A Confusing Approach to Hospitality: Lithuanian Travels in Vilnius & Trakai
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| Trakai, Lithuania |
The quest for my international bus ticket from Poland to Lithuania took me around the city of Gizycko like a little marble in a pinball game. Though the city is quite small, my ticket acquisition was nothing short of an act of divine intervention. I approached the train station on a whim on my last day in Gizycko to determine my options for departure from the nearly perfect lakeside town, and after a short game of charades and a half an hour walk I had secured my ticket.
The bus was going to leave at 00:20 from a bus stop down the street, or at least that is what I think the woman who sold it to me was indicating by her aggressive gestures. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the pier and soaking up the sun while watching the sailboats and wind surfers.
With my bags packed I headed for the bus stop around midnight - nothing official, just a small bench and a questionable amount of empty beer bottles next to one of the notoriously animated and confusing road signs. I spotted a drunk lingering near the bench. Tunnel vision: new friend on the horizon.
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| Old Town in Vilnius |
I lumbered up to him with all of my belongings, and shoved my ticket in his face. He took it and grunted some positive sounding noises while pointing at the ground and then his wrist. Perfect, I thought, now I just have to wait a few minutes for the bus. I am grateful for my lack of dignity at this point in my travels; it comes in quite handy at times.
A few more minutes in the dimly lit street with my new friend and another woman appeared. She was talking animatedly with a man who seemed to be her son. She was holding what appeared to be a small Christmas tree and a purse – what else are you supposed to pack for international travels?
Christmas Tree Woman became my bus mate, and as indicated by my intoxicated buddy, the bus arrived promptly at three taps on the wrist, or in sober lingo: 00:20.
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| The Baltic Way |
Christmas Tree Woman was seated near the window and immediately spoke to me in Polish with a smile on her face. I assume she was asking where I was going or what I was doing without my holiday decorations in July.
“Umm, sorry. English only” I said feeling strangely embarrassed despite the fact that I have been doing this for weeks. I felt bad that I was unable to communicate with such a seemingly sweet and enthusiastic woman.
“Ah, my English no good. I try. You work in Vilnius?”
“Oh! No, it’s wonderful! No, I don’t.”
“Well, then you live there, no?”
“No, I am just visiting.”
Immediately scrunching her face she practically spat at me “What? You visit Lithuania? I don’t see. Why to Vilnius?”
“I just wanted to visit and see the country.” Right? I began to ask myself. I think that’s why I got onto that bus…? Did I need another reason?
She took one more moment to evaluate me, and then suddenly decided she was tired of my bullshit answers and snuggled up to the window without so much as a ‘Good night’.
Great, this looks promising.
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| Wolves are the mascot of Vilnius |
As soon as I arrived in Vilnius at 5:30 AM, I was disappointed to have to say goodbye to my Christmas Tree Woman after we had gotten off to such a great start. I found and reserved a hostel room via the wifi nearby and headed towards its location, which was about a ten-minute walk from the bus station.
On my way down the street, I noticed some girls dressed in nice outfits from the night before mixed in with people obviously on their way to work – what a great time to evaluate the city!
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| Adorable cafes in Vilnius |
I arrived and had to wait outside until 8 AM for the owner to arrive, and was then finally was welcomed into the hostel, and couldn’t have been happier. I was beyond exhausted from barely sleeping in the bus, and was given my bunk and I proceeded to sleep for about 6 hours. When I awoke, I began chatting with Anna, a Russian from Moscow who had just arrived earlier that morning.
Anna and I decided to have coffee and then plan out our route for exploring Vilnius since we were both traveling solo. Luckily, she was a historian and had more than enough information about the city and country at large. She had reviewed the options for exploration before she arrived (Can anyone imagine doing something so organized!?), and after about an hour we set out.
The wonderful summertime fact about the Baltic and Scandinavian states is that you don’t have to cram everything in before 5 or 6 PM. You have bright sunlight until around 9 PM, and dusk until 10 or 11 PM. It is the perfect situation for visiting a new city – no rushing to see everything, no sketchy walking around in the dark, and the general population is celebrating the fact that its not winter. It’s perfect.
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| Around the Old Town in Vilnius |
As we left our hostel, the questions between new travel friends began. This is one of my favorite activities with people from countries that I haven’t interacted with before; Russia is one of those countries for me. I had so many questions, and so did she. It’s rare that an American and Russian are just walking around and chatting in Lithuania.
One of the first questions from Anna was the increasingly popular one I had heard hours before - “Why did you come here? It’s not really an American vacation spot, is it?”
No, Anna, in my experience it really is not at the top of our list. I knew only one person who had been here, and she was someone who moved to the USA to leave the country years ago.
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| From above the city in Vilnius |
I explained that my flight to Stockholm was from Riga because I wanted to explore the Baltic States for a few days before moving on to Sweden. I asked her the same question, and for her the response was that “to Russians, it is Europe without the price tag of France or Germany”.
During our first day together, we visited the famous Old Town and saw Saint Peter’s & Saint Paul’s Cathedral, as well as spent a few hours learning the national history in the Upper Castle in Vilnius. At the end of our time at the Castle, we hiked to the top of the picturesque Gediminas' Tower, which is a great lookout over the city, before exploring the local cuisine.
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| Traditional cepelinai |
The cepelinai, or didžkukuliai, were delicious, but incredibly filling. I ordered “one” (which actually includes two), and I struggled to get through the first one. Thank God I was able to force my second one on Anna. We tasted the local beer as well, which was good, but not quite up to Belgian standards in my opinion.
By this point it was about 7 PM and getting “late”, but because of the sunlight available to us our day had only began. We explored the Užupis neighborhood, which had some quaint as well as entertaining aspects; my favorite was the unique Constitution.
The following day we visisted Trakai, one of the only castles completely surrounded by water in Eastern Europe; it is located about 30 minutes from the city of Vilnius. We spent the morning exploring the actual castle. The surrounding lakes and landscapes were incredibly peaceful, and Anna took advantage of the great weather for swimming – I hadn’t packed my bathing suit so I relaxed on the shore watching the sailboats saunter across the water.
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| One of the small docks in Trakai |
Afterwards we wandered through a handful of the adorable lakeside boutiques, and had a very interesting discussion with a local woman around the age of 30. She asked where we were from and our responses caused an immediate face of surprise - “You two are friends? But why?”
I was starting to tire of this constant need for me to explain my Lithuanian choices to locals. I simply replied, “Just because our presidents aren’t getting along doesn’t impact our option to become friends, does it?” I again doubted my choices and myself – Lithuania will do that to you.
She quickly gasped, “That’s a beautiful choice” and then forced us to explain how we had met and our entire 24-hour friendship in detail. She said she had never seen an American and a Russian friendship before.
I thought it was a blessing to have a day of exploring with someone who could shed so much light on the history and culture around me, as well as someone I enjoyed conversing with. It had never once crossed my mind that because of our countries of origin that I should stay away from her or simply explore Lithuania alone.
I know this sounds insane, but I thought that was a sadly honest evaluation of the world and the friendships that have the potential to workout or not. I’m glad we both chose to spend time together and get to know more about one another’s cultures and personalities, and I’m sure that we will keep in touch.
The following morning I was leaving for Kaunas, and said goodbye to Anna, but was beyond grateful for our friendship and the time we got to spend together.
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| Traditional 3 window houses in Trakai |