Kaunas - Lithuania

 

Travel is the element of my life that I'm most passionate about, however it's the hobby I find the most difficult to blog about due to the time taken to put a post together. I'm about to change that as I want to share all my adventures with you so be prepared for plenty of travel related content. I am fortunate enough to have travelled all over the world, whether it be on family holidays, with friends and even on my own. Every year I try to visit a new country and I spend hours upon hours looking at maps and planning new trips. I've been on big trips and small weekend breaks but the thing I really love doing is city hopping in Europe. Apart from the depths of Southern-Eastern Europe I think I've been to almost every country on this continent which is a feat I am very proud off.

Last week I undertook a 10 day trip around the Baltic states with my boyfriend where we would visit Hanseatic cities, bewitching national parks and revel in Nordic design. We would encounter plenty of disasters on the way but this only added to the excitement. Whilst I've been to Helsinki in Finland before Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were entirely new regions for me to explore.

I'm going to start my little series of posts in Kaunas, a small city in the south of Lithuania about 100km from the capital Vilnius. We only spent one night here which was plenty of time as the city is very small with not a huge amount to see.

We started our journey in Stansted which truly is an awful airport and I honestly hope I never have to go there again! Getting through security at 7am was a nightmare and to make matters worse we were flying Ryan Air however our tickets to Kaunas were about £30 each so I suppose we can't complain too much. Once we arrived in Kaunas it took 45 minutes from getting off the plane to arriving at our guest house in the old town, I couldn't believe how fast it was, with the airport being 10km from the city the taxi journey only took a matter of minutes. We were staying in Kauno arkivyskupijos SVEČIŲ NAMAI which is a guest house run by the Catholic Church of Lithuania. The rooms were basic but they were cheap, clean and in a great location which is all we were looking for at this stage. I'd definitely recommend staying here if you want something budget but be aware of the unhelpful staff.

We had most of the afternoon to explore the city and we were able to see everything we wanted to from the Museum of Devils to the Ciurlionis Gallery. We managed a couple of funicular rides to see over the orange roof tops and we climbed to the top of Christ's Resurrection Church which was quite a site to behold. The city is full of fascinating street art, randomly placed sculptures and beautiful medieval architecture.

Dress - ASOS
Trainers - Nike Air Force
Sunglasses - Ray Bans

 

We walked around the castle ruins in the evening and had a delicious dinner at Senieji Rūsiai which included the most incredible beef carpaccio I've ever tasted. Props to the herring, halibut and pork too.

 

I loved Kaunas a lot more than I expected to, there's a great cafe culture scene and the Saturday market is the perfect spot for picking up breakfast. The food is cheap yet terrific quality and in the summer it's the perfect place to sit on the street with a cold beer watching the world go by with a beautiful backdrop. Whilst it's probably not a city to travel to exclusively I'd definitely recommend visiting if you're in Lithuania as it's easily reached by train and bus.

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The Pickled Fork - Brixton Cornercopia

You're probably getting sick of me mentioning The Pickled Fork on here, first there was the Brixton Diner, then it was #Grimedining and now it's their Schnitzel subs and Sundaes pop up at Brixton Cornercopia. Every Tuesday Alex is running a pop up in this quaint little Brixton Village shops with a monthly rotating menu. As a huge Schnitzel fan (hello Herman ze German) I was excited to try it out last week.

Steve and I both ordered a chicken schnitzel, one original and one spicy with cheese. I really liked the spicy version, the breadcrumb seasoning had a good kick without being too hot and the chicken was succulent. The portion isn't enormous but decent value nevertheless.

As usual we went a bit crazy with the sides as there was so much to choose. We ordered the wedges which were cooked to perfection, the chilli and sour cream dip was absolutely delicious. The cheese and onion rings were unusual but tasty and corn on the cob was fantastic combined with the tomatillo. The rainbow slaw was really refreshing and the granola gave it a nice contrast in texture. For me the sides were the stand out part of the meal, they were all unusual twists on standard side orders and I really enjoyed the mix of flavours.

The raspberry eton mess sundae was the perfect finishing touch. Ice cream, raspberry and marshmallows is never going to disappointment me and whilst ice cream may not be the most exciting meal ever I absolutely adore it so a big thumbs up from me.

Another great evening from The Pickled Fork and if you haven't already I urge you to check out their upcoming events as I have always been impressed with the quality and complexity of the meals.

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Bill or Beak at KERB Kings Cross

I absolutely love KERB, it's my favourite food market in London so when I was invited down to the Kings Cross branch for a photography lesson I jumped at the chance to sample some delicious food whilst practising my photography skills.

With all the tasty food stalls it was hard to pick what to have but once I spied Bill or Beak I knew immediately where I'd be stopping for lunch. With the promise of a duck and pork burger topped with Vietnamese dressing and tempura shallots I knew the Beak option was the one for me. The burger was delicious with the meat being succulent and the onions being crunch, I'll definitely be back to try the Bill option.

Thanks for the day out Simply Health x

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