Vilnius, pop. 593k, is the capital of Lithuania, one of the three Baltic countries. Vilnius does not have trams, but has trolleybuses. I cannot find the system length. An interesting point: trolleybuses can have batteries to run some sections without overhead wires.
You can and should get to Vilnius by train from Warsaw, as it is comfortable, cheap, and environmentally friendly. Really, don't drive or fly, take the train, please.
The journey would be better if the train had a Wars (pronounced: vars) restaurant carriage, but it doesn't, just the snack/drink trolley.
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| The train was pulled by a classic EU07 electric locomotive in Warsaw. |
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| In Białystok the loco was changed to a diesel Pesa Gama 111Db as further sections of the line are unelectrified. |
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| Sokółka train station with a very dilapidated facade. A really bad image of Poland. |
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| Augustów train station, also in a dire need of a "remont". |
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| Mockava - the border station on the Lithuanian side - see the difference? |
Passengers have to leave the Polish, standard track gauge train here, maybe wait a few minutes, and get on a Lithuanian, broad gauge train on the same platform (different track). The LTG Link operator uses Pesa 730ML trains.
A funny tidbit from the Wikipedia link about LTG: "In 2008, in response to the Polish oil company PKN Orlen plans to reroute freight from its Lithuanian refinery at Mažeikiai to the Latvian port of Ventspils, the Lithuanian Railways unilaterally and intentionally dismantled the cross-border line to Latvia to prevent this." The line was rebuild only in 2020. A bit more info here.
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| You can get drinks and snacks on board of the LTG Link train. Lithuania uses the Euro currency. The service was very friendly, cheaper than on the Polish side, and one of the ladies spoke/understood Polish. |
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| A beautiful Marijampolė station. |
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| Some old small wooden station building, but the first of many with a Ukrainian flag in a window. Lithuania had the most Ukrainian flags I have seen on this trip. Per capita, the three Baltic states are the biggest supporters of Ukraine. They experienced Russian colonialism first hand. |
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| Kazlų Rūda station. |
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| Kaunas station. |
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| Trucks (semi-trailers) on trains. That's how they should move. |
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| Partially transparent noise/wildlife barriers along train tracks. |
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| Fields, somewhere in Lithuania. |
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| A Soviet-era twin locomotive 2M62 built in Ukraine - in Luhansk, currently occupied by Russia. |
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| Vilnius station. |
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| Pesa 730ML in the "Connecting Europe" livery. |
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| Soviet-era Latvia-built RVR DR1A. They are huge, the seating is 3+3. I rode them in Latvia. |
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Vilnius station, view from the street. The real-time video portal which currently connects Vilnius to Lublin, but it is meant to cycle between multiple cities in the future.
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| Close to the train station. Looks a bit neglected. |
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| A longer Solaris Urbino 18, also electric, and I did not capture the Ukraine message again. This type of bus is called an articulated bus or colloquially a bendy bus. Solaris makes even longer version Urbino 24, which is double-articulated. |
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Solaris Trollino 12 trolleybus.
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| Older Škoda trolleybus. |
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| Bus/trolleybus frequencies. |
Enough about buses, time for some funny ad:
And now bikes...
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| Riding a bike in Vilnius felt safe and was pleasant. The only issue I had was that 2 out of 3 bike stations that I tried did not work properly - I could return a bike there, but not rent, the screen was either telling me that the station cannot connect to the internet, or to call technical support: |
Still, I found a working station and did most of sightseeing on a bike.
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| 1 car space = 12 bike spaces. |
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| Road to Freedom. |
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| The Baltic Way was epic. I remember it from the news reports in Poland. |
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| This is a proper separated bike path! Unfortunately, it is quite short. |
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| A nice bike path and look at the width of that footpath! :-) |
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| Vilnius has an old town, but it also has a modern office district. |
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| I'm not sure if this was still in Lithuania or already in Latvia, but what you see here is a bike overpass. |
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| This is a safe road design that I also saw in Sweden. No overtaking against the traffic. |
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| Contrasts. |
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| I think this was the biggest contrast. The modern building on the right is building IV of the Lithuanian Parliament. |
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| These are pieces of barricades the people of Vilnius set up and manned to defend their parliament from the Soviet Army in January 1991. My Lithuanian friend's father was one of the defenders. |
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| The courtyard of the Seimas had an exhibition by Beata Kurkul. |
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| Daddy's daughter. |
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| Main parliament building on the left, offices in the centre, national library on the right, a 6-lane road tunnel directly underneath. |
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| The front of the Seimas - with Lithuanian, NATO and Ukrainian flags. |
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| At least this highway - E272, Geležinio Vilko g. (g. = gatvė - street) - is in a tunnel. |
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| Vilnius is very clean, but there are inconsiderate people everywhere. |
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| City Hall |
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| Presidential Palace |
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| An exhibition about the 24.02.2022 invasion of Ukraine. |
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| Needs a "remont". |
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| Electric car charges in front of a shop - this is the way. Electric vehicle chargers are small, not dangerous to the environment, not foul smelling, unlike petrol and diesel. Charging takes longer than filling the car with petrol, so the ideal places for charging are parking lots of shops, sports centres, etc. |
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| One of the gates to the Old Town. |
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| Did I mention the Ukrainian flags? |
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| Cars ruin cities. |
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| Ruins of the castle. |
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| The tower up close. It has a little museum - need to buy a ticket to enter. |
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| A view from the castle hill towards the CBD. |
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| A view towards the Old Town. |
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| A model of Vilnius of old. |
From the three Baltic states capitals I visited on this trip, Vilnius was the most similar to Polish cities, for good and bad. If a person you need to talk to does not speak English, you can try Russian or Polish.
One last thing, I and my brother had an unpleasant incident with an Uber driver called Eltaj. The guy was new - 17th ride or something like that, and was not Lithuanian. Hmm, now when I think of it the two Uber drivers I had in Warsaw, were not Polish either, and one told me that the car did not belong to him. Somebody made a business of running a taxi service with foreign drivers. Anyway, my brother left his phone in the car, and realised it a moment after the car left. I called my brother's phone a few times, called the driver's phone, via the Uber app, left messages via Uber. Nothing. The driver only acknowledged to Uber that he had my brother's phone a week later. He never returned it. In the end Uber advised to file a police report.
I would like to visit Lithuania again when the high-speed Rail Baltica project is complete.
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