{"id":2791,"date":"2023-06-18T13:49:13","date_gmt":"2023-06-18T11:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/?p=2791"},"modified":"2023-06-18T13:49:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T11:49:13","slug":"vilnius-kaunas-tourist-impressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/vilnius-kaunas-tourist-impressions\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania: Tourist Impressions"},"content":{"rendered":"

I visited the capital city Vilnius and Kaunas, about ninety kilometers northwest. While there, I thought:<\/p>\n

LITHUANIA IS STRONGLY PRO-UKRAINE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Expect to see the Ukraine bicolour on stickers, buttons, donation boxes, even on a mini-flag worn like a cape around a resident’s shoulders. Vilnius \u2764 Ukraina<\/em><\/strong> declare the head signs of Vilnius buses. Putin, the Hague is waiting for you<\/em><\/strong> promise bold black letters on a New City Center skyscraper.<\/p>\n

\"Pedestrian<\/a>
Pedestrian street in Vilnius, Lithuania<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An amiable tour guide permits participants to frame a single exception to the “no photographs” rule inside the shuttered Luki\u0161k\u0117s Prison<\/a>: cell phone shots<\/a> of a Vladimir Putin cutout, glowering behind bars.<\/p>\n

LITHUANIA NAPPED THROUGH THE ENGLISH CLASS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ranked number 19 for English fluency planet-wide! Lithuania holds down this slot on Education First’s English Proficiency index<\/a>. I saw this score before my trip, half expected to chat up locals on misplaced modifiers and pronoun antecedents at Caffeine<\/em> outlets.<\/p>\n

A slightly older and wiser Tim now notes in the index’s Appendix A that participants are self-selected. I must not have crossed paths with the test takers while in country. Expect to communicate in English at a hotel that tourists are likely to hunt up online. Elsewhere? Good luck. You’d be better off with Russian, spoken by about eight percent<\/a> of the population.<\/p>\n

\"Aleksotas<\/a>
Aleksotas Observation point in Kaunas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(Incidentally, this relatively widespread fluency in Russian must mean that many Lithuanians can comfortably join the audience for Russia’s media, and consume a Russian perspective on Ukraine that may be downplayed or suppressed in the western press. I envy that fluency, but also note that whatever Olga Skabeyeva is trying to sell her viewers<\/a> on Rossiya 1 obviously hasn’t much impressed Lithuania.)<\/p>\n

PEAK PATINETE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Patinete<\/em><\/a> is what Spaniards call e-scooters. They’re everywhere in Vilnius: in streets, bike lanes, sidewalks, parked in rows by the cathedral. I see them in Madrid, but not nearly as often as I saw them in Vilnius.<\/p>\n

I am a patinete<\/em> agnostic, at least for now. A fellow And\u00e9n 1<\/a> member told me that they make a 24\/7 car-free life much more reasonable, that a multi-block scoot on a patinete<\/em> can comfortably fill in the gaps between transit lines. Madrid’s mayor wants to regulate<\/a> the contraptions, rather than forbid them outright.<\/p>\n

\"Kaunas<\/a>
Kaunas Castle in Lithuania<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I see his point, but watched Vilnius pedestrians recoil while avoiding riders on busy sidewalks, and also note an e-scooter’s potential for feeding male gadget lust. (Might a sixteen year old chaval<\/em><\/a> prefer a purely practical patinete<\/em>, or perhaps a bigger, speedier scooter, with bigger wheels? Might a manufacturer anticipate the likely answer to that question, and design models accordingly?)<\/p>\n

Visit Vilnius, be an eyewitness, form an opinion of your own.<\/p>\n

AN EXCELLENT SECOND-TIER TOURIST DESTINATION<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I yenned for a Europe trip in June, but didn’t want to contend with sold-out hotels and peak-season tourist crowds. Those conflicting desires sent me to Lithuania. Vilnius and Kaunas aren’t Madrid or Paris, but they’re safe, clean and attractive, offer plenty to look at and enjoy. I think many who roam in the peak travel months would be happier to explore destinations in the second tier. (Like Extremadura, say I, and lateral to a 2020 post.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\n

Vilnius\/Kaunas tourist transit tips:<\/p>\n

(\u2666<\/span>)\u00a0 A single euro is all you need to ride the 3G express bus<\/a> from the airport. If you intend to ride other Vilnius buses, you’ll want to load the appropriate pass on a public transit card, which looks like this<\/a>\u00a0and which can be purchased at a local Narvesen outlet. (There’s a Narvesen at the airport.) Available passes are described here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Trolley<\/a>
Trolley bus in Vilnius, Lithuania<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Can you load such a pass on your phone? Yep, but I can’t help, as I remain loathe to do any transaction involving money with a too-easily-lost-or-stolen smartphone.<\/p>\n

(\u2666<\/span>)\u00a0Buying the equivalent<\/a> transit card in Kaunas may be tougher, as Kaunas residents may know even less English than locals in Vilnius. I couldn’t buy the card at the Kaunas train station, feel fortunate to have stumbled across a fluent English speaker on the north side of Vytauto pr. immediately northwest of the train station, who directed me to a Kauno spauda<\/em><\/a> kiosk there. A kiosk staffer sold me the card.<\/p>\n

If you can’t buy the card, but still want to ride the bus in Kaunas? They accept cash.<\/p>\n

\"Juozas<\/a>
Juozas Gruodis statue in Kaunas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(\u2666<\/span>)\u00a0 As for the train linking Vilnius to Kaunas: visit the Lithuanian Railways site<\/a> and you’ll see that these trains run frequently and take about an hour and a quarter each way. I bought a round-trip ticket from an English fluent station employee about a half-hour before departure. Easy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I visited the capital city Vilnius and Kaunas, about ninety kilometers northwest. While there, I thought: LITHUANIA IS STRONGLY PRO-UKRAINE Expect to see the Ukraine bicolour on stickers, buttons, donation boxes, even on a mini-flag worn like a cape around a resident’s shoulders. Vilnius \u2764 Ukraina declare the head signs of Vilnius buses. Putin, the… <\/p>\n

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