Old Town Hostel Vilnius

OK, so for those of you who aren't in the loop, I got my required visa on the evening of the July 30, initiating the frenzy of getting my disposable belongings together to carry with me to Vilnius, Lithuania... (Yea you probably won't make the effort to go there. Ever.) I get to the airport within the gospel preached "at least 3 hours in advance", although I did try to delay it as much as possible, that's a story for another day! But while standing in the Finnair check in line, I notice the g...

Days 1 & 2. Vilnius, Lithuania. My first day in Vilnius was spent walking around indiscriminately until the soles of my feet hurt, and taking pictures till I was no longer snap-happy. With no plan in my head when I got to Vilnius, I took the bus from the airport, got to the train station, walked about a mile to the hostel. The Old Town Hostel isn't world class by any hostelling standards, but it's the location that makes it special. The Old Town is 200m away, and visible if you stand outside ...

Day three, my comrades, was Sunday. It's the day of al frescoes with beer. But I had more pressing matters at hand. The Italian dude Paulina and I took the trolleybus (just like the locals roll) to the edge of the New Town to visit the Museum of Genocide Victims here in Vilnius. As if that wasn't enough, the building that houses the museum used to be the KGB headquarters and prison in the sickle and hammer days. Headquarters complete with a prison. The experience was expectedly grim, the exhi...

Next stop after a 5-hour coach ride was the capital of Lithuania. We found our hostel, Vilnius old town hostel, close to the bus and train station.

Vilnius old town has many points of interest, but I think it's safe to say we were both suffering a little old town fatigue by this stage. We walked down Pilies street from town hall square, down past the Presidential palace, to the cathedral Basilica and clock tower (originally part of the old town defenses and converted to its current us...

This morning i got up around 8:30. I wanted to get up much later cuz i went to bed only at 3am. I had one of those things that you put over your eyes at night, but when i woke up in the morning it was on top of my head...so that did no good. Since i stayed at a B&B i got an awesome breakfast...there was sooo much food! WOW...it was good. I got up and left to Trakai which is about 30-40KM out of town. It's a get away place for most people in Vilnuis. It also has a pictursque landscape and ...

Screw Belarus. They wanted to crazily charge us 180USD for the transit visa (though it was rather last minute, it's still way more than we'd been informed it was). So we traded in our Kiev tickets and are hopping on a train to the Baltics (that we really didn't feel like going to). And then we may be going to Poland or Germany well both eventually just not sure which comes first, it all hinges on stupid Belarus. 6 October: The sun is back. In St. Petersburg there was rain daily and never real...

Took a bus to Vilnius today. Easy and cheap, good bus too. Staying in a cheappo hostel near the train station. Set up a meeting with local girls. Had great fun in a restaurant with them. Learned a lot about Vilnius and Minsk as well. Got message from next contact person in Minsk, mixed Russian and English, local girls help translating. Trying to get Belarus visas tomorrow, will be interesting. Phones still phcked up. Spirits are high, weather is sunny but cold. 15.9 Managed to get Belarus vis...

Lentamente, ma molto lentamente, il treno che ho preso a Varsavia entra a Vilnius, da dove parte ufficialmente la mia sei giorni sul Baltico prima di entrare nella Madre Russia. A dire la verita' non e' proprio lo stesso treno che ho preso a Varsavia, visto che al confine ci hanno fatto scendere e salire su un altro treno: posso comunque dire di aver provato la fantastica esperienza di utilizzare un treno lituano, toilette compresa. Beh, chiamarla toilette e' un po' azzardato, ma fa niente! N...

Just when we thought we had packed in all the uniquely Baltic charm our one year trip around the world could take, we found ourselves staring into the heart of Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. Conveniently situated between Latvia and Poland, two countries we were very much looking forward to exploring, Lithuania was one of those places we just never thought we would end up. Fortunately, although our visit to this small southern Baltic state was brief, we were surprised to find it both pleasan...

Taking an airBaltic flight at 8:40 am, I left for the Baltics. This time, I left from Berlin Tegel Airport, instead of the usual Shoenefeld Airport I used (which is easyJet's hub in Berlin). Tegel is in the (former) West Berlin and fairly easy to get to (a S-Bahn then a bus ride, which took me amazingly less than 30 minutes). The airport also does not have the scruffy impression the Shoenefeld Airport gives. However, I do think this airport also needs some upgrade. I found selection of restau...