Vilnius, Lithuania

Vilnius, capital city of Lithuania was added to our travel bucket list on the basis that the Old Town is UNESCO Heritage listed; and the city is also located a short bus ride away from Riga, Latvia (see previous blog post).
As our total time in town was on the short-side of 30 hours, we had an 'express' insight into the local culture.
To sum things up, the city offered pretty architecture, tall citizens (who are obsessed with basketball); and a tasty cuisine of stews and dumplings. In addition, the quirky and artistic Republic of Uzupis (declared independent on April Fools Day 1997) showed us the humorous side of this Baltic city.

Arrival in Vilnius
After a few hours on the Eurolines bus from Riga, we crossed the border into Lithuania. A further hour or so later, our arrival at the Vilnius bus terminal (outside of the Old Town) triggered the feeling of 'where are we?' Luckily, Olie got Google Maps sorted quickly and our destination was in walking distance and no need to take a taxi. Note to future travelers - there is a mine-field of advice on the Internet about catching taxi cabs in Baltic cities as a tourist. We did some research via Tripadvisor before the trip, shortlisting some English speaking firms that we could call in case we found ourselves lost. Hailing a cab from the street is not advisable but this could apply to many cities around the world where you are likely to pay a higher than normal fee due to a 'meter' that suddenly doesn't work the moment you step into the car.

Gate of Dawn
Entry into the Old Town was via the Gate of Dawn - the only surviving gate from the medieval city fortifications and one of the city's most important monuments.

Gate of Dawn

The Gate houses a chapel that contains an icon of The Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Mercy. This religious symbol is very important to the locals as almost everyone passing through the gate turned back to face the icon and made a sign of the cross.

The chapel housing the icon

Europa Royale Vilnius Hotel
Our hotel was selected based on location - near the entrance to the Old Town and on a street that joined onto Pilies Street - full of restaurants and shops.

Old Town Architecture
The churches in the Old Town provided some interesting architecture that we enjoyed viewing.

Church of St Teresa

Church of the Holy Trinity

Church of St Casimir

Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas

A street market sold paintings, home-made souvenirs and clothing. As temperatures in October were in single digits, there was a temptation to buy mittens and a hat to keep out the cold.

Cathedral Square

The central point where main streets in the city cross: Cathedral Square is home to Vilnius Cathedral and the Bell Tower, which according to local legend is the original site of a pagan temple.

Cathedral Square

Front of the Cathedral

Also located in the square is the monument to Lithuanian ruler during medieval times: Gediminas.  

Gediminas Monument during the day

Front of the monument at night

Pilies Street
As evening settled in, the search for somewhere to eat dinner kicked off. The easiest choice was along Pilies Street, already full of tourists and locals with the same idea in mind.

Hanging out in Pilies Street

Aula Restaurant

Known for their Lithuanian food and beer, we agreed with one TripAdvisor reviewer's comment that eating there was akin to a pub crossed with an old library. Book shelves decorated the walls of the dining room - perfect for solo travelers looking to pass the time whilst waiting for food to be served.

Inside the dining room at Aula

As we had no previous experience of drinking Lithuanian beer, we selected the 'beer sampler' that contained five varieties of different strengths and tastes.

The beverages complemented the carb-rich foods that shared similarities with other eastern European cuisines (Polish, Russian). Olie tried the beetroot soup for starters, whilst Mei tackled a mushroom broth served in a heavy bread roll.

The main courses consisted of meat filled dumplings. Olie's reminded us of soft pillows shaped like tortellini smothered in a cream sauce. Mei's were nicknamed 'zeppelins' after the airship - solid potato pastry dumplings with meat in the center that were so gluey on the gut, it was difficult to eat more than one.

Meat filled dumplings

A pair of very filling zeppelins

Gediminas Avenue is a long shopping boulevard that stretches from Cathedral Square to the westernly bend of the Neris River. On a Saturday night, it was full of people enjoying a night out in town and a great place to walk off the effects of a heavy dinner.

Gediminas Avenue

Walking Tour

The tourist information center had an advertisement for a walking tour where you pay a 'donation' instead of a set fee. The meeting point was outside the Town Hall and our group ended up having close to twenty interested tourists.

Town Hall Square

Walking tours are a great way to understand the city and it's culture from a local's perspective. The guides also provided anecdotal accounts of when other world leaders visited the city - such as American President, George W Bush. As the story was told, the president arrived to unveil a plaque to commemorate closer relations between the USA and Lithuania. At the time, the citizens of Vilnius felt happy that they were chosen to share this relationship with a world super-power. Only to be disappointed when it was discovered that identical speeches were given to a number of ex-Soviet states in Eastern Europe.

The plaque symbolizing the close relationship between USA and Lithuania

Vilnius was once home to the Great Synagogue of Vilna, built in 1600's and so grand that Napoleon nicknamed the city as the 'Jerusalem of the North'. Sadly this building was destroyed by the Germans in World War II and the Soviet troops shortly afterwards.

A block away from that site, we toured the exterior of St Nicholas church where brick work has been marked by fingerprints, thought to be a form of 'mason's marks' that are left by the trades-person as a calling card that they have performed the work required for payment.

Fingerprints in the brickwork

As we made our way towards the river, we passed examples of neo-classical architecture and a bronze statue of Doctor Tsemach Shabad who performed a number of social activities on behalf of the community, represented by a girl with her sick cat.

Republic of Uzupis

There are instances around the world where individual(s) have become disillusioned with the current government or political party and decided to form an 'independent republic'. This 'territory' is rarely acknowledged other than by the local tourist board where crowds are drawn in by either the eccentricity of the rulers (re: Principality of Hutt River, Western Australia) or by the artistic community that resides there. 

Uzupis falls into the latter category and has made itself famous for having a constitution, a flag, an army, a president and a way of life that promotes the individual's right to be whatever they want to (Article 5- Man has the right to individuality) or whatever they are (Article 12- A dog has the right to be a dog). The constitution has been translated into fifteen different languages on metal plaques against a wall.

Symbol of Uzupis

Constitution - in 15 different languages

Uzupis is accessible from Vilnius by crossing a bridge that is decorated by locks. The 'territory' is decorated by artistic monuments, with all buildings surrounding the main square with a statue of the archangel Gabriel.

Bridge into the Uzupis

Bridge covered by locks

A table and chairs on the roof

The main square

Cathedral of the Theotokos
After leaving Uzupis, our walking tour passed the following sites per the photos below - an Orthodox Cathedral, a pretty decorated tree, and the Roman Catholic St Anne's Church. According to local legend, Napoleon was so impressed with the St Anne's Church that he wanted to ship it back to Paris on the palm of his hand.

Literatu Street (Street of Writers)

Another famous attraction of Vilnius is the Street of Writers - a narrow laneway that is lined with many artworks dedicated to writers that have a connection to Lithuania. Our guide pointed out some famous items, however holistically they were all unique and beautiful.

Forto Dvaras

After a couple of hours walking, we finished the tour and headed back to Pilies Street for lunch, at the folk-themed restaurant, Forto Dvaras. Serving a traditional cuisine, we ordered beer and filled ourselves up with more dumplings and thick stews.

Vilnius University
To stop us from wanting to curl up into balls and go to sleep (due to the carb overload) we walked down some side streets and entered the University area. On a weekend, the atmosphere was quiet on campus, although the architecture was pretty in a similar way to the rest of the Old Town.

Vilnius Castle Complex

Behind Cathedral Square, a large hill contains the remains of the Vilnius Upper Castle - a nice site that we recommend climbing up for views over the Old Town and parks, particularly in autumn when the leaves were changing colour. The buildings in the castle complex were damaged during the World Wars; however the castle is still used in the traditional January 1 Flag Day celebrations.

Ruins of castle buildings

View from the castle 1

View from the Castle 2

From the top of the hill, we watched the sun make its path towards the horizon and trees began to glow in their autumn colours. The neighbouring hill was home to the Three Crosses - a modern structure commemorating three wooden crosses that were (according to legend) placed there during the 1300's.

View of the parkland next door

Site of the Three Crosses

Our last stop before we caught a taxi to the airport was at a cafe near our hotel. We sat by the window, enjoyed a cheese plate, spent our remaining lita currency and just watched the citizens of Vilnius going about their Sunday afternoon.

Cheese plate for afternoon tea

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