Visiting Vilnius

:: Vilnius ::


The reports from travellers coming the opposite direction to ours was that Warsaw didn't really compare to Krakow for things to see or do, so we dropped our planned one night there and ended up skipping through the city on the way to Vilnius where we are now.
The slow train from Krakow to Warsaw took about 5 hours. Dee had to deal with 4 different ticket sellers in Krakow before they would even acknowledge that the train existed - it seems they railroad :-) tourists towards the double cost express trains - Dee stopped just short of dragging the girl out to look at the departures board to show her which train we wanted to catch before they said " oh that one..." so off we went (in our usual style of making a mad dash to the furthest platform to jump on the train as the whistle is blowing)


:: Vilnius ::

After arriving in Warsaw we had to set about trying to track down an onward ticket (or somewhere to stay if we couldn't get one). Luckily there was a eurolines office in the station and we snuck in 5 minutes before they closed for the weekend.....securing some seats on the overnight run to Vilnius.
We had a few hours to kill so we wandered around a but before heading across to catch the bus which was empty enough to allow us the relative comfort or the whole backseat which definitely made the night trip more bearable.
Arriving in Vilnius two and a half hours ahead of schedule (4.30 am) we sat around the bus station until sunrise as the directions to the hostel included some things like " there is no street sign but look for the grey building with the ...etc...".


We are staying at Vilnius backpackers which has turned out to be a great place to stop for the last 4 nights. Vilnius itself has been pretty sleepy as it turns out to be a 4 day long weekend here,but we have really enjoyed walking around and exploring the town. There are alot of public construction projects on the go,which will really give the city a freshen up. Alot of the buildings look to have been renovated in the past few years which has created an old town with the adjacent University area that looks great.
One of the quirky things to do here is to visit the Independent Republic of Uzupio - its basically a rundown area of the city that has been claimed by artists and declared its Independence....along with a 72point bill or rights....with things like 'A dog has the right to be a dog'.


:: Great sign as you enter the republic ::



Lithuania takes the prize for the largest range of beers we have encountered so far, there are about half a dozen breweries making at least 6 different varieties each. They seem to be strangely similar being all larger or pilsner beers varying only in alcohol content from 4.2 to 9.5. (before you ask we didn't try them all). We have also hit the stream of food we expected in the Baltics. Meat (pork) wrapped or accompanied by stodge and sauerkraut. The local speciality is a cepelinai, a meat filled potato blob shaped like a zeppelin.

:: The artists have brightened up the ramshackle buildings ::


:: Bridge to ... ? ::


Now you thought I could go a whole post without mentioning the weather....well not yet. The weather here has been really changeable. Some lovely blue sky and warmth, then some really serious rain. Just yesterday we popped out to the local supermarket, seeing blue sky on the way out we went Viennese Umbrella-less, only to find ourselves sheltering in the supermarket for an hour waiting for the downpour to pass (we left before fully passed, feeling that we had probably overstayed our welcome sitting on the window sill).

We jumped on the day bus up to Riga and have been here for two nights. Alot has changed since I was here in '97. We will post some more details soon....off to the beach at Jurmala now. Cheers