Šalčininkai In September 2014 I made my second border-trip to the BY-LT border. I had one afternoon after arriving on the airport of Vilnius. My preaparation was better than for the first visit: Jan Krogh gave me some excellent advises that made it likley to get the permission to visit the border area and the border poles on the Lithuanian side. With my rental car I went to the borderguard office in Tribonys one kilometer from the Šalčininkai border crossing. The people in the office were very friendly and polite when I told them the reason of my visit. One of the chief-guards spoke very well English and he was glad he could practice it by talking with me! He told me that it had been better when I had announced my visit before to the headoffice in Vlinius. Anyway, he made some phonecalls and after checking me of Facebook and after I told that Mr. Krogh was a friend of mine, a guided visit was arranged quickley. I had to indicate which areas I wanted to see and then a friendly (but not English speaking) border guard joined me. We took my car and first visited 617-626 at Sakaliné and then 590-590 just under Milvydai. Then it was four 'o clock and the border guard wanted to go back to the office. Bordermarkers 585-586 and 654-658 I did alone, the road is there very close to the border and there is no protected zone.

	Old ending road The old road from Šalčininkai to Belarus ends here. I guess in the earlier day it lead to the border crossing but now they constructed a new road (E85) with a big custom area to handle the treight traffic, they closed it. Going right here, as the signs says, you enter a small and very bad road leading to the E85 and the border crossing.
	Poles 585 The old road from Šalčininkai to Belarus comes very close to the border here. Too little space for a protected area. That makes it easy to take a picture of this pair. This pair is close to the new big border crossing "Šalčininkai", I guess the 584 and 583 are close to the new border crossing, but I couldn't go there.
	Poles 585 with fence No protected area doesn't mean the border is unprotected! A high fences with serious barbed wire. Very unattractive for illegal border crossing. Go with the mouse over the picture for a photo of a detail of the barbed wire.
	Poles 586 This pair is along the same road leading to the village of Šalčininkai, but here the border makes an angle and disappears from the road. Here the yellow signs appear, so it was not allowed to follow the border from here. The border guard who joined me in the afternoon forbid me to go there alone as well.
	Poles 586 A better look at the angle and the area: At the right is the road, in the middle is a shed for the border guards. From the middle to the left the fence and the border. And of course the yellow signs warning for the 'Apsaugos zona'.
	Train at rail border Šalčininkai After visiting 585-586 I went back in the direction of the border guard office in Tribonys. I stopped at the railway crossing, about 850 meter from the point where the tracks pass the border. Here again yellow signs so I couldn't approach the border any closer. But with my 300 mm lens, I could make some pictures. This picture gives a nice impression: The track, the small bridge over the little creek Šalčia which is the border here and on the left and on the right a pair of bordermarkers. Unfortunately I don't know the numbers yet. Then on the right a big sign with Беларусь (Belarus). ... and on the background (another 1700 meters further!), a train holding in Bieniakoni (Беняконi) in Bеlarus! The yellow construction above the tracks is made for the inspection of border passing trains.
	Train at rail border Šalčininkai I was lucky, the train left the station and passed the border. It seemed to be a freight train. Once, I found a very nice picture on the Pasienis website of this border crossing, with the border poles and some border guards. Unfortunately I didn't save the picture and now I cannot find it anymore. Next page, -border poles 590 - 595 >>

585 - 586

590 - 595

617 - 626

654 - 658