Another in my series of posts for Dylan…..
This week I’m in Vilnius, which is the one with the red dot. Spot who is in Norfolk at the moment 🙂
Look at what they have available to drink!
A double decker train! Like the one we went on in Luxembourg.
Underground tunnels at the bastion (which is where people would go when they needed to be safe).
The railway museum.
A clock that used to be at the railway station, there’s a newer one there now.
Someone has stuck a calculator to the wall 🙂
The Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights changed its name just a few weeks ago, having previously been called the Museum of Genocide Victims. It’s a complex name for what many people seem to just call the KGB Museum, since it’s located in a building which was the headquarters of the KGB for fifty years.
Many Russian museums employ middle-aged or elderly women to protect the galleries, and there have now even been displays around the world based around these guards. They have a reputation for sitting and looking miserable, but they’re actually usually really proud of the artwork which they protect.
Anyway, in Latvia and Lithuania this still happens to a certain degree, but there seems to have been a real change to a more positive customer service approach. Every museum I’ve visited in these countries has a friendly staff member at the ticket desk, but this museum seems to have maintained a staff member at the desk who seemed quite disappointed to see visitors.
The uniform of a member of the Soviet political police.
I found this really interesting, it’s the 1975 and 1976 guest registration book from the Gintaras Hotel in the city. The hotel, which was located near the main railway station, would have also been monitored closely by the KGB and their guests often kept under observation if they were deemed a risk. I’m fortunate that the Ibis doesn’t keep such a book, or at least it doesn’t to my knowledge.
In the middle of the photo is a prayer book which was made by female prisoners at a labour camp.
And in the middle of this photo is a rosary which is made from bread, dating to 1954.
This is a 1991 diary on the left, which is when Lithuania became independent and the KGB quickly left, and a telephone in use at the same time on the right.
The phone which was used by the chairman of the KGB in Lithuania.
An example of the secret camera which was used by KGB agents. It looks quite clunky and obvious, but the lens is hidden in a button and would be hard to spot.
This is the grave marker, complete with dead moss on it, of an exiled woman sent to the Krasnoyarsk region of the Soviet Union. Her son later brought his mother’s remains, and this cross, back to Lithuania for her body to be reburied.
This is a good idea, there’s an observation room and a bank of black and white screens where you can watch other visitors in the museum.
This is labelled as the execution chamber, with what is meant to be an area that was investigated now left with a glass floor. The model of the execution chamber rooms doesn’t coincide with the actual floor layout, which I found confusing. There’s also very little information in this section of the museum to try and help visitors interpret what they’re seeing.
Bullets in the wall of the execution chamber.
The toilets facilities in the cells.
One of two corridors of cells, most of which have been left unfurnished and most can be visited.
One of the cell doors.
The inside of one of the cells looking in.
The inside of one of the cells looking out.
The door of the padded cell and the interior, a place where prisoners who went mad from the torture were placed. It’s a grim feeling looking at this cell, although to be fair, none of the cells really emit an aura of positivity.
This solitary confinement cell was filled with water in the bottom section and the prisoner would have to stand on the small circular raised platform and try not to fall into the water.
Another solitary confinement cell, which had en-suite facilities.
The duty officer’s room, with the 1975 security system still in place.
These cells were known as the “boxes” and they were where the new prisoners were placed. It wasn’t until the 1960s when the KGB decided that a little luxury needed to be brought into these proceedings, and they put in a seat to sit on.
The building in which the museum is located has a fascinating, and bleak, history, so a visit is recommended. The necessity to change the name from the Museum of Genocide Victims was really because there is very little mention of the Jewish lives which were lost, and much more of a focus on the Lithuanian resistance fighters. That’s an entirely interesting story on its own, but I’m still unsure why they just don’t call this the KGB Museum.
There’s a lot to see in the museum, although the execution cell set-up is confusing, and the staff member at the reception desk looks like every visitor is trampling on her dead cat. Anyway, the positives of the whole visit greatly exceed the negatives, and it tells the often forgotten story of the Lithuanian resistance really well.
I’m not sure that I can count this as a genuine Lithuanian experience given that the pub name is the Dirty Duck. However, it’s in Lithuania, so that’ll do.
It’s a sports bar and there’s live music, but I carefully checked to see that there wouldn’t be any bands or the like on during my visit.
The whole design is quirky, but there’s a fun feel to the pub.
Some of the beer selection.
I’m not entirely sure which dark beer I ended up with, as there were a few named on the menu and I didn’t know what any of them were. I’ve only just got the hang of the dark beer options in Poland, it’s not a quick process to pick a favourite. I’m pretty confident though it’s as the glass suggests, as that beer matches the price on my bill, which is Vilkmergės Tamsusis.
With the beer, the friendly staff member asked if she should just surprise me and that seemed a good idea, with her choice being a rather good one. Lots of deep flavour, slight notes of coffee and Greggs. I’ve made the Greggs bit up, I’m just missing them.
I had rather low expectations of the cod and chips when I ordered, but I thought I’d give the food a go. The environment is quite dark, as is perhaps evident from the photo, but it’s clean and comfortable.
The food exceeded my expectations, it was well presented and at an appropriate temperature. The batter was bubbly and had a great flavour, without it being mushy or greasy. The cod came away in flakes, with the French fries being just as I’d want them. The portion size was generous and the service time was around ten minutes, so I wasn’t left waiting.
Overall, the whole visit was better than I thought it’d be, as it’s no doubt designed to appeal to tourists and that’s not always positive. However, it all worked for me. The food and drink cost around £9, I was quite happy with that pricing given the location. The atmosphere in the pub was calm and relaxed as well, with a community feel which suggests it’s not just visitors to the city who are the customers.
Photos of Vilnius in the early evening….
This is the former home of the Lithuanian national football team. It’s obviously not now, as they’ve knocked it down, which seems a reasonable compromise for those who don’t like football. The national team now uses the LFF Stadium in the city, which has a maximum capacity of just over 5,500 which doesn’t really seem ideal compared to the 15,000 which this stadium could hold.
The story of the country’s new national stadium is bordering on farcical and seems to have been constantly delayed. The EU offered to put funding into the project which was then sent out to tender. Two companies submitted bids, but one did it electronically and one did it in a sealed envelope. The sealed envelope bid was rejected, even though it was cheaper, although a court decision ultimately said this was legal. There are plans to start work on the project in late 2018, way overdue.
There are a few remnants of the former stadium still visible, which I’m assuming will be demolished in due course. The stadium lights are though still in place, I wonder whether they’ll be part of the replacement buildings. There are apartments, hotels and shops planned for the new site, in an area of the city which is undergoing some considerable transformation at the moment.
This is what is planned in the future for this site.
Unfortunately, this beautiful baroque church isn’t routinely open to visitors outside of the main summer season, and it’s a shame that such a building can’t be made a little more accessible. The church is dedicated to St. Casimir and work started on it in 1604 and it opened in 1618.
The twentieth century did not treat the church well (not that it had been particularly well treated before), it was confiscated by the Germans during the First World War and used as the Lutheran Church of the city’s garrison. The church was then badly damaged during the Second World War, then repaired, and then, in a highly political decision by the Soviets, it was turned into the Museum of Atheism.
There’s a photo on this site which shows the inside of the church at the time that it was a museum, although at least the integrity of the interior was broadly maintained. The authorities did though put in a stained glass window which quoted a Lithuanian philosopher saying “there is no God”. In 1991, the church was reconsecrated and work took place to bring it back into regular use.
There’s an information board outside of the church which details further difficulties which the building and its congregation have gone through over the centuries.
Located at Halle Market is Wingis Jamaican Jerk Chicken, which seemed something quite modern in a rather traditional market environment. The stall sells only chicken and fries, which seems perfectly acceptable to me. So, I went with that. I thought about having a whole chicken, but that seemed just a little excessive for lunch, so I went with the half chicken.
Service was friendly, and I was pleased to see that they accept cards, since my supplies of Euros are running low (it’s actually been running low since my visit to Latvia, since nearly everywhere accepts cards). The beer choice was limited, they only had Carlsberg, so I went with that. They did though suggest that I could always go to a neighbouring stall to collect a different beer, which was a nice touch. Although I couldn’t be bothered since I’d just sat down. Incidentally, as I was leaving there was a delivery heading for the stall of beers, so I probably only missed the better selection by a short period.
And the chicken, which was served up promptly in a silver tray. I thought that the presentation was excellent, with the chips being well salted. The chicken was tender and moist, although the garlic flavour was certainly evident. The chicken had a decent taste, although there was minimal spice to it, and I’d have ideally liked the skin to have been a bit crisper, but overall, I thought that it was a perfectly acceptable lunch.
There is a funicular railway which goes from the Old Arsenal building up to the base of Gediminas Castle, which avoids a walk up a relatively steep hill. It’s a modern innovation, having been installed as recently as 2003. Unfortunately, at the moment, it’s a bit broken.
The hill on which the castle, and the railway, is located on is a bit prone to landslides. I’m not sure why the hill is deciding to collapse at this particular moment in time, but it’s causing a headache for those responsible for protecting the heritage of the site.
The railway went out of use in 2016 and there were plans to repair it, although the cost of repair is substantial. And the funicular railway itself is controversial, with the Director of the Lithuanian National Museum wanting it entirely removed for disturbing the look of the hill.
Personally, I think it’d be useful to repair it, not least because there’s no other practical way of those with limited mobility reaching the top of the hill. Given that the railway is relatively new, it’d seem a shame to lose something which I’m sure many people would enjoy using.
This tower, at the top of a hill, is part of the former Upper Castle of the city, of which little remains. Known as Gedimino pilis in Lithuanian, it originally dates to the end of the thirteenth century, although was much modified.
The tower itself is mostly a 1930s rebuild which was overseen by the then Polish authorities, although there is some architectural integrity in terms of the restoration being authentic to its original appearance. Above is what the tower looked like in the early twentieth century, a much less impressive building, although it shows how much of the tower is modern.
It isn’t particularly obvious that the tower is open, and a group of visitors in front of me decided that it wasn’t open and traipsed back down the hill. I was less convinced about this situation and went in anyway, and they told me that I was the first visitor of the day. It seems that the tower was closed earlier in the year due to work needing to be completed to the hill itself, but it’s fully open again now (although much work is still taking place to the hill itself).
On the first floor of the tower is a computer simulated flypast of what the city centre of Vilnius would have once looked like. Some considerable effort must have gone into this.
The view from one of the windows on the first floor, this would have once been an access point to the former defensive walls which defended the castle.
The Lithuanian flag flying high on top of the tower, with this particular flag being from the national revival movement in 1988. The tower is seen as a symbolic location given its elevated position in the city, with a flag having been raised here on 1 January 1919 to mark the independence of the country.
The above are all photos from the top of the tower, with the weather being surprisingly mild given that it is the middle of October.
The admission charge of €5 seemed a little steep compared to the price of seeing other museums in the city, but it didn’t much matter for my visit as I got in free with my Vilnius City Card. A visit isn’t likely to take much more than thirty minutes, but the views across the whole city make a visit worthwhile.
For anyone wanting to find Kitchen, a restaurant in Vilnius, it’s through that door and up the stairs. Located in a courtyard, they haven’t over-indulged with the signage, but they do have a menu board on the main street.
A friendly server welcomed me and I mentioned that I wanted a table for one. I was offered a choice of a table inside, or the sole table on the outside balcony. This looked rather exciting, so I went for the balcony option.
That’s the view of the church opposite the restaurant. The balcony really is a wonderful way of people watching. Well, watching people on the road, as I obviously couldn’t see anyone in the restaurant since I was outside and they were all inside.
Free water and bottled water supplied, not something that I think is routine in Vilnius.
The tastes of New York. Actually, New York probably doesn’t taste nice, if it has a particular flavour. But I like this brewery.
Fishcakes often have a slightly irritating texture where the potato is overwhelming and it’s all too mushy. These were generously filled with fish, they were well seasoned and had a rather satisfying taste. The side salad was a little strong on leaves, something that is more than common in the UK. However, it didn’t mention salad on the menu, so I could hardly complain. I am rather ashamed to say I don’t know what the sauce was, but it was smooth, and seemed to be some sort of avocado Aioli.
Since I was only here for a light meal, albeit one which turned into three courses, I opted for a feta and chicken salad. The chicken was moist, succulent and again well seasoned. I liked the slab of feta under the warm chicken, which seemed authentic and not some cheap replica under a different name. Again a little heavy on the salad leaves, but the orange, grapes and onions added additional texture and flavour.
I was rather content sitting on the balcony, so I thought that I’d go with dessert and this is the cheesecake with lingonberries. The bottom of the cheesecake was quite heavy, but the flavour of the lingonberries (or what I assume are lingonberries) was rich.
The toilets seemed rather grand, as you went in what looks like a normal toilet door to be confronted with another door in front of the toilet itself. Very plush, and I’m not sure how useful.
Service was attentive throughout and I wasn’t forgotten about out on the balcony. There were a small group who meandered out to take photos of the church, but I didn’t shoo them away from my new dining area.
The meal was relatively expensive as I’d gone to a restaurant in the main central area of Vilnius and didn’t go for the set menu option which would have been cheaper. It came to around £16.50, which I felt was reasonable for three courses, a beer and the free bread.
