Lithuania
Senamiestis

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    • Day 80

      Vilnius Lithuania ... is awesome

      July 27, 2022 in Lithuania ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

      Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania, located in Eastern Europe (now classified as Northern Europe) has had many names given to it, like Jerusalem of Lithuania or Rome of the North, but once it was also proclaimed the city of low-flying angels. The name came from many little sculptures of angels attached to the rooftops along the city. We could only assume the angels were the symbol of getting too curious and having to land to visit Vilnius, because the city has the largest medieval old town in central and eastern Europe, compacted in a tight area of only 3.59 square kilometers, making it an ideal place to explore culture by foot. Included in the UNESCO world heritage list Vilnius old town is packed with unique architecture, breathtaking history and boasting cafes and boutiques.

      The city outside of old town is very modern, with incredibly friendly people, and rich culture. This city had a very relaxed vibe, with gardens and parks everywhere, and is known for its café / lounge culture with numerous restaurants and bars throughout the city. Its no wonder the citizens of Lithuania drink more here than any other country in Europe with only Ireland, Germany, Czech Republic and Luxembourg on their heels. Lithuania is home to unique traditional food and drink as shared in our previous post. We got to sample pig ears, numerous craft beers and the best mead Dave and I have had. Mead (honey liquor) is a very common and traditional drink of Lithuania.

      There is so much to do and see in this city 6 days hardly seemed enough. Best of all this is known for being one of the cheapest major cities in Europe and we certainly welcomed $15 euro lunches and $25 euro dinners that left us feeling more than satisfied.
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    • Day 67

      My big fat Lithuanian night out

      September 12, 2022 in Lithuania ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

      Brace surprised us by taking us to Lokys - the oldest restaurant in Vilnius (the capital of Lithuania) to eat Zeppelins... A traditional Lithuanian food.

      We also had a bottle of Lithuanian sparkling wine & Lithuanian beers.

      Video one demonstrates exactly what eating in a nice restaurant with Lennon looks like 😅 and video 2 is a little later when the boys were drunk in a bar after the meal.... Lads lads lads 🍻
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    • Day 67

      Vilnius

      September 12, 2022 in Lithuania ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

      Capital of Lithuania, and a lovely end to the Baltics.

      We have really enjoyed the entire Baltic region, it was much grander than we expected, and so much history and well preserved to see.

      The people may not smile much 🤣 but they are a cool bunch who have kept their tribal and cultural roots well despite being taken over by various different powers, an underlying sense of so what we are just going to carry on preserved their language, songs and traditions that would have been otherwise lost over the years.

      So just because they don't smile, doesn't mean they aren't happy laid back or friendly, they just 'don't smile to make themselves look nice' as in out of politeness, and only smile when they naturally smile ☺ Lennon made lots of friends so we can vouch for it 😂
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    • Day 54

      Lithuania: Vilnius

      September 3, 2023 in Lithuania ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

      After a hair raising parking experience at the hostel where Olaf JUST squeezed through the gate into the hostel parking, it was time to explore the city. I think parking though almost gave Emz a heart attack. Vilnius quickly became one of our favourite cities! Loads of green spaces, super clean, the medieval architecture and cobbled streets once again and excellent food was all that awaited us. It also seemed we arrived on the wkd of the Vilnius Festival, so they had loads of stages with local bands playing...it created a very festive atmosphere despite us not knowing what they were singing about!😂
      We explored more of the city the next day and hiked up to this beautiful viewpoint that looked across the city. It was then time to head to one of the picturesque cafés and try the local cuisine which ended up being delicious! A cold beetroot soup for starters, potato and pork dumplings and a stacked herring salad similar to the old fashioned '7 later salad.' We were both very impressed! That evening we met some fellow travellers in the backpackers and it was interesting chatting to a French guy that had just been to St Petersburg, Russia to visit his girlfriend.😳 He says that the city carries on as before, but the place is littered with propaganda to sign up to the Russian military. Probably some more ominous signs of what is to come.😬 We also met a very interesting German guy who was in his 60s staying at the backpackers. This guy was truly fascinating! 1stly, he had just come from Minsk in Belarus which was interesting enough. But to add to this, he is completely fluent in English/German/Russian and French! He also had fascinating stories about the cold war and divided Germany and how things were like in those days. His knowledge of the local history and customs of Eastern Europe was unparalleled. His job was to assimilate Russian refugees with German heritage into Germany, but he did have a spy-like aura to him. Anyways, Vilnius is definitely a place to be recommended by us and the interesting people we met along the way was certainly a bonus!
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    • Day 79

      Food&Cafe Culture of Lithuania - UPDATED

      July 26, 2022 in Lithuania ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      We thought we could wet your appetite of all things Lithuanian by starting a post on some of the traditional Lithuanian foods we had for lunch. Afterwards we returned home for a quick coffee before heading out to explore more of Lithuania's capital. Lithuania is big on potatoes, dumplings, roasted meats and dairy. For lunch we had two different types of potatoe dumpling filled with meat. You could dunk them in crackle. Crackle is a pork and soup based dip. Or a combo of crackle and sour cream. We also had a traditional soup from lithuania which is a cold beat root soup. Typically containing sour cream, beats, dill, and boiled egg in the summer. In the winter they make a hot beet soup with a tomatoe base with potatoes. To top it all off we had a traditional sweet tea (buckthorn tea) and local brewed lager beer. Thus the need for coffee on our return. We thought this coffee maker was so neat we had to take a short video. There are so many traditional dishes of lithuania here, as well as Romanian Georgian and other eastern European countries there will be more food posts to come.Read more

    • Day 66

      Vilnius

      September 10, 2019 in Lithuania ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      Ein schöner Tag in der Hauptstadt! Es gab viel zu sehen und auch zu kaufen 😉 Trotz der Größe hat es echt Spaß gemacht!
      Minuspunkt - das unterirdische und peinliche Verhalten der asiatischen Touristen. Kein Benehmen, aufdringlich und in den Geschäften wie ein wilde Horde...Read more

    • Day 11

      Vilnius

      June 8, 2022 in Lithuania ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

      600km liegen vor uns. Frühstück wieder im Seasoon. Wieder eggs benedict und diesmal ein Omelett. Es schmeckt fantastisch, die Menge ist nicht zu schaffen. Für 3x Frühstück und ein Latte zahlen wir 18 Euro. Hier könnte man öfters frühstücken.
      Unterwegs kaufen wir in einem kleinen Laden Wurst und Schinken. Die Preise sind sehr niedrig. Der Schinken schmeckt lecker.
      Gegen 18 Uhr erreichen wir Vilnius. Auf einem Campingplatz haben wir die Möglichkeit zu duschen. Es regnet in Strömen. In Vilnius befindet sich in der Nähe der Altstadt ein preiswerter Parkplatz (Strazdelio gatve) 5 Stunden 3 Euro.
      Vilnius hat ca. 570 000 Einwohner, um 1900 lebten nur ca. 2% Litauer in der Stadt, sie galt als sehr liberal, viele suchten hier eine Zuflucht. Viele Juden fanden hier ein neue Zuhause. Litauen reichte zeitweise von der Ostsee bis zum schwarzen Meer.
      Etwas außerhalb der Altstadt essen wir in einem typischen litauischen Restaurant (Senoj trobele). Gefüllte Knödel, Krautrolladen und Dumplings mit Heidelbeeren gefüllt (nicht süß). Als Absacker Schnaps 999 in einem ice cube serviert. Eine Sportsbar findet sich nicht. Im Womo spielen wir unsere Partie Wizzard zu Ende.
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    • Day 26

      Vilnius, you beauty!

      July 13, 2022 in Lithuania ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      There is a massive amount to explore and marvel at in this beautiful city.
      It feels very green, with many parks and forests, even within the city space.
      Perhaps because of its heavy oppression within the last century, the city seems very accepting of others (the greatest support for Ukraine I have seen so far).
      There are several Orthodox churches, as well as the array of Catholic churches.

      A visit to the Museum of Occupations (the old KGB headquarters) was informative and moving. The whole point was to keep the USSR apart from the rest of the world, so we heard do little when I was young.
      There is a lot of interesting art, and quirky responses to control (like the independent colony of Uzupis).
      This is a country worth revisiting!
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    • Day 77

      Lithuanian History

      July 24, 2022 in Lithuania ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      Dave and I visited the National History museum yesterday that gave us an excellent account of Lithuanian History dating back over 13000 years ago with early nomadic Baltic tribes. In short Lithuania has had a very tumultuous past as an independent state as well as being under rule of Germany, a joint partnership with Poland. The French very briefly (Napolean 1812) and namely the kingdom of Prussia and Russia. Their culture and history is very unique and understandable a source of pride for the people here. For some more detail on Lithuanian history see here from Wikipedia;
      The history of Lithuania dates back to settlements founded many[specify] thousands of years ago,[1] but the first written record of the name for the country dates back to 1009 AD.[2] Lithuanians, one of the Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring lands and established the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century (and also a short-lived Kingdom of Lithuania). The Grand Duchy was a successful and lasting warrior state. It remained fiercely independent and was one of the last areas of Europe to adopt Christianity (beginning in the 14th century). A formidable power, it became the largest state in Europe in the 15th century through the conquest of large groups of East Slavs who resided in Ruthenia.[3] In 1385, the Grand Duchy formed a dynastic union with Poland through the Union of Krewo. Later, the Union of Lublin (1569) created the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that lasted until 1795, when the last of the Partitions of Poland erased both Lithuania and Poland from the political map. After the dissolution, Lithuanians lived under the rule of the Russian Empire until the 20th century, although there were several major rebellions, especially in 1830–1831 and 1863.

      On 16 February 1918, Lithuania was re-established as a democratic state. It remained independent until the outset of World War II, when it was occupied by the Soviet Union under the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Following a brief occupation by Nazi Germany after the Nazis waged war on the Soviet Union, Lithuania was again absorbed into the Soviet Union for nearly 50 years. In 1990–1991, Lithuania restored its sovereignty with the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania. Lithuania joined the NATO alliance in 2004 and the European Union as part of its enlargement in 2004.

      During the Post WWII Soviet occupation there was a forced deportation of Lithuanians to work in Siberia. One 14 yr old girl named Dalia Grinkevičiūtė wrote a memoir about her life during this time. The museum had an exhibit based on her writings. You can read more about it at the link below.

      https://audioteka.com/lt/audiobook/lietuviai-pr…

      Also depicted in the first and final two pictures is a little bit about The Baltic Way. The event occurred on 23 August 1989 where approximately 2 million people linked hands from Vilnius in Lithuania, through Riga in Latvia and ending in Tallinn in Estonia. The event was a protest against Soviet occupation.
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    • Day 31

      Vilnius

      April 11, 2023 in Lithuania ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

      Von Nida aus ging es wieder mit Bus und Fähre nach Klaipeda. Von da nahm ich dann einen überraschend neuen Zug nach Vilnius. Allerdings war dieser so voll, dass der Schaffner schon Angst hatte, dass er mich später rausschmeißen müsse, weil ich nicht reserviert hatte. Allerdings ging alles gut und so kam ich nachmittags im relativ warmen Vilnius an. Ich checkte im etwas heruntergekommenen Hostel ein und machte mich dann aber auch gleich auf den Weg Richtung Festung. Ich bin da schnell mit dem E-scooter hin gescootert, trotzdem war ich fast zu spät. Danach spazierte ich ein bisschen durch die Innenstadt. Mir kam alles etwas kleiner und hügeliger als Riga vor. Dafür war auch hier die Stadt sehr lebendig, es gab Straßenmusiker und überall war was los. Als ich durch einen Supermarkt lief, fieshl mir die abgesperrte Alkoholabteilung auf: Alkohol gibt es hier nur noch ab 20 Jahren und unter der Woche nur bis 20 Uhr am Wochenende sogar kürzer. Da sind die Gesetze hierzu wie in allen Ländern mindestens seit Finnland strenger als bei uns, was ich aber gar nicht so verkehrt finde. Alkohol kam mir auch relativ teuer vor, wahrscheinlich würde er auch entsprechend mehr versteuert.
      Meine eigentliche Überraschung kam dann am nächsten Morgen: eine Maus hatte sich durch Simons Rucksack in mein Brot gefressen. Damit hätte ich nun wirklich nicht gerechnet. Lange Zeit mir darüber Gedanken zu machen blieb aber nicht, ich musste direkt los zum Bahnhof, um den einen Zug der am Tag Richtung Warschau zu nehmen. Zum Frühstück gab es, da mein Brot ja nicht mehr da war, einen traditionellen, keksartigen Baumkuchen.
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