The Baltic Way. When you are next in Vilnius, around the famous White Cathedral, do not miss a footprint tile placed innocuously among the other tiles. It has a story behind it. As the sun was slowly but surely setting on the Soviet Union, more than two million people from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia came together at 7 pm on the 23rd of August 1989 to simply hold hands for 15 minutes. Stretching for over 675 km, this chain of human hands went all the way from Tallinn, through Riga, and Vilnius. While one would not ordinarily read too much into this, these were tumultuous times for Europe, and especially the Baltic States, which were then merely satellite states to their larger neighbor in the east. This simple act of holding hands which came to be known as the Baltic Way or the Baltic Chain eventually gave them the freedom they had lost exactly 50 years ago when the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed between Germany and the USSR. Today, the Baltic Way footprint tile in Vilnius, where the human chain began, serves as a reminder of this momentous event. _________________________________________ @nofixedaddrs #nofixedaddrs _________________________________________ Real is beautiful 🇱🇹 #realisbeautiful #welcometolithuania #beautifullithuania #govilnius #vilniusnow _________________________________________ ………. ……... …….. ……. …… ….. …. … .. . #startingpoint #longestunbrokenhumanchain #humanchain #freedom #independence #joininghands #vilniusoldtown #baltics #cathedralsquarevilnius #vilniuscathedral #stanneschurchvilnius #VilniusCityVibes #vilnius #lithuania #vilniuscity #vilniusgram #WalkableVilnius #vilniussecretplaces #hiddenvilnius #discovervilnius #visitvilnius #instavilnius #vilniusstreets #vilniusofficial (at Cathedral Square, Vilnius) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPxStRHMTA4/?utm_medium=tumblr
