Back with more reportage from my trip to Lithuania! After sleeping at our cheap but cozy hostel, we set out to enjoy our final 12 hours in the city.
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| In the last post I brought up the Užupis Republic, which is sort of like an unofficial city of artists within the city of Vilnius. This statue is their guardian angel |
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| This bastion was built in the 1600s to defend the city from "the pesky Swedes and when-will-they-stop Russians," as one description put it. Then it was a garbage dump before it was used by the Soviets to store vegetables |
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| Every so often on the outskirts of town, we'd run into an abandoned building. This whole complex was abandoned, but unfortunately fenced off |
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| This church was abandoned too. Spooky! |
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| Unused for years... We later learned this abandoned complex of buildings is the Missionary Church and Monastery of Vilnius, unopened since the Soviets closed it |
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| A portion of the old city wall |
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| Another one of Vilnius' most famous landmarks: the Gates of Dawn. Inside is a famous painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was done in the 17th century. This gate is the last surviving one of ten that used to be built into the town wall. We headed inside to get a look at the painting, but there were some very devout Lithuanians praying in there so I didn't feel comfortable taking a picture with my huge camera |
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| Here we have St. Theresa's Church, built in 1650. It was meant to be the most beautiful church in the city |
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| This is the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit, built in 1638. It was the first Orthodox church I've ever been in! There were hardly any pews or other places to sit - it was just a big open space with a few small altars. Oh, and an enormous glass-topped box where two elaborately wrapped full-size corpses served as relics. Creepy |
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| The entrance to a Basilian monastary, built in 1761 |
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| The monastery's Church of the Holy Trinity, built in 1514 |
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| Inside. Not in the greatest shape |
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| Church of St. Casimir, Vilnius' first Baroque Church. Built in 1618 |
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| We had made it to Vilnius' other big square, the Town Hall Square. This Town Hall building was repeatedly reconstructed up until the end of the 18th century |
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| My second Russian Orthodox church experience! Once again, no pews. This is the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, built in 1514 but subsequently reconstructed. Check out the Byzantine exterior |
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| The Russian Orthodox Church of St. Parasceve, first built in 1345 but rebuilt in 1865 |
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| Another church! There are 28 in the Old Town. This one is the Franciscan Church, dating from the middle of the 14th century |
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| It was the most derelict church we've ever been in, unfortunately |
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| Then dusk hit. We headed to the Old Town Square again to snap some winning photos |
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| The other side of the Gates of Dawn |
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| The city's theater |
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| Inside St. Casimir. Every church we went into always had a number of old, devout churchgoers praying away, more so than in other cities |
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| A last look at the abandoned monastery |
And just like that, our enjoyable time in Vilnius was up. We hopped onto a cramped bus for 16 hours and arrived back in Berlin, our winter break from university over. Between my trips to Prague, Munich, and Vilnius, I was away from Berlin for over half of my break! A job well done, I say - I had some great journeys and took some great photos that I'm really satisfied with.
Next up are more photos from Berlin before we get to Frankfurt and Nuremberg!
