Baltic Visitor

The top spot in Lithuania for a spa break, Druskininkai – set among pine trees at a bend in the Nemunas River – has been a popular resort since the 19th century. During the Soviet period huge sanatoriums for medical treatment and recuperation were built alongside the more attractive early 20th century villas, but since […]

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Standby News reports today on the smoking ban which will come into force in Estonian hotels and restuarants on 5th June:
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, most entertainment facilities will not build special smoking rooms as this will be too expensive.
Similar bans are already in place in Latvia and Lithuania.
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[ 27 July, 2007 to 28 July, 2007. ] Although prog rock is not really my thing, I came across details of this Lithuanian festival today and thought it might be of interest. It’s run by enthusiasts, which I reckon ought to be encouraged. The line-up includes:

Arena (UK)
John Young (UK)
Alex Carpani Band (IT)
a THUOC (UK-PL)
Mind Key (IT)
Kostarev Group (RU)
Underground Fly (PL)
Holy Lamb (LV)
The Skys […]

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Dr Joachim Neumann reports that three of the seven tourists arrested for damaging the Latvian flag have now been released without charge.
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This afternoon the author of Bonjour l’Estonie posted an article on the British visitors brought to Estonia by cheap flights since October 2003. It starts off as mildly comical (indirectly comparing the British invasion to the 14th century arrival of the Teutonic Order), moves through being depressingly accurate (with its portrait of drunken Brits abroad) […]

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[ 23 June, 2007 to 24 June, 2007. ] The biggest festival in the Baltic calendar, midsummer is celebrated with a night of partying on 23rd June. It is a true pagan throwback, with the sun symbolically defeating the darkness, although it also has a more practical side as it marks the start of the summer harvest.

Midsummer goes by a different name in each […]

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All About Latvia has posted an article on the upcoming gay pride march in Riga. The post includes mention of the Family Holidays event which was held today, intended explicitly to set up ‘family values’ in opposition to the gay pride event, and gives some useful background information on the subject of Latvian intolerance towards […]

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Intercity bus operator Eurolines has announced that from 20th June it will run a daily bus service between the Latvian capital Riga and the Estonian town of Narva. The journey will take 7 hours each way:

Departing Narva 4am – Arriving Riga at 11am
Departing Riga 7pm - Arriving Narva 2am

Narva is the easternmost major settlement in […]

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A few days ago, I reported on the arrest of seven Spanish and Portuguese tourists in Riga for damaging a Latvian flag while drunk. Since then, the post has received comments from a couple of friends of the arrested men. I decided to add a new post rather than just comment on the original one, […]

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Yesterday morning I went to an event run by the Slovak tourist board, promoting the country as a spa break destination. This got me thinking about the various opportunities within the Baltics, and over the next few days I will be posting a series of short pieces on the subject.
The top spot for spa breaks […]

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