Blogs from Vilnius, Lithuania, Europe - page 21

26 April 2007. Started out the day walking around Vilnius on some of the other main boulevards we missed on Wednesday. The morning light on Cathedral Square was auspicious and lasted throughout the day. I was intrigued by St. Helena atop the cathedral and can’t recall many other cathedrals topped with a female figure other than perhaps Mary herself. Now to figure out what St. Helena’s claim to fame was…. We had a coffee on Gedimino prospecktas across from the National Drama Theatre with its dramatic sculpture of the three muses overlooking the theatre entrance. We also stopped at a cool record (and some compact discs) jazz and classical music shop called Thelonious (www.thelonious.lt). The basement door was locked, but the owner quickly opened it and was clearly excited to tell us about his favorite ... read more

We have spent the last week in Lithuania and loved every minute of it! Our first stop after leaving Riga was Siuali to see the Hill of Crosses. A cross in Lithuania apart from the obvious symbolises defiance against foreign invasion- something that Lithuania has experienced a lot of from Germanic knights in medieval times to the Soviets more recently. Apparently crosses had been put on this particular hill from around 12th Century and in 1930 there were around 400 crosses. As the hill was such a symbol of Lithuanian nationalism the Soviets removed the crosses (only to be replaced by the locals). They responded by flattening the hill three times and covered it in sewage. Amazingly people still continued to defy the authorities. The hill now has literally thousands of crosses of all sizes- on ... read more

Lost! Pods! Yoghurt! Saws! We spent our first night in Vilnius tramping around in the rain looking for a new hostel after the first one we checked into had a totally smashed off lock. The girl at reception tried to tell us it was ok and 'everybody gets scared but nothing happens' - like hell! We got out of there smartish and eventually (after two and a half hours of trekking) found a really nice place with Japanese style pods instead of beds. The most comfortable beds ever! Until the sawing started. They were trying to get ready for some sort of exhibition and had decided that the best time to do all the necessary drilling and sawing right next to our bedroom would be 11pm til 4am. Logical. On the upside, Vilnius is another absolutely ... read more

This city was steeped in steeples, literally! From the moment we walked through the gates of Historic Vilnius I was overwhelmed by the sight of churches…Medieval, and Gothic, and Renaissance, OH MY! 15 out of the 20 churches in the old town were actually closed down or turned into warehouses during the Soviet period, resulting in the disappearance of much of the valuable pieces of art, but the facades remain beautiful. Despite this, the old town in Vilnius is one of the largest in Eastern Europe. In 1994, it was declared an internationally significant site and was included on the World Cultural Heritage. We roamed around the windy streets checking off each significant site as we went along…there really was quite a bit to see. Later, we stopped to sample some traditional Lithuanian cuisine at a ... read more

Vilnius!... read more