Roadtrip 2018 dag 17

We woke up early this morning in the windy Klaipeda, had a fast breakfast and jumped on the bike as soon as possible. Suddenly we ended up where I didn't really expect us to - boarding a ferry boat! The boat brought us to Smiltyne, a long and narrow peninsula of which a half belongs to Lithuania, and another half - to a little piece of Russia. We soon were riding on it, admiring the pine forests surrounding us from both sides and sometimes visible sea. We drove through some villages and saw some beautiful sand sculptures along the way. It didn't take us very long to reach the Russian border! I saw this coming already, still being very excited for another new country. The crossing over went smooth, Marcel was busy filling in forms again and exactly after an hour we were speeding down on Russian roads. Taking some breaks in the green forests, we moved further and further, from the peninsula into the main land. Soon we've reached the goal-city - Kaliningrad. There, after some searching, we've found the hotel, but it was still too early to check in. Fortunately, the kind receptionist had let us to change clothes and store our stuff somewhere safe. Then the exploring began! We were busy making pictures of churches and statues, also of a tiny little one of a cute grandpa sitting on a bridge, of beautiful old buildings and paintings on them. We've had lunch at a fun "space" bar and climbed a lighthouse for even a better view of the city. When the check-in time came, we walked back to the hotel to do that and to freshen up a bit. Afterwards we went out again and explored, and walked, and admired…..I must admit that I was afraid that this city is going to look like Minsk, but it had so much more to show. We found a Golden Gates restaurant, had dinner at it, made the last pictures here colored by sunset and moved back towards the hotel. For a while we watched little fish in the pond of a park nearby, and then went to rest in our cozy room. Tomorrow the road awaits!

• Left at: 7:25
• Russian border crossed: 9:45
• Arrived at: 11:00 (check-in 15:00)
• Kms made today: 138,3
• Kms made in total: 3115,1
• Weather: cool and cloudy, later in the day a bit warmer