Druskininkai is a small Lithuanian town in the far SE corner of the country, near the Belarus border. It is insignificant, except that it has somehow developed in the spa capital of Lithuania. “Druska” is Lithuanian for salt, and refers to salt springs that apparently form the basis for this development, although I have seen … Read more
I am not sure that the claim of this museum, also known as Europos Parkas, to be the centre of Europe is geographically entirely correct – although, apparently, the French National Geographic Institute has, in 1989, determined so. But in any case, at about half an hour’s drive north of Vilnius this this is a … Read more
Vilnius is considered one of the best preserved old towns of Europe, ‘old’ meaning medieval. It was established in 1323 and grew to become the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea, including large parts of Belarus and Ukraine, and even Russia. However, its biggest expansion … Read more
Although perhaps not all of equally great quality, the street art of Kaunas is actually a good attempt to enliven the city. In between the Old Town and the Art Deco buildings the murals and sculptures provide a welcome distraction from the architecture alone, and in most cases add significant colour to the town – … Read more
The young host of our B&B was very enthusiastic about Kaunas, and convinced us not only to have a look at the Old Town, what all the tourists do, but also concentrate on the Art Deco buildings, which sprang up in the newer part of the town from the 1920s onwards. Although Lithuania gained its … Read more
We didn’t spent much time in Klaipeda. Our first experience in Lithuania was a little disappointing. Saturday night was deserted, hardly anybody in the streets, the town was dead. Sunday morning we did a fleeting tour of the city, by car through the centre – admittedly, not a very balanced approach, but there seemed little … Read more
I had to look it up, too, but the Curonian Spit is the name an almost 100 km long, thin dune-covered sand bank that separates a lagoon from the Baltic Sea. About half of it is Lithuanian territory, the rest is Russian, part of Kaliningrad. The Lithuanian part is accessed from Klaipeda, our entry into … Read more
So let’s summarise that Baltic history a bit. A few years ago, reading up about Ukraine trying to understand recent developments there, I was astounded to find that the western half of Ukraine had been part of a Lithuanian empire. We are talking 14th Century, when Lithuania stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Black … Read more
An area we have never yet explored is the entire North and Northeastern Europe. It would be nice to combine this whole area in one trip – it is easy to imagine circling the Baltic Sea (what we call ‘Oostzee’ – East Sea – in Dutch) clockwise or anti-clockwise. Piece of cake really, except that … Read more