Tuesday in Vilnius

• Austega's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Vilnius

Trip Start Aug 31, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Oct 05, 2008 Next
Entry

  Vilnius, Lithuania
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Tues 16 Sep, Vilnius

Well last night we had a lovely room & a king sized bed. Again the doona was exactly the size of the top of the bed, but in this case there was also a bedspread on top of that that extended over the side of the bed.

(Not to the floor mind, there is something like a step going diagonally up the side of the bed & the quilt is as long as that. Looks pretty but you have to be careful not to bark shins on it.) Anyway the bed was as hard as lying on a board. In the middle of the night David suggested sleeping on top of the quilt and under the bedspread, for more padding. I declined originally but followed his example eventually. And then went soundly to sleep & so we had a late breakfast.

Vilnius Cathedral

The breakfasts are changing as we head south - becoming less Scandinavian & more like the Germans. More boiled eggs rather than scrambled eggs & assorted hams & sausages & cheeses rather than hot food. Still with cereals & now yoghurt as alternatives.

Oh the other thing I keep forgetting to mention about changes through the countries is animals seen in the fields. In Finland we saw about 6 cows in total, in almost a week's driving. Mostly those were singles or 2 cows only. A few more seen in Estonia & Latvia, but by Lithuania there were small herds of cows - not as many as we'd see in Australia, but much more so than say Finland.

Anyway what talking about cows has to do with looking around the capital city of Vilnius ... Oh one other "by the way". Yesterday I said that Vilnius was part of USSR between the wars - it wasn't. It was given to Poland in 1919 and only returned to Lithuania at the end of WW2.

Anyway back to after breakfast today. Today we started the day by walking to the Dom, the Cathedral. This is a Catholic Cathedral, but under the Soviets it was a picture gallery

Side chapel in Vilnius Cathedral

. Originally it was a wooden church to worship the Lithuanian thunder god. In the 1500s it was rebuilt as a Christian cathedral, but has been renovated frequently (mainly up to about 1780). Very grand & in a lovely plaza.

Next we went to the Lithuanian National Museum. This had exhibits from prehistoric times up to 1953. We were teasing each other about the fact that David tended to be drawn to the maps (all the maps - and there were lots of them) whereas Kerry was drawn to the genealogies (of dukes & kings etc). Each felt that was a way to get a perspective on the history.

There were exhibits about daily life and houses & costumes. There were rooms about the church & how that influenced or ruled the lives of the people. There were occasional amazing treasures found somewhere around Lithuania & deposited in the museum. A little English to read too for perspective.

One gallery was closed for renovation, and I'm guessing that must have been about the 19th century because otherwise that period was missing, and our guidebook referred to eg material from the clothes of Napoleon's soldiers - and we saw nothing about that period.

One thing that I found curious, was the final gallery, about 1941 to 1953. It talked about the appalling treatment by the Soviets of the Lithuanians. How they deported first the intelligentsia (including doctors & lawyers) & then the families of partisans - and then the families of farmers! I guess that was the way to get available farmland for setting up collective farms

Funicular up Gediminas Hill

. 200,000 Lithuanians deported under the Soviets (1 year in 1941 and then again from 1944).

It was only when I was reaching the end of that gallery that I realised I'd read nothing about what happened to the Lithuanian Jews - and then thought, oh well, perhaps that subject is covered elsewhere. Then I realised that there was nothing at ALL about the Nazis. How could you present this as a history of Lithuania up to 1953 & make no mention at all of WW2? I find that somewhat disturbing - and have no answer for it.

One recent Lithuanian president made a speech apologising to Lithuanian Jews that their mistreatment by the Nazis was tolerated by other Lithuanians. That caused controversy that he should not have said it. The rebuilding of the Jewish quarter as it was is also a controversial subject - "Lithuania will be made a slave to the Jews" said one MP. We've read in a few places that Lithuania has simmering anti-Semitic feelings & I think I read that it was here that neo-Nazism started.

After the museum we went up Gediminas Hill. Fortunately there was a funicular to take us to the top & back - it is quite a steep hill. At the top is the ruins of yet another 13th century castle, and also a restored 13th century tower, that you can climb for a view over the city

Tower on Gediminas Hill

. Yes we did it.

Today was mostly cloudy although there were occasional "nearly sunny" as well as other occasional drizzles.

After we came down Gediminas Hill (he was the founder of the Lithuanian dynasty of rulers) we wandered in a park near the river, then past St Anna & St Bernadino's church (we've seen outside & in a LOT of churches this trip).

On the way back to our hotel for a short break over lunch, we stopped at a little sort of corner-shop, looking for something small & local to eat. I'd read about something like perushkies and saw a range of sort of rolls that could be it. I asked the girl beside me if she spoke any English - she had just a few words, as did the woman behind the counter. They managed to convey that this one had sausage, this one cabbage, another had mushrooms, next 2 I've no idea, but the 2nd last one had meat & the last one chicken.

I tried to ask the girl are they OK cold or do they need to be hot, but I needn't have worried. The woman serving - once we'd chosen a chicken & a "meat" one, they were microwaved before being handed to us.

We came back to our hotel room & ate them here. No great culinary discoveries, but they were cheap &, I guess, local. From our guidebook - apparently they're called cepelinai (or zeppelins) & are made from a thick potato dough stuffed with fillings. David supplemented his with some cheese on crispbreads

On top Gediminas Hill

. And we finished off our apple juice.

After lunch we planned to visit the University quarter. Just before we reached the Uni area, we found the President's Palace. Actually there are a lot of former palaces here in Vilnius. Some are taken over as museums, one is now the Philharmonic centre...

We had to pay to visit the various University courtyards. Vilnius University was founded in 1579 during the Counter Reformation. It is Eastern Europe's oldest University & was run by the Jesuits for 2 centuries. It was closed by the Russians in 1832 and not reopened until 1919.

Some of the courtyards were ornate, some needed or were having renovation.

The University now contains St John's Church, which was founded in 1387 (so well before the University). This church was VERY ornate. Full of almost overlapping statues, paintings etc. As I said to David, it reminded me of when I was a child on some excursion to the Town Hall & was bored & counted the organ pipes.

View over Vilnius

In a couple of the chapels of the church were glass cabinets with very old books from the university. Text books dated in the 1500s, a Bible & a catechism from the same century. Maths, Architecture, Philosophy books from the late 1500s, more from 1600 to 1800s.

Something about walking around in the university though affected me & I felt somewhat melancholy. I don't really understand why, but it had to do with being a voyeur & looking on at a world in which we didn't belong.

Not that I would wanted to have belonged mind. The history of these countries makes me incredibly grateful to have been born in Australia.

The university bookshop was amazing - David photographed it to show to Cathy. The ceiling was somewhat like the Sistine Chapel. I tried to ask did they have any books in English by Lithuanian authors & they said no. Having said that, I found various children's stories and some histories etc that I would have said came under that category. There was a holocaust survivor's life story - but I didn't think I could face any more of that.

Modern Vilnius

In the end, we finished walking through the Uni - feeling even more outsiders as the students had obviously come out of classes & there were a lot more people around. We heard occasional English, sometimes quite accented, so obviously English becomes a common language for people from different lands.

After the university I was trying to explain to David what was behind my mood - but I didn't know, so how could I explain. We stumbled across another bookshop & went in. I asked the same question as before, was again told no, but in this case I did find some books that came close to what I was looking for. A sort of biannual journal that had stories, poetry, articles. One that caught my eye was "Did freedom come at too high a price?" Another was an account of life in Lithuania during the 1980s. So I bought 2 of these journals & David bought another book.

After that we went looking for a linen store that David thought I would like. I'd been praising David for the amazing job he has been doing of navigating in unknown cities - when he had a "minor lapse" & we ended up somewhere unexpected.

However when one is exploring a new city, even the unexpected can bring bonuses

Wall outside a tea shop

. We found remnants of the old city wall & bastion, & saw houses & into courtyards sort of "where people actually live" as opposed to places painted up to look good for visitors.

Up near the bastion we were on the top of another hill and looked across to Gediminas Hill & out over the city. There was a park that apparently is a popular place for couples in the evening. As I say, if you don't mind too much where you end up, much of interest can be found.

After realising that we were further away from the main part of the Old Town than we had intended, we happened to be near a place we'd thought too far away to visit, so this time we headed there deliberately.

The Gates of Dawn are the only gates of the original 16th century town wall still intact. The gate building houses the 18th century Chapel of the Blessed Mary - which even John Paul II came specially to visit. This houses a miracle-working icon of the Virgin, dating supposedly from the 14th century but apparently more likely from the 16th. Either way, people were coming & praying earnestly, and I saw several leaving with framed copies of the icon.

Presidential palace

After there we were walking back & on a whim decided to go in & try one of Vilnius' famed pancakes (crepes). We had a funny experience there. The menu had a lot of options. I decided to have a crepe with apple. David wanted a crepe with apple and ice-cream. Now you could have a crepe with apple or a crepe with ice-cream but we had great difficulty (mainly conveyed with pointing and counting on fingers etc) trying to explain what we each wanted. After the waiter left, I said to David "what do you think are the odds of us getting what we wanted?" He thought high, I did not.

When our order came - I had one wrapped up crepe with apple inside. David had a pancake folded in half with 2 balls of icecream on it - and also a crepe folded up with apple in it.

After that we had a quick stop in the supermarket & then finally found the linen shop we'd been looking for - actually quite close to our hotel. As a linen shop it was a disappointment but there was some quite nice ceramics & beads that I wish I could have photographed for the ideas.

Tomorrow afternoon we take a bus from Vilnius to Warsaw

Courtyard in Vilnius University

. Around 8 hours on the bus plus an hour's time difference, so we get into Warsaw around 11 pm. Don't expect a blog tomorrow night.

Our guide, Chris, who will be picking us up at our hotel on Saturday morning emailed us & offered to pick us up at Warsaw bus station tomorrow night & take us to our hotel. That will be good. We'll take something to eat on the bus because apparently it is not likely to stop for any meals.

And now we're going out to try to find a light snack for dinner/supper.

Cheers, from Kerry & David in Vilnius

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

St John's (University) Church	1599 book	University bookshop	Bastion (part of old town wall)
16th century Gate of Dawn

Slideshow Print this entry Share

Previous Entry Next Entry