Autumn in Raudonė

 We don't have Halloween tradition in Lithuania. Young people could argue, but all the parties they have on the 31th of October is no ancient history, it's been brought to us by television and emigrants. What we do have is All Saints day. I couldn't say that it is celebrated in Lithuania, but we do have traditions regarding this day. The tradition is to visit cemetery and take care of the graves of those who have left, to light up the candle. In deed in the evening of this day Lithuanian cemeteries become the seas of the candles. Spooky but heart-warming at the same time.
Coincidence but at the same time all the trees light up as candles as well. Red, orange, but mostly in yellow and they slowly fade into the brown. At this time of year I like to drive the car and observe all this magical beauty. And if I have to go to my parent's home I choose a road with a good scenery - it is slower, but way more beautiful than a highway. It's the same road I rode with  bicycle this summer. There are few castles along this road and I didn't visit Raudonė during my bike trip. It's not that I was intending to fix this from the beginning. When I saw whole hill covered in yellow leaves I just could not help, but stop there. Like a hill covered with gold. I wonder how it would look like if the leaves were all red.

Tree crown trail - attempt #2

Last Sunday - sitting on a railing of Rotunda in Taujėnai manor, listening to Vivaldi and letting the rain wash my feet - was an amazing evening. It was not far away from Anykščiai, but we didn't make it to tree crown trail. We tried it, but apparently it closes at 6pm (!) and guard at the entrance was very dutiful.
Today with a co-worker we gave another try to it. Coming early we hoped to avoid crowds and car lines, but other few hundred people thought so as well. Nothing reminded of a peaceful walk in the forest.

Visiting the trail is free, but the lady at the entrance doesn't want to let you pass through, unless you buy a regional park ticket.

The trail is 21 meters above the ground

And though walking the trail was still pretty easy, at the tower it got worse - more people were getting up than getting down, the tower was resonating - you could really get sea sick there.

Climbing the tower will take you 36 meters above the ground

Nothing reminded of peaceful walk in the park

What struck me - is how many people were trying to take pictures, selfies in spite of the crowd around them.

The tower in tree crown trail in Anyščiai is getting as much attention as couple thousand years old Palatino Hill ruins in Rome (see below)

Palatino Hill ruins in Rome. From there a nice view to Roman Forum is seen. But actually, most of tourists were taking picture of this seagull-like bird.

Yes, and this madness takes place at 11 am. But it's not the worst part. Anykščiai is a nice small town, with comparably a lot of museums and fun activities. To name a few: an angel museum, a horse museum, memorial museums for famous Lithuanian poets and writers or museum of a narrow train Siaurukas, an adventure park(with Tarzan kind of activities), skiing track in winter or summer sledge in summer. A summer sledge track is less exciting than bobsleigh in Sigulda, but it costs a lot less as well. Compare 10 euro to 1,45 euro! And the time you have to wait in line is different as well. No line in Sigulda, and 2 hour line in Anykščiai! I'm hoping it's not always like that, and that the majority of the visitors are going there after tree crown trail, And a music festival taking place in Anykščiai this weekend is as well to blame. But 2 hours! Best you can do, is buy a set of tickets, and at least take 5 rides in a row - that's how this line becomes 2 hours long, though physically it doesn't look long at all. But in any case, if you go to Anykščiai, don't go there on weekends.