Discover The Baltics: Kaipeda to Kaunas, then onto Vilnius

 

Travelling from Kaipeda to Kaunas, yesterday included a one-hour guided tour of the Cold War Museum in Plokstine, a former Soviet Union ballistic missile base. The tour took us into one of the silos where the nuclear missile would have been stored, as well as the control room and living quarters, to get a feel for life on site.

An hour and a quarters drive later, we stopped for lunch at a little café stop on the main dual carriageway en route to Kaunas. It was £3 for a bowl of hot, spicy soup and a cup of coffee, plus a large Lion Bar from the neighbouring petrol station. It was raining and very cold, the worst weather we'd experienced since we'd been here. Not only that, but it was another hour and a half from there to Kaunas to check into the hotel.

4.30-6.00pm was a walking tour of the town which included the Presidential Palace, Vilnius St (the main street), Kaunas Parochial Archcathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, the outside of the Thunder House, Town Hall and the Lithuanian Cross Crucifix with the sun and saint of Lithuania, Kaunas Castle and St Georges Church with Bernadine Monastery.

Tired, cold, hungry, and it started peeing it down, so we headed for dinner with Andrew and Helen at 'Avilys'. They made their own beer on the premises – unfiltered and unpasteurised, flavoured with honey and in a medieval cellar. One beer, like a hot toddy, comprised honey beer with extra honey and lemon heated up. As the Baltics countries appear to eat a lot of port and I hadn't tried any since I'd been here, I had a pork steak with roasted veggies (parsnip, pepper, courgette, garlic, onion) and baked spuds with a tomato-honey sauce, similar to a salsa, It was followed by a lemon pudding, pretty much the only thing on the menu without nuts but absolutely delicious.

Today it was onto Vilnius via Pažaislis Monastery and Church and Trakai Island Castle. The monastery and church were on the Kaunas Lagoon and formed the largest monastery complex in Lithuania. It is revered as one of the finest examples of Italian baroque-style architecture in Northern Europe, apparently, but I was 'churched out' and the free time would have been better spent at the next stop. Plus, it was cold.

Trakai Island Castle in the former capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a restored 14^th Century castle situated on a small island in the middle of a lake. Although we had rain, and it was still a bit chilly, the weather improved. We had a tour round the castle, then some free time to explore and grab lunch – which today was a "Klevinas" – a pork mince pastry though there wasn't much filling, so it wasn't very filling. It was named after a small tribe of people that date from Mesopotamian times and, although few and not all in Lithuania, still exist today. Not sure how complimentary being the same name as a disappointing pie is. Then it was back on the bus for our final stop of Vilnius.

After checking in and waiting out a hail storm, we wandered into the city. Although we had no set plans, our wanderings did take us past the Cathedral Basilica in Cathedral Square, the official start of the old city. In the same square was the Clock Tower. The lower part comprised one of the old watch towers from the original town wall that had been built on later to create a tall tower that resembled a lighthouse and looked a bit lost in the middle of the city. There was a statue of the founder of Vilnius, the first Grand Duke.

We found a chocolate shop-cafe that had an amazing display: a scene from a lounge made completely out of chocolate. Here we sampled an assortment of drinks and cakes. I had a ginger tea with lemon plus an 'Orange Drop Cake', Sharon had the same cake and a hot chocolate while Andy opted for a Chocolate and Brandy cake with a frothy latte.

There were some nice buildings including churches in our meander and long detour back to the hotel via some souvenir shops. There was the Iron Wolf statue by the hotel, which was from a medieval legend of the founding of Vilnius, the capital city of the old Grand Duchy of Lithuania and modern Republic of Lithuania.

We rounded the day off with a Lithuanian style Chinese including noodles with vegetables, rice, battered chicken, duck and local beer. Again. Of course. We washed it down with a beer from the hotel bar; we felt it had been a busy evening, and we'd earnt it.