Vilnius

Xabier Osteikoetxea
Oct 7, 2019
3 min read

The road to Vilnius was beautiful as autumn turned trees into all shades of red, yellow, and orange but probably one of the toughest rides. There was a storm on the way and so much rain that I got wet despite my waterproof motorbike clothes. Also I had to substantially slow down because the roads were flooding and I was constantly losing grip in my back tyre, not fun at all going 140kmh. The first evening in Vilnius I began by walking through the Gates of Dawn, dating from 1522 it is the only remaining gate from the city’s original defensive walls. Next I walked around the center visiting 5 different churches, the churches of the Holy Trinity Uniate, Orthodox Holy Spirit, Saint Casimir, Dominican Holy Spirit, and Saint Catherine. Try to say that fast 5 times in a row! I noticed two things, firstly in comparison to other Baltic countries Lithuania appears to have remained a majority Catholic country. Secondly, there were lots of churches in Vilnius, I counted 28 different churches for a city of approximately half a million inhabitants.

Gates of Dawn.

Church of Saint Casimir.

Holy Trinity Uniate Church.

While walking around town I also ventured into the old Jewish. During the Holocaust this quarter was one with the worse our one with very few Jews surviving. One way in which they are remember is with some street art depicting Jews from the quarter as could be seen in historical pictures.

Jewish quarter with street art showing Jews of the neighborhood seen in historical pictures.

In shap contrast to the sights of conventional churches as are found in all European town I also had a chance to visit a very peculiar area of town called the Užupis republic. This bohemian area of town is often compared to Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen and was created in April's fools Day of 1998 as an independent community with its own constition where the only requirement for entry is a smile. There are lots of beautiful street art and murals and a wall displaying the constitution of 38 articles in 23 different languages (sadly Hungarian was not one of them). Here are my favourite 2 articles; "A dog has the right to be a dog" and "A cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help in time of need."

Entrance to Užupis republic.

Užupis republic map.

Užupis republic constitution disolayed in 23 languages.

Lastly I visited the are around the Vilnius Cathedral with the nearby Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Gediminas Castle Tower, and the office of the president of Lithuania. Vilnius Cathedral was completed in 1783 in neoclassical style and similarly to Antwerp's Cathedral it also has beautiful fine art displayed in its walls.

Vilnius Cathedral with Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in the back.

Paintings adorning inside of Cathedral, much in the same way as Antwerp's Cathedral.

Office of the president of Lithuania.

Due to the rainy weather and needing a bit of rest I stayed in during the nights and didn't have much glimpse into the nightlife of Vilnius. This is something I will need to come back to explore with better weather. But on the other hand I did get to meet an awesome group of pros who run a custom motorbike shop called TheDiffers. It was great to see their shop which is a dream come true for any motorbike fan and they were kind enough to help me with a chain adjustment and to charge up my battery which had gone flat. I highly recommend to follow their amazing work.