Category: Lithuania

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Europe Lithuania

Kaunas

***Note*** this is on the return back from the north that we stopped in Kaunas-and headed back home to Poland after a couple of nights here.

 

We did a bit of a detour and stopped by the Hill of Crosses on the way to Kaunas.

It is insane as to how many crosses have been placed here by pilgrims. The exact origins of how this tradition started is unknown but the first reference made to this hill in written word was in the 1850s. During the Soviet era the whole hill was bulldozed-not the first time a regime had done this. It was a symbol of defiance to build it back up again each time.

The time in Kaunas was a mix of street art, history, good food and a fantastic local restaurant with old charm atmosphere too!. 

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Europe Lithuania

Nida Peninsula

We headed over this way to make our way to the Nida Peninsula. It is a very long and skinny peninsula that juts out from Kaliningrad. We headed all the way down south to see the dunes.

We then spent a bit if time near the Hill of Witches near Juodkrante walking around the forests checking out all the wooden sculptures. They represent Lithuanian folktales and legends of years past.

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Europe Lithuania

Klaipeda

Within about 3 hours we were by the coast- at the only port in the country. We set up camp, had a bit of a cook up in the camp kitchen and went down to the cliffs above the beach to watch the sun set. 

The town of Klaipeda has quiet a German feel to it. 

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Europe Lithuania

Vilnius

Its no-good writing a blog over 18 months after you’ve done something as you can’t recall all the details unfortunately!! So here we are -using a bit of googling to check place names every now and then. What I do recall though is that I really enjoyed walking around this small city- especially the old town. It was very compact which made it easy. With the whole RuXXian war, there was also not a lot of tourists around (relevant to all the Baltic countries that we visited).

I liked local cuisine quiet a bit- note it is based on potatoes- so which Polish girl doesn’t love that 😊. I have provided some photos of these dishes.

A bit of Literatai Street- lots of quirky wall art and also the rebellious , arty district of Uzupis. 

I do enjoy getting up early in the morning- and even more so-having a city nearly to myself. I had a chance to go back to the cathedral -as before we were too late and also to check out the more of the city- so well preserved! 

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Europe Lithuania

Paneriai & Vilnius TV Tower

Paneriai is between Trakai and Vilnius and is home to a stunning manor house- with out-buildings such as stables and incredible gardens. Voke Manor Park as it is known had no other tourists except us-which made it even better to visit. The inside of the manor is still be renovated but the outside is stunning!

The park was established in 1884.

It is not my usual sort of stop- a TV Tower- but my man was into hanging off cliffs and buildings alike. With my fear of heights, it was not my preferred activity, but I was interested in seeing the views over the city. As can be expected in is very communist – the apartment blocks all look rather alike and just a few small hills around the city. To give an idea of size- the city has a population of about 600,000. This was our last stop before settling into our pretty central Airbnb near the centre of Vilnius- walking distance to everything we wanted to see. 

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Europe Lithuania

Trakai

The following morning once fed and packed we headed towards the capital- but with a planned longer stop in Trakai- a medieval residence for Grand Dukes of past. It is conveniently located on a island on a lake- so it is rather surreal and fairytale looking.

The castle was rather ornate- as they often are- and had many types of displays. Oddly- they start with modern art rather than the history etc. I think all of us visitors were thrown by this judging by the looks on our faces 😊. We were lucky enough to have a band practicing for a show and enjoyed some of their music too.

We stayed in a small motel/ BnB type of accommodation just outside of the town centre as we knew we would be at Trakai for a few hours. The next morning he went out for a run while I went around taking way too many photos of the colourful wooden country architecture in the town.

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Europe Lithuania

Metelių regioninis parkas

Our little car was packed with items borrowed from across the family and with camping gear and kitchenware from wherever we found some spares.

We (or really I) had a bunch of ideas for what I wanted to see and thus we set off on a rough track with the idea to stop at places of interest along the route that might have been unplanned. Leaving home we headed east, towards Suwalki and The Wigierski National Park. We’d have a bit of a morning walk and lunch before heading across the border into Lithuania. The park has many hiking, walking and mountain bike tracks and was pleasant to stretch the legs in.

After stopping to get some bread and basics we continued to a viewing tower – a cool structure- but with the country being pretty flat -not too much to see. As it got alter in the day we started looking out for a place to stay and ended up in a basic, private camping area at a lake front near Metelių regioninis parkas. A park that surrounds 3 lakes. After setting up camp and cooking up some dinner we went for a dip in the lake – pretty chilly- and hid in the tent with mosquitoes in full attack!