Most of today was spent driving from Minsk to Vilnius, Lithuania. My guide did not come on the trip--the driver drove me and another couple to Vilnius, where we joined the rest of the tour--apparently the "Belarus and Baltic States" tour was a combination of the company's "Belarus" tour (which I was the only member of), and their "Baltic States" tour, which had about 30 people.
Under normal circumstances the drive from Minsk to Vilnius takes about 3 hours, but we were warned that there could be long delays at the border--which there were.
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| Leaving the outskirts of Minsk |
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| Belarussian countryside |
When we got to the Belarus-Lithuania border, there was a backup of about 2-3 miles. Lithuania (along with Latvia and Estonia) are members of the European Union, but Belarus is not, which appears to be the main reason for the border delay. The border people on both sides did not seem particularly interested in getting folks through at a speedy rate, and the crossing itself took about 3 hours.
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| Happy travelers at the border crossing |
Eventually, we did cross and headed towards Vilnius, which was about 45 minutes from the border.
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| On the outskirts of Vilnius |
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| Central Vilnius |
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| Map of central Vilnius |
We arrived at the hotel (Radisson Blu), at about 5:00. The hotel is at the top of the map above, across the river from the Vilnius Old Town.
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| Radisson Blu Vilnius (tower), next to a shopping center |
The hotel had been built in the Soviet era, but they had done a pretty good job of renovating it. There was a bar on the 26th floor which had some good views over the city.
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| My room in Vilnius |
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| View of Vilnius from my hotel |
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| View towards Vilnius Old Town |
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| View of more modern area |
After checking in, I met our guide(s) and the rest of the tour group. There were more than 30 people on the tour, and we were divided into a group of English and German speakers, who had one guide/bus, and another group of Spanish and Italian speakers who had a separate guide and bus. Of the English/German speaking group, about half of us were English speakers.
After meeting the group and tour guide, I took a walk to the Old Town.
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| Looking back towards the hotel and modern buildings from across the river |
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| A visit to check out the McDonalds menu. Prices are in Euros. |
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| St. Catherines Church |
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| A street in Old Town |
Eventually, I arrived at
Town Hall, which was built in 1799. In front of Town Hall is the main square of Old Town.
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| Vilnius Town Hall |
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| Town Hall square with outdoor restaurants |
I stopped for dinner at a restaurant near Town Hall. I had previously asked my nephew who had spent some time in Lithuania for some food recommendations. He suggested that I order something called a Zeppelin, which was sort of a national dish. A
zeppelin is a large dough dumpling with stuffed with meat in a sauce. In my case, the meat was bacon, and the sauce appeared to be pure butter. I'll go on a diet next week.
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| Town Hall after dark |
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| Town Hall square after dark. |
Monday, July 11: Vilnius Old Town and Trakai Castle
The morning and early afternoon was devoted to a tour of the Old Town, some of which I had seen the night before. Our first top was a viewpoint where we could see
Gediminas Tower, part of a castle on a hill overlooking town.
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| Gediminas Tower |
Next we drove to the Church of
St. Peter and Paul, which was built in about 1700.
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| Church of St. Peter and Paul |
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| Interior of the church |
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| Ceiling of St. Peter and Paul |
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| Modern Vilnius with Old Town in the foreground |
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| A view over Old Town |
We then went to the central part of Old Town and visited
St. Anne's Church, a Roman Catholic church which dates from about 1495. Unfortunately, we couldn't go inside.
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| St. Anne's Church |
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| St. Anne's Church |
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| Clothing for some trees near the church |
We then continued walking through the streets of Old Town.
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| A chocolate restaurant |
Eventually, we arrived at Cathedral Square, and
Vilnius Cathedral, which was completed in the late 1700's. Next to the Cathedral is the Bell Tower, the bottom of which is actually older than the cathedral.
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| Cathedral and Bell Tower |
On the other side of the Cathedral is the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, which now houses the Lithuanian History Museum
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| Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania |
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| Cathedral Tower |
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| Panoramic view of the Bell Tower, Cathedral, and Palace of the Grand Dukes |
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| In the Cathedral |
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| Our guide, Elina, in the Cathedral |
Back in Cathedral Square was the
Stebuklas Miracle Tile. In 1989, to protest Soviet Rule, over 2 million people formed a human chain starting in Talinn, Estonia and ending at the Stebuklas Miracle Tile. I don't know whether the tile was there before the chain, or added after.
From Cathedral Square, you can look down Gedemino Avenue, the main avenue in the older part of Vilnius.
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| View down Gedimino Avenue |
From Cathedral Square, we walked to the Presidential Palace.
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| Presidential Palace |
Next the Presidential Palace is
Vilnius University (Home of the Fightin' Litvaks), founded in 1579; the oldest University in the Baltics, and one of the oldest in Europe.
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| Cathedral at Vilnius University |
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| Courtyard at Vilnius University |
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| Inside the Vilnius University Cathedral |
From the University, we walked to the Vilnius Town Hall.
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| Saint Parasceve Orthodox Church and souvenir stands near Town Hall |
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| Town Hall, as I left it the previous day |
We were on our own for lunch, so I stopped at a small restaurant in a park called the Chacapuri Bar, which specialized in Chacapuris, which are Georgian (the country, not the state) filled pastries.
We had some free time to wander after lunch, so I found a street corner near Town Hall that marked the entrance to one of the Jewish Ghettos during World War II.
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| Entrance to the Ghetto |
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| Marker sign at Ghetto entrance |
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| Close-up of the sign (with a reflection of me). Click on the picture to read the sign. |
Below are a couple of views of Town Hall square.
From Town Hall, I walked down to the "Gate of Dawn" at the edge of Old Town
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| Church of St. Casimir |
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| View down Ausros Vartu street |
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| Restaurant in a 16th century building |
The
Gate of Dawn was one of the original city gates and was built in the early 1500's. It's the only original city gate that remains.
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| Gate of Dawn |
I walked back to Town Hall, and then to another entrance of the Ghetto.
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| A street in the former Ghetto |
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| Marker at the other entrance to the Ghetto |
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| Memorial to Gaonas Elijahu, a notable Vilnius rabbi |
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| Another memorial to Gaonas Elijahu, near the site of the main synagogue |
Finally, I made my way back to Town Hall Square, where we boarded a bus for an excursion to Trakai Castle. Here are a couple of final views of the square.
So the English/German speakers got on a bus (and presumably the Spanish/Italian speakers got on another one) and took a 45 minute drive to Trakai Castle. Construction on the castle started in the 1300s and was mostly completed in the early 15th century. It gradually fell into a state of disrepair, until restoration began in the early 20th century.
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| View of the castle from the shore |
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| Panoramic view inside the castle |
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| Another view inside the castle |
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| And another one |
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| Courtyard inside one of the buildings |
On the way back to the shore, a thunderstorm came up. Although I got wet, the storm and subsequent clearing made for some great shots of the castle.
After viewing the castle and drying off, we headed back to Vilnius.
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| A town near Vilnius |
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| Soviet-era apartments in Vilnius |
The areas we drove through on our return to Vilnius had a lot of old wooden houses.
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| Along the river in Vilnius |
After I got back to the hotel, I went up to the bar on the 26th floor for some views and beer, and then ate at a Chinese restaurant in the mall next to the hotel.
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| View from the hotel |
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| The hotel at night |
Thus ended my short stay in Vilnius. It wasn't as modern or clean as Minsk, but that's probably because it wasn't completely leveled in World War II.
Next:
Days 8-10, Riga, Latvia
