Admittedly, before I booked this trip, I had absolutely no idea that vilnius was the capital of Lithuania and I didn’t know a great deal about the country. I felt quite ashamed that I hadn’t known about Vilnius before but I don’t think it is that common for a person to know every capital city in the world. This challenge felt meaty, booking a spontaneous trip to a city I had only just heard of. Bring it on, I thought.
I went to this city not having too much of a plan of what to do there and had decided to just see what we found along the way, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I felt I came away with quite a well formed view of the city; the people, their values, their way of life and their food.
Here, I have for you an account of some of the things I got up to in Vilnius and what I took away from it. Hopefully this can serve as a bit of a guide as to how you yourself could spend three days in Vilnius should you ever find yourself there.
Our first day in Vilnius began with a refreshing but cold Autumnal walk in the woods. Although fun, we were keen to see more of the city. So, after dusting off our cobwebs, on we ventured in search of the heart.
On our way, we passed the German Embassy which I was excited (a little too) to discover had one of the Berlin Bears proudly standing outside and I just had to get a geeky, tourist picture with it as I love these bears that are all over Berlin. They are just so bloody cute. I spent my 30th birthday in Berlin getting to know some of them.
On we marched and finally came to the main streets. Vilnius is a very old city and is actually a UNESCO world Heritage Site due to the age and preservation of it’s Medieval old town which is home to narrow, cobbled streets, old palaces and many, many churches. Many of the general buildings you pass are actually quite run down looking with paint peeling off and stone work worn down, clearly time and weather ravaged. Some are without roofs or purpose. Contrary to this though there are so many beautiful and captivating ones that really stand out and have obviously been looked after over the years – many of these are the churches which hold a place of privilege within the city.
There are 28 churches in Vilnius alone that are always open throughout the day and, as we soon discovered, regularly used by the extremely religious citizens. There was one church as we wandered by that caught my eye – not due to its incredible outer architecture as it wasn’t as stunning as some of the others – but with its Baroque features just above the old, rickety looking door and an accompanying sign out on the street that said a little bit about it’s history. We learned that it was the home of the oldest church organ and this led to us going inside as we hadn’t yet been inside any.
NB. This is very different in comparison to the UK which is where I am from – many of the churches are only visited on a Sunday and you can only visit some at specified times. Many are not even open during the day and it is generally not a common activity here to just spend time in a church.
Also, Vilnius is quite a small city so for there to be 28 churches in the capital city alone is quite telling of how important this part of the culture is to Lithuania. Apparently it is common for tourists visiting Lithuania to do tours of all the churches (church hopping?) which is something we didn’t realise before we went.
What we found became the actual highlight of the entire trip for me! Just wow. This church didn’t initially look as grand as some of the others but after going in around ten churches over the duration of our trip, this was definitely both of our favourites. Its eerie, dim entrance with hauntingly Gothic, age-worn paintings, contrasted by some of the most epic and intricate interior architecture I have ever seen and probably ever will see was breath-taking. I was utterly enchanted. Platform upon platform of perfectly sculpted chubby cherubs, beautifully golden framed paintings of The Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus, extravagant candelabras and macabre chandeliers, colours of pure white and rich gold, happily interspersed with baby pink walls and flecks of royal blue.
I didn’t take any photographs as there was a gentleman sat intently praying at the back of the room and I felt that whipping out my camera and snapping away would have disturbed the peaceful, earnest atmosphere so imagination is required here!
After exiting the church in an almost hypnotised state we realised we needed lunch, as you do, so we decided to try out a small and welcoming looking place just next to our hotel. The lady inside was very friendly and didn’t speak much English but we bumbled through (Lithuanian is haaaard) and ended up with a plate of Cepelinai (the national dish) and a large stein of beer each. We wouldn’t eat again till a snack late that night – this meal was ridiculously filling!!
It is a very basic idea, meat stuffed potatoes with meaty/herby sour cream sauce – very simple and common ingredients – but a dough is made out of the potatoes which creates a weighty meal, starchy and delicious. I got the strong impression that this meal had gotten many Lithuanian people through some very tough times over the years with it’s cheap, simple and satisfying nature.
We soon discovered that potatoes and sour cream feature very heavily in Lithuanian cuisine – by the end of the trip, we’d consumed so much potato and sour cream we vowed to NEVER consume carbs or dairy ever again … This was not to last long due to the fact I had snuck some substantial chunks of stodgy potato pie in a napkin home with me which I would happily eat two days later for breakfast with baked beans…so very British.
After lunch, with very full stomachs, we continued to navigate the winding, cobbled streets (be warned if you go, the footpaths are often very narrow leaving you with no choice but to hobble over the cobbled roads so as to let other people pass by! Little heels not recommended!) and came upon a small, darkened museum that claimed to be open on the door sign but was completely pitch black apart from a single candle in the window.
There was an unusual statue in the garden area that was free to look around and I was intrigued to see what might be inside. We opened the door and Lights, Camera, Action! The whole entrance way erupted with almost blinding light and a woman appeared as if from no where to welcome us. We decided to have a look around as it was only 3 EUR each.
It turned out to be a Culinary Heritage Museum, home to an impressive array of interesting pieces of art, culinary objects and information about the history of Lithuanian cuisine. I would definitely recommend popping in here for a quick and quirky activity. The building is very old and interesting inside and there is a treasure trove of objects. The owner was very curious; lurking in hallways and corridors at all times near to where we were as if preparing for us to find the obligatory padlocked door which claimed to contain ‘old museum artefacts’ but which clearly stored the bodies of ex-museum workers, long since ’embarked on pastures new…’
On we soldiered in search of the Cathedral with the view that it may present us with a main city square and what could be considered as ‘the true heart of the city.’ We weren’t disappointed. There stood a pure white cathedral in Neoclassical style; a selection of statues in alternate alignment with a row of dominant columns, formed a gateway for the entrance which was shrouded in a warm, golden glow to keep it inviting during the dark Winter evening.
Upon seeing the Bell Tower a few feet away from the cathedral, we decided to do something different and take a tour of it. It cost 4.50 EUR each and was brilliant albeit spooky and challenging. The stairs from the bottom to the very top (about 8 flights) are almost impossible to climb and I – someone that has no track record of being afraid of heights or having claustrophobia – was terrified! I would not recommend that children, very elderly people, claustrophobia, vertigo or acrophobia sufferers do this! The stairs are very rickety and irregular and I almost couldn’t get to the top or very far at all. I felt very insecure up there in the cold Bell Tower, deathly silent aside from the legendary bells that boldly chimed every 15 minutes and loomed over us like stern Victorian headmasters.
Reaching the top provides some great views of the city and is definitely worth it if you’re confident with old stairs and enclosed spaces. It was a dark landscape that we looked out upon due to it being night time but it was still fabulous with the city lights twinkling as far as the eye could see.
After a safe but unnerving descent, we exited the bell tower keen for some interior cathedral exploration. It was beautiful inside of course and very atmospheric due to an audio recording playing over and over with the haunting voice of a Lithuanian woman reciting a chanting prayer – her single voice a prelude to multiple voices subsequently chanting in unison – over and over whilst the locals sat or kneeled at the benches praying so earnestly and absorbedly.
It was like nothing I’d ever witnessed; very touching and I think it gives tourists the opportunity to have a good think about the country’s Soviet history and why the people are so actively religious and faith driven. Being a non-religious person myself but an intrigued visitor, there was certainly no room for judgement from me (not that there would ever be.) I did what I said in my former sentence and felt proud to have been a part of the experience. It was beautiful.
After a long day, we sought the comfort we needed back at the hotel, wholly ready to recharge our batteries.
The next day saw us head on a very cold trip out to Trakai castle and lake. It was the coldest day of our trip at -5 and every now and again a single flake of snow would drift through the air only to soon disappear like a tiny spirit trying to get a message to us. We spent most of the day here and discovered some very interesting things – check out my post on Trakai.
One quick thing I’ll add in here though that we discovered on our quest to use a bus for our day trip is how fantastic the bus services are here! For a start they are very cheap, especially compared to extortionate prices in the UK that just go up every few months amidst worsening services. Here, it cost us 1,80 EUR each for a 45 minute journey to Trakai which we thought was fantastic! We also discovered that you can get very affordable bus journeys to Belarus, Latvia and Poland from Vilnius so you can do some country hopping for very affordable prices which got my mind ticking for future trips!
The bus we ended up getting had actually just set off from the lay-by but when the driver noticed us looking to see if this was the bus to Trakai, he beeped his horn and gestured for us to quickly run across and hop on. Now, that WOULD NEVER happen in the UK – we were shell shocked!
Many of the buses that navigate Vilnius on a daily basis are electric. They are known as Trolleybuses and are attached to wires that circle around the city. So, even though the buses look like they’ve not been updated since the 1970’s, they are actually very ahead of their time as here in the UK, no such thing can be found and many of our buses were recently ‘modernised.’ Vilnius will have much cleaner air because of this and to me, it just makes perfect sense. Every capital city should do this! I really liked these electric buses and thought they looked really cool.
We soon returned to a once again dark Vilnius where we checked out the Literatų Street wall that is home to a unique collection of artwork pieces that are all dedicated to Lithuanian writers. It was a very quirky feature of the city and a fantastic homage to the creatively talented in Lithuania. I didn’t get many photographs as it was dark but here is an example of an interesting piece below and you can find out more about this street here.
These gardens are a great place from which to view the three crosses on the hill that tower over the city. You can travel up to them and that night, there were people up there. As we swapped to the zoom lens to take some close up shots of this monument, we used the lens as binoculars and could see large, looming shadows being cast all over the crosses and it’s immediate surroundings. The crosses are illuminated at night time and stand out dramatically if you get to a part of the city where you can see them. They are a very symbolic feature of Vilnius.
“La collina delle tre croci” by Imaginaryb0y is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
We also had a wander around the Bernardine Gardens which we would have liked to have seen in daylight but that had an endearing quality to them in the dark and something different to offer! The Merry-go-Round sure looked creepy. Now, there’s something very eerie about rides with no children on them…kind of like a scene from Are you Afraid of the Dark (totally showing my age there!)
We then found St Ann’s church which was right next to the gardens and is known as one of the most beautiful churches in Vilnius! It sure was beautiful and looked very Gothic, engulfed by the city darkness.
Again, my photos taken that night didn’t turn out all that well so imagination required!
Lastly, we decided to go and sample some more of the Lithuanian beer! We came upon a restaurant named Aline Leiciai that we had wanted to try, known for it’s traditional Lithuanian cuisine and apparently over 80 different beers all brewed at microbreweries in Lithuania. Now, I quite like beer but it just so turns out that my travel partner LOVES it and would like to try different beers from all parts of the world so this place had to be sampled. And it was an amazing place; it had really friendly and down to earth staff and the decor was very traditional and cosy with local art on the simple brick walls and role-play battles being played on the television. It didn’t feel particularly touristy so the experience felt quite authentic.
We were still quite full from our meal at Trakai so started off with a beer each that just so happened to be 8% in strength – this seemed only to set our taste buds a’tingling along with scouting out a plate of something very tempting looking on the table next to us. Twenty minutes later we were armed with a large sharing plate of Snacks for Beer as it was so aptly named. The savoury treats ranged from green coloured Lithuanian cheese (yum) to pickles (yum) to smoked pigs ears (yak.)
Over said snacks, our conversation ranged from meals and beer we had enjoyed and not enjoyed on previous trips; battles in European history and larping – subjects all inspired by the decor and theme. This was all interspersed with the waiter coming over and trying to ply us with more beer. It worked.
Just a quick note here – it is not obligatory to tip the waiters here like it is in some European countries. It is similar to the UK where it isn’t frowned upon if you don’t but is greatly appreciated if you do. Also, OMG the food and drink is so cheap! It was around 2,50 EUR for a glass of good, strong beer and a glass of wine when it would often be triple that in the UK. You can certainly eat and drink well here and not burn too much of a hole in your wallet. It is a perfect, cultured but cheap trip away in my opinion and very good for foodies.
We had a fantastic, memorable time at this restaurant and it was definitely a highlight of the trip. I would encourage you to go here should you ever find yourself in Vilnius.
Off we trotted to bed once again to recharge as we were now, in Smartphone terms, at 1% battery after a very long and active day.
We awoke on our final morning to an icing sugar city. A gentle yet quietly persistent flurry of snow had fallen during the night and faintly settled on the roof tops and statues. It was a few degrees warmer than the previous day but still very cold and the city looked Christmas card beautiful. It was very exciting to see it this way and it was what I imagined a Lithuanian postcard to look like. This part of the world is more associated with snow than with sunshine so we felt that our touristy weather expectations had been thoroughly satisfied.
We started the day by visiting the Frank Zappa Memorial statue. Yes, you heard me correctly. A man that had never even visited Lithuania or had any kind of association at all with the country has a memorial dedicated to him in a well meaning car park. It was great but really random! But, as you’ve maybe guessed by now, I LOVE random. Apparently, there is a rather rampant Frank Zappa fan club in Lithuania that erected the statue to represent new found freedoms after the Soviet-era had come to an end. Now, who better to represent that movement than Mr Zappa? Lithuanian’s done good.
Next, we visited the Gates of Dawn which is one of the main attractions to see in Vilnius. The gate is the last remaining of four gates that were erected to protect the city from enemies during times of war. We were humbled to encounter many Lithuanian people of all ages stop in their tracks as they walked past and turn to look up at the golden figure of Mary and perform the sign of the cross before turning back around and carrying on about their day.
This part of the city is very significant to the Lithuanian people and I can imagine they feel very protective over it. It was really lovely to behold but sobering, as again, it hit home to me the importance that faith holds in these people. Whether it is to be agreed with or not, it has been a major part of getting them through tough times. What Lithuania has had to endure has never and will never be forgotten; an ongoing struggle between a sense of major pride, strong nationhood and the actualisation and semblance of any kind of autonomy. Formerly under a strict Soviet regime from roughly 1941 to 1990, the Lithuanian people were forced to carry on living in a society very different to the one they had previously known and enjoyed.
Many of their adored buildings; churches and the Cathedral, once National Treasures, were invaded and turned into warehouses and storage facilities. During their earlier occupation by the Russian Empire (1865-1904), their national language was banned along with books written in Lithuanian – forbidden. During the Second World War, much of the countryside was destroyed and almost all of the large Jewish community were cast from their homes and destroyed which has of course affected the country greatly today and around only 2,000 Jews inhabit Vilnius now. There is only one remaining Synagogue in Vilnius today where before there were more than 110.
This leads me to the existence of the Microstate within Vilnius, Užupis; a bohemian neighbourhood bursting at the seams with art and buzzing with character. It was originally inhabited by much of the Jewish population but after the Holocaust stripped the neighbourhood of all that it once was, the most poor and destitute of society took comfort in the abandoned houses and ever since, Užupis has thrived as a place for artists and bohemians to take refuge, even declaring itself as a republic in its own right and boasting its own flag, President and currency.
More on this in a future post.
We were tired from walking with it being the last of a bundle of busy and active days and we had our flight that same night so we ended up whiling away the next couple of hours in another traditional Lithuanian restaurant which again, I would highly recommend. They happen to be a chain restaurant that have branches in Peterborough and London.
We had a very friendly, attentive waiter who served my travel partner glasses of warm mead and myself juice of peach, along with complimentary lemon and mint water (I was all alcohol-ed out!) After enjoying our drinks we had become tempted by the menu and the delicious smells drifting over from the other tables so we decided to get a meal to see us through our late journey back to England.
My TP had Sauerkraut soup with jacket potatoes and I had Lithuanian spicy pork stew served with pickled cucumbers and potato wedges (no less.) Both meals were healthily doused with sour cream (of course) and were again, incredibly filling. We loved the ambience of this restaurant, trays of yellow flowers lining the windows and fairy lights clad pine decorations down the middle. The waiting staff were all dressed in Lithuanian traditional clothing which added to a tourist feel but in a good way I felt.
Our final shout in Vilnius was to go visit and have photographs taken with the much expected giant Tony Soprano statue that stands on one of the train station platforms. I mean, of course this was going to be there; what city doesn’t have or need one of these? It really was big as you can see from the photograph below and was the perfect end to a very curious trip.
Henceforth, on we travelled back to the North of England with it at the forefronts of our minds that the next time we would visit this region of the world would most probably be Russia. I will be very excited when that day comes.
Practical Information
I booked my flight through Skyscanner which is my go to for cheap flights all year round and to a range of places! Our hotel was through booking.com which is a great budget site for accommodation.
Have you been to Lithuania?
