Today one headed to the Vilnius TV Tower. Now, an able bodied individual would have two walking options to reach this landmark, the easiest being through the lush green forests (Vingio Parkas) that seems to be of plenty in the city, the other one being to follow various dual carriageways. You can immediately guess which option one had to take…don’t be stupid, of course the forest walk isn’t going to be accessible! It is with this that we set off on our quest coincidentally straight through the financial district…
Like many European cities, as soon as you step out of the city centre, the pavements aren’t exactly smooth? It’s not all doom and gloom though in Vilnius, rather than having steep ramps to access underpasses, many have elevators down from street level akin to a metro station…
One of the reasons why a visit the TV Tower (bar it having an observation deck/restaurant) was important was due to its tragic role that it played in the opposition to the Soviet military seizure in 1991 where many were injured for which there is a museum in commemoration.
Disabled individuals can enter for a discounted price of 9 euros. However, it is worth noting that to enter said structure, its necessary to seek signs that show a wheelchair and a Lithuanian phone number. One presumed that you could phone that number if you required assistance, however, we chugged on our own. The reason for the phone number became apparent when the signs began directing us towards a flight of steps. Once inside, one was approached by a member of staff (who talked little English) basically telling us that there is in fact an accessible entrance around the back but fenced off (hence the phone number being displayed) which we got to experience when exiting the building.
The plan was also to visit the restaurant strangely named the ‘Milky Way’ which, unbeknown to one consists of a rotating dining area providing a 360 degree view of Vilnius as you eat (very cheap too!)…
One decided that the bus would be the best option to get back to the hotel afterwards. The majority of buses in Vilnius are low floor with a conventional pull out ramp (as 95% of the bus stops don’t have ‘humps’).
Tomorrow is the last full day in Vilnius before one catches the train down to Minsk on Sunday afternoon. On our short walk on Wednesday evening, we discovered that a footpath runs for miles along the River Neris out of the city (which isn’t too far anyway) so the plan is to roll along said path and see where we end up.