The travels of Tim and Megan: Vilnius, Lithuania

Thursday

Our overnight bus from Tallinn pulled in to Vilnius at about 6.40am. Thankfully we had booked a hostel close to the bus station, so we walked the five minutes to our hostel (hilariously called "A Hostel") and crashed straight away. We had three hours sleep and then woke at 10am, ready to explore the Lithuanian capital.

Lithuania is the largest of the three Baltic states. It shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south and a Russian exclave (Kaliningrad) to the southwest. It also has some coastline on the Baltic Sea to the west. Lithuania has a population of approximately 3.2 million. Vilnius is the largest and capital city, with a population of about 560,000. The official language is Lithuanian, another language that we are not so fluent in.

The old town of Vilnius is actually very pretty - we were a little surprised! The day started out cloudy and a bit cool, but it cleared before long and was a lovely day for the most part. There were a few heavy showers that lasted for only 10 minutes, but luckily we managed to avoid all of them! We walked through the Town Hall Square, the home of the city authorities in Vilnius for the past six centuries, and down Pilies Street. Pilies Street is the oldest and most flamboyant street in the old town. The street grew out of the former road from Vilnius Castle to the south to Russia and Poland. The name Pilies Street dates back to at least 1530. The street is now filled with markets, plenty of souvenir shops, churches, cafes and bars. At the end of Pilies Street we crossed the road to the Cathedral Square.

The Cathedral Square is the historical heart of Vilnius. In the centre of the huge square sits the beautiful Cathedral of St Stanislaus and St Vladislaus, the most important place of worship for the countrys Catholics and the venue for main Christian folk and national festivities. Many prominent people of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy - bishops, dukes and noblemen - are buried in the vaults of the Cathedral. The first heavy shower of the day arrived just as we entered the Cathedral, so we spent 20 minutes or so admiring the interior of the Cathedral, which was very pretty, before re-emerging to the square.

In front of the Cathedral is the Bell Tower, which is 57 metres high and was reconstructed in its current position 200 years ago. The other prominent landmark in the square is the Monument to the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas (1275 - 1341). Besides being the founder of Vilnius, Gediminas was also one of the most famous rulers of Lithuania. The statue shows him in a rather odd pose with his noble steed watching on!

We had a tasty lunch in a really fun underground restaurant, decorated like a cave, on Vokieciu Street, a street with a lovely strip of garden running down the middle and quite a few cafes and restaurants down either side. After lunch we checked out Gedimino Street, which was filled with very modern and upmarket looking shops. There were loads of people around and there was a stage set up in a little square off to the side of Gedimino Street where a live band was playing. The town was hosting the European basketball championships while we were there and, as basketball is the national sport of Lithuania and their team was one of the three favourites to win the championships, there was a lot of basketball hype around the place!

We then walked past the National Museum of Lithuania (otherwise known as the New Arsenal) and we carried on up a steep hill to the Hill of Three Crosses, a monument to some Franciscan monks who are believed to have been tortured to death there by pagans. The sun was shining and the views of the city from the top of the hill were brilliant. The next hill across is home to the Upper Castle (dating from 1323) and Gediminas Tower, where we again enjoyed beautiful views of the city.

Back down the hill, we walked back up Pilies Street and stopped in at a chocolate shop / cafe, just in time to avoid another downpour. We had a piece of cake and tea / hot chocolate (which was actually just melted chocolate in a cup - delicious). Once the shower had passed, we carried on along Pilies Street, bought some postcards and souvenirs and popped in to St Nicholas Orthodox Church, where there was a service going on, which was very interesting. We then walked through the Gates of Dawn, a small place of worship in the top of an archway which was formerly one of the gates to the walled old town. The place was visited by Pope John Paul II, who prayed there, making it an even more significant place to religious people of Vilnius.

After a short rest at our hostel, we had a couple of stupidly cheap beers at an English pub and then a massive meal at a German beer house, which was fully equipped with an accordian player! Awesome.

Friday

After another sneaky sleep in, we packed up and checked out of A Hostel. We wandered into town at around 10.30am, had pancakes for breakfast at a pancake restaurant called Gusto. We were following the All Blacks opening game of the Rugby World Cup vs Tonga on the blackberry and we were delighted to discover that Israel Dagg had scored the first try, which we had put a bet on. Nice work Megan. The return of 42 pounds would have paid for 21 beers in Lithuania!

After breakfast we strolled across to the sleepy suburb of Uzupis. Uzupis is sometimes compared to Montmartre in Paris. It is the "republic of artists", with its own president and constitution (which is displayed on a wall in the area). In the central square is the large bronze angel statue, said to be the guardian of Uzupis. Another of the main symbols of Uzupis is the bronze mermaid statue, positioned on the bank of the Vilnia river, which runs through Uzupis. It was such a lovely, peaceful place for a morning stroll.

After a bit of internet action, we carried on the Museum of Occupation and Genocide. Once again, as far as such a gruesome museum can be, it was a very good and well put together museum, with plenty of information in English, but we were concerned that there was actually no mention of the Nazi persecution of Jews in Lithuania. That seemed to have been glossed over, as most of the information in the museum concentrated on the Soviet Occupation of Lithuania from the 1940s to the 1990s.

Later in the afternoon we walked to St Annes Church, a masterpiece of the late Gothic period, which has survived to the present day without changing for over 500 years! Then we grabbed a late lunch / early dinner at a brilliant restaurant called Bistro 18. If anyone is going to visit Vilnius, definitely eat there - it was superb.

Then it was time to grab our luggage from A Hostel and head to the bus station, where we spent our last Lithuanian Lits (great name for a currency - right up there with the Latvian Lats!) and caught our 6.30pm bus to Riga, Latvia. Once again, no passport checks or border control, so no stamps. Booo. We had a very comfortable journey - the buses in the Baltic states are new, modern, very spacious, comfortable and on time. We arrived in Riga four hours later at 10.30pm.