Vilnius

Day 91

With not much to do around the Hill of Crosses but get creeped out by the place we made a start on the drive to the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius. 

After a couple of hours drive we arrived in the big smoke and found a park close to all the action.  

With the bikes out we made our way into town and within five minutes we came across one of biggest landmarks in Vilnius, the impressive Cathedral and 57m-tall Belfry.  If we had bothered we could have tried to look for the ‘miracle’ tile that marks the end of the human chain that was formed from Tallinn to Vilnius in 1989 but the square was huge and it would have taken ages!

One of Vilnius's main attractions- the Cathedral and Belfry. 

Next we struggled up the rocky 48m-high Gediminas Hill on which Vilnius was founded.  The 13^th Century Gediminas Tower is perched on top and offers fantastic panoramic views of Old Town.   

Gediminas Tower.

Great view from the top of Gediminas Tower.

From the top of the tower we enjoyed the decent and continued on past many churches and through Eastern Europe’s biggest Old town.  It may be the biggest but seemed to lack the buzz that we had from other European cities.

Two of Vilnius many churches.

On the bike ride around the city of Vilnius.

Another impressive site was ‘The Gate of Dawn’ which houses the ‘Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary.’  It didn’t mean much to us but apparently the Poles love it and consider it one of the holiest places to visit as it houses the black Madonna.

The Gate of Dawn and the Chapel of Blessed Virgin Mary.

Dark clouds starting to roll in the centre of Vilnius.

Grey clouds started to roll in and we had the feeling we were going to get wet very soon.  Mutually we decided that the smartest thing to do was to ride back to Maxi and wait there until the storm passed.

Riding through the park we encountered a rather steep hill that we had to ride down to get home.  Luke took it in his stride and powered down but I hesitated and re thought my next move.   While contemplating the steep hill a young woman said ‘go on then’ in the most Aussie accent I had heard in ages.  I had come across a family of bogan Aussies who were from Radelaide and were touring around Lithuania for a few weeks. 

We had a quick chat and it started to rain giving me the push I needed to overcome the steep hill.  I bid the Aussies farewell and raced home to Maxi. 

After spending a few hours in Maxi sheltering from the rain we re emerged to continue site seeing.  A short ride away was the district of Uzupis where in 1998 the resident artists, dreamers, squatters and drunks declared the district a breakaway state known as the Uzupis Republic.  

The ‘state’ posts its constitution on large mirrored boards on the wall in multiple languages just off the main street.  The laws are pretty random for example ‘A cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help in time of need’ or ‘Everyone has the right to have no rights.’ Other than the bizarre constitution the rest of the town seems rather ‘normal.’

The crazy constitution.

Locks of Love.  We have seen heaps of bridges throughout Eastern Europe with padlocks attached to the side.  Some have engraving and seem to be a symbol of Love possibly attached when they get married.

The independent town of Uzupis, much the same as Vilnius.

We enjoyed a drink at one of the local restaurants/bar by the river then ventured home for dinner and a movie.