Easter Weekend and Gruto Parkas

Uncle Len, Gruto Parkas
Alytus town centre





Had a great Easter Weeekend. Went to Gruto Parkas - an open-air museum dedicated to Communist Statues that once stood in Lithuania's towns and cities. Gruto Parkas is situated in the south - about a few km away from a spa town called Druskininkai. Some argue that this place rather controversial as it seems to glorify Lithuania's communist past. Despite what some people think, this is a representation of one of the most important periods of Lithuania's history.
Unlike Statue Park in Budapest, Gruto Parkas isn't just a display of different Communist heroes. It is a theme park with old posters of the revolution and has a number of different pieces from this period including a wagon used to expel Lithuanians to Siberia. It is said that over 360,000 Lithuanians were either killed or transported to Siberia under Stalin's rule.
As you walk around, you will hear communist propaganda music throughout the park. After one hour, it gets pretty annoying and tedious.
Anyway, I ended up missing the bus back, so I hitched to Druskininkai, only find that I couldn't get back to Vilnius. I ended up taking a bus to a place called Alytus. Alytus is a pretty dull but mad little town. There are no tourist attractions here - only grey buildings and pissed up youths with nothing better to do. Fortunately, I met some Lithuanians living in London, back in their home town for the holidays.
Am off to Sunny Lodz, Poland tomorrow. Will tell you all about that later.