Phil Moore

I didn’t exactly quite fulfill my goal as I had a hire-car at the time, so cheated by driving there…

But a really nice place – you can see the beautiful hills of the Peak District over the fence.

The chlorine was pretty strong though, my eyes are kinda burning now!

I want to ride my bike there, have a nice swim to relax the muscles, and then ride back to Sheffield…

Whilst attending a summer school just outside of Madrid, we took a wee trip to Sergovia.

Nice Roman viaduct remains and (I think) the largest Gothic cathedral in Spain.

We flew in Ljubljana and stayed in the capital for a few nights before heading up to the Julian Alps to Lake Bled.

Ljubljana is really small, but the old town is very pretty; I love the way it’s all straddling the river. If you go, make sure to check out Makalonka’s bar – it’s underground and has some big French windows which sit on the river’s edge. Really nice spot in the evening.

Lake Bled is stunning – we camped at the far end of the lake (although the weather was pretty bad!) and there’s some really nice hills/mountains to go walking around. The lake is perfectly turquoise, and wonderful for swimming in!

I only had a very brief visit, whilst hitch-hiking to Romania, but it seems like a very pretty city. So much nice architecture to ogle!

Was when I was backpacking around Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic with Sophie in the Summer of 2005.

Whilst there, the Cow Parade was on – muchos fun :)

Unfortunately, I was only visiting Lithuania on my way to Latvia, by hitch-hiking, so only get to spend a day and a night in Vilnius.

It was, however, a beautiful city. The Old Town is a wonderful place to meander through, and the Lithuanians do seem to be a people of humour, with the Frank Zappa statue and the Uzupis Republic… Check out the constitution for a laugh!

And the easiest place ever to hitch-hike!

• Riga
• Jurmala coast region
• Cesis (and Gauja National Park)
• Sigulda

They were really nice. Going canoeing down one of the rivers in the Gauja National Park was ace, and not too expensive, either, and wandering the forest surrounding Sigulda was a nice break before getting back to the city.

If only they had a few more hills for all that forest…

I was only there for two days, but a quick whiz around the city left me impressed. Not as expensive as I was expecting, either (based on other Western European capitals).

After having been in Vilnius the day before arriving in Riga, I found it a little more tourist-y and in-your-face with the merchandise, and it wasn’t helped by the abundance of stag-parties.

Once you get past that though, and lose yourself in the architecture (and the amazing tea-shop behind St. Peter’s Church!) it’s a lovely place. Well worth a visit.