I discovered Vištytis in March while carrying out a project on borders. Everything was covered with snow and the little houses on the campsite by the lake seemed lonely and as though they were spending winter in hibernation. But I was interested in everything: the mysterious landscape, conversations with locals who speak both neighbour countries’ languages, and the legends about …
Sakura festival in Kaunas
This year the Sakura festival, organized by Sugihara Foundation in Kaunas and supported by the Japanese embassy, was not blessed with great weather as . Still, Kyrie Oda′s dance looked all the more touching. She and her colleague went along with their idea to perform barefoot, despite cold weather.
Heritage-chasing in Segovia
Having worked with Asian Studies over the past couple of years, I heard the argument that, when faced with a vast choice of European locations to visit, East Asian tourists take into account the UNESCO list of world heritage. So I was not surprised at all when I saw that many of our fellow passengers on the bus between Segovia′s …
Schengen (non-)borders: if you like it then you shouldn’t put a ring on it!
I′d like to share a link to a collection of photos from Europe′s ′peaceful borders′. Of course, let’s not forget that this comes at the expense of neighbors beyond Schengen area. But in any case, borderless life makes a huge difference. This was one thing I loved about living in Luxembourg – that there are no borders in any direction …
The town of closed doors, or how to have a better trip to Cartagena than I did
Nearly everyone I met in Spain praised the beauty of Cartagena. They said it was one of the most beautiful Spanish towns, with ancient history and freshness of a sea breeze. As I was planning my vacations in Murcia region, many travel websites directed me there. So Cartagena was certainly on my map. Perhaps only because of these high expectations …
Open day at Kaunas mosque
The community of Kaunas mosque provided an opportunity for anyone interested to go inside the unique Tatar mosque of Kaunas, to see a Muslim prayer, look around and enjoy food from various countries and cultures. The mosque has become an important contact point for old and new Muslim communities, the latter consisting of foreign students, workers, spouses of Lithuanians, expats …
Travel essentials for visiting religious places
Religious places around the world tend to be more demanding towards women, but travelers of both genders often struggle to pack appropriately, especially when traveling with cheap airlines. Last month I took the challenge of traveling with Wizzair small cabin bag only, although I knew that I’d be visiting many religious places.
Open day at the Bank of Lithuania in Kaunas
The Bank of Lithuania has recently celebrated the 93rd anniversary since its establishment. It is the first year that the central bank is not implementing Lithuania′s monetary policy, so people are curious about how its functions have changed since joining the eurozone. Today′s open day had people of all age groups lining up to see the original building of the …
All from my reporting trip to Thailand
In March I took part in Minority Rights Group training in Thailand. I posted my feedback on it . In this post, I’ll post all articles, blog posts and tweets associated with this trip. Reposted: My impressions from #Thailand – now on Planet News! http://t.co/lO9m6hKbr9 #reporting #karen #minorityrights — Daiva (@daiva_hadiva) May 1, 2015 All my blog entries on Thailand …
Lovely Lübeck and trippy Travemünde
What have you heard of Lübeck? I remember it featured in a computer game I used to love, where the task was to build successful Hansa cities and trade among them. Of course, having moved to Hamburg, I included Lübeck in my short-term bucket list. The city is less than two hours away from Hamburg, and a daily pass, which …