Lithuania Archives ⋆ The Passenger

July 6, 2019March 31, 2023

Triathlon

You can for sure spend months in the Baltic states to enjoy the beautiful landscape. But they are gives you also the chance to easily visit three countries in one week: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. And it is not one homogenous area without differences – that can easily be observed in the capital cities: Tallinn with its wonderful old city fortifications, Rīga with its fantastic art nouveau quarter and Vilnius with its nice baroque style buildings and more than 50 churches.

July 6, 2019July 23, 2019

Vilniaus oro uostas (VNO)

It is the airport with the most unexpected and beautiful entrance building ever: the airport of Vilnius, Lithuania (Vilniaus oro uostas, airport code VNO). The airport is located seven kilometers south of the city center and was built in 1932. It has two runways and transports approximitely 3.7 million passengers every year. VNO is a small airport and you don’t need to arrive too early before your flight – but waiting times for baggage drop-off can be quite long if you arrive at the wrong time.

July 5, 2019July 23, 2019

Lithuanian

The Lithuanian language belongs – like Latvian to the balto-slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. 3.2 million people speak this language and it is also spoken in regions of Belorussia and Poland. A strong Lithuanian community also exists in Ireland. Lithuanian seems to be close to Latvian (in contrast to Estonian), but they are different languages that even the locals have to learn.

July 5, 2019July 23, 2019

Artagonist

The Artagonist hotel is a wonderful art hotel in the center of Vilnius, Lithuania and located not far away from the university, the town hall square, the cathedral square and Užupis. It is in the heart of the city and a good place from where to explore Vilnius on foot. The rooms are beautifully designed and the hotel includes a restaurant and a bar.

July 5, 2019April 19, 2022

The wolf

Vilnius is with more than 570.000 inhabitants the biggest city and the capital city of Lithuania. It is beautifully located on different hills and next to two rivers (Neris, Vilnia – giving the city its name). The city contains many baroque style buildings of Italian original and it contains more than 50 churches. That’s why it is sometimes called the ‘Rome of the East‘. A legend says that Grand Duke Gediminas dreamt of an iron wolf that howled extremely loud while he was sleeping on a hill next to the confluence of rivers Neris and Vilnia.

July 5, 2019July 23, 2019

Skybar

If you like good cocktails and modern Asian cuisine combined with wonderful views on Vilnius, Lithuania than the Skybar at the hotel Lietuva (belonging to the Radisson hotel chain) might be your place to be. They take classic cocktails and insert the flavour of the Baltics – the Aperol Spritz there doesn’t contain the Italian liqueur, but local spirits and herbs.

July 5, 2019July 24, 2019

The Road of Freedom

In 1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet union signed the Hitler-Stalin Pact also called Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact because it was in fact signed by the two foreign ministers at Москва́. As part of this treaty of non-aggression the Baltic states were declared to be part of the Soviet union in the future. 50 years later the people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania declared their desire for independence by creating a 650 kilometers long humain chain – the longest human chain in history.

July 5, 2019July 23, 2019

Televizijos bokštas

TV towers are always a good option to get another view on the city. The one at Vilnius, Lithuania (Televizijos bokštas) is a bit special as it doesn’t have an outdoor platform. Instead you’ll find a restaurant inside with seats at the windows – and these seats continuously rotate around the tower. Therefore you can sit back, relax and see all of the surroundings of the tower while sipping a coffee or having dinner.

July 5, 2019July 23, 2019

Trolley busses

Like in all three Baltic states trolley busses (which have become pretty rare throughout the western Europe) belong to the city of Vilnius, Lithuania. In addition there is a large fleet of normal busses that you can use to travel around. Since 2001 the construction of a metro system with three lines connecting the busiest spots is discussed – but work hasn’t started yet.

July 5, 2019July 24, 2019

Contemporary art centre

The Šiuolaikinio meno centras (ŠMC) or Contemporary Art Centre (CAC) at Vilnius, Lithuania is just a small exhibition hall for contemporary art (but not the smallest in the world, that one I found in Tirana, Albania). It was founded in 1992 by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture and it shows artworks in five exhibition rooms.