Baltic States Tour - Vilnius, Lithuania 1

We flew to our last stop, Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Seen from the air, the town seemed to be surrounded by forests.

The Old Town of Vilnius has preserved an impressive complex of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and classical buildings as well as its medieval layout and natural setting according to UNESCO. It had clearly a different look and feel from Tallinn and Riga. The space was somewhat open and it was easy to walk the streets. Perhaps because of the layout and the mix-and-match architecture, Vilnius also looked more relaxing.

In terms of the churches in the historical center, many of them were in the Baroque style. Soon after we started walking to our dinner place, we found the Church of Saint Casimir, the first and the oldest baroque church in Vilnius, built in 1618. 

The restaurant we had in mind was expecting a large group later and unfortunately too busy to serve any customers at the moment. J quickly found an alternative nearby. It was Etno Dvaras, a traditional Lithuanian restaurant.

The place was also packed. It was in the mid afternoon. I wondered people there tend to eat lunch very late or dinner very early. Anyway we waited a little bit and were seated at the tight corner table in their narrow dungeon dining room in the basement. I felt very uncomfortable and didn't like there at all. The air was stuffy. Plus, the dirty dishes and glasses on the counter were in my view. I wanted to get out there but I knew J won't want to find another alternative. I gave up. I tried to focus on our wooden table.

At least their food wasn't bad. J had wild mushroom soup. It was served in a rye bread (I think) bowl. He enjoyed it. I ordered Šaltibarščiai, a Lithuanian cold soup made from beetroots, kefir and milk, and served with boiled potatoes. It was refreshing.

We shared Cepelinai, traditional potato dumplings stuffed with meat. The more than half of the sauce jar was filled with sour cream, which was hidden under the extra meat sauce. The dumpling was tasty, too. 

I was so glad to be under the sun again! We strolled the Old Town a little bit before going back to the hotel.

We passed by St. Nicholas Church, one of the oldest Eastern Orthodox churches in Vilnius. 

The neoclassic style building was the Vilnius Town Hall. I could see the royal crown on the top of the the Church of Saint Casimir over there. St. Casimir was the son of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, Casimir. 

It was already nearing dusk. Time to go back to the hotel and look forward to the next day.

To be continued...