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Saturday, July 12’Th
It’s a strange
thing not to a trip by taking the bus to Billund. But I have moved to Aarhus, so
the bus to Billund is of no use today. Instead it’s the train bound for
Copenhagen. My Air Baltic plane leaves for Vilnius at 8.30 pm.
The flight
takes about 1½ hour, and with the difference in time on one hour it’s about 11
pm as we land in Vilnius. I find a taxi for the ride into town and my hotel
Domus Maria. I arrive at about midnight, and go to bed.
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Sunday, July
13’Th
Domus
Maria is an old convent, close to a few fine churches. Now it’s been
rebuilt into a nice Guesthouse.
I get
up early – at 8 am and after breakfast I head for the town. Because my
mind has been on moving to Aarhus and a new job, this trip is not as
pre-planed as I use to do. But Vilnius is a simple and not to big city,
so it’s easy to find my way around I start out with 3 sights close to
Domus Maria.
First
it’s the church of St. Teresa. It’s packed with people this early Sunday
morning. Then it’s The Gates of Dawn, an old city-gate from the 16’Th
century. Under the roof there’s a small chapel also packed with people.
Finally there’s the Russion Orthodox church of The Holy Spirit. They are
allowed sleeping a little longer. The place is just filling up on this
time of the day. |
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I
continue my first tour of Vilnius to the more touristic parts of town.
Well – there are not too many tourists around on a Sunday morning. There
are only a few tour-groups hanging out. After a few hours it starts to
rain so I head back toward the hotel.
On the
way back I pick up a cup of coffee at a café. When I’m there the rain
stops. So instead of going to Domus Maria I pick up the city-tour again.
I walk along some nice streets toward Gediminas Hill where a small
railroad takes me to the top. It would be pretty ease to walk up the
hill, but that’s not allowed. There’s a fine view from the top. |
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Down
again and a visit to the Vilnius Cathedral. A mass is going on, and the
place is packed. In front of the church there’s a strange tower. At the
bottom it looks like a lighthouse, but then someone discovered there’s
no water around – so the rest is built like a bell-tower instead.
Enough
sightseeing for trip one, so it’s back to Domus Maria for a short stop.
Trip 2
is shorter. I visit the only Frank Zappa memorial monument I have ever
seen. When I’m there it starts to rain again. This time it’s serious, so
I head for my hotel. There’s thunder and lightning all evening, so the
time is spend at room 205, before heading for dinner at local place a
little later. |
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Monday, July
14’Th
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This
day is a bit of the beaten tourist-track of Vilnius in the “Old Town”.
First
trip is for “New Town”, via the Vilnius University that dates back to
1579. It’s the oldest university in Eastern Europe. There are some nice
buildings with some nice yards in a nice neighbourhood. The Presidents
palace is just on the other side of the road. |
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Then I
head for New Town along the shopping-street of Gedimino Prospekta. My
intention was to visit the building that formerly was used by both KGB
and Gestapo, but now is a museum for the victims. Unfortunately it’s
closed on Mondays, so I will have to wait for that. Instead I head for
the Lithuanian Parliament, which is very very ugly.
Back
towards town along Gedimino and all the shops. I cross River Neris for a
visit to the shopping-centre called Europa. It’s amazing – no matter
where you end up in the world these days – you find shopping-centres
like these. This completes Trip 1 of the day, so I head back for a break
at the hotel. |
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Trip 2
is for a very nice area called Uzopis. This is not the traditional
tourist place. It’s an independent area, who has claimed their freedom
and has got its own constitution. You can find it on a wall in 4
different languages. For instance a dog has the right to be a dog; a cat
has a right to an owner, but can decide it doesn’t want that owner
anyway. It’s ok to share anything that you own, but it’s not ok to share
what you don’t own. I really like such weird places.
Vilnius
is a great city to stroll around especially when you get a little out of
the tourist-zone. And then it’s cheap. A pizza at a restaurant is about
3 €, and a large beer is 1.50 €. |
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Tuesday, July
15’Th
It’s
time for a half daytrip to Trakai. I take a local bus through the
outskirts of Vilnius. It’s a 30 km ride and it takes about 45 minutes to
reach Trakai.
Trakai
is a nice area with lakes and a castle on a small island in the middle
of one of them. Count Kestutis started to build the castle back in the
14’Th century. Now it is a great place for a day out for the people
living in Vilnius. The area around is populated with some people called
The Karaits. They arrived from Krim back in the 14’Th century but are
originally from around Baghdad. They live in some very fine and
colourful wooden-houses. There are only 12 families left, so it won’t be
long before they are gone. |
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I take
the bus back to Vilnius early afternoon for my usual break at the hotel.
Trip 2
is a walk around Vilnius. A visit to the post-office that is just like
old eastern-European days. It’s so slow, and no one cares about the long
line of people waiting at the desk. It takes ½ an hour to buy a stamp
for my postcard. |
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Wednesday, July
16’Th
There’s
not many sights left in Vilnius, but today I visit what’s left.
First
sight is the Museum of Genocide. It’s very interesting. It used to be
headquarters for both KGB and Gestapo. The museum is about the
soviet-era – about deportation to Siberia, political prisoners and the
Lithuanian freedom-movement. In the basement you find the old KGB-cells
for political prisoners. Here they were interrogated, tortured and now
and then shot. It’s creepy. They haven’t done much to the place, so it
looks a lot like it used to when it was used for these terrible things.
But certainly a very exiting place to visit. |
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From
there I cross the Taurakalnis-park nice views across Vilnius to the
Rusian Orthodox church of Romanov. I like the roof that looks like green
onions.
Then
it’s lunchtime and a visit to a Casino to get rid of my coins. You are
not allowed to bring weapons into the Casino, so I don’t.
The
rest of the day is spent in the fine yard at my hotel reading a book,
before dinner-time at my local favourite Cili. And this was Vilnius. |
To Riga
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