town squares

This Estonian Town Hall Square has been a marketplace since the middle ages.  It looks like it might just be setting up, or closing down, in this image.  The building on the far left is the town hall and on top of the spire is a weather vane that has been there since 1530.

Below is another town square, this time in Lithuania.  Kaunas is the second largest city in that country and was a temporary capital during the interwar period.  The building in the centre is the town hall. The rivers are the Nemunis and Neris.

and, to round out the Baltic states,  Riga. With another public square in the middle left.  The buildings of the Town Hall Square were all rebuilt as everything was destroyed during WWII.

Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia with northern European cities for Thursday Postcard Hunt

streets

this street, while old and quaint, looks like a massive tripping hazard

artist: Alex Tsuper, received from Ukraine

this ethereal street in Vilnius is rather enchanting, I think

artist: Sigute Ach, received from Lithuania

octagonal

Ventes Rago lighthouse
stamp features the statistics you need to know: location, including co-ordinates
built in 1863, 11 metres tall with a light that can be seen for 3.5 kms
the lighthouse is no longer in use, but it is open to visitors.

another octagonal brick lighthouse on the Curonian Spit is the 18 metre tall Uostadvaris built in 1876. it has been deactivated since 1986.

for Sunday Stamps - lighthouses (or windmills)

cathedral and bell tower

The Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Ladislaus, built in the centre of Vilnius, consecrated in 1793.

Sunday Stamps - L

 

2004, Lithuania, Forest Fauna 

designer: A Ratkeviciene 

This is also known as an eagle-owl. He is a little smaller than a bald eagle and bigger than a snowy owl.  It has a wide range across much or Europe and Asia, but is also fairly sedentary in that they rarely travel out of their own territory.

for the letter L - Lithuania/Lietuva

Sunday Stamps - 'S'

2012, Lithuania, World Heritage Objects, Curonian Spit

The Kursiu Nerija, or Curonian Spit, has the largest rolling sand dunes in Europe.  It is 98 km long and  varies from 400 metres to 4 kms wide with the Curonian Lagoon on east side and the Baltic Sea on the west.  It has been a UNESCO Heritage Site since 2000 shared by Lithuania and Russia.

for the letter S - sand dunes, spit

Welcome on reaching Easter

received 2015

(does anyone have a better translation?)