Blogs from Vilnius, Lithuania, Europe - page 11

So after we arrived in Vilnius on Tuesday, we ended up spending most of the morning in the Hostel,just catching up on things. To be honest it was really niceto just chill out for the day as we had been so busy so far.The hostel were really great and let us hang around until there were beds free, they had quite a big kitchen where a lot of other guests were hanging out- everyone we met so far was australian, all really nice people. We eventually ventured out late afternoon. The hostel had these city maps called spy maps, and on the back they had loads of recommended shops, bars and restaurants and many of them gave you a discount if you showed them the map. So went to this one Bar called Bix Baras and ... read more

In keeping with our desire to see a national park in each country, we’d mentally marked down this as the day to make a trek out to Aukstaitija National Park. However, at the last minute we chickened out of the 2-hour bus trip that would drop us several km away from the park, and decided to visit Trakai National Historic Park instead, a preserve on a peninsula that was a mere 40-minute train ride out of town. With two castles, a ton of lakes, and an obscure sect of Judaism calling it home, we figured it would be the perfect fit, and if we could manage to catch the 7:45 AM train, we might even make it back by early afternoon. We got up early and booked it to the train station, making it there with ... read more

On our second morning in Vilnius, we still had no hot water, so we called our apartment manager to see what she could do. For some reason I don’t totally understand, calling a plumber was not an option, so she drove us to an unrented apartment so we could shower. Again, it was a beautiful place with some weird flaws, like a shallow recess behind the tub with no drain, so after the shower, Graham wound up bailing a whole mess of water back into the tub with a juice glass. Well, whatever, at least we were clean. Back to Double Coffee to grab breakfast and plan the day. Our first stop was a little pilgrimage to the only existing statue of Frank Zappa; it was sort of charming, off in a little side yard that ... read more

Due to being completely wiped from the previous day, and since we had the relative luxury of being in one place for FOUR WHOLE NIGHTS, we slept in the next morning. After rolling out of bed and shaking most of the cranky out of our collective noggins, we descended onto the town of Vilnius. Like most Old Towns®, this one also has plenty of the twisty passages, all alike, that Americans seem to crave about Europe. The difference here was that not only are many of the streets open to cars, some roads through Old Town are full-fledged boulevards, with multiple lanes, reasonably fast traffic, etc. No stoplights, though. That would be sacrilege. ;) In the middle of these boulevards were large gathering areas, paved with new stone and packed with beer gardens for the various ... read more

To Vilnius we travelled by bus from Riga. Both countries have low density and bus drives quite fast. In Lithuania they built a new road (they got money from UE) and it caused some obstructions. Country is pretty similar to Estonia and Latvia - flatland and covered by forest. Nice country, calm and silent I think Vilnius was very important for us. Our grandparents came from over there to west Poland - they moved after second total war because this part of Poland was taken out by Soviet Union and most of Polish community were forced to leave the Vilnius and Vilnius county. We based in hotel Mikotel in Pylimo street. Good location - 5 minutes walk to old town and monuments, but hotel isn't recommended. Why? No lift, wasted bathroom, very poor breakfast, no internet, ... read more