Na Wschód

The final stage of our journey was Kaunas. Because we spent more time at the seaside then we originally planned, a visit to this city had to be limited to one afternoon. And before, we had a bit long and arduous journey by bus from Palanga to the “temporary capital of Lithuania” (as residents of Kaunas reportedly call it). We arrived there late afternoon and immediately went to the tourist information office in search of cheap and close lying acommodation.

We were shown one place just a few streets away. It was a relatively nice, though not particularly high standard, hotel, looking like place from the Soviet times, with wide corridors and red carpets. As in previous locations, we didn’t lose too much time unpacking and almost immediately went out of the city. The most important things for us was to plan the last day of travel, returning to Poland. To do this, we went to the train station. Unfortunately, we didn’t learn much there. Before us the information approached three young guys who apparently intended to spend the night on the questioning of various aspects of their trip. A bit sick of that we decided to resign from a train and go back with a bus , what we planned before.

Because of the above-mentioned perturbations we hadn’t too much time to see Kaunas. We went for a walk through the main street of the town and threw a look at the most important sights. Kaunas make an impression of a pleasant place, but it’s far from the magic of Vilnius. The axis of the Old City are streets that are essentially commercial pedestrian areas, which means it’s not the best place for quiet walks. It is very difficult to me to write something more abour the city, because we had no chance to know it better. There are certainly some interesting places to visit, but I can’t say if Kaunas has its own spirit. My eye was catched by City Hall, the ruins of the castle (what isn’t surprise, cause I really enjoy old, stone buildings), and a huge block of Church St. Michael the Archangel.

After returning to the hotel we enjoyed the red wine and the fact that we had a TV. With the news on CNN for the first time since a long time had the opportunity to see the world news. So we spent our last night in Lithuania.

The next morning we take the bus to Marijampolė. Then we changed the bus and after few minutes we were on the lithuanian-polish border. About 2 o’clok our journey ended when we crossed the border in Kalvarija.

Photos of Kaunas, and from other places we visited in Lithuania, you can see in entry Photos from Lithuania.