The Baltic Trilogy — Lithuania

When it comes to perfect timing for travel planning in Europe, I always seem to strike great luck. From just making the final weekend of Oktoberfest to an Eastern European trip that snugly fit into my fall reading week, and even one-off trips such as Monaco, this final trip to the Baltic countries was another addition to the list of perfectly-timed travel.

One of my good friends from the France residence told me in November that he was planning to go back to his home country, Lithuania, on the 12th of December. Knowing that I had a final exam on that same day from 9 a.m. — 12 p.m., I wasn’t entirely sure if flying with him would be possible… that is until he told me that the plane was departing at 4 p.m.! This gave me exactly 4 hours to leave the school, go straight to the residence, pick up my packed luggage and commute to the airport with enough time to still check-in and go through security — challenge accepted. I realized then that the best part of completing final exams abroad is that you can reward yourself with travel right after.

Everything was so quick once I completed that final exam; I didn’t have time to digest the fact that I had technically completed my international exchange. As I collected my bags from the residence building, anyone I saw during the next 30 minutes would likely be my final interaction with that person. Watching the sullen students’ faces definitely pulled on the heartstrings but I knew inside that this wasn’t goodbye forever; just a temporary departure. We’ll visit each other again soon enough! A final wave of goodbye to everyone at the residence’s entrance doors and we were off to the airport.

I should mention that the flight to Lithuania wasn’t direct. We had to buy two separate discount airline tickets; one to the Brussels airport and from there to Vilnius, Lithuania the following morning. That means I was sleeping overnight at the Brussels airport… all over again. If sleeping at an airport overnight sounds like a bad idea, let me assure you that it is. The airport even goes out of its way to place thin metal arm rests on every single chair so it’s impossible to sleep horizontally. But I learned from my mistakes! This time I was prepared with several movies, TV shows and preloaded web articles (since the Internet isn’t free there) to keep me occupied for hours. Before I knew it, I was up in the air again!

Before even touching down in Vilnius, I looked out my window and saw something I hadn’t seen for many, many months: snow. Lots of it. So much that when I glanced out the window, I wasn’t sure if we were amidst a cloud or if I was looking at a snow-covered landscape. For clarification, it was the latter.

It was a shock for my body to be in such a cold climate so drastically. The temperature of -15° Celsius isn’t terribly cold but it’s the fact I was completely underdressed for it: no scarf, gloves, boots and only an autumn coat. Given the fact we were cold and tired, the first day in Lithuania was a write-off. Before we would call it a day though, our shrinking stomachs begged us for nutrition and we went to this elegant pub called Das Pubas (literally translated to “The Pub”). The food here was…amazing. Not just because I was really hungry but it was actually delicious and inexpensive, too. I believe my Eastern-European background jumped out at me in that pub because I couldn’t resist trying everything in sight! Although my parents are Slovak, the Lithuanian food was the closest I had to a traditional Slovak homemade meal in months. Since we’re on the topic of food, I’m just going to list now some of the awesome Lithuanian food you have to try if you ever visit.

• Cepelinai, which would be translated to “zeppelins” due to their shape, are grated potatoes that cover minced meat (usually pork). It’s usually served with sour cream and bacon bits and it’s really, really tasty… not to mention filling!
• Borscht, a pink soup that takes its colour from beetroot. Kind of weird but worth a try!
• Fried bread, best served with cheese!
• Dumplings with curd
• Pig ears. Yes, crunchy cartilage. I was not a fan, but very unique. Perhaps you’ll like it.

And if you’re Canadian, you’ll probably recall the bread bowl soups once served at Tim Hortons! Well, here it’s a pretty common thing! Many soups can be served in a traditional dark rye bread bowl that really adds to the meal. There’s also a great selection of cheap, but delicious, light and dark beers that are very distinct to the region.

The next morning began the real tour of Vilnius. The Lithuanians are a proud people and love showing their country, resulting in a full tour experience from our local friends. We started off in the centre of the city and worked our way out. It’s curious how resistant Lithuania used to be to adopting religion (they were, in fact, the last pagan country in Europe to adopt Christianity) but once they did, church construction surged — there’s so many now! Many of these structures are quite beautiful and worth the visit inside. Each of the following is the outside of a church following by it’s interior. I’ll start off with the Church of St. Teresa.

Next is the Cathedral of the Theotokos, which is located right beside the Vilnia River.

This next one is the Church of St. Anne.

One of the most noteworthy areas of worship is the Gate of Dawn, which is the only remaining gate in Vilnius that led to the village Medininkai at one point. A walk up the steps will lead you above the archway, which holds the religious artefact “Our Lady of the Gate of the Dawn” which contains a large, gold Virgin Mary portrait.

An area you won’t miss in the city is the Vilnius Square. Here you can find the Vilnius Cathedral and bell tower, and since I was visiting just two weeks before Christmas, there was even an enormous tree set up.

Another place worth checking out is the Vilnius University. It’s not meant to be a tourist attraction but ends up being one since the campus is stunning. However, one does not simply walk on campus unless you look like a student, otherwise you may be questioned. But, if you can manage to get inside, be prepared for some beautiful architecture, open courtyards, the school’s own church, and some beautifully hand-painted rooms.

The day was far from being over with lots to still see. And by lots, I mean an overview of the entire city from the tallest peaks around. We started by reaching the top of the Hill of Three Crosses. As you might expect, the hill does in fact have three large crosses at the top.

But it’s not so much the crosses that make the surprisingly manageable hike up the hill worth the view (although let’s be honest, it was nothing compared to Macedonia or Morocco), it’s the panoramic view you get of the city at dusk.

I want to point out 3 distinct points of interest in this next photo. The first is the Christmas tree and surrounding area from Cathedral Square. The second is the large TV tower in background that we will be visiting soon. And lastly is the castle tower and flag on the hill closest up; that’s the next hill we’d visit as soon as we got down from this one.

The climb up and down these hills are a bit slippery and by the time we reached the top of the next hill, the evening turned to night. This was actually a great thing to happen because the glow of the city made the pictures look spectacular. For those who enjoy city lights, the following photograph captures Vilnius quite well.

That night I met a bunch of my host’s other Lithuanian friends… and that was just crazy. They were a great bunch of people but, boy, can they ever drink! It was a night full of good laughs, stories and Facebook status pranks. All of these shenanigans made us start the next day very late and we just ended up revisiting some landmarks and dedicated most of the day to trying Lithuanian food. That night was also the eve of my birthday and in celebration we went to a rock pub annnnddd… didn’t do much actually. Chris and I cheersed our glasses at midnight but that was about the extent of the celebration. Back in Canada my friends always do something wild for me but this time it was just chill.

The following morning we took a bus to the Vilnius TV Tower, which is the tallest structure in Lithuania at 326.5 meters.

The view that day was quite foggy so the range of the cityscape was limited. Regardless, it was still great to sit in a booth and get a 360° view of the distant district of the capital city on the rotating restaurant floor.

I stayed classy with a Martini.

Yes, I’d never imagine in my life that I’d celebrate my 21st birthday in Lithuania of all places, but I’m glad I did.

The rest of the day consisted of exploring the final landmarks of Vilnius, which included City Hall, the historically chock-full yet depressing KGB Museum and a few more churches. Every night was a wonderful experience and built off the day before. Lithuania was just an incredible surprise. I do return one last time before leaving the Baltics, but for now, my main focus was going to Baltic country number two — Latvia!

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This blog entry is part of the publication Robert Cekan Travels & was originally written on January 27, 2013

Robert Cekan is a young entrepreneur and proud Hamiltonian. He is the founder of the Hamilton discovery website True Resident, as well as Cekan Group, a property management group. He is also a Hamilton REALTOR® with Ambitious Realty Advisors Inc., Brokerage and an active blogger.

For all of Robert’s projects, please visit robertcekan.com