I passed Latvia over its eastern edge, away from most cities (not that there would be so many of them in Latvia). So the landscape was similar as in Lithuania, with the lakes diminishing when coming from the south, but this was compensated by the last lake around Aluksne in the north. In Daugavpils I stopped at an extensive baroque fortress, which was visibly still actively used up until the end also by the soviet army. The fortress is still home to many locals. The municipal buildings are slowly being reconstructed. The last town before the border is Aluksne, situated at the aforementioned lake. While going there my chain broke apart, possibly because of not that expert installation of it in Kiev. Off course it broke just at a start…

Vilnius Immediately behind the border starts sharply higher population density and just a short distance from the border is Vilnius – lively and cozy town inside historical settings. The short distance nicely stresses the contrast in atmosphere compared to Belarus, where everything is soviet-style monumental and nearly no historical buildings made it through the war. First I arrived to Užupis, originally a poor, even earlier Jewish suburb and now the main bohemian-touristic focus point. Then I detoured to a water castle Trakai, on an isle in the middle of a lake that again has beautifully clean water, which is from all sides surrounded by more isles and more lakes. And finally I came once more back to the Vilnius old town. Eastern lakes From Vilnius I headed back northeast through…

First impressions from Belarus: better roads than in Ukraine, more polite border guards, more tidy towns and villages, …

For a stylish farewell to Ukraine, I could not miss the place that made northern Ukraine famous throughout the world - Chernobyl.

From Odessa I followed the river Bug (a different Bug than the one I crossed in Poland, but they have springs close to each other) straight to the center, or nucleus of Ukraine. Nucleus is the better word actually.

At the southeastern tip of the Moldavian border the Dniester spreads into a wide lagoon that cuts the southern tip of Ukraine around Izmail from the rest of the country.

Initially, Moldova does not differ much from Romania – either in the language or the landscape. Towards Chisinau however start to appear vineyards, fruit orchards and more Russian. A pleasant detail providing refreshment to cyclists is that each village maintains traditional manual wells – and obviously many people still have to use them every day. I stopped in the local tourist area, in the valley of the villages of Trebujeni and Butuceni. The valley is a green gorge at the bottom of a clay cut to the surrounding plains. Local visitors are coming to admire excavations and remains from the eras stretching from Dacian, Mongolian to Moldavian monasteries. As a passer-by, my attention was rather caught by the fact that this was probably the only place where I saw village…

In Ukraine I got too far east, so I just briefly tangented Romania. Carpathian hills were replaced by nearly flat land of fields stretching to all sides. The only trick is that roads are built simply straight ahead – ignoring any terrain waves – so there is still a need to pedal. I stopped in Suceava, former capital of the historical Moldova county, with a seat fortress from that time. From many monasteries around I chose to look at the one in Probota – still fortified, still inhabited by practicing sisters. Towards Moldovan border the countryside changes into vast pastures, occasionally fields, where you can meet just local herders (cowboys?), with their cows, horses and sharp herding dogs. Practical observation: if such environment stretches for the next 20 km, it…

From Ubľa I slipped across the border to Sub-Carpathian Ukraine. And those few kilometres really make a difference.

Inspired by snails I packed with me a small household behind my back, told everyone in the office that they shall not wait for me in the coming days, for the last time looked around Prague and set off. So far so good…