Belarus
After Lithuania, I went to Belarus, one of the last surviving communist countries. It’s a dictatorship where the KGB is still active and spies on people. Minsk was almost totally destroyed during the war and had to be completely rebuilt. 25% of Belarus’ population died in the war. Belarussian currency isn’t the easiest to deal [...]
Posted by Aidan under Travel, Travel - World | Permalink | No Comments »Chiune Sugihara Museum
Vilnius used to have such a large Jewish population that it was known as the Jerusalem of the North. There were more than 100 synagogues, but now there is only one remaining. Almost all of the Jews living in Vilnius died or fled during World War 2. I visited the Chiune Sugihara museum in Kaunas [...]
Posted by Aidan under Travel, Travel - World | Permalink | No Comments »Lithuania
From Latvia I took the bus to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Like Tallinn, Vilnius’ old city is a World Heritage site and has lots of grand buildings and old streets. Vilnius also has an interesting neighborhood called Uzupis, a self-proclaimed independent artists’ community. There is a lot of interesting artwork in the neighborhood, as [...]
Posted by Aidan under Travel, Travel - World | Permalink | No Comments »Latvia
I took a bus from Tallinn to Riga, the capital of Latvia. Riga has a nice old town, (not nearly as picturesque as Tallinn’s though). It’s known for its Art Nouveau architecture and there are some interesting buildings in the city. There are some quirky statues, sculptures and murals around the city. There were some [...]
Posted by Aidan under Travel, Travel - World | Permalink | No Comments »Estonia
I took a ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Estonia is the northernmost of the three Baltic countries. Tallinn’s center is a beautiful medieval old town with lots of cobblestoned streets, fortified walls and round towers. Street performer. I also visited the Museum of Occupation. The Baltic countries had a really bad [...]
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