The Munich to Moscow Meander - Part II:

A Look Into Lithuania

So what do you think of when someone says "Vilnius" or "Lithuania"? What images come to mind? Not much? Well, that's how it was for me as well. This is one of the reasons I love to travel. You hear about places, you might even see a picture or two in a book or on the news, but to be there and walk the streets, listen to the people. and breathe the air is something different. Suddenly you have a definitive experience to accompany these titles in your memory. And you might just find a few surprises...


Sunday, August 19, 2012

 I woke up at 5am at my Polish hostel. My one day in Warsaw was really just a taster for a larger Poland trip I'd like to do someday. For now, however, it was time to head further north and further east. Today I would be entering my first new country since Nepal. It would also be my first time entering the former Soviet Union. I was excited!

I boarded a big yellow bus at the main station and found a pleasant setting inside. Each seat was comfy with plenty of legroom with a little screen on the seat in front of you just like in an airplane, where you could interact with a few different types of media (including a GPS map of where the bus is), and complimentary water bottles. Even headphones were provided for those without so that the whole bus wouldn't have to listen to the soft strains (and I do mean strains) of Alvin and the Chipmunks 4 in Polish like on my bus to Warsaw.

For the next 8 hours we drove across the Polish countryside towards Lithuania...


View Munich - Vilnius in a larger map

 I watched on the GPS screen in front of me as we approached the Lithuanian frontier. When we crossed over I noticed the large border control building, which once had extensive security, sitting empty and derelict as we whizzed past. Thanks to the EU Schengen Agreement, a person can travel from Portugal to Finland without ever needing to show a passport. I had made it to Lithuania and the former USSR!

Losing an hour to the time zone, I arrived at 4pm local time and walked from the bus station to my hostel in the middle of the Vilnius old town. I was surprised to find a rather sleepy, quiet capital city.

But Vilnius is beautiful and very green. It is also a city very markedly divided between old and new. On one side of the river is old town: one of the largest and best-preserved old towns in all of Europe with many fine examples of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and other historical styles of architecture.

On the other side of the river is the new town with office buildings and high rises (and, serendipitously, a hot-air balloon)... 

You know, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was once the largest kingdom in Europe. At its height in the late 14th Century it stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.

Today Gediminas Tower is one of the few medieval reminders that Vilnius was the capital of this great empire.









Vilnius has always been a melting pot of cultures and religions. After its stint as a medieval powerhouse it was taken over by Poland and then later by Russia. By 1897 Jews made up the largest ethnic group in Vilnius followed by Poles, Russians, and then Lithuanians! No wonder Napoleon, a hundred years before that, named Vilnius the "Jerusalem of the North."

Needless to say, there are a lot of beautiful churches (though, sadly, WWII wiped out the Jewish community).

Everywhere you look in the old town are different old churches...

Some are properly Baroque...

This Catholic Shrine is known as "The Gates of Dawn." There's a holy shrine inside (nothing to do with Pink Floyd, though)...

An Orthodox Church...

St. Anne's Church is one of the most beautiful...

I stopped keeping track of the names and which religion which church belonged to....

I ducked into the Dominican Catholic church. The entrance was sort of an indoor alleyway, medieval and old, with frescoes of death and skeletons on the walls. It was too dark to photograph but very cool to pass through. I felt like I was on the Terror Ride at Lagoon. Inside, mass had just finished...

Not bad considering before 20 years ago these churches were museums, concert halls, or anything but places of worship...

Vilnius Cathedral with it's iconic bell tower are city landmarks...

Of course the town hall and nearby Radisson Hotel are no less ornate...

And festive...

Sunday night was quiet and peaceful...

Lithuania is the land of mushrooms. It is a national obsession (more on that in the next post) and you can order some really tasty meals with wild mushrooms. This was a wild mushroom soup in a rye breadbowl with some local cold cuts. Very tasty...

Above me in this restaurant were little puppets watching me eat. There were also live chickens behind glass at the entrance of the restaurant. It was random and amusing.

My hostel was fine. I roomed with a couple of Poles and some others I never got a chance to speak to. Here was the social room (with my backpack there next to the couch)...

So now you have something to picture next time you hear "Lithuania" or "Vilnius" mentioned.

I woke up the next morning happy to be spending my birthday in such a beautiful historical city...

Way to GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....

NATE!

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