Vilnius & another Vilnius

I’ve been living in the capital of Lithuania for over 10 years. This is one of my favourite cities. It has great creative scene, beautiful architecture, lots of green spaces.

I like walking to work on foot. It usually takes me 45 minutes to get there, a bit more if I’m looking for inspiration or stop to take some pictures. I have few favourite routes that I usually take. But this October was a lot different — I challenged myself to pick a different route everyday.

At first, it was just for fun. I took streets i knew, just mixing it up a bit — cross another bridge, walk on another side of the road, stuff like that.

Later, it became a challenge — I ran out of simple ways to get to work. I had to cross river not one, but few times, I had to climb up the mountains, sometimes i had to go back to get to some street.

During last week and a half it became sort of obsession— I was forced by this idea to find completely new, different roads, walk long distances away from usual routes, see Vilnius in a completely different way. I even got lost few times.

A bit of history: Few years ago, I visited Beijing with my parents. What I found most fascinating was not the size, beauty or the people of this city. It was the contrasts. You can walk in the Hutongs, where poor people live in small houses, and see a shining new Opera building at the end of the road. This combination was the most memorable thing for me.

So, during this project I’ve realised, that Vilnius has as many contrasts! These old houses and dusty roads might not be here for long, But I had a lot of fun documenting this.

P.S. I’ve decided to repeat this project once again, this April. So, starting tomorrow, I’ll be walking new streets and old streets of Vilnius again, looking for new interesting routes.