We are on the move again. Liam headed out to meet his family for the second part of his trip before Tom and I got up. We got up, headed out of the AirBNB to the bus stop to catch our Lux bus to Vilnius which is about a 5 hour ride from Riga. This being our second bus ride of the trip, you realize how sparsely populated these countries are. They are not many cities or towns between the capitals. There are lots of pine forests and then farmland.

Entering Vilnius, you begin to see the modern city and it is larger than Riga and seems more prosperous. They are many modern apartment blocks and motorways. The city is bisected by the river Neris. The bus continued through the city and arrived at the bus station that is near the older part of the city.

We wandered down to the AirBNB where we are staying. On the way, we passed historical markers that describe the Jewish history of Vilnius. It was considered the Jerusalem of the north during the Middle Ages as the city had a hundred synagogues. As can be imagined, there is little of that history that remains today after WWII and the Holocaust.

Our AirBNB is quite unique. It is in a house that was build in 1521. It has brick arches, hard wood floors, a plaque in the floor which lights up to give the date of the house. The furnishings are Victorian in style. The most interesting part is there are LED lights that light up various parts of the apartment. In the shower is a glass display column and while in the shower the lights rotate color. It is a fun apartment but definitely unique.

August must be wedding season in Vilnius and Saturday must be the most common date. As we were walking from our AirBNB to the center of the old city, we passed a church and heard music emanating from the church, so we stepped in and a wedding ceremony was being performed. We found a cafe to have lunch and while sitting and eating, two bridal parties drove by. After lunch we explored the Vilnius University (founded by the Jesuits in 1500s) and saw the end of one wedding and another wedding party having their pictures taken. After doing more sightseeing, we stopped at the cathedral and there was another wedding party taking pictures. In all, I think we counted 7 weddings.

Tom had found a good lookout to view the city so we walked along the river and then up Bald Hill. I do not know how many steps and what the gradient was but it was an impressive hike to get to the Three Crosses which commemorate the death of some Franciscan monks who brought Christianity to Lithuania and were killed in the process. As is much the case in the Baltics, the statute of the Three Crosses has had a turbulent history. It was originally wooden crosses and constructed in the sixteen hundreds. Over the years because of the back and forth rule of the country, the monument has been destroyed and rebuilt. It was last destroyed by the Soviet authorities after WWII and then was rebuilt after Lithuanian independence from the Soviet Union. Lithuania has been part of or conquered by Poland (joint empire), Imperial Russia, Germany and the Soviet Union.

The view from the top of the hill was great and gave you a great perspective of the city. There are two rivers/streams that you can see from the hill, the Neris and the Vilnele which the city is named after. There are great park spaces along the Neris and Vilnele.

We walked down the hill and walked over to Uzupis. This is republic with in the city that has its own constitution, flag and currency. It declared itself an independent nation in 1997. It was a seedy and dangerous part of the city then and a group of Bohemian artists started Uzupis. There is still some of the vibe but it is mainly a more upscale art area now.

There is a famous statue of a fat cat there and we found it. There is a legend that if you rub the cat’s ear you will have no fear. There is a list of the way you will not have fear on a plaque with the cat statue.

As per our usual day, we found a nice place to have a cocktail before dinner. We sat in the window and watched people walk by on a fun street.

We had dinner at Cafe 18 after trying to find a Lithuanian restaurant in Old Town. The ones we found had very long lines and seemed very touristy so we opted for a different dinner option. The food was good. We had a grilled zucchini and asparagus appetizer and then I had Salmon and Tom had chicken. Again there is not much indigenous wine so we had Txakoli which comes from the Basque region of Spain and was Cafe 18’s house wine.

We ended the evening with a surprise. We were heading up the street where we had our pre-dinner drinks and dinner as we had seen lots of people walking up and down the street the whole time we were there and wanted to see what was up the street. We passed a cocktail bar that was dedicated to Nick and Nora Charles (the main characters of the Thin Man movie series from the 1930-40s). Nick and Nora are notorious for drinking and especially cocktails. The bar Nick and Nora says they make traditional cocktails with Lithuanian sprits and ingredients. The bar has many phones of the movie characters. I made Tom stop and have a drink as I a huge fan of the movies and they are great fun.

It was a fun way to start our stay in Vilnius!