3 hours of Soviet Kaunas. The ultimate tour explaining the life in Lithuanian cities under Soviet occupation, ranging from sad absurdity to honorable resistance
Price: Only 149 Euro! (for the whole group)
The tour is personal. There would be no additional people in the group except for you and your family/friends. The tour may begin at any convenient time.
Order at tour.baltic@gmail.com
This tour will explain how an average person of Kaunas lived under the Soviet occupation.
Kaunas Soviet tour includes
• The last remaining downtown cafeteria with a Soviet interior and ambiance.
• A Baroque church turned by the Soviets into a cinema for propaganda films undergoing a slow conversion back into the church.
• The location where Romas Kalanta self-immolated against the Soviet regime, triggering protests in Kaunas.
• The place of Lenin memorial with surviving bas-reliefs.
• The key buildings of Soviet Kaunas, including the former communist party local offices.
• Soviet factories, entertainment buildings, and apartment buildings.
• A Soviet hotel that has been abandoned after independence.
• And more…
Optional:
• The regular Kaunas Soviet Tour is a walking tour in Kaunas downtown. A part of the Soviet Kaunas tour may be done using a car. In this case, you would additionally visit sights away from the downtown:
-An authentic underground printing house for the illegal patriotic and religious press, built by local anti-Soviet dissidents under their own greenhouse at a great risk.
-A typical Soviet “dormitory district” where the majority of Kaunas people still live at.
-Soviet factory district where most people of Soviet Kaunas worked at.
-A monument to a girl who was killed by Soviet soldiers for resisting rape.
-A Soviet-destroyed cemetery turned into a park.
The price of the car tour is 129 euro (for up to 3 people).
• After your tour ends, the guide may ensure that you reach a Soviet-related museum using the most common mode of transport of Soviet Kaunas. The ticket prices are not included in the tour price but the guide would arrange a reservation where such arrangements are needed. The possible museums are:
-“Atomic bunker” (a Soviet nuclear shelter full of Cold War material such as gas masks and KGB spy devices).
-IX fort (a museum on Soviet and Nazi genocides).
We also offer tailor-made tours: if you want to see different sights, just tell us.
A church that was converted by the Soviets into a cinema
What will you learn…
• How and where did the average resident of Soviet Kaunas live? What were the maximum apartment sizes and how the low construction quality of Soviet homes influenced life?
• How advanced was the corruption in the Soviet Union?
• How few restaurants, shops and other consumer institutions there were in Soviet Kaunas, compared to today. And how long one had to queue to be able to use them.
• How many factories actually produced, and what that meant for their workers.
• How the people were forced to spy on each other.
• How the unique economic system where the relationships were more important than money actually functioned.
• How much was each Kaunas resident forced to participate in various propaganda parades and declarations?
• How did Kaunas residents resist the Soviet occupation, sometimes sacrificing their lives for that?
• What were the relations between Lithuanians and Russians in Soviet Kaunas and how Kaunas fared better than all the other major Baltic cities in terms of ethnic composition?
• What was the importance of Kaunas basketball team for Lithuanian morale during the occupation?
• And more…
The tour starts at the Municipality square or, should you wish so, at any other convenient location in the Downtown Kaunas, such as your hotel.
The tour is available in English, Lithuanian and Russian
Order this tour at tour.baltic@gmail.com
