Lithuania Archives | Rambling Feet

The Hill of Crosses: Getting There the Cheapest Way

Forget those quotes about journeys mattering more than destinations. Unless the drive is worth staying awake throughout, a destination becomes less attractive if I have to spend far more time travelling and queuing than actually enjoying the place itself. (For me, this ratio is 3:1) Lithuania’s Hill of Crosses (Kryžių kalnas) was unique enough for me to make an exception, however.

In the name of budget travel, V and I travelled three hours from Kaunas to Siauliai, took public buses, walked a lot and endured the elements to explore a site barely larger than a football field. No one said that getting there would be easy but we spent just 13 euros per person.

[Read on]

Reflections at the Sugihara House

V and I stood in front of the slate-grey door of the Sugihara House. We had trudged through the snow to get to this modest house, the only museum in Kaunas that was open on Monday, and our hopes of learning a chapter of its history rested on this excursion. I rang the doorbell; thankfully, a young local lad answered.

‘Actually, we’re closed today,’ he deadpanned.

Fortunately, he was just kidding. He ushered us in from the cold and we paid for our tickets. In the next room, we watched a short film that introduced us to the remarkable events that took place there nearly 80 years ago. [Read on]

Vilnius After Dark

This is Gediminas. He was the Grand Duke of Lithuania in the 14th Century. He founded Vilnius too when, following a dream, he built a castle on the spot where Cathedral Square now stands. The wolf on the plinth alludes to this.

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Photos of 11 Postcard-Worthy Places in Bad Weather

Part of the fun of travelling around the world these days involves sharing photographs of famous places with everyone back home. Bad weather can ruin those moments, especially if one’s on a tight schedule. Without some photoshop magic or filters, everything appears dull and flat.

However, the renown philosopher Jagger once said, “You can’t always get what you want.” So look on the bright side: no-one can buy a bad weather photograph on a postcard and pass it off as their own.

The following is my collection of photographs of tourist attractions as you have never seen them, with better photographs that I found elsewhere for comparison. [Read on]

Why Sunrise over Neringa is Worth Waking Early for

Waking up at 4 a.m. is one of the hardest things to do, but it was necessary if I wanted to catch the sunrise in Nida. After all, Midsummer had just passed in Lithuania.

Once I shut the door behind me, I was glad to trade my room mate’s snoring for the sound of waves lapping the shore. The breeze which tickled the Curonian lagoon was fresh. No one else was out and about.

I never knew that having the moment all to myself could be so satisfying.

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The Long Way to Get to Nida

Imagine a place, right in the middle of Europe, where the sands of time have buried fishing villages under great dunes. Sahara-like landscapes a stone’s throw from the border with a Russian oblast, on the coast of the Baltic sea. Wooden villas once inhabited by literary writers like Jean Paul Satre and Thomas Mann, carved with traditional pagan symbols.

Oh, and no castles or cathedrals. You’ve just pictured Neringa, the Curonian Spit National Park in Lithuania.

Once the idea has you hooked, you might take a comfortable train from Vilnius to Klaipeda, the nearest port city to this world heritage site, or in my case risk DVT on a cramped minibus from Riga. From there, it is actually pretty straightforward to get across the Curonian lagoon, but I took a bit longer than expected. [Read on]