Blogs from Vilnius, Lithuania, Europe - page 15

Lithuania almost didn't make the cut for this tour. We chose to go to Vilnius because it was reckoned to be the easiest city to obtain a visa for neighbouring Belarus. As it was, we ended up getting them before we left home but rather than realign our meticulously-planned itinerary, we decided to give it a go. We scheduled four nights here, and as the frustratingly pedestrian train gradually clunked through mile after mile of unremarkable countryside, we confided in each other that 96 hours may be excessive. For Vilnius is not a big city. And according to our Lonely Planet oracle, there's no real reason to linger long outside the 1.5km long Old Town (admittedly the largest of its kind on the continent). But it would be the longest we have dwelled in one city ... read more

Upon arriving late in the evening in Vilnius, we decided to head straight out for a quick beer before dinner. We headed for the Uzupis region of the city, declared an unofficial independent republic by the local artists, philosophers and drunks! After a couple of beers and dinner later we headed further into the Old Town. Stumbling across an inviting looking pub, and ordering more beers, Tom decided that it'd be a good idea to try a local delicacy - Pigs ears with split peas, even he found it difficult to swallow The next day was our sightseeing day, Vilnius is a really laid back capital city, with a very European feel. As we were walking round Tom was complaining about his tiredness, never admitting to having a hangover, of course 8 pints and a whiskey ... read more

Geo: 54.6896, 25.2799This morning we were taken on a guided tour of Vilnius, mainly its Old Town. Our first stop was a viewing point above the city where we could see a great Panorama of the old and new parts of the city. Amelia was our local guide. She is very knowledgeable and also very proud of her home town. From the hilltop we went down to the Old Town. We left the bus at the only remaining gate of the Old Town's wall. This bears the original coat of arms of the Dukes of Lithuania, supposedly the oldest in Europe. As we walked under the gate we could hear singing. Of course, being Sunday morning, mass was being held in the churches. The particular one from which the singing was coming was above the gates ... read more

Finally, Lithuania So we left Riga (again) hoping that, as nice as the city is, we wouldn't have to return - at least not under similar circumstances... It was back to our old friend Eurolines where for once the bus driver wasn't annoyed that we actually had baggage when travelling internationally and even whipped out some baggage tags which proved useless because it was still very much a save and grab at the other end anyway... The journey was fairly long at about 5hrs but there was some mild entertainment by watching a drunk lithuanian and chinese student communicate for almost the entire journey, language barriers are nothing it would seem. When we arrived in Vilnius it was fairly late at around 11pm but luckily our hostel wasn't far at about 3mins away, although even this ... read more

3 months have passed since i last posted....i don't know where they went, it seems that time just passes...without even notice. Well, here's what happened, In the last months i have been in Romania and i returned to Vilnius just a bit over a month ago. In Romania i had some great time taking 32 Exams and finally finishing my university....well, this was the main reason of going to Romania, i will not tallk about school now, because it is over and besides the fact that i was spending 6-7 hours every day in school nothing much interesting... So besides school i had time for my family, friends, EURO 2008, Rytis in Romania, relatives, a short trip to the mountains, fishing a bit, getting some new friends and seeing some old ones. First of all it ... read more