"Kaunas: the backwater" a Kaunas Travel Page by sigthor_egle

If you are touristy tourist visiting Lithuania, you will probably come to Kaunas from Vilnius.. and get disappointed. It's not so shiny, welcoming or cosy town, it's not something you would not visit twice unless you had some business or love left here.

Kaunas actually has remarkable history: it has been Hansa trading town, Napoleon's army once got stuck here for a day or two, and Kaunas even had been the temporary capital of Lithuania since 1919 till 1940.

Due to historical circumstances, Kaunas once was a capital of Lithuania. The government then sent talented young people to study abroad so they could build up in newest technological ways. It is believed that Freedom Avenue, which is considered to be heart pedestrian street of Kaunas, was formed around that time. Green streets around Freedom Avenue used to be embassies of various countries and most of those houses built then were inspired by modernist ideas.
... and Kaunas seems to be stuck in that time, except for few new shopping malls, changes in facades, it's as it used to be in 1990.

According to wikipedia, there are not so many towns in this World that are built on confluence of two rivers. It's Pittsburgh, Kuala Lumpur, Belgrade, Rovaniemi, Winipeg and Kaunas. Nature forms and says for the people how to build the town. The downtown is located very close to confluence of two biggest rivers in Lithuania: Nemunas & Neris.