On the first day we barely made it across the German border but kept heading north the day afterwards. This time crossing the old West/East German border continuing north all the way to Usedom at the Baltic Sea. Here we relaxed a bit and slowed down the pace by enjoying the beach, the famous sun chairs and the sea. Traveling along the coast we entered Poland and then Gdansk which we had skipped the summer before. Exploring the old Hanseatic city and enjoying its many bars and restaurants before driving east to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site at Malbork castle of the Teutonic Order.
Then it was time to cross into Russia, into Kaliningrad to be precise. Armed with our visa and speaking no Russian the crossing was no hassle at all and we reached the old city of Königsberg in due time. This exclave which is surrounded by Poland in the south and the Baltic sea in the west ist connected over the tiny strip of the Curonian Spit to Lithuania in the north-west. Over this land bridge we left Russia again without any problems.
Hugging the coast we drove up to Latvia with a short stop over in Riga, having visited the city a year ago. To the east of it we visited Leg&Go, a Latvian startup producing cool wooden balance bikes for kids. It can "grow" with the child and has multiple add-ons, even pedals. We bought one for my nephew, he seems to like it as he immediately started gnawing on the handle bar 😂
Close by are many lakes and woods where we relaxed a bit and enjoyed the scenery. Even tried my luck with fishing, alas no catch 😟
Next we headed north to Estonia and stayed again on the Baltic coast, meeting up with some fellow Swiss overlanders. We got our gear in order, swapped stories and relaxed by the sea before entering Russia again.
