Yes, I've been travelling. Yes, I'm going to post about it - a lot. You can't go to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Russia without writing tons of posts about it. First up: Lithuania. But will this post be like any of my other travel posts? No. Here's why: Lithuania is a funny place. It doesn't fit the mold. So let's shake it up, shall we?

I'm going to start this post where I started my trip: in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital. I arrived by plane and didn't even realize I was nearing a city until the plane touched the ground. The area surrounding the city is one big forest, the airport itself small. When I left it, I could barely beleive it was an airport. The building is amazing, classic, more like an opera house than an airport, an antique train station at the very least.

Now on to Vilnius itself. Here I noticed that Lithuania is a funny place. Even though the Lithuania we know has only been a country since the early 90s, or maybe because of it, the Lithuanians are extremely proud of their country and its heritage. In some places this makes the people arrogant (*cough* Russia *cough*), but the Lithuanians are friendly, helpful and they speak English very well. Their capital hasn't been flooded by tourists yet, so take your time admiring the cathedral (which looks more like a Greek temple, but okay), the castle and the streets of the old town. A sense of direction is more than convenient in this city, by the way. Yes I wrote that because I got lost every day.




Vilnius isn't the only city in Lithuania of course. I quickly visited Klaipeda and Kaunas, spent a few hours in Trakai. Klaipeda is a bit of a blur because of the Germans who visited it during their cruise and obscured the view of everything. In Kaunas and Trakai I visited castles. If I learned one thing about Lithuania it's that it loves castles.


I took a bus to Nida, a small town on the Curonian Spit (which is an island, by the way). I fell asleep on that bus, mainly because the Lithuanian landscape is so similar to that of the Netherlands. The boat to the island reminded me of the boat to Kinderdijk and even Nida reminded me of the isle of Texel back home, in the best way possible. On my birthday my parents and I rented bikes and discovered the forests and beaches. Nida is one of those relaxed places I want to return to some day.


There's only one more place I visited in Lithuania. Some call it one of the creepiest places on earth. It's the legendary Hill of Crosses.


When Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union, religion was sort of prohibited. Now that's one rule you shouldn't want to enforce in catholic Lithuania. The Soviets took the crosses on the Hill down more than once, but the Lithuanians replaced them every single time. The origins of the Hill of Crosses are shrouded in mystery. Maybe that's why some call it one of the creepiest places on earth...


Right now I'm home, far away from Lithuania and all the places I visited there. I still think it's a funny place. It's like home, yet different. Not everything is what it seems there. I might be wrong though. Why not take a look at my travel vlog and see for yourself?


Stay Awesome!