Before my arrival to Lithuania, I never thought of visiting Kaunas, as I thought it was just a provincial town in the center of Lithuania, nothing special about it. However, surprisingly, I have get to know of this town for more than 10 years, due to the fact that a long time Canadian friend from high school has did some mission work there with an orphanage. Knowing that I am now in Lithuania, better visit this place than never again...On my way from Klaipeda (in the west Baltic coast) to Vilnius, I already passed through Kaunas on the motorway, and this time, going back to Kaunas from Vilnius is like backtracking the route. Despite the fact, it is worth the trip.
Before I took the bus northwest to Kaunas, I first visited the infamous KGB museum of Vilnius. Basically this was the former KGB prison back in the old Soviet times, when political prisoners are being held and interrogated here. A visit to this place is like going into the horror movies, where one can see live prison cells, interrogation rooms, torture rooms, etc... Seeing all these historical facts right in display was like going through a Lithuanian history lesson, and one can imagine how life is like under the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Nevertheless, Lithuania, like its neighbouring countries of Latvia and Estonia, successfully declared independent and now enjoying its own freedom, and are even full members of the European Union. This awesome fact is definitely worth to celebrate and to be proud of.
After the visit to this former KGB museum, I headed off to the bus station and took the next bus to Kaunas. Both Vilnius and Kaunas are some of the biggest cities in Lithuania, as a result, bus transportation between these two cities are frequent and soon I arrived in Kaunas. Upon my arrival, I opened my tour guidebook and headed to a famous monastery there, call
ed the Pazaislis Monastery, located in the outskirt of Kaunas, next to the smelly Kaunas lake. Unfortunately, there was a conference being held there at the time and my request to tour the monastery was uprightly rejected, but fortunately they let me take a picture of the place, at least...Next to the monastery is the Kaunas Lake, and alike Trakai castle, one can also rent a boat and do the same row-row-row-a-boat kind of activities there. Having enjoyed so much in Trakai the day before, I once again indulged myself for another boat ride in this Kaunas lake.
Unfortunately, Kaunas Lake was not even a third as beautiful as Trakai. First of all, I constantly smell the flavour of Sulphur in the lake. Secondly, the surrounding atmosphere was a bit boring, without any castle or green trees. Thirdly, the lake appears dark instead of blue. Within half an hour, I got bored of rowing the boat and I returned the boat and headed away. Quickly, I got onto a minibus and headed back into downtown.
Due to the fact that it was a Sunday, the town appears surprisingly quiet, with the old town square area so deserted that I can hardly see anyone walking around. Most shops are closed with only a few open. After taking a few pictures of the town hall, including the ruin of the Kaunas Castle as well as the white St. Michael Church, I took a bus back to the station for the next coach back to Vilnius.
Kaunas is supposingly a beautiful city, although maybe I was there in the wrong time. Nevertheless, I did take some beautiful pictures that is worth the memory.
More photos of Kaunas: http://lonelytraveller01.multiply.com/photos/album/12/
(Picture caption: Top - Pazaislis Monastery - next to Kaunas Lake. Bottom - St. Michael Church in the old town of Kaunas)
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