With Motorcycle to NORDKAPP-Norway
Day-5 : 08 July 2016  Friday
from Warshaw>>>to Vilnius (Lithuania) :-Total distance : 460 km

Warshaw is a big city. Someone needs minimum two or three days to get an idea about the city. As a side information. Warshaw airport is called "Chopin Airport". Sounds good. 

Doesn 't it. But I need to depart. I have taken my breakfast at the Hotel Karat. Today 's route is from Warshaw to Vilnius which is the capital of Lithuania. The weather is good. There is no.rain. I started to ride . The street, in front of the Hotel took me to the right and then I made a U-turn. In order to reach to the high way in direction to Vilnius I rode 10-15 kms. I headed Marki, Radzymin, Wyszkow, Lomza, Grajewo, Augustow Kanal and the border to Lithuania Ogrodniki. The road is offering nice view at both sides. Tall trees and forests are esential vegetation in the surrounding. There are also a lot of fields of wheat and corn. 

Café at the Augustow Lakes

When I saw a nice café at the right hand side just after the kanal -which is called "Augustow kanal"- I stopped for a coffee break. I took some pictures there. There are two lakes close to each other. Since the water level is different they had built a kind of dam with water locking system. One guy is regulating the passage of the boats from one side to the other side via a water locking mechanism. Manually-driven gates are regulating the water level at both sides.

Augustow Kanal

I continued to ride in direction to Alytus which is a Lithuanian city on the way to Vilnius. The roads are straight and paved well. Riding is easy. In some populated areas there are speed cameras. Drivers and riders must be careful. Finally I reached to my Hotel Europa City. It is just at the side of the main road and has only 400-500 meters distance to downtown. The hotel is for less then 50.-Euro incl. breakfast. Nice hotel with a free parking lot in front of it. 

After having a shower and resting a bit in the room I talked to my friend Nurhan from Istanbul and we decided to meet somewhere in the city. Occasionally he and his wife Claudia were also in Vilnius.

After walking on the main road (Gedimino Str.)for half an hour I found them in the traditional chocolate shop. On the way to the centre at the right hand side there is KGB Museum Building.

KGB Museum Building with the names of the murdered people during WW-2.

During the WW-2, Vilnius had been invaded by the Nazi Army. A lot of jewish people had been executed in this city in a very short time. 

Gedimino Street

Taken from Wikipedia :

Vilnius (Lithuanian pronunciation: [ˈvʲɪlʲnʲʊs] ( listen); Polish: Wilno, see also other names) is the capital of Lithuania and its largest city, with a population of 542,664 as of 2015.^[1] Vilnius is located in the southeast part of Lithuania and is the Polish city. Vilnius is the seat of the main government institutions of Lithuania as well as of the Vilnius District Municipality. Vilnius is classified as a Gamma global city according to GaWC studies, and is known for the architecture in its Old Town, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. Its Jewish influence until the 20th century has led to it being described as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania" andNapoleon named it "the Jerusalem of the North" as he was passing through in 1812. In 2009, Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture, together with the Austrian city of Linz.

Gedimino Street

Famous Chocolate Shop and Café at the Pilies Street

Resim Cathedral

Cathedral Square 

There are a lot of fine restaurants in the city. Nurhan, his wife Claudia and me sat in a resataurant and had our dinner.

Gates of Dawn

Pilies Street

Cathedral Square