Vilnius - 700 years old and looking good for her age

 

A native of Vilnius, Irina, 41 (quoted by the Summer of Solidarity Website) says:

the old city of Vilnius makes you feel like you are inside of a fairytale

and I couldn't say she is wrong. The fairytale feel of the city includes both rivers - the Neris and the Vilnele - as well as the Old Town which evokes the many layers of Lithuania's history with Polish, German and Russian influences over that time.

But, of course, first a little about the beginning of our day. 

Morning

I have a late lie in, by my standards, I don't wake until it is 6am and it is light already - normally at home I wake at 5am, or earlier if it gets light earlier. Snoozing until 6am is a surprise to the system and doesn't help with keeping up with the photos and the blog. I'm beginning to think that long journeys on trains, though they feel (and are) comfortable are actually more tiring than one feels at the time, as this pattern of late waking faced me the first day in Berlin too.

Sunday Mass

I had originally planned to go to Mass in the nearby church of the Archangel Raphael, but when looking at Mass times I had seen that the Cathedral had Mass at 8am  (and 9am, 10am, 11.15am, 12.30am, 5.30pm and 6.30pm). As this seems a good time to go to Mass and get back to the hotel for a late Sunday breakfast, they open from 8am to 11am, I'd decided on this arrangement. The difference is between 350 meters and 1.2km (about .8 of a mile) in walking and a fresh Sunday morning walk is a great way to get to Mass.

I had got ready and left the hotel at 8.40am, getting to Mass at 8.55am. It is an amazingly lovely day, a few degrees cooler than Warsaw, but sunny and fresh.

Mass

My Universalis app, which I use daily in the UK for readings and the changing prayers of the Mass, and have used successfully in the US (where they use a different translation of the readings), Spain, Portugal, Denmark, France (well actually in French in a church in Copenhagen) and Italy - and on this holiday in Germany and Poland - doesn't stretch to Lithuanian or any of the Baltic Languages. Luckily there was a Lithuanian Mass sheet in the Cathedral, so I was able to join in the Mass (by guessing the sounds of some of the letters) and follow the words in Universalis in English - especially the ones which change daily, like the collect prayers and readings. 

The priest was a man in his 30s and had a very resounding voice. When I go to Polish Mass I often think the priest is shouting at people, due to the tone of the language, not his actual shouting. But Lithuanian, while sharing some Polish (and some German) words, doesn't sound harsh at all. I'm put more in mind of the prayerful tones of Mass in Croatia. 

The Mass was a lovely celebration with a congregation of mixed age from 5 years to 90 years olds (at a guess).  Today's first reading is a favourite of mine from 1 Kings 19:9,11-13. Where Elijah seeks to experience God, he is faced with a mighty wind, an earthquake, a fire but the Lord was in none of these. 

After that there came the sound of a gentle breeze. And when Elijah heard this, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Knowing the Lord in silence, being present to him as he is present to me, is such an important part of my experience of prayer, that having it reinforced by the message of the prophet feels like a blessing on this morning. Perhaps that was what the priest was saying in his homily, but I have absolutely no idea!! I can hope and pray!

Mass finished at 8.45am and I went back to the hotel.

Breakfast

The breakfast at the hotel was amazingly generous. With cheese, cooked meats, pate, pickled corn, pickled onions, pickled red cabbage and pickled carrots. 

Then there was soused herring, herring with vegetables and, something I've not seen before on this trip - sprats in oil. I loved all of them, probably to much, but they are delicious and the sprats were a real treat as I have them so little at home. 

There was also a fantastic range of salad vergatables, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, lettuce. 

Then, of course, there were the cooked items. Smoked sausage, bacon - the unusual, to my mind, southern fried chicken (as we would call it)

crapes with curd, curd being very common on breakfast menus here, scrambled eggs and porraige 

Oh, and of course there was the dessert course of various fresh fruits. What a feast, we didn't eat all of it, of course, but we did quite a bit of damage! We won't be eating again for some time!

Things to note about Lithuania

Befofe I go into the details of the day, there are a few things that come to my notice about Lithuania.

1 - I had no idea how Catholic it is!! With 250 people at one of the seven masses in the Cathedral today and another six churches, each with four or five masses of their own - a whole lot of the population is going to be at Sunday Mass - not counting the Orthodox population who will be at their Liturgies too. 

2 - Thy number floors from 1 up. It is a system that I have always thought of as American for numbering floors - i.e. the Ground is number 1, not 0, thus our room 710 is on the sixth not the 7th floor. It turns out that this is true of all the Baltic States and Helsinki! Poland following the Western European tradition, is the last we shall see of it for some time.

3 - Lithuania uses numbers not day names - so signs, like the breakfast sign in the hotel says:

I - V - 6.30 - 10

VI - 7.30 - 11

VII - 8 - 11 

this is true in shops, churches, indeed everywhere I saw signs with days - unlike the naming of floors, this was a specific feature of Lithuania and we haven't encountered it anywhere else this holiday. Though finding out about it did make sense of the question the receptionist had asked me when checking in:

Receptionist (Looking at my passport which has the month in the first three letters) - What number is February

Haydn (looking a little puzzled) - zero two

Receptionist (also looking puzzled now) you mean two (or maybe he thought II as the numbers, apart from room numbers, all take Roman Numerals!

Gediminas' Tower

Anyway, at 10am, after a quick visit back to the room we were out and ready for our visits to Old Town, Vilnius. 

Our first target was a place we had seen when walking back from dinner last night - Gediminas' Tower. This tower is on the site that the first castle in this town, originally wood, was built by Grand Duke Gediminas. Thus, he is credited as being the founder of Vilnius. He also founded a dynasty that over the centuries came to rule not only here but in Poland, Hungary and Bohemia too. A brick castle was built here by Grand Duke Vytautas in 1409 - the current building was a reconstruction by a Polish architect in 1933, based on archaeological research. 

The Castle is reached by a small funicular, though there are steps we thought it unwise to climb all 135 at this hour of the morning with a lot of walking still to do in the day.

The Tower was a great place to take lots of photos of the town, especially out into the commerical parts of the new town, where our hotel is placed. They are in this selection below:

We also took some shots of the Hill of the Three Crosses, here early Franciscan missionaries were killed by the local inhabitants who wanted none of the 'new' religion. 

Cathedral Square

Though another Mass was on by the time we got to the Cathedral we were able to see the Bell Tower and take photos of the many and various statues on and around the Cathedral.

Vilnius University

We continued along Pilies Street to the University of Vilnius. Here we saw the amazing paintings which adorn the walls of the University courtyard. 

We also visited the Church of the two St. John's (the Baptist and the Evangelist). Mass had just finished so we were able to take in the church which during Soviet times was a warehouse but has been carefully restored. It now marks many of the people who made Lithuania the country it is today, be they philosophers, poets or teachers. 

Literatų Street

Literatų Street translates as Literati street and it took its name from the many printing houses and bookstores which were located in the street and from the fact that the famous Lithuanian poet Adam Mickiewicz, him of the big statue we saw in Warsaw (and will see more of later today) lived.

During 2009 when Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture the people working on the project decided to make use of the name and create a series of plaques marking artists, especially those involved in literature, who had some (however loose) connection with Vilnius or Lithuania. There are now 200 such plaques on display.

Churches

At the end of the street, we came to the small, pretty, Orthodox Church - dedicated to the Mother of God.

From here we walked up to two much larger churches just a few meters away.

The first was a Franciscan church dedicated to St. Bernadine of Siena who had founded a religious order, nuns of which, before the arrival of Russians in Vilnius had a large convent just along the street. The convent gardens are now a park.

The second is St Anne's, donated by a member of the Lithuanian ducal family called Anne - it is a pretty church and was full of tourists, but retains its role in the community too.

The Republic of Užupis 

Užupis is a small district in Vilnius, separated from the town centre by the River Vilnelė, which gives the town its name. In 1997, the residents of Užupis, largely students at the Art Academy and others looking for a more laid back way of life [Co-Pilot's note: Hippys!!!], declared the area a republic and designed and wrote its own constitution, flag and other emblems of statehood. The lasting effect was to gentrify Užupis as more and more people came to the area.

The Dalai Lama, held with reverence by the community here, visited on one occasion due to an invite from a follower. He, and Buddhist ideology in general, is very evident in the district.  

There is an Angel at the centre of the district. Its Constitution in multiple languages (sadly no Welsh) is on a series of walls.

The Diehard Coffee Shop

By this time, having walked in every increasing temperatures (89F) in the sun, it was time for a break. We saw a full coffee shop, so walked a bit further up the road to an enjoyable place. The Diehard Coffee shop, here we were invited to sit with the staff members as we got introduced to them and to Igor, who used to work with McKinsey Consulting in London. He was very friendly and engaged us in conversation, fine when it was about business and our trip. A bit more challenging when it proved to be about his love for the Premier League - though Drew managed to bluff most of the responses based on his friends on Twitter.

Ordering coffee, while a pleasant and relaxed process, did take some time. I ordered an Americano and was asked if I wanted an American Americano or a European Americano - I hadn't known until today that there was a difference. Apparently, an European Americano is two espressos and an equal amount of hot water on top - an American Americano is double that amount of water to espresso ration!! I was here because I was thirsty, so I went with the American version. I was then asked which bean I wanted, there were three: Brazilian, Ethiopian or Coconut Brazilian, each with different characteristics. I went with the Ethiopian, which seemed to gain approval from the guy serving us and from Igor. Drew had a Latte, his only decision was Oat or Cow - a common query about milk across Europe these days! As a non-drinker of milk I'd not realised quite how often oat or almond or coconut milk is used in the UK and elsewhere, but the figures indicate it is very common.

Die-Hard Runners Cafe is called this as it is a runners' cafe, so Drew was able to share stories of his half-marathons with people who had done them and many more halves and full marathons. I'm hoping it inspires Drew to do more of these as it means I get more holidays and more nice meals 😊

The walls of the cafe have winners' medals [Co-pilot's note: I, dear readers, like this description of the medals. I have a number of them and as someone who is a genetic runt with a dodgy right leg, it is good to know I am a winner!!] from all over the world. I wondered whether Die Hard films had a runners' reference, but the waiter explained that the owner had done training with some of the elite Kenyan athletes (they often win marathons) and the training programme was called 'Die Hard'.

The coffee was welcome and amazingly tasty as well as providing interesting conversation. We left at 2pm and walked up to the end of Užupis having loved our time there. 

Viewspot

After crossing Užupis we came to a lovely park with ducks and climbed up to the area called Subačiaus apžvalgos aikštelė, this gave an excellent location for a view back to the Town - as it is one of the few high places in Vilnius. 

The other attraction of the Observation area was that buses ran from there and our next stop was at the other end of town. So, we caught the Bus 89 to what is called the Gate of Dawn. From Game of Thrones fans this sounds very much like a GoT location, but that is the Gate of Dorne, not Dawn 😉

The Gate of Dawn

The Gate of Dawn is the one remaining original entry to the Old Town. From the outside the gate doesn't especially stand out, but from the inside it is quite spectacular.  

There is an amazing Icon of Our Lady of Mercy which has stood here for 450 years. You are able to enter the shrine and pray, which I did, but not take photos at the shrine or in the church below. Still it is a very spiritual place, full of faith in the gentle and loving mercy of the Lord. 

We walked into the Old Town and passed lots of lovely shops and restaurants - this part of the town is very tourist focussed. Still we did see yet more of the wonderful churches of Vilnius. 

More Churches

First was the Orthodox Cathedral, though we could only take photos of the outside it was calm and peaceful inside.

Next was the sixteenth century church of St. Teresa and Drew and I got mixed messages when he asked: "How come it is that old when she died more recently". I of course assumed Drew was talking about St. Therese of Lisieux, who was a few centuries later than St. Teresa of Avila for whom the church was dedicated. I was surprised by his detailed knowledge of the saints, until it became clear that he was talking about St Teresa of Calcutta, a much more recent saint! 

The final church we visited was dedicated to a local Saint - Casimer. A open, well-lit church, this parish clearly has an active community - lots of images on the walls of the Parish Youth Group on pilgrimage, and evidence of Tigger and Piglet in the box of toys in one of the side chapels.

The Town Hall

Our last visit of the afternoon was to the Town Hall and the Presidential Residence (which abut each other). It was here a few months ago that NATO had their annual meeting and signs of the NATO flags are still all over town. It is the town hall that is shown in the photo at the top of the blog.

Back to the Hotel

We took the Bus number 10 back from old town via cathedral to our hotel.

By this time the heat, and the walking, had overcome us. We strolled back to the hotel. It had been 6 miles of walking and another mile and a half by bus. The miles excluding the 1.6miles I'd done walking to Mass and back that morning. Perhaps it was no wonder I needed a cold shower and an hour to cool down. 

Two hours later at 6.30pm it was time to go out for dinner.

Dinner

Revived by our showers we went out at 6.30pm and decided to walk back in to town. We found Lokys after a period of walking up and down a street as Google Maps told us we had passed it - it turned out it was up an alley off the street. So, we arrived almost exactly on time (two minutes early) for our 7pm booking.

Lokys (the Lithuanian for Bear) is a restaurant based on foods from earlier days in the Lithuanian story. We enjoyed the experience of exploring such unusual flavours.

We began with bread, rye, which was served with a beetroot spread. The bread was tasty, but the beetroot blew me away. The tangy flavour of this slightly sweet vegetable went so well with the bread that it seemed it should be a permanent condiment for it. 

Drew had Salad with beef served with sun-dried grape tomatoes, walnuts, radishes, berries, cherry tomatoes and blueberry relish. This was as amazing as it looks, a lovely cooked piece of beef, with delicious salad veg brough together by the relish.

I had opted for salad with smoked fish served with sun-dried grape tomatoes, walnuts, radishes, cherry tomatoes and blueberry relish. The little pieces of smoky fish were mixed in with the leaves, the walnuts added earthiness to the flavour and the radish a little heat the cherry tomatoes were a sweet flavour and again the blueberry worked so well with the rest of the dish.

Drew had decided to take a risk and opt for the Beaver stew with tomatoes and mushrooms, served with mashed potatoes seasoned with spinach - while neither of us had had beaver before, Drew decided he wanted to taste it. He said it certainly didn't taste like chicken 😉 . Rather it tasted like a richer more flavoursome pork. It seemed to have a similar texture to boar meat. He enjoyed it and eat every bit of it.

I went a little more conventional, having the Meats of the restaurant - venison and boar steaks and a game sausage - served with parsnips, fried tomatoes, sauteed potatoes, artisan honey steak sauce and mint relish. I've had all these meats before, but really enjoyed the way they worked together. 

Drew finished with Rye bread delicacy with hazelnuts, cranberry jam and burnt morels. He found the texture unusual but liked the taste. He hasn't been having many desserts this holiday, but would happily enjoy this one again. 

We left the restaurant and wandered back to the hotel. It became cooler as the evening wore on, but was in no way uncomfortable. We passed the cathedral for the last time.

And got to bed at 10pm. A busy, somewhat exhausting, but absolutely fabulous day. We had walked 7.5 miles and done 24,000 steps (according to Google Fit), Drew whose stride is a little shorter than mine normally does more steps than me, but today (with the extra walk to and from mass) he has only done 21,580. Only being used in a comparative not an absolute manner in this case 😂