Vilnius, Lithuania – A Bit Quirky with Delicious Food

Fair warning: In case you couldn’t tell from the title, this post about Vilnius talks a lot about food, so you might not want to read on an empty stomach.

As mentioned in our previous post on Riga, Latvia, we originally wanted to visit all three Baltic countries: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Since we prefer to spend at least a week in a place, our other travel dates and plans allowed time only for two. And since we decided to focus on the capital cities as introduction to the countries, we eliminated Estonia. Its capital, Tallinn, is more expensive and touristy, partly because of its popularity with cruise ships.

A comfortable, four-hour bus ride carried us from Riga to Vilnius.

Our Airbnb in Vilnius

The apartment we had in Vilnius was probably the best Airbnb we’ve had in a long time. Located in a residential area in a new building complex, with a supermarket across the street, and about a 20-minute walk to the center of the old town. The apartment itself was new, spacious, with a comfortable bed and excellent kitchen and bathroom. The complex had shops and a food court-type space at street level, but we didn’t take advantage of these.

Impressions of Vilnius and Lithuanians

Our (at least Ann’s) impression is that Vilnius and perhaps its people as well are a bit quirky, in a good way. The people themselves admit that they are not overly friendly, although in our experiences, not unfriendly either.

Why quirky? Random statues such as Frank Zappa and Leonard Cohen, an Easter Egg sculpture, and Literature Street (Literatų gatvė) with a wall of plaques (one is teeth?!) dedicated to individual writers.

And how about the neighborhood of Užupis, with its own unconventional constitution and “Barliament”? Another wall of plaques displays this constitution in several languages (in any language if someone is willing to pay). And one day a year, you can get a Užupis stamp in your passport. Vilnius also has its share of unusual street art, plus a modern art sculpture garden, and basketball is Lithuanians’ second religion.  

Walking Tour of Vilnius

As is our custom, we did a “free” (for tips) walking tour of Vilnius. We learned most of the preceding “quirky” info on this tour. Our tour began in front of Vilnius Town Hall, which has a plaque dedicated to George W. Bush on the wall. In 2018, Bush was declared an honorary citizen of Lithuania (hence the plaque) based on a 2002 visit during which he pledged US support for Lithuania and described the country as being “on the right side of a new Iron Curtain.” Lithuania felt that Bush’s stance in 2002 was instrumental in the country’s joining NATO and the EU in 2004.

On the tour, we explored Vilnius Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as Užupis. We saw Cathedral Square, the Palace of the Grand Dukes, Vilnius Cathedral, St. Anne’s Church, the Gate of Dawn, Tibet Square, and the rather large Vilnius University. And of course, no walking tour would be complete without crossing the river to Užupis.

Other Sights Around Town

Walking about on our own, we of course visited the Central Market (not particularly impressive to us especially after Riga), and simply wandered. We passed parks with exercise equipment, but mostly saw children using the equipment.

Although Vilnius Old Town has 28 churches, our walking tour guide said that Lithuania is not a particularly religious country. We noticed four small Russian Orthodox churches, but these represent only a very small portion of the population. The predominant religion in Lithuania is Christian, mostly Catholic. Vilnius has its fair share and variety of museums, but we didn’t visit any.

Evenings Out in Vilnius

Unusual for us, we spent two evenings out during our time in Vilnius.

One night, we visited a small bar that advertised a “jazz” pianist. He was rather talented and played a medley that lasted two hours with no break, and by no break we mean not even a pause, one song right into the next. The music was less jazz and more old-time standards and soundtracks. Still an enjoyable evening in a cozy setting.

Our other cultural evening out was much more unusual. It was the last performance in an annual music festival and took place in St. Catherine’s Church in the center of Vilnius Old Town. We arrived 15-minutes early, and it was standing room only. The performers, i.e., singers, musicians, and conductor, made dramatic entrances down the center aisle of the church. Although all were extremely talented, the music was so weird, our standing positions allowed us to make an early exit after almost an hour. At least we gave it a chance!

Lithuanian Food

As promised, we would like to share some of our food experiences in Lithuania. Potatoes make up a large part of the diet, and specialties include potato pancakes (like Poland and Latvia) and potato dumplings, cepelinai or zeppelini. Also brown bread, cold beetroot soup, mushrooms, fried bread, and “tree cake”, called raguolis or sakotis, to name a few.

Food Tour

While in Vilnius, we decided to do a food tour with the same company with which we did the walking tour. Unlike the other tour, this one was not free. A bit of a splurge for us, at 65 euros ($72) per person. But quite the experience! We spent a delightful, delicious, informative few hours with our guide and a handful of other food-loving people.

Stop #1 

First stop was a small shop specializing in traditional foods from local suppliers. We sampled dark bread, lard, dried pork and beef, cucumbers with honey (surprisingly good!), pieces of “tree” cake and apple “cheese”. Tree cake, so called because of its appearance, is made by a special process with an open flame.  Apple “cheese” is apple dried and pressed to look like the shape of local cheese.

Stop #2

The second stop featured outrageously delicious (Ann wanted to go back another day) mushroom soup in a dark brown bread bowl, with a mixture of butter and sour cream on the side. Mushrooms are a big deal here, with special skills for finding the best specimens of the best varieties. People from the cities even take off work and head out to the countryside when the mushroom season opens.

Stop #3

After the soup, we went to a very old family restaurant for one of Lithuania’s most traditional dishes, zeppelini, potato dumplings. These are most commonly made with ground pork inside, served with lard and sour cream on the side. A usual portion is two; thankfully, we were served only one each, and it was quite large.

Stop #4

Next up was a mead bar called Girta Bitė, translated drunken bee. The mead in this bar ranges from 6% to 75% alcohol. All drinks are 2 euros; the glass size diminishes with increase of alcohol. We were served a shooter-size glass with 50% on top and 12% on bottom. Very interesting!

Stop #5

Keeping with the alcohol theme, we next visited a microbrewery. Here we sampled a light and a dark beer (sadly, we weren’t big fans, although it was drinkable) with traditional bar snacks. What might these be, you wonder? Fried bread with garlic! Interesting, a bit of an acquired taste.

Side note: While at the microbrewery, prompted by the fact that there were several shot glasses in our Airbnb apartment, Ian asked our guide if there was a national spirit. Her response: people drink beer; the shot glasses must be left over from a set. Our guide also explained that when Lithuania joined the EU, Vilnius (along with other cities in Eastern Europe) got itself on the alcohol-infused party scene because of the bargain prices to western Europeans. As a result, new laws, the strongest in the EU, became effective in 2018. These laws changed the drinking age from 18 to 20 and restricted the hours of selling alcohol for carry out. The new laws had some weird results, such as liquor stores putting a couple of plastic chairs outside because the rules don’t apply to on premises consumption. 

Stop #6

Our final stop was at a café for coffee and dessert. Here we learned about some special Lithuanian cheese while being served a board with bites of cheese, bread, honey, olives, and roasted red peppers. Our actual dessert was white with pink ice cream made with cheese. Surprisingly, quite yummy!

Note: More food to come in the next section

Day Trip to Trakai and Trakai Island Castle

One day, we took a bus, 35-45 minutes, to the picturesque lake town of Trakai, west of Vilnius. We never fully figured out the bus companies. On the way there, we were in a large van, on the way back in a full-size bus. The main draw here is the Trakai Island Castle, a 14^th century fortress in the middle of scenic Lake Galvė. Guess we just couldn’t resist another opportunity to visit an old castle. Thought we’d have to take a boat across the lake, but the castle is situated on the peninsula accessed by a bridge.

The castle was built in stages, so it has three layers of defense. It was home to Lithuania’s grand dukes. Today, it is home to the Trakai History Museum. Walking along the lake path toward the bus station at the end of our day, we passed the ruins of another castle.

The Food Part

None of the restaurants around the main tourist area of the lake particularly appealed to us. We are so glad we decided to walk a bit further along the lakeside path and discovered Kybynlar Karaite Restaurant. Ever heard of Karaim or Karaite (depends on the language) food? We certainly hadn’t.

Apparently Karaims belong to the oldest Turkish tribe. The Great Duke brought these people to Lithuania at the end of the 14th century as workers. And in our opinion, their food is delicious! We had traditional kybyn (plural kybynlar), dough baked with a filling, usually beef or lamb, looks like an empanada.

But we really enjoyed the grilled chicken with couscous made with an assortment of unidentifiable spices. The menu stated that this dish takes 40-60 minutes to prepare. It was served in a tagine and well worth the wait! 

All in all, it turned out to be a very enjoyable day.

Vilnius Wrap-Up

What struck us most about Vilnius was its contrast to Riga. Whereas Riga took a while to see its charms beneath the rough exterior, Vilnius is a beautiful city with a charming old town that makes a great first impression. While Riga is still losing a large chunk of its young people, Vilnius has stopped the flow and it’s reversing. Contruction cranes building 4-6 story apartment towers are everywhere. But because Vilnius is further from the ocean, it can have hotter summer days than Riga, and of course it doesn’t have a beach. While we enjoyed our visit and would heartily recommend this city, because of its lack of a beach, we would be more likely to return to Riga, or perhaps a smaller Lithuanian beach town on the ocean. We visited Vilnius in early September, 2019.

Next Up: Our first venture into Asia

Note: After Vilnius, we went to Bordeaux (You guessed it! All about wine!) and Paris before returning to the US. We’ve decided to proceed with posts that better reflect our whereabouts for now.

Ian and Ann