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Published: August 6th 2016
Day 195 Sunday 31st July 2016 – Riga to Vilnius Light streaming through our window at 5 in the morning had us a wake but we didn’t crawl out of bed till 7.30. Had asked the front desk last night when would the kitchen be opened for breakfast and she told us 8, so we headed down right on 8 to be confronted by the whole place packed to the gills with a tour group who had obviously got the jump on us by at least 30 minutes. Shelley was well and truly annoyed when there were no cups left for her cup of tea and the staff refused to help her. It was bad enough that she had to buy her own teabags for breakfast but now it looked like she needed to buy her own cup as well.
We were both happy to be booking out with “Shelzilla” just about ready to destroy all in her path to get out the door. Taxi to the bus station for 6 Euros and then waiting for our bus. At 10.35 we were underway through the beautiful flat lush green Baltic countryside. Travelling with
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Dalia Grybauskaitė giving a speechLux Express again so while I read and listened to music Shelley got to indulge in her Vin Diesel Fast and Furious fixation. Got to Vilnius at 3 and to our surprise couldn’t find a taxi, and had to wander around a bit till we spotted one dropping off a passenger and negotiated a fee of 5 Euros to get us to the hotel. As we drove out we spotted a taxi rank with a huge line up of people so I was glad I spotted the guy.
Our hotel is in the burbs and is nice but very small room. Dropped off our bags and went looking for somewhere to eat and soon discovered that most choices around our area are Chinese (Shelley’s favourite), but thankfully before Shelzilla made another appearance we found a swish looking Restaurant that had lots of good options. The meal was great and with drinks only came to 18 Euros so we will be back. It had been a bit of an early dinner but that suited us as we wanted an early night so we can hit the town tomorrow.
Day 196 Monday Trakai
The castle from across the lake 1
st August 2016 – Vilnius
Woke up with the sky clouded over but I (Scott) assured Shelley that there would be no rain today as the worst had blown over whilst we slept, so off we went without our wet weather gear. Soon as we stepped out the door it started to drizzle but I loudly proclaimed “don’t worry it will soon blow over”. Well you know what happens from this point on, the rain just gets heavier but we persevered. First job today was to find a laundry and discovered one a couple of blocks away but the woman running it didn’t speak English and it looked more like a drycleaners, so will need to do more research.
Wandered down the road to find an essential tourist site in Vilnius, a large bronze head of Frank Zappa. Not a big fan of the late hippy/musician/artist but when we heard there was a bronze of his head, we just had to see it. If you want to know what is the link between Frank Zappa and Vilnius you will have to read the whole blog and I will give you the answer at the
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St Anne's Church end.
From there we walked onto the old town and along the way we spotted a large crowd gathered in a square so we wandered over to see what was happening. As far as we can determine (as expected all the speeches were delivered in Lithuanian, without English subtitles) it was a graduation ceremony for Lithuanian Military Officers. A brass marching band, lots of military in uniform and a surprising small number of locals watched as the Military High command and the Lithuanian President swear in the new graduates. Dalia Grybauskaitė is the Lithuanian President and not only is she the country's first
female President, but she is also the first President of Lithuania to be reelected for a second consecutive term. Don’t know a lot about her other than she is no fan of Vladimir (the Impaler) Putin, boycotting Sochi Winter Olympics along with others because of human rights violations and because she is an active supporter of LGBT rights. She also has a black belt and has steered Lithuania through some rough times, so she would get my vote. There were a few Security guys standing around, but it was still quite amazing to be standing
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Frank Zappa's head on a pole so close to her. We both sort of felt privileged to see the whole thing and to hear her speak – if only we knew what she said.
After this brush with Lithuanian high Politics we walked onto “The Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Vladislav”, or as I would call it “The Cath”. This is a massive Catholic Church that is grand outside and inside, but unlike some Cathedrals wasn’t smothered in gold and so felt almost homely. By the time we left the Cath it was pouring rain and so our plans started to change and we headed up to the centre of the old town. Shelley went shopping through the local markets and shops that lined the streets while I just got wet till the point it was ridiculous. Ended up seeking shelter in a café to see if the rain would ease and decided on a large cappuccino not realising it was the size of a firemans bucket. Probably just as well as the rain persisted for another hour. It looked like it eased so we made a dash for it only to have it start pouring again. A good 30 minutes
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Streets of Vilnius back to the hotel and we were drenched by the time we made it. Shelley could have nagged me all the way about my weather prediction except I guess she knew I was suffering for it as well.
By the time we got back it was 3pm and so stayed indoors till around 6 when the rain stopped and we headed out for dinner. As predicted the rain returned on the way to the restaurant and the last 100 metres was a mad dash in pouring rain. Dinner was sensational, which was surprise, surprise, pork and potatoes – I think we need to find a Turkish restaurant.
Day 197 Tuesday 2nd August 2016 – Vilnius and Trakai We had been checking online for bus tickets to Warsaw and the bus tickets seem to be selling out fast so we decided to walk to the bus terminal to book our next destination. It took about 30 minutes to walk there so I am glad we got a taxi the other day instead of walking with our backpacks. Got our tickets and decided since we were here we would
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Dalia Grybauskaitė with the troops get a bus to the town of Trakai for the day which leaves from the terminal with the intercity and international buses even though it does not appear on any of the boards. It left from platform 6 and you pay the driver as you get on, only 1.80 euros for the supposed 40 minute journey. The bus pulled in and it looked like the Partridge Family bus that had never been cleaned since 1970, oh well we have had worse but as we took off we realised that 2
nd gear was as high as it got. So we chugged along and arrived 55 minutes later at our destination.
Trakai is a quaint little town that is famous for two things first the castle on a small island in the middle of the lake. The castle has been restored and heavily rebuilt, it is 6 euros to go through the exhibits and today a stage in the courtyard was being dismantled and the old concrete bridge leading to the castle was being smashed apart. We decided not to do the exhibits but just walk around the grounds outside and avoid the mayhem. The area is very touristy
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Cathedral and Bell tower but it is a pretty area so we still enjoyed the walk around.
The second thing Trakai is famous for is the Lithuanian Karaite or Karaimic. The Karaite were a puritanical Jewish splinter group who converted several Turkic tribes on the Black Sea and they made their way to Lithuania, they have had a long history here starting at the end of the 14
th Century. The community is slowly disappearing and there is only about 250 left in the country. We passed a very touristy restaurant that sold kibinais which is a Karaite dish that is like a Cornish pasty the fillings come with lamb, beef or chicken with onion in leavened dough pastry. Unfortunately, the ones we got were very plain with low quality fillings I am sure the ones made in the homes are nicer.
We made our way back to the bus terminal and got the bus back to Vilnius, this one was a bit better and got into 4
th gear but did stall when we stopped to pick people up. Back in Vilnius we walked to the old town for a walk around and stopped at a café to do
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Façade of the Vilnius Cathedral some people watching. We are getting boring as we went back to the restaurant near our hotel as we have not seen anything better yet.
Day 198 Wednesday 3rd August 2016 – Vilnius Churches, Churches, Churches and more Churches, this town is full of them and we thought it was time to see some of them today. The first one the Franciscan Church showed that history repeats, just different time and groups, in 1566 the Cosacks entered the church and killed people during a mass service. Then we moved onto the Holy Spirit Polish Catholic church, which you enter from a strange dark passage and as you walk through the doors you are greeted by the Baroque and rococo interior and its interesting confessionals that seemed very open – “bless father for I have sinned” and now the whole town knows what I have been up to.
For a break we got the funicular for 1 euro and a very short trip up to the Gediminas Castle which you do more for the view over the city than the castle. It is an easy walk
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Interior of the Holy Spirit Polish Catholic church up but we both love doing the funiculars where ever we can. The view from the top looks over the old and new city and gives good views of the Hill of Three Crosses where legend says seven Franciscan monks were crucified.
Back to the churches and it was the gothic St Anne’s which has managed to survive relatively unscathed by time and war. A famous legend says that Napoleon in 1812 after seeing it wished to carry the church home with him to Paris in the palm of his hand. Behind St. Anne’s is the Church of St. Francis and Bernadine which is butted up so close to Anne that it seems to cover one of it fluted columns. It is also gothic but the top section of the façade was changed to baroque which is a shame as it seems a bit jarring.
A quick stop for a smoothie and then onto the Holy Trinity which is a Uniates church which is a fusion of Catholic and Orthodox faiths with the Pope being God’s representative on earth. It is in a bad state but work has begun on its restoration but I
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Streets of Trakai think it will be a long slow process. Stepped in St Casimir’s church for a quick hello, then kept walking to the Gates of Dawn the only remaining original gate from the city’s defensive walls and you may say well this isn’t a church but guess what there is a chapel above the gate. As we arrived two large tour groups turned up so we will try to visit tomorrow.
From here we slowly made our way back to our hotel for a rest before dinner.
Day 199 Thursday 4th August 2016 – Vilnius Another day in Vilnius, another day of gawking at Churches. First thing was the long walk back to the Chapel built into the old city gate. We saw it yesterday but it was overrun with tour groups so we (Shelley) thought we would come back when it was quieter. With that task completed we wandered across the river to the suburb of Užupis to investigate the Bohemian side of Vilnius. Uzupis is where all the “Artists” reside and declared itself an independent state in 1997 with its own flag, currency and
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A bite out of a kibinais President. Not a lot to see here other than cafes and hipppy type art galleries, and in the centre of the suburb a large statue of an angel. The statue used to be of a large egg but was replaced by the angel in 2002.
From here Shelley wanted to visit the St Peter & Paul’s Church which was way over on the other side of town. Bit over churches and this one is described as one the best Baroque churches in the world; not a big fan of Baroque so that was a bit like describing it as “the best way to have your eyes plucked out”. I didn’t want to go but Shelley promised/bribed me if we went I could visit the nearby War and Transport museum. So off we trudged and when we got there I took one look in the door and walked back out; in the great Ugly checklist of life this place ticks all the boxes. I sat out the front and when Shelley came out all she could say was “that would have to be the ugliest church in the world”.
With my part of the bargain
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The pulpit of the St Peter & Paul’s Church completed we walked up the road a short distance to check out the war and transport museum. Not really a museum but just a large paddock filled with trucks, a couple of soviet tanks and a lot of naval guns. For me it was good to see some old soviet machinery up close but not a lot here other than for the real enthusiast/nut. The place was supposed to have motorcycles but couldn’t find them, but at least it was free to walk around.
Long walk back into town where we got an ice cream and a last look over the old town. Late in the afternoon walked back to our room before returning to our favourite restaurant for dinner. Vilnius has been a great town to explore and is nowhere near as polished as Tallinn or Riga. This city is filled with just as many rundown buildings as restored ones and although the old town is over run with tourists it feels more like a functioning city than a polished tourist gem. If visiting just remember to look in the arched entrances inbetween buildings because quite often there are great little cafes, bars and shops.
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Tower on top of Gediminas Hill As for the question: What is the link between Frank Zappa and Vilnius
Answer: Absolutely nothing, other than this bronze of his head
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Mr Sadly and the President
I was waiting for part II of the Mr Sadly tale...how seriously annoying! I'm so glad you two didn't heckle the Lithuanian President by yelling 'In English please!'... you probably would have made the news over here if you had :)