Kaunas, Lithuania

 I toured Kaunas - Lithuania's second largest city and the provisional inter-war capital, from 8 am today.  Kaunas is promoting itself as the European Capital of Culture in 2022. I followed a cyclist to take the Žaliakalnis Funicular on V. Putvinskio street, an electrically operated funicular railway. The oldest funicular in Lithuania and one of the oldest in Europe. It was constructed by AEG and began operating on 5 August 1931. The funicular has wood panelled coachwork. It climbs the 75 m up from behind the Vytautas Great War Museum to the Church of the Resurrection and The ticket costs €1. 

There are many churches and the Kaunas castle in old town. I also walked around the nearby Santakos park that is set at the confluence of the two largest rivers of Lithuania - the Nemunas and Neris.

 I walked over Vytautas' Bridge connecting the Old Town and Aleksotas district, to get on the view deck to see the whole old town, and then walked all the way to the botanic garden. The original bridge on wooden poles was built in 1812. It was used by Napoleon’s Army fleeing from Russia. 

I then walked back to Kaunas downtown area to take photos of sculptures on display, including Laisvės alėja - Kaunas' most famous walking street. The last stop was Akropolis shopping center to hunt for handmade amber soaps, but didn’t find any, yet tasted a nice snack (mini pancakes with ice cream for €1.

I bought the train ticket to Vilnius for tomorrow  8 am. My hostel is literally next to the platform so I only need to walk 10 steps to get on the train. However, I only hear car traffic but never train during my two-night stay.