Our first day was so hectic that we didn’t mention much about the hotel. On this trip, we’ll be staying in boutique hotels. These are smaller hotels, no name brands, that are a block or two off of main thoroughfares. The Rinno Hotel is charming and the rooms are very spacious. We are sure we’ll be comfortable here for three nights.
Before starting out for the day, we enjoyed the traditional European breakfast. Juices, breads, jams, yogurt, cereal, veggies, cheese, etc., as well as a beautiful coffee machine that makes a delicious fresh cup of whatever you choose. As a bonus, we had options for an omelet, pancakes (more like crepes), or scrambled eggs. We enjoyed the delicious breakfast and look forward to the next two mornings of it!
One of the fun things about our travels is the people we meet at breakfast. This morning we met Carolyn and Russ, two Americans who have been teaching at a NATO school in Europe for 20+ years. After introducing ourselves as fellow Americans they asked, ”why Lithuania, is your family from here?”. Same question three times in less than a day?
This is already comical! They were a lovely couple and we do hope we cross paths again this trip, which is possible as they’re taking the same journey through the same travel agency. (We know this as during discussions with the, we discovered we stole their guide. They originally had Tomas for their first day, but he told them he had to take another larger group that came in, i.e. us.)
We met our guide, Tomas, at 10 am to take a walking tour of Vilnius. As a lifelong resident of Vilnius he had so much history to provide!
With the hotel 10 minutes walking distance from old town, we weaved our way through some residential alley ways to get to the old town area.
We finally ended up in Town Hall Square (in front of the town hall).
One of the interesting tidbits we learned, was that as Lithuania was preparing to join NATO (they officially joined in 2004), George W. Bush was in this very town square, giving a speech. The most salient part of the quote, is enshrined on the wall of the town hall.
From Town Hall Square, we could see several churches peeking out over the buildings (our guide said while many give differing numbers, with some claiming that there is more than 50, there are at least 28 main churches in the old town area).
The church in front is St. Casimir’s Church, a jesuit church. The spire in the rear, with a tubular riser into a “crown” is an Orthodox church (St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox church). Here are a couple of closer looks:
Continuing on up the street towards the Gate of Dawn (more on this in a bit), we saw many differing and very interesting architectural styles, as well as fascinating courtyards on the back side of tunnels through the buildings.
No, this is not the Gate of Dawn… just another beautiful inner gateway.
When we finally made it to the Gate of Dawn, our guide told us that Vilnius used to be a walled City. Ironically, less for defense, and more for control of the money. Without gates for them to pass through, the various merchants and other goods sellers could come and go without paying their taxes. By building the walls, and controlling the gates to get into the City, the government could collect all taxes due to them from all people.
The Gate of Dawn besides being the only remaining city gate of Vilnius (out of 10), is also one of the most iconic or important religious monuments in Lithuania. A real quick abbreviated background on why is that back in the day, many City gates held religious artifacts. The Gate of Dawn held a painting of the Virgin Mary. At one point adjacent buildings caught fire and there was much destruction.
But wait… the painting was untouched. Nor did the Gate of Dawn burn down. Which clearly demonstrated the miraculous properties of the painting, and thus the gate that houses it. Many pilgrims now come to see the gate/painting and pray before the picture.
Sadly, photography was not allowed, so a quick description is the best we can give of the sacred painting. The Virgin Mary’s face was impressive, as were her hands. That may sound odd, but that is all we could see of the painting, the rest has since been covered in gold, with only the face and hands being left exposed.
A quick glimpse of the back-side of the Gate of Dawn.
After passing through the gate, we walked along the outside remnants of the walls.
After leaving the walls and old town, we headed for another “country” within Lithuania, the Republic of Uzupis. While originally composed of hoodlums, crooks and thieves (back in the day), the area was taken over by artists who to use a current phrase, wanted to live their best life.
They created a Constitution (it really read more like a manifesto than a constitution, but artists can use whatever words they want). Generally this Republic is on it’s own island (on the other side of the Vilnele river), with bridges to cross to get to it.
With some views of the Republic of Uzupis (the artistic refuge)…
With one street having the Constitution repeatedly posted along the wall in (many) multiple languages.
Shortly after leaving Uzupis, we came upon another pair of magnificent churches, St. Anne, flanked by St. Francis church, both gothic churches.
We next ended up at Cathedral Square, where we could see the Palace of the Grand Dukes (right), over looked by a remaining castle tower (off picture further right), and adjacent to another cathedral (center). The tower (left) next to the cathedral is the bell tower for the cathedral.
We ended our walking tour at the Presidential residence (essentially their White House).
Since the top flag was not flying, the President was not in residence at the time we were there, so we weren’t able to ask him any questions. Our guide said that their president often takes walks through old town and you can see and speak to him, as he is not as rigorously protected as other dignitaries.
The tour ended around lunchtime (well, late lunch by US standards but normal for Europeans) so we made our way back to a restaurant that serves traditional Lithuania food.
What is traditional you ask? Root vegetables, mainly potatoes. Potatoes are prominent both in both entrees as well as side dishes. We added a flight of some type of alcohol so we could sample while we waited for our meal. Keep in mind that Jay, who doesn’t drink, not only ordered the flight but partook in each one.
Here is the description of the flight – “Strong Drink Roller” with “Beetroot with Truffles, Old Horseradish, Artemisia Vulgaris 6+, Bacon Flavor, and Thyme with Honey and Saffron”. Artemisia Vulgaris is a species in the daisy family but it, as with the others, were described by Jay as ‘vulgaris’.
And it was agreed by all, that the old adage “bacon makes everything better” is wholly and unequivocally UNTRUE. Bacon does not make alcohol better!!! Trust us!
We spent our evening in prison. Lukiškės prison to be precise. We weren’t allowed to take pics, with exception of one place, so you’ll have to appreciate our description.
In 1904 the prison was built by the Russians and was designed after a prison in St. Petersburg, the only difference being the prison in Vilnius had one less wing. The prison was an active prison until 2019. From an American’s perspective, one would have assumed it closed 40+ years ago.
It was dark, dank, and housed up to 13 people in a cell (4 bunk beds, 2 under beds, 2 in the aisle, and 1 ‘hugging the toilet’). They were held as prisoners in a prison and were not entitled. No communal dining area – they ate in cells. No gym – they spent up to 22 hours in a cell and their ‘outdoor time’ was in a triangular shape between buildings with no roof. The outdoors they were able to enjoy was the sky, regardless of rain, or shine, or snow.
After being shut in a dark cell for a measly 3 or 4 minutes, we definitely decided incarceration was not for us, so keeping to the straight and narrow is a must. We did learn quite a few tidbits about prison life, prison culture, and just general prison information. None of which is appropriate for a blog… so we’ll summarize as succinctly as possible: Prison Really Sucks! No stars out of 5, avoid at all costs.
We’ll see you tomorrow.
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