Vilnius

Ted. Judy had visited Moscow twice back in the mid 1990's but this was my first trip to a part of the former Soviet Union. When our Polish friends offered to take us to visit Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, I was curious to see how much looked liked the rest of Europe and how much looked like my imagined vision of the old USSR. 

On our way to Vilnius, Robert said that we had to make on stop first. Trakai, the 14th century capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is famous for its beautiful island castle.

No, I don't own a drone. This photo is from the internet

During his reign, Grand Duke Vytautas invited a number of Karaite families to move from Crimea to Trakai and their presence is still felt. 

Kariate houses have three windows across the front

This fascinating sect has their own language and practices a form of Judaism that dates back to 8th century Mesopotamia. We had lunch at a Karaite restaurant and enjoyed their stuffed pastries called kibinai. We finished with their “national drink,” a glass of krupnik. This is a sweet, spiced flavored vodka that my Polish grandpa used to make at Christmas. 

After this pleasant stop, we arrived in Vilnius, a city that has been a very important to Poles since 1569 when Poland and Lithuania were united. Even today, the first language of 6% of the population of Lithuania is Polish. Many historic markers in Vilnius are written in Lithuanian and Polish. I was surprised to find that, in spite of the cultural ties, there are virtually no similarities between Polish (a West Slavic language) and Lithuanian (an East Baltic language). 

Vilnius was founded in 1323 by Grand Duke Gedminas who moved his capital here.

A drunken Grand Duke being nudged home?

The castle tower which bears his name is still an important symbol of the city. 

In 1989, over two million people joined hands to create The Baltic Way, a human chain from Tallinn, Estonia, through Riga, Latvia, to the Gedminas Tower in Vilnius; a peaceful protest of the occupation by the Soviet Union of these three little countries. This brave action by approximately 1/4 of the total population led to independence for all three countries within the next two years. 

Roman Catholicism is the primary religion in both Poland and Lithuania so the two peoples share many shrines. Interestingly, Poland became officially Christian in 966 AD but Lithuania was the last European pagan country and didn’t become officially Christian until 1387. Vilnius is known as The City of 1,000 Churches and we visited a bunch of them. The Gate of Dawn is a major pilgrimage site for Catholics from around the world. 

The shrine is above a gate to the city

Independent thinker Judy loved strolling through Užpis, a quirky little neighborhood that, like Christiania in Copenhagen, declared itself a republic in 1997. Allegedly, they wrote their constitution in about three hours. 

Robert made sure we got to visit the central market where I drooled at all of the smoked meat stalls. 

After that, we were all starving so Robert guided us a nearby kosher restaurant which is about all that is left of a once thriving Jewish neighborhood (more about that in another post). 

Judy, Ania, Robert and I saw lots of beautiful buildings and cozy neighborhoods in our three day visit. There was still lots of Stalinist architecture to be found but the Lithuanians are creating a bold forward looking capital of which they can be proud.

The New Town