With virus travel restrictions preventing summer holidays abroad, Lithuania's capital is offering a low-cost alternative by mimicking the look and feel of different countries at weekends. | Visitors check out the legendary Italian Vespa scooters and Italian Alfa Romeo cars at Town Hall Square in Lithuania.
Image Credit: AFP
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France, Japan and the US are among the more than half-a-dozen nations that Vilnius residents can get a taste of without leaving the Baltic city. | Italian Vespa scooters at Town Hall Square.
Image Credit: AFP
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Last weekend Italian music filled the Old Town, while local restaurants offered Mediterranean dishes as green, white and red flags fluttered nearby. | An Italian music group performs at Konstantinas Sirvydas Square in Lithuania.
Image Credit: AFP
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Aurelija Baniulaitiene, a Lithuanian civil servant who came with a friend to an open-air restaurant, said the southern European atmosphere helped her "leave the lockdown cocoon". | People sit in cafes during a tourism event to mimicking the Italian holiday experience in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Image Credit: AFP
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In the weeks to come, the theme will change to India, the United States, France, Spain, Germany and Japan. | People sit in cafes during a tourism event in Lithuania.
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A short walk away, in a former Jewish neighbourhood, jeans designer Milda Paukste used pieces of denim to stitch an outline of the Italian peninsula on a sheet laid out in the street.
Image Credit: AFP
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In the nearby Town Hall Square, hundreds of Lithuanians admired a collection of iconic Vespa scooters and Alfa Romeo cars.
Image Credit: AFP
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Visitors check out the legendary Italian Vespa scooters and Italian Alfa Romeo cars at Town Hall Square.
Image Credit: AFP
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Lithuania itself re-opened for tourists from most European countries earlier this month after containing the spread of the disease. | A woman wears a Venice carnival mask.
Image Credit: AFP
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Reported COVID-19 deaths stand at just 71, with case numbers at 1,720 in the eurozone nation of 2.8 million people. | Lithuania's capital is offering a low-cost alternative by mimicking the look and feel of different countries at weekends.
Image Credit: AFP
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Many European countries are beginning to re-open their borders but health concerns are hindering efforts to bring visitors back and the travel industry fears steep losses. | A woman wears a Venice carnival mask.
Image Credit: AFP
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Women dressed for the Venice carnival .
Image Credit: AFP
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People sit in cafes during a tourism event to mimicking the Italian holiday experience in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Image Credit: AFP
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In the capital's Bernardine Gardens, the entrance gate invited visitors to enjoy "An Italian holiday in Vilnius". Inside the park, a children's entertainer was disguised as the video game character Super Mario, an Italian plumber. "This is great for kids after the quarantine. A nice opening of the summer season," Justina Sapokiene said as her five-year-old daughter played with the character in his trademark red overalls and a blue shirt.
Image Credit: AFP
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