The Ham Nomads

9 Aug 2015. <LT> Vilnius —

We went into Vilnius in the morning, and wandered about. It was Sunday, so parking was free virtually anywhere in the city — and the shops were all open! We found a park just round the corner from a Tourist Information Office, so dropped in there for a map and some tips. Then we started to walk the old city.

The first place we found wasn't marked on any maps, we just happened on it. It was a building that housed the music school in which the violinist Jascha Heifetz (a Vilnius native) studied from 1905 to 1909.

We then walked along Gedimino prospektas (Gedimino Avenue) towards the Cathedral Basilica. We passed a promotion on the street for winter sports. Suzie had trouble resisting the aerobic instructor's instructions (or perhaps it was the instructor himself)! Warren walked away from her going through all the antics!

The cathedral was in full mass mode — it was Sunday — so we just peeped in and walked on.

Behind the cathedral is the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, now a museum. Behind that, up on a hill, is Gediminas Tower. We didn't visit these, just wanting to wander.

Then we walked along Pilies gatvės (Pilius Street) and Didžiojo gatvės to the Town Hall Square. This whole street is a wonderful place to wander. By this time, the weather had turned rather nasty, and we were in the middle of a thunderstorm. The souvenir stalls, many selling paintings, were packing up as fast as they could! We made our way from covered alleyway to covered alleyway until we got to the steps of the Town Hall itself. The square looked spectacular in the wet, until a tour bus decided to take up residence right in the middle of any photo opportunities!

We made our way round to a coffee shop, where we sheltered from the elements. After we had had our coffee, and our lunch, and free entertainment as we watched the locals negotiating the flooded pedestrian crossing outside. It was obvious that the rain had settled in, so we decided to cut our Vilnius adventure short, make our way back to the van, and set off for Rīga in Latvia,

Don't know what this building is, but it looked good!

As we drove out, we could look back on the bad weather over Vilnius, even though we were driving into better conditions.

Talk about enterprising — These flower sellers
were sitting by the gate of the local cemetery!

We stopped on the highway for afternoon tea, in a rest stop in the village of Talkoniai. Right beside us was a sign, which informed us that we were in a place with a history ...

"You are where the Baltic Way took place.

The Baltic Way was a peaceful campaign of the Baltic nations. On 23 August 1989 about two million people joined hands in a live human chain of 620km linking the thee Baltic capitals: Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn. This event was held in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the shameful Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which stipulated the termination of the independence of the Baltic countries.
The Baltic Way showed peaceful determination of people to re-establish their states as well as solidarity and unity of the three Baltic nations."

We continued on our way, finally landing in a wonderful roadside stop between Raubonys and Saločiai, still in Lithuania, where we managed to park perfectly to take account of the evening shade from the trees to our west, and the morning shade from the (smaller) trees to our east. And we had wonderful entertainment — when we parked, the large field opposite was full of wheat just ready for harvest. And harvest they did — the big machines moved in and made short work of it. But the best part was watching the storks move in after the harvester for an easy meal!

Distance driven — today, 191 miles ( 307 km ); to date, 25,603 miles ( 41,204 km )