the way... right now I am trying to convince my best friend, to go somewhere nice for a weekend in September... like Croatia, it's not so far away ;) but she resists :( Ah, how I wish she was at least a little bit like me.