Norwegians and their stories from Kaunas

Photo: The old town of Kaunas.

“We are travelling guys – “Travel Boys”. Adventurers and bloggers of positive emotions. By travelling, exploring and enjoying unfamiliar countries, we create content on social media for our followers”, this is how two popular bloggers from Norway Martin Solhaugen and Kim Sorensen visiting Kaunas for the first time introduce themselves. Two best friends have created a channel on social networks. They travel around the world, telling their followers funny adventure stories and sharing their experiences. This time for their trip they chose not very well-known country – Lithuania, and even less known city – Kaunas. They say that in just two days they managed to get the vivid impression of Lithuanian culture which not only surprised them but also inspired to recommend this weekend trip to their friends and followers.

Weekend trips

“Our main channel is Instagram, we also use Youtube, where once a month we publish videos from our trips,” says Kim. “What are we broadcasting? The trips of two best friends, the coolest experiences and everything that’s in the word “friendship”.

The Backyard Gallery in Kaunas

During two years, the guys visited dozens of countries but so far, they devote only weekends for their trips, after which they hurry back to work: Kim works as a substitute teacher in elementary school, Martin has finished marketing and communication studies and works in the film industry.

“While I was studying public communication in Hawaii, I was interested in creating social media content. The more I dug deep into this, the more opportunities I saw. It’s even better that I managed to involve my best friend Kim in this travel communication activity. We started to publish our adventure stories and brought together tens of thousands of fans from all over the world: it turned out that people like it, they are open to our experiences and are willing to comment, share and engage in the stories we are telling,” says Martin.

The sign of Kaunas Basketball team “Žalgiris” near the biggest sport and events arena in the Baltics the “Žalgiris Arena

The latest stories are from Kaunas

“What kind of Lithuania have we imagined?” It is possible to say that we did not have any stereotypes about Lithuanians or especially about Kaunas. Just as we arrived, the first hotel employee we met told us: “Welcome to the country of the fastest Internet. Let me show you the best room in the world!” A great start and a wonderful introduction of your country!” the Norwegians smile, admitting that, indeed, the room was great and they could not complain about the Internet speed during their trip in Kaunas.

St. Michael the Archangel’s Church or the Garrison Church in Kaunas

The guys say that Kaunas surprised them not once during the first hours here. “I imagined that almost no one will speak English, that the country and the city will be less progressive. On the contrary: it turned out that almost every person we met spoke English very well and every step was filled with progressiveness, technologies and modernity,” Kim shares his impressions.

“Kaunas reminded me of the cosy and beautiful Slovak city Martin – and not just visually but also with its spirit, friendly people and the vibe that the city was spreading”, adds Martin.

Street art, the most prominent examples of modernist architecture, the special Baroque spirit in the Pažaislis monastery, gourmet dining in restaurants and bistros, nightlife of clubs, a men’s hairdressers they visited – this is how the intense Norwegian weekend in Kaunas looked like.

“What left the greatest impression? Examples of modern architecture – Central Post Office and Bank of Lithuania building, colourful street art. Oh, yes, and beautiful girls – it’s impossible not to notice them!” the Norwegians smile.

Bright mark on their experience map

According to the travellers, Norwegians usually choose Denmark, Sweden or mountains in their home country for weekend trips. Polish Krakow is usually chosen for entertainment, London is chosen for shopping, Iceland – for scenic adventures. “Now we could honestly say to our friends and followers that it is worth looking for new experiences here in Kaunas as well”, says Martin and Kim.

In our city the Norwegians stayed in “Hof Hotel”, they visited Kaunas State Philharmonic, Vytautas the Great War Museum, Yard Gallery. The guys were fascinated by Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery, the Garrison Church, Bank of Lithuania and Kaunas Central Post Office. They ate in restaurants “Višta Puode” (Chicken in a Bowl), “Monte Pacis”, “Hop Doc” and “Nüman”, spent their evening in the bar “Kamerinis” and had a haircut in the salon “Old Town Barbers”.

All the photographs used here belong to Martin Solhaugen and Kim Sørensen. Follow the Norwegians’ trips in Instagram:

@solhaugen
@kimsorens1 
@reisegutta 

VšĮ “Kaunas IN” invited Martin Solhaugen and Kim Sørensen to visit Kaunas