Traveling Rockhopper

Lithuania is a member of the European Union, Schengen Agreement, NATO, and a member of the Eurozone (check coins where you’re in Lithuania).

Today, a short historical information.
Maybe, I write about it, because I’m Polish; well, the reason good like any other. 😉
For over 200 years, Lithuania and Poland were very close as a two-state union called the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

There are many storks in Poland, thus I chose for today’s post, a picture with a stork (taken in Lithuania). 🙂

Lithuanian is the official language in Lithuania. I believe many people still understand Russian and Polish; as well as English (among the younger generation).

I speak Polish and didn’t have so many problems understating people in Lithuania; some of them were even speaking perfect Polish.
But for example, in Latvia, I didn’t understand anything.

Lithuania is one of the three Baltic states (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania).
So, Lithuania is located by the Baltic Sea, in this way it’s also bordered by Sweden and Denmark.

Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a small country in East-Northern Europe.
Lithuania is bordered by Belarus, Latvia, Poland, and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast.

Welcome to Lithuania! 🙂
This April is going to be all about this small European country.

Have you been to Lithuania?
I’ll try to convince you this month, that Lithuania is worth visiting. 🙂

And today, the Japanese series on my blog ends.
I hope you like posts from March and maybe I even surprised you with some Japanese facts. 🙂
This time, I basically didn’t mention Tokyo. I showed you some pictures from Tokyo, but there was no post strictly about the Japanese capital. One day, in future, you’ll read here about Tokyo. 🙂

Tomorrow, we’re starting a new monthly series about…
Stay tuned! 🙂

Sumo is a national Japanese sport. However, a sumo wrestler doesn’t look like a typical Japanese person… 😉

When I was in Tokyo, I wanted to visit a sumo stadium and museum. Unfortunately they were closed. Well, it was still interesting to walk along nearby streets and find so many “sumo statutes” (like the one from today’s picture).

(The other famous Japanese sports are of course judo and karate.)

Sushi is probably the most popular Japanese meal, however it doesn’t mean that Japanese people eat it everyday.
The way it looks like, is other common misunderstanding about sushi. Sushi, it’s not only sashimi nor “maki”. Sushi, in total, consists of variety ingredients, e.g., cooked vinegared rice, seafood, seaweed, vegetables, meat, fruits, etc. Sushi is often served with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce.

While being in Japan, definitely try sushi as well as other traditional Japanese foods!
Enjoy not only the taste; the way it’s served is usually very interesting. 🙂

If you’re planning to spend some time in Tokyo, try to also visit nearby places.
Kamakura is a nice, small, coastal city, located about 50 km from Tokyo.

Kamakura is a popular tourist destination.
You’ll find here many temples, shrines and historical monuments together with the large bronze Buddha statue presented on today’s picture (it’s possible to go inside the statue!).

Japan consists of almost 7,000 islands, so it has to have a very long coastline. Actually, Japan is within the first 10th countries with the longest coastline!

Unfortunately, the Japanese islands are located in a volcanic zone on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire. Because of that, earthquakes or tsunami are not unusual here…

Have you ever heard about Kabuki?

When I was planning my trip to Japan, I wanted to experience something typical Japanese. So, watching kabuki performance was on my list.

Kabuki is a classical Japanese dance-drama.
To watch it, I visited a theater in Tokyo. It was very interesting and colorful.
What surprised me the most, people weren’t elegant, and during the intermission, they’re eating meals while sitting inside the theater!

Today, I’m showing you a bit dark view of the beautiful Nagoya Castle.
I think, it’s the most interesting place in this city.
In general, I like a lot Japanese castles, they are very unique buildings!

Inuyama, another Japanese city with very old wooden castle.
Here, you’ll also find a tunnel of red torii gates (in Sanko Inari Shrine). My favorite “torii path” is the one from Kyoto, but this from Inuyama is also nice.

Nara is a beautiful city with very old temples. Definitely, you can spend there busy days visiting all sites.

In Nara, you’ll also meet many deer. They can be cute as well as aggressive (I couldn’t resist with this photo 😉 ).
Deer can be also quite persistent to get some food, so play with them on your own risk. 😉

Kokeshi, it’s a name of the Japanese dolls (a few examples presented in today’s picture).

Kokeshi are simple dolls without legs or arms, handmade from wood, with painted faces and patterns on their clothes.

If you want to have a nice souvenir from Japan – buy Kokeshi doll. 🙂

Matcha is fine powder green tea.
To prepare this tea correctly, you need a special whisk, spoon and bowl.

While being in Kyoto, you have to try matcha tea. But not only tea! Variety of desserts are flavored with matcha. I love green tea (matcha) ice cream. 🙂

I found in Kyoto many interesting places so I could easily prepare a full month in my blog about Kyoto. Maybe one day…

Today, I want to show you a very unique Shinto shrine from Kyoto, called Fushimi Inari Taisha. It’s famous for thousands torii gates. The path between two buildings of the shrine is covered with these red torii gates. It’s a lovely hike (takes about 2-3 hours to walk), however, for the next few days, I could see only torii gates when I closed my eyes. 😉

If someone asks me what’s the most beautiful city in Japan – my answer is Kyoto. 🙂

Kyoto is a lovely city with many temples, shrines, other nice buildings, etc. Just everything makes it so special!

Kyoto was so charming for me also from one more reason – I was visiting Japan in winter and Kyoto was covered with a tiny layer of snow. It looked like from a fairy tale; I have to admit it was a bit muddy and slippery, but still delightful! 🙂

There are two main religions in Japan (Shinto and Buddhism) that coexist together and complement each other.

Buddhism was introduced in Japan in the 6th century, but Shinto is the indigenous faith of the Japanese people. At the beginning, there were many conflicts between both religions. These days, it doesn’t seem to be a problem any longer; what’s more, some ceremonies (e.g., weddings) are often held in Shinto style, the others (e.g., funerals) in Buddhist style.

Apparently, Shinto is more popular in Japan. However, it looks to me like Shinto and Buddhism are “mixed” and people don’t really follow any of these two religious, but rather “follow the traditions”.