2008-07. Vilnius, page 1 of 3. |
I visited Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, in the summer of 2008. These are a few photos from that trip. This is the cathedral and its impressive bell-tower. |
To get to Vilnius I took the coach from Riga, Latvia, only a half-day's ride away. |
A quick shot out of the bus window caught this statue in a cemetery by the way-side. |
The old town of Vilnius is surrounded by wooded hills. Behind the Lithuanian flag flying over Gediminas tower the Soviet-era TV tower can be seen. It was the scene of fighting in which 14 people were killed when the country gained independence in 1991. |
Downtown Vilnius is a maze of old, quiet streets. |
But the city is lively enough, no worries there! This bicycle-bar is doing the rounds on summer nights with a dancer up front and hard-pedaling patrons behind. |
On my first full day in Vilnius, I started out on a walk from the "Rotuse", i.e. the City Hall. |
A girl sitting on the steps. |
And on the other side of the square, this woman... |
On the outskirts of the old centre, I came across this church, St. Anne's, which Napoleon supposedly liked a lot when he passed through the city in 1812. |
A wedding party was leaving the Bernadinu cloister next to the church. |
Seems there's already agreement on the rôles between the newlyweds. :-) |
This silent spectator remained inside the cloister church. |
And a balloon had wafted up below the intricate vaults. |
Back outside. |
Church and cloister from a distance. |
Down the road I caught up with the married couple again, just after they had carried out a tradition on a nearby bridge. |
As many newlyweds before them, they had attached a padlock with their names on it to the bridge and thrown the key into the river below. |
I had a closer look at the padlocks. This one with the names scratched out caught my attention. Not a happy story, I guess... |
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