Vilnius, Lithuania

March 11-12 Lithuania

Have you ever wandered into a place you've never been before, took a look around and almost immediately felt at home? Like you belonged? That was Vilnius, Lithuania for me.

It all began when my American friend Kevin and I decided we wanted to take a trip. After looking at the weather and casually bouncing around ideas of Minsk or Kiev, we settled on nearby Riga in Latvia and Vilnius in Lithuania. After some investigation, we discovered that buses run daily and cheaply from Tallinn to both locations and so we packed our bags and settled in for the nine hour trip to Vilnius. It was an overnight bus ride and I was trying to be as efficient as possible so we saved on accommodation and travel time by travelling and sleeping in one practical combination. Unfortunately, I am famous getting quite bus sick and so for the duration I was trying to sleep on Kevin's shoulder, much to his chagrin, with god awful nausea and heartburn and a plastic bag beside me. Cute. Luckily, I nodded off right after we hit Riga and soon arrived safely in Vilnius with nothing but some fatigue.

After getting us hopelessly lost in order to try and find our hostel (which means I walked in the entirely wrong direction into the seediest part of town possible at around 6am), we got a chance to sit, have some tea and meet a fellow traveller before heading out into Lithuania's Old Town (not so seedy, I promise). Kevin, my impulsive travelling partner, whose sense of curiosity and play I consistently fail to emulate, insisted on going inside every church we came across and walking down every street possible. I didn't mind. Vilnius' streets are wide and clean and bright with the buildings, more often than not, having these amazingly beautiful art nouveau facades. Even the most run down buildings are still graceful with iron balconies and stucco on their exteriors. Lithuania has some sights that almost remind me of someplace like Rome. Many have pillars and ornate plaster decorations that gleam in the sunlight. It's incredibly beautiful and the weather we had on this trip did the city justice. It was clear and bright the entire time we were gone.

The description I wrote just now only begins to describe the atmosphere of this city and what I'm about to say next may surprise you. The place is absolutely covered in graffiti. Covered. Every available space has a tag or a painting or something on it which gives an otherwise almost too-perfect place a real grunge-y, underground feeling. Part of the national culture, Lithuania has always been the upstart of the Baltics. The people are louder, more open and although I hate to say it, friendlier than their Northern neighbours. Not that Estonians aren't friendly, just more reserved. Therefore, there are parts of this city like which I haven't seen anywhere else in the Baltics. Whole districts devoted to art and music. Youthful Uzupis is a good example. It was my favourite part of our explorations. Located to the right of Old Town, it has actually declared independence as it's own republic with it's own president and flag. Every niche is covered in graffiti with alleys and narrow streets throughout. Small bridges connect it with the outskirts of the Old Town and each bridge has a large collection of locks attached from people who have gotten married and had locks for the bridges engraved with their names. On the other side of Uzupis is a pedway connecting it to a lovely park. Standing at the edge of the small waterways, I could have stayed forever. Something about the beautiful juxtaposed against the slightly grimy and the very arty makes it feel like home.

Vilnius is also home to a large outdoor market where vendors don't sell food but rather, art. It's very fitting judging by the brief glimpse I had of the city's character. Rows and rows of paintings were closely guarded by their artists and I have to say that if I had had enough room to transport some home, I would have purchased half of the stalls. They were really good! I wish more places had things like that. Now, this market was located just past the presidential palace and I will now walk you through what we saw along the way. Cutting straight through Old Town from the hostel, you first pass through the Dawn Gates which are the only one of nine gates originally built around the town. Passing by the philharmonic, you then reach the centre which had shopping, hotels and residential buildings around large, wide streets with lots of grass. Yes, there was grass. The first I'd seen since leaving Canada. Leaving the centre, you walked toward the Cathedral which was most definitely the architectural pinnacle of the trip. Huge, with white columns and statues, and situated in a large tiled square, it could have rivalled anything found in Greece or Italy. Continuing on, you eventually reach a river separating the Old Town from the newer business centre. To walk along this river is very pleasant and that was mostly how we spent our afternoon. Close to the river are the Royal Palace and the city museum where there is a large hill boasting fabulous views of every part of Vilnius. So we took the glass elevator up to the top and proceeded to gawk for an extended period of time. By this time our legs felt as though they might fall off, so we took some time to eat and recover.

The latter part of the day consisted of the museum which formerly housed the KGB offices and prison, whose prison part has been kept intact. There were also top levels devoted to Soviet Occupation and the Holocaust. Lithuania was hit extremely hard by both of these events and over time, lost a third of its population due to deaths, disappearances and deportations. Seeing the prison was a particularly intense experience as hearing about various Soviet methods of torture is very different from seeing the chambers and leftover personal belongings of the victims in person. One that really dug under my skin was the ice room, where the prisoner was forced to stand on the small metal pedestal for days, surrounded by ice. So, his choices were to stand, or to fall and risk the harm of laying in a vat of ice for days and days. This to me, is unimaginable, yet the proof that it happened was directly in front of me. The museum serves as a sort of shrine that dedicates itself to remembering the occurrences of the last sixty or seventy years and that also tells all of its visitors about the popular resistance to these events by Lithuanians who risked everything to fight for their freedom. No person need look any further for women's lib in the Baltics as the stories of the women who were also part of the resistance feature heavily in the exhibits and also detailed their punishments if and when they were caught. The most severe punishments were either death by firing squad, prison, or 25 years in hard work camps. I wondered what in particular each had done to merit their fates. I learned a lot here, and though sobered after a lovely day, don't regret going to see it in the slightest. It was certainly something I won't soon forget.

So, for only spending a day and a half in the city, Kevin and I packed as much as possible into our stay. Leaving Vilnius felt a bit sad because there were still parts that I hadn't seen, but I consoled myself knowing that if I so enjoyed it, I would make it a priority to go back. And so, I will.

After another five hours on a bus….. Riga!