A bit of fun at the beginning of the new year. I’m following several German travel blogs, and that way came across the annual Photo Parade (Fotoparade) on Michael’s blog Erkunde die Welt (Discover the World). He’s been doing it for several years now, and the replies of the contributors have offered a whole bunch of new blogs for me to browse. Since photos are omnilingual (and there’s DeepL and Google Translate as well), I thought it would be nice to participate.
Michael offers several key words every year, and you should try to find photos – taken in that year – that match the categories. I’m not traveling as much as the majority of the participants, but in 2023, I visited at least three towns (Bad Sooden-Allendorf, Einbeck and Kiel) plus the longer tour of Lithuania I had planned since 2020, so here’s my try:
Category: Landscape (Landschaft)
The Curonian Spit is one of my favourite landscapes in Lithuania, so it’s no wonder I took the chance for another visit of a different part of the spit; this time near Juodkrantė. It was a warm, sunny day with some wind going that created pretty waves on the Baltic Sea. I walked some distance along the shore and returned through the pine forest to the lagoon side of the spit, to catch the ferry back to Klaipeda.
Category: Yummy (Lecker)
I don’t take pictures of food, so that one was a bit difficult. I finally decided to present a photo of an 18th century kitchen in a farm house in the Open Air Museum Rumšiškes (near Kaunas).
The museum, created despite Sovjet pushbacks in 1966, today encompasses almost 200 ha, with houses transfered from all regions of Lithuania, dating from the 18th to early 20th century. Some exhibits could only be added after Lithuania became an independent state, since many aspects of Lithuanian history were not officially popular during Sovjet times.
Some of the houses, dating to a time when the majority of Lithuanians still lived in rural villages and farms, were rather simple structures with only the most necessary commodities. A fireplace and kitchen, however small, were part of those. There also are larger farms with several outbuildings, orchards, herb gardens and a bath house. They make for pretty photo motives.
Category: Water (Wasser)
Water is an easy category to match. I love being near water and I love photographing it. This one shows a weir on the river Werra in Bad Sooden-Allendorf, a small but pretty town known for its half-timbered houses, in northern Hessia.
Another photo from the Curionian Spit. I was standing in the surf, photographing the incoming waves. I was wearing my jeans rolled up to my knees, but got them a bit wet nevertheless *grin* ‒ those waves were tricky and looked more gentle than they turned out to be. But it was fun.
Category: Blue (Blau)
A sunny September day in the Firth of Kiel (Kieler Förde), a 17 km long firth that opens into the bay of Kiel and the Baltic Sea. There is a passenger ferry going from Kiel to the town of Laboe at the end of the firth, criscrossing the waters to connect the various suburbs and villages on both shores. It is a nice tour that offers various views of marinas, dockyards, pretty landscapes and charming spa villages.
The Meridianas was built in Finnland in 1948 as training sailing ship. She was put out of use as sailing ship in 1968 and converted into a restaurant on the Danė river in Klaipeda. She began to show structural problems in the 1990ies and had to undergo repairs. Ownership changed a few times, but since 2012, the refurbished Meridianas is again serving as restaurant, located in a new berth on the river.
Category: Cold (Kalt)
Since the weather was always warm when I was traveling, I don’t have 'cold' photos with snow and ice in my 2023 files. But I did take one that covers the category in a different way: The memorial tablet of the Vilnius Ghetto.
I actually missed the tablet when I passed the first time, too intent of the motives that lay ahead. I noticed it the second evening and felt cold for a moment, despite the balmy air. The area is such a lovely place today that it came as a bit of a shock to learn of its gruesome and sad history.
Vilnius had a Jewish population of about 55,000 (28%) prior to WW2, which earned it the moniker 'Jerusalem of the East'. When the German army occupied the town in August 1941, the killing of Jews began. A few weeks later, on September 6, the remaining Jews were forced to move into ghettos. The ghettos – a small one for what the Nazis called ‘unproductive individuals’, old and sick people not fit for labour, and a large ghetto – were set up in an area of the town that had been predominantly inhabited by Jews.
The small ghetto only existed for a few weeks; it was closed already in October 1941; the majority of the 11.000 inhabitants were killed and the rest was moved into the large ghetto. The large ghetto, which housed about 29,000 people under extreme conditions (the site was overcrowded, people suffered from hunger, cold, illness ...) existed until 24th September 1943. The remaining Jews were either sent to concentration camps in German-occupied Poland and Estonia, or killed in a mass execution in the forest of Paneriai near Vilnius.
The Jewish community never recovered; there are about 5,000 Jews living in Vilnius today; a tenth of the pre-war population. The former Jewish quarter is now one of the prettiest places in Vilnius, narrow lanes and old houses, with little shops, cafés, restaurants, and lots of young people around – the winter semester had already started in Lithuania in September, and everyone was out during evenings that still held memories of summer.
Category: Black and White (Schwarz/Weiss)
Einbeck is another of those German towns with many surviving half-timbered houses. I played around with the filters a bit and made the photo look like an old postcard – except for the too modern cars. I had been in Einbeck before, on the way to Salzderhelden, and took some random photos, but this time I went in search of the prettiest places and most interesting history.
The categories above are the main categories, but Michael presents some extra ones for those who want to play some more.
Category: Hot (Heiß)
One way to get from Germany to Lithuania is the freight and passenger ferry that goes from Kiel to Klaipeda on a daily schedule. It takes a night (in a comfortable cabin, if you want) and a day on sea, but I prefer that way of traveling to flying. Also, I love the sea. The ferry also transports a whole lot of trucks and containers; you can see some on the photo (those white boxes between the chimneys).
Category: View (Ausblick)
For this category, I picked two photos I took from the Gediminas' Tower, remains of an old castle in Vilinius that sits on top of a hill overlooking the town.
More photos of Vilnius are here. It’s one of those ‘Back with Booty’-posts that are a tradition on my blog for most of my travels, giving some first impressions, since it often takes time to write more detailed posts about the places I’ve visited. More photos about Lithuania can also be found here.
Category: Animal (Tierisch)
I’m no animal photographer, but I take the occasional shot when I come across some beasties or birdies that don’t move too fast. So here’s a raft of ducks, probably hoping for some bread crumbs magically appearing from the direction of the shore.
Category: Colours (Bunt)
Lithuania has five National Parks. I’ve managed to visit two so far: Curonian Spit and Trakai Historical National Park, which centers around Lake Galvė. It is the largest lake in the park, with 21 islands – the famous Trakai Castle is located on one of them. It’s a 4 km walk from the train station to the castle, most of the way along the lake, offering lots of pretty views, especially on a sunny day.
Categoy: Heart (Herz)
Nothing heart-shaped, but again, a symbolic photo: A view of the hill forts of Kernavė and the Pajauta valley, the first capital and once the heart of Lithuania.
Kernavė was the first capital of Lithuania until the settlement in the Pajauta valley was destroyed by the Teutonic Knights in 1390, whereafter the capital moved to Vilnius, though the hill forts were in use for longer. Its history goes back as far as the 9th millennia BC, as the finds in the alluvial soil of the valley show. Therefore, Kernavė is known as 'Lithuanian Troy'. The five hills are still visible and make for quite impressive landmarks, though the castles on their summits have disappeared. The finds of the valley are displayed in a museum on the site, and a Mediaeval village has been reconstructed in the vicinity.
Category: Modern
The Simonas Daukantas Bridge crosses the Nemunas river that runs through Kaunas. It was built in 1988 by the architect Agimantas Sprindy and is named for Simonas Daukantas (1793-1864), a Lithuanian historian and writer who was one of the first ideologists of the national revival during a time when Lithuania belonged to the Russian Empire.
The bridge is a tension bridge held by cables. The supporting arch in the middle of the bridge is covered with granite plaster and black marble inlays, and counts as one of the landmarks of Kaunaus. On top of the somewhat abstract arch is a decoration known as 'Gediminas’ Pillars' that has been in use in Lithuanian heraldry since the 13th century.
Category of my own: Castles
Those who follow my blog regularly should have known, lol. I collect castles.
The castle was built by Duke Kęstutis in the 14th century and expanded by his son Vytautas after he had reconciled with his cousin in 1409 und became grand duke of Lithuania. The predominantly brick architecture was influenced by Vytautas’ visits to brick castles of the Teutonic Knights in Livonia (= Latvia and Estonia) and Poland, albeit the foundations and parts of the towers are constructed of stone. Vytautas also added the 35 metres high keep. The outer curtain walls were strengthened and three more towers added in mid-15th century. The style of the castle is predominantly Gothic, with some Romanesque elements; the brick parts have been restored in the 1960ies.
Not exactly a castle, but part of the remaining Mediaeval town fortifications of Einbeck. The Stork Tower is a half tower (Schalenturm in German), which means it is open to the town side, albeit protected by timber railings. There also were floors to partition the tower into storeys. Most of the Einbeck town fortifications were built in the 15th century and strengthened in later times. The Stork Tower still rises to its original height of 22 metres. It even survived the siege of the town by the imperial army of Octavio Piccolomini in 1641 (during the Thirty Years War). The name changed to Stork Tower after a pair of storks nested there for several years; before it was known as Crow Tower (Krähenturm).
Category: Favourites
I like the way the light plays here – the photo was taken from the ferry sailing into Kiel Harbour. There had been a signal fire on the little island in the narrowest past of the firth since 1815. In 1866, it was replaced by the first lighthouse which stood there for about a hundred years. A new lighthouse was built in 1971, because the old one was only 14,5 metres in high, and a larger one was needed; the present tower rises to 31,7 metres. Today, the lighthouse not only signals the smallest part of the firth and its shallows, but also the entrance to the Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostee-Kanal) at Kiel-Holtenau.
And finally the afternoon sun reflecting on the Baltic Sea – photo taken during the ferry crossing from Klaipeda to Kiel.
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