Vilnius (Lithuania)

...Riga was my favourite, however, Vilnius was the city I couldn't really put my finger on. Maybe it was fatigue, after all Ade and I were coming to the end of a hard week eating and drinking our way around the lesser known parts of Eastern Europe. Unusual alphabetical affectations and long strings of consonants no longer held the same amusement value. Looks of consternation and annoyance from service industry staff we not so easy to shrug off. Maybe ...
...WHEN EAST MEETS WEST
Vilnius is the same and yet different from the other two Baltic capitals. There's the same sense of history through architecture. The same contrast between the ancient and modern and the same ghost of Soviet history quickly being overshadowed by a burgeoning market economy. Again, you can divide the city into Old Town and New Town, although in the case of Vilnius, the transition is far smoother as you move almost seamlessly ... more

After just one look, I fell for the goddess of the YHA. Her eyes were as deep and dark as the Baltic sea itself and their contents were just as unknown. Her name tripped off my tongue like a drunk running down the UP escalator, the contemptuous sneer that played across her crimson lips was almost regal and melted my simple, Mancunian heart. I knew right then and there that I had to have her. And like countless others before her ... ... ... she was having none of it!

No, this wasn't Dawn.

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This fourth instalment completes the chronicling of a week-long trip I made to the Baltic Region of Europe in September 2000 with my good friend Adrian Dowd. His account, "The Toilets of Eastern Europe" sponsored by Armitage Shanks, may be found in some of the less discerning publications.

For those in pursuit of knowledge as well as the armchair traveller.
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The capital cities of all three Baltic states have many things in common and I recommend all of them highly for somewhere to visit that's slightly out of the ordinary, or off the beaten track. As prosaic as it sounds, they all manage to mix Soviet, colonial and modern architecture, history and attitudes almost seamlessly and I think this is the fascination and the wonder of this region.

If Riga was my favourite, however, Vilnius was the city I couldn't really put my finger on. Maybe it was fatigue, after all Ade and I were coming to the end of a hard week eating and drinking our way around the lesser known parts of Eastern Europe. Unusual alphabetical affectations and long strings of consonants no longer held the same amusement value. Looks of consternation and annoyance from service industry staff we not so easy to shrug off. Maybe we had run out of steam. Or maybe it was this place?

HOCUS POCUS
Five minutes walk from the bus station was the Old Town Youth Hostel, whose custodian you’ve just read about. This is a hostel of the more "rough and ready" variety and from the notices and comments that were stuck on the pin boards, it sounded like it was pretty much party central if you’re young, uninhibited and "looking for a good time". There were recommendations for nightclubs, bars and restaurants and it all seemed pretty encouraging stuff. Adrian and I, being - ahem - elder statesmen in youth hostel terms are just happy if we can find somewhere new and interesting to sip a quiet cup of cocoa at the end of a gruelling day, as I’m sure you will appreciate.

Straight out of the hostel and you're on one of the main arterial streets, Ausros Vartu gatve, you pass through the Gates of Dawn and into the confines of the city walls. It's the only one of the town's nine original gates still standing, a single tower that houses the icon of the Virgin Mary which has a reputation for doling out miracles and is one of Eastern Europe's leading pilgrimage destinations.

Fascinating Rock Facts About Vilnius, No. 1:

The Gates of Dawn. As a reformed hippy, it's the type of thing that's bound to jump off the page and smack me round the head - in a metaphorical sense, of course. As soon as I glanced at the city map there they were, neatly labelled in black and white, the first thing I noticed. Now for the uninitiated, the "Gates of Dawn" crop up in a Pink Floyd album title as well as featuring in a hundred other dodgy prog-rock songs attempting to invoke themes of destiny and goblins and all that other Tolkein-esque, fantasy, Middle Earth hogwash. However, here they were, not attached to the front a wizards castle visited only by Conan the Goatshagger and his pet troll, as one might have been led to imagine, but the very gates to the very real and thriving city of Vilnius. Marvellous.

WHEN EAST MEETS WEST
Vilnius is the same and yet different from the other two Baltic capitals. There's the same sense of history through architecture. The same contrast between the ancient and modern and the same ghost of Soviet history quickly being overshadowed by a burgeoning market economy. Again, you can divide the city into Old Town and New Town, although in the case of Vilnius, the transition is far smoother as you move almost seamlessly from one part to the other. There’s no clear definition of where the "old" finishes and the "new" begins.

Renovation is happening all over the place but the city fails to provide the same sort of impact compared with its sister capitals, almost as if its "normalisation" process is that much more advanced here. Vilnius, it appears, has transitioned from 'storybook fiefdom with bizarre name' to 'bustling metropolis with historic flavour' quicker than anyone could have imagined, a rapidity that more than raises an eyebrow. Looking around, you can only think that here is a city on the periphery of Western Europe that desperately wants to be part of the club; there's even a restaurant called NATOs - make of that what you will.

The two halves of the city pivot around the great Cathedral square (Katedros aikste) overlooked by Gediminas hill and containing the majestic and wholly impressive Vilnius cathedral. Reconsecrated in 1989 after being used as a picture gallery during the Soviet era, the glorious interior has been sensitively refurbished and betrays little of the turbulent history of this most central of buildings. The square itself has been the focus of the city since the 13th century and was the scene of many of the mass gatherings during Lithuania's campaign for independence.

Elsewhere, Vilnius is very pleasant to walk round but to be honest you just don't get as much bang for your buck as you do in Riga or in Tallinn. For history and architecture buffs, however, there's still plenty to view and do and the atmosphere is laid back and friendly.

The main hub of the new town, Gediminas prospekt, is a busy modern shopping street with department stores and fashionable boutiques, coffee shops, bars and restaurants as well as the obligatory McDonalds, provider of bathroom services to the super-economy class traveller. The old town has the main concentration of bars and restaurants and there's plenty of good eats to be had. My innate "rock radar" led Ade and I to Bix, a bar/restaurant owned by a local band of the same name (decor: dark, dingy, guitars on wall) the menu was good, the beer was plentiful, the rock was loud so Paicey was happy.

THE MUTHA OF INVENTION
Fascinating Rock Facts About Vilnius, No. 2.

This city is home to a memorial commemorating the late, great muso nutcase Frank Zappa. Situated on Kalinuasko gatve (behind an E. N. T. clinic) and a real bugger to locate, it's a bronze bust of the man himself, on top of an eight foot high steel column, surrounded by some sort of grafitti-style shrine type affair. It had been set up by the Lithuanian Frank Zappa fan club in 1995 after "a long dispute with various authorities who though the idea preposterous". That clinched it for me - I'm not particularly a fan, but I just had to go find it. One thing is for sure, it most definitely IS preposterous and tucked so far out of the way at the arse end of the city as to be somewhat pointless too. Brilliant!

IT’S NOT THE LEAVING OF LITHUANIA THAT GRIEVES ME...
Leaving Lithuania behind, heading back for our eventual return flight from Helsinki (via Estonia once more) I was finally able to indulge my enthusiasm for train travel. Even better - a sleeper train. As we turned up at the platform we were welcomed on board by the carriage attendant, a large, hard-faced young woman called Svetlana. She showed us to our compartment, pausing only momentarily to glower before dissolving away with all the grace of Hugo the hungry hippo.

We'd taken care to book a second class "kupe" compartment, which is very similar to the couchette style that Inter-railers would be familiar with travelling around the more oft-visited areas of Europe. Accommodating four people in all, the two bench seats facing each other converted into surprisingly comfortable beds and two more beds folded down from where the luggage rack should have been. Thankfully, Ade and I were the only occupants and so had a little uninterrupted p & q as the train rumbled into the night at a deceptively un-rapid 40 mph.

This being a Russian train there was a Samovar in the corner for dispensing hot water free for all-comers. Not missing a trick, Svetlana quickly supplied us with a nice hot cuppa char and returned moments later to extract from us a handful of Litas; an outrageous 50p a cup. (Ha! You speak English now, don't you?) The tourist industry is in many ways very sophisticated.

Rocked to sleep by the movement of the ageing, buckling ironworks beneath us and occasionally woken as we screeched slowly into another unpronounceable station, the evening wore on pleasantly and drowsily until around 2.30 when there was a sharp rap at the compartment door before it was thrust open by Svetlana who barked something incomprehensible before disappearing again. "Come to Papa!" I nearly cried out, before violently shaking my head to rid it of the fuzziness of sleep and any residual lunacy. Moments later, the train ground to a halt in the middle of nowhere, in the pitch black. Huh?

F**k it I though and went back to sleep. The second rap at the door was louder and more peremptory and into the compartment came a very compact looking Heckler and Koch pistol attached to the side of a 19 year old conscript in an over-complicated uniform. Border control. And so we left Lithuania; tired and irritable.

VILNIUS IN A NUTSHELL
As you can probably tell, I can't really get over-enthusiastic about Vilnius, as I said before, I couldn't really get the measure of the place. However, one thing's for sure, there's still lots to see and discover in this city, it was a perfectly pleasant place to stay and I enjoyed the couple of days I spent there. The people of Lithuania are reputed to be gregarious and friendly, the Italians of the North. I certainly didn't find that, they seemed to be fairly aloof and reserved (although agreeable enough), more like the Portuguese!

Like its sister capitals there is a growing tourism infrastructure, so you shouldn't have too much difficulty finding somewhere to stay that suits your budget. Most of the city is easily accessible by foot and there's a pretty reasonable public transport network (buses and trolleybuses) which cost practically bugger all to ride.

Cost-wise it's a little more expensive than the other two Baltic capitals, but still reasonably priced from a UK point of view. You can eat well for two or three quid, a beer (half a litre) about a quid, a mid-range hotel room (I had to research this) around 50 quid.

As mentioned in earlier opinions, the easiest way to get around the Baltic region is by coach, e.g. Eurolines, and from Vilnius you can also easily get to Poland and Germany this way. Train travel is also feasible enabling you to get to Riga and onwards to St. Petersburg or Moscow.

Thanks for reading!

LINKS
Official Vilnius Tourist site: www.vilnius.lt/new/en/gidas.php?open=40
Vilnius in Your Pocket: www.inyourpocket.com/Lithuania/Vilnius_home.shtml
Frank Zappa: www.zappa.com

© Paiceyjohn 2002 

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