[dramatic music] Axel Primavesi: I'm sitting on the roof of the TV tower, 170m above Lithuania's capital, Vilnius.

Being on top of the TV tower is probably the highest adventure here in Vilnius, but there's loads of other stuff to do today.

I'll tell you what to eat and do in the Lithuanian capital.

A broad range of European architecture styles are concentrated in a small space here.

Over half a million people live here in the country's biggest city, and its old town has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for many years.

The Cathedral Square is the most important square in Vilnius.

It's named after the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Stanislaus and Saint Ladislaus right behind me.

Next to it is the bell tower.

Axel: First I'll have a look around the cathedral.

It was built in the 18th century, but the first Christian house of worship on this site dates back to the 13th century.

Laura Misnait shows me the church and one of its most important relics - the lower arm bone of one of its name givers.

Saint Stanislaus, an 11th century bishop of Cracow.

Laura Misnait: It was gifted for Lithuania only after 300 years, when Lithuania eventually was Christianized.

So when the first church was built in this place, actually the relic of Saint Stanislaus was gifted to Lithuania to symbolize the continuity between the two states of Poland and Lithuania together.

Axel: Then, of course, I take the opportunity to see the bell tower right next to the church, one of the city's oldest and most melodious towers.

[bell ringing] And the view is quite spectacular to.

You know, there's another tower for me to climb today.

But first I have to get something to eat.

That something is saltibarsciai.

It's a very straightforward soup made with just a few ingredients.

You mix beets, cucumbers, and green onions with kefir and it's done.

Miroslav Styinskij: For me, its more like a cold drink.

So refreshing.

It's not sweet, it's not salty.

Plus kefir, it's so typical.

It's like it's maybe leftovers of Soviet times, but it's still very popular in Lithuania.

Axe: And then it's ready to serve.

This is a first for me.

I've never tried cold beet soup before.

This is very delicious.

Now I feel ready for my highest adventure today in Vilnius.

Yes, you know what's next.

Me walking on top of this 170m high TV tower.

I don't know if that's a good idea.

Woman: Please hold it here.

Axel: Okay.

Woman: And please go to my colleague.

Axel: From the moment I step out of the cage onto the TV tower roof, I'm secured by a line so nothing can happen.

And the line is just the right length.

So I can't fall over the edge.

But I can walk all the way around the tower once.

This is really a stunning view, but I'm a bit afraid of the height.

Then comes the ultimate test of courage: sitting on the brink.

Okay, everything is really secure.

I mean, even my glasses have a rope.

But this is frightening anyhow.

By the end of my day in Vilnius, this much is clear.

The city has so much to offer that I'll definitely have to come again.

[♪] Narrator (male voice): It's the Latvian festival, the feast of Saint John - the absolute highlight of the year.

Every year, on the night of the 23rd to the 24th of June, the summer solstice is celebrated like this all over Latvia.

[♪] But what's the background?

We'll show you what it's all about and the traditions involved.

Anda Bekere: This festival is timeless.

Family, friends, neighbors.

We all get together to celebrate and enjoy each other's company.

Narrator: In Latvia, This festival is called Ligo or Jani.

The tradition is thousands of years old here in Kazdagna, about 150km west of the capital Riga, the festival has been in full swing since 8 pm.

One day earlier, organizer Jnis Rudzroga, seen here on the right, started with the preparations, including an important bonfire.

He learned the tradition from his mother.

One of the festival's most important customs is weaving flower wreaths.

Anything that grows wild in nature or in the garden is allowed.

[♪] And eating homemade cheese.

Singing folk songs.

[singing] And of course, dancing together.

Everyone takes part.

Young and old.

The wreaths are to keep away bad luck and evil energy.

Women and girls where wreaths of flowers, herbs and grass.

And the men wear wreaths of oak leaves.

And you have to pick the plants yourself.

Legend says that herbs and flowers picked at Ligo have magical healing powers.

Vaira Rudzroga: You can make a very good tea from these flowers.

It strengthens the immune system.

Narrator: Vaira's son Jnis has been organizing the festivities here for four years.

Last year there were 200 guests, this year there are already 300.

Jnis Rudzroga: Im not nervous or stressed.

There's a saying that goes: you should always do the best you can.

Then there's no reason to be nervous.

You've done your best.

Narrator: Another customers to decorate everything with birch branches.

They too are said to keep evil spirits and negative energy at bay, and are specially gathered from the forest.

Whatever the weather, the Feast of Saint John is always celebrated outside.

That's why it's important to have enough wood for the campfire.

It burns through the night and keeps the celebrants warm - and awake.

No falling asleep here because that could bring bad luck.

Even the little ones party all night long.

The shortest night in Latvia is also a unique experience.

Narrator 2 (male voice): It's nine in the morning in Värska, a village in southeastern Estonia.

For one of the world's best slackliners.

It's the start of a normal training day.

Jaan Roose: I feel freedom.

Jaan Roose trains daily for up to eight hours.

Jaan: Slacklining gives this feeling of something impossible in the beginning, but it's quite easy to reach just by practicing because we all didn't have balance at some point.

We all had to stand up and walk, so it took a while.

The same with the balancing on something tight.

When you challenge yourself, you succeed.

You feel great about it.

Narrator: But success was a long while coming.

For instance, it took him six years to master his famous double backflip.

Jaan: It's becoming really exhausting and annoying, and I feel it destroying my body little by little.

And I even thought how long more I could sustain in this health.

And is it worth it, really?

Narrator: Then in 2019, he finally achieved it.

And Jaan Roose is still thought to be the only one in the world to have mastered it.

Every year, Roose develops countless new moves.

In the slacklining scene, he's known as the ‘Crazy Estonian.

His stunts mix elements of break dance and classical dance.

And sometimes he makes use of unusual props.

Even Madonna was impressed by his talent and tenacity.

In 2012, she hired Roose, then a 20 year-old Phys Ed student, for her MDNA world tour.

That brought him his big break as a professional slackliner.

Jaan: Madonna wanted actually to include slacklining into the upcoming tour, and she wanted two slackliners.

So I was one of them.

Narrator: In Iran in June 2019, Jaan Roosa took on a new challenge.

Rather than performing tricks, he balanced on a highline a slackline tensioned at an extreme height.

It took him 54 minutes to cover the one kilometer long stretch.

Jaan: During the one hour, the wind changes.

Sometimes I feel how the wind just lifts me up with the line or moves me to the side, to the left, to the right, like 10, 15 meters.

I was exhausted by the end.

Definitely I was using too much of my body during the walk, too much tension.

So I was tired.

Totally tired by the end.

And when I reached the end, I couldn't lift my arms anymore.

Narrator: Jaan Roose can now earn a living From his daring maneuvers and signature tricks.

He makes about 30 appearances per year.

This time, he's performing at a soccer stadium in the Estonian city of Pärnu.

The audience follows his every move on the highline, 30m above the ground.

It's a real balancing act as he tackles strong gusts of wind.

Woman: Well, I had quite big emotions looking at it because look at the heights and and the wind and the sling was going up and down.

Man: It was interesting to see that somebody can actually do this.

It was... I was not scared of anything.

I was quite sure that he will he will do it.

Narrator: Jaan Roose plans to pursue his daily training, practicing tricks that fascinate everyone, not just slacklining fans.

Narrator (male voice) Ever fancied a ham, ice cream or eelgrass or lobster flavor?

How about a scoop of coal or caraway ice cream?

The place to go is Lithuania.

The Baltic republic offers a wealth of off-the-wall ice cream flavors, and not just in the capital, Vilnius.

Another is ice cream with the flavor of smoked mackerel.

It's a specialty of the Apvalaus stalo klubas restaurant in the little town of Trakai.

Ice cream straight from the smokehouse.

It began as an experiment for thrill seeking palates and has since become a regular feature on the dessert menu.

Raimonda Repyt: The smoked mackerel is basically a very old Lithuanian product, and our parents and grandparents have a lot of recipes how to make nice dishes from the smoke mackerel.

And we decided to serve in our restaurant in a modern way.

Narrator: There are some surprised reactions from the customers.

Male Patron: Fishy!

It's like you eat a fish in ice cream form.

Unbelievable.

Narrator: But others aren't so sure.

Camomile blossoms, forest mushrooms and pine needles are just three of the flavors on offer at the ice cream parlor ‘Ice Dunes in Vilnius.

Owner Paulius Norvilas takes the experiment even further and complements the taste experience with other sensory stimuli - an art gallery.

Here, the customer is made to feel like royalty.

Paulius Norvilas: Most interesting thing about this ice cream is that you get what you ask for.

If you ask prosecco, you get prosecco.

If you ask mushrooms, you get mushrooms.

Woman with pug: Pleasantly surprised by forest mushroom, actually.

It was very creamy and I kind of prefer creamy ice cream.

So yeah, I love it.

Narrator: There's even an ice cream developed especially for our four legged friends.

Certain flavors the inventors themselves wouldn't even touch.

Paulius: Not all of them I can eat by myself.

It's true.

Because our taste receptors works differently for everyone.

Narrator: But why are the Lithuanians so mad about ice cream?

Man: Maybe it's related to, you know, agriculture as well, to some degree, because we have a lot of cows and milk production.

Woman: We like to have good quality ice cream.

I like to have maybe more natural ingredients and good quality.

Man 2: We eat even snow during the winter because there is no ice creams to be bought in the shops, you know, so we just simply use what we have.

Narrator: Winter is still a long way off.

So how about a rye bread ice cream?

Or coal or bacon?

Top Chef Tomas Rimidys explains that Lithuanians eat rye bread morning, noon and night, so why not end a six course meal with rye bread ice cream?

Lithuanians ascribe detoxifying powers to the coal ice cream.

The Dziaugsmas Restaurant offers an ice cream creation made with bacon.

It might have been this piglet mold that inspired the owner.

The domestic tourism department got the idea to market the Lithuanians obsession with ice cream - in a campaign presenting the most spectacular ice cream flavors and the places to get them.

Now, they can even be located on a special map.

Gintar Staknait: We created this ice cream map to promote both local and foreign tourism.

You wouldn't expect to have all these flavors here, but you know, here you go.

That's who we are.

Were quirky and we're not afraid to show it.

Narrator: Well, then dig in!

Skanaus!

[♪] Hannah Hummel: Want to visit one of Europe's hidden gems?

This city isn't usually on people's travel bucket lists.

I'm in Riga, the capital of Latvia.

Admittedly, I don't really know that much about the city, so I'm excited to see how much I can learn and explore in just one day.

So let's get going!

First stop of the day, breakfast Riga has loads of traditional small pastry shops.

Cottage cheese seems to be a bit of a thing here.

I keep seeing cottage cheese pastries everywhere so I definitely want to try these.

[♪] Hannah: Okay, now I'm all fueled up for the day.

Let's do some sightseeing.

[♪] I'm starting off in the medieval old town, which is a UNESCO world heritage site.

The House of the Blackheads is one of the main attractions here in Riga.

It was built way back in the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, which was a guild for unmarried merchants.

There is so much amazing architecture in the city.

[♪] Riga has the highest concentration of Art Nouveau buildings in the world.

There are hundreds of Art Nouveau buildings that were built during the 19th and 20th centuries.

[♪] Hannah: Time for some greenery.

It's early afternoon now.

The perfect time to hang out in Riga's Bastion Hill park.

[♪] Hannah: This huge landmark right in the middle of the park is Riga's freedom monument.

It's dedicated to the national heroes who fought for their country's freedom between 1918 and 1920.

Freedom is an important topic here in Latvia, my country that's been occupied for much of its existence.

[♪] To find out more about the city's history, I'm heading to the newly reopened Museum of the Occupation of Latvia.

[♪] Why is freedom such an important topic for Latvians?

Ineta Lansdovne: I think you appreciate freedom more when you have lost it.

Latvia gained it after World War One.

There was the independence war with a lot of sacrifice.

And then Latvia lost independence after 22 years.

And then we gained it again in 1991.

And you don't take it for granted once you lose it.

Hannah: Latvia suffered under Soviet rule for 50 years, during which people lived under constant surveillance and weren't even allowed to speak their own language.

There were mass deportations during this period, and thousands of people were killed.

Because independence was only regained fairly recently, many Latvians have a personal connection to the fight for freedom.

[♪] Hannah: Now that we've seen a lot of the city and learned about its history, it's time to try some more local food.

This market is considered one of, if not the biggest food market in the whole of Europe.

There is so much on offer here, from fresh fruits and vegetables to a whole array of meat and fish and small places to grab some plates.

[♪] Since Riga is so close to the sea, fish is very traditional here.

So that's what I'm going to try for dinner.

[♪] Hannah: All right.

This is the famous black balsam drink.

It's essentially a national drink here in Latvia.

But 45%.

So I'm expecting it to be pretty strong.

Cheers.

[♪] It's actually nice.

Okay, let's eat something before I get too drunk.

[♪] Got beetroot here as well.

Super good!

Really fresh.

Well, that's the end of my day in Riga.

I've had such a great time here.

Just walking around, learning about the city and exploring.

And the people here are super friendly.

It's also cheaper than a lot of other European cities.

[♪] I cant drink anymore!

Narrator (male voice) Its natural surroundings remain untouched.

A modern home nestled in a Lithuanian pine forest - that was built as a tribute to the blues.

[blues music] Aidas: Hello!

Ingrida: Hello!

Aidas Kalinauskas: Im Aidas.

This is my wife, Ingrida.

Nice to meet you.

And welcome to my blues house.

Narrator: Aidas Kalinauskas, an architect, has lived here with his family since 2014.

The woods aren't far away from the city of Kuanas, but far enough to blast the blues as loud as they want, anytime they want.

It's a house full of passion.

Aidas: For the blues, romance and taking it easy.

This isn't just my blues music.

Little by little, my wife has grown accustomed to listening to the blues every day.

I've taught her about it.

It's very important to us.

Narrator: That's apparent throughout the 170 square meter house.

Its design is inspired by the music genre.

Even the kitchen island is embellished with old vinyl records.

[blues music] The center of the house is an open living area spread across several floors.

Aidas: This is the center, the heart of the home.

It's the room where we hang out together.

We listen to music, watch TV, or work in the upper area.

It was designed for good acoustics.

That's what the acoustic ceiling construction and paneling are for.

Narrator: The sound is as clear as it would be in a concert hall.

The integrated sound panels round off the aesthetics and ensure optimal acoustics without interference.

True to the open plan design, music accompanies every family member as they go about their business, including when their son Ignas visits.

[blues music] The musical atmosphere is controlled from a single sound station.

Ignas Kalinauskas: So theres this central music station where we can choose which room we want music to play in, and by pressing one or the other button, we can turn on and off music in sauna, in the terrace or in the living room.

Narrator: Speakers are integrated in groups throughout the house.

So the bathroom and bedroom, for example, are a single unit, acoustically speaking.

Ingrida: We spent most of the day with music.

That's no exception in this room.

As you can see, we have speakers and music equipment.

We end the day with music, of course, with something slightly more relaxing, but music sends us off to sleep.

Narrator: The family spent many years in the city, but they were looking for a place where they could relax in tranquility and listen to the blues undisturbed.

Once they found the land, the main question was how do you create a house that fits into its natural surroundings and differs from the building style typical of the area, but also pay homage to the blues?

[blues music] Aidas: I've always listened to the blues.

Even before the house was built, I'd come here regularly and the sound from the car radio felt really special here.

The combination of birdsong and the blues fit really well together.

Then we took a family vacation by the sea, listening to lots of blues music, and suddenly the idea came to me.

I drew an outline of the house in the sand.

Narrator: Their son, Ignas, is also an architect.

He and his father drew up plans on the computer before creating a 3D model.

This kitchen island that swings out to the terrace was Aidas idea.

It bridges the home's interior with the exterior, which is also connected to music.

Ignas: It's a place where where you connect with nature and the building itself.

And in our architectural philosophy, we talk about this a lot about this emotional connection that form between people and buildings.

And this is the place for me where I really can sit and merge with with surroundings, with natural materials, with music playing from the house and bird singing at the same time.

Aidas: Blues is really authentic music.

Narrator: Every night in the forest near Kuanas they're singing the blues - inside and out.

[blues music]