My places in Vilnius

Vilnius from Užupis gimnasium hill

Sometimes I work with colleagues from abroad, they just need some local help here. And all of them always say – we did not imagine that Vilnius is such a pretty city. Why am I talking about their opinion, not about regular tourists who come here – because they are coming here prepared, they already chose to come to Vilnius and they expect to see what they see. And journalists (in my case, but it could be business people etc. in other cases) come here for work – to do reportage about gun smuggling, emigration, The Schengen Area etc. and don’t expect anything from our city. And usually they are surprised in a very positive way.

I wasn’t born in Vilnius and I don’t call myself a true Vilnius resident, I live here just for one decade. But I love this city, especially its old town. And I always like to visit different cities or countries with guidance of people who live there, as that means that I get a chance to see the place from a bit different angle than a regular tourist. Also usually people are happy when I show around here in Vilnius, so I thought that for somebody it might be interesting to read about my places in Vilnius, to see it from my perspective. Maybe it will not be exactly the same like in all those guide books and will have some personal flavour as well.

Cozy (Dominikonų str. 10) You can come here with your big dog. Their food is good. I love Cozy’s staff (maybe because most of them recognise me). They have free Wi-fi and you can send free postcards all over the world to your friends from here. It’s not pricy, but it’s not very cheap, so I am guessing that because of this not so many students tend to sit with one drink here for ages.

Hill behind Užupis gymnasium (behind Krivių str. 10) This might be a bit more tricky to find as there is no exact address or signboard. But I like this place because of the panoramic view. Some could say that there is a nice panorama from much better known Gediminas castle hill, but I like Užupis gymnasium hill better, as it is less known and spoiled (even if I hate the rubbish that some people like to leave after visiting the hill).

Užupis cafe (Užupio str. 2) I like it during the summer season the most as it has a nice terrace built on a river Vilnelė. During the weekends you can observe lots of wedding crowds coming here, as the cafe is just next to the bridge and one of Lithuanian wedding traditions – groom has to carry his bride over the bridge (some say that it’s not a real Lithuanian tradition, but nobody bothers to think about it and just follows it). So it’s funny as you can discus bride’s dress, groom’s suit, bridesmaids etc. And this place sells one of the best apple cakes in the town! They call it stebuklingas obuolių pyragas (miraculous apple cake) and surprisingly it’s not one of those hot cakes, it’s cold, but delicious.

Piano man bar (Islandijos str. 1) I know one of the owners! CorruptionJ. It’s lively, easy, cool, staff is friendly and good with customers. They have their own ways of doing things, for example to send everybody home in the morning they play funny song about little cat.

InVino (Aušros Vartų str. 7) Now Vilnius is full (overfull to be precise) of wineries, but this one was the first one or one of the first ones. From this era of them started in our city. But somehow InVino manages to stay natural, popular and different from others. They sell vine for the soul and for the heart.

Cafe de Paris (Didžioji str. 1) Next to the French embassy and could be called unofficial embassy of France. As those few French people who live in Vilnius like to come by. Sometimes some crazy DJs playing, sometimes not. Sometimes they serve one kind of dishes, sometimes others. But they always serve one of the best cafe lattes in Vilnius and surround all their guests with some free spirit.

Jalta (Vykinto str. 17A) A bit further from the old town, but I guess worth visiting anyway. It’s located in Žvėrynas (Menagerie), part of Vilnius which according to the legend got its name from the times when dukes of Lithuania used to go hunting to this area. Jalta is established in an old wooden house (Žvėrynas is famous for its wooden architecture!) and has very informal atmosphere and interior. Jalta is also famous for its healthy „green“ food.

Vingis Park I love it because it’s a huge park in the middle of the city and reminds me of a forest more than a park.

California bar (Subačiaus str. 2) It’s a bar in a hotel. With fans and nice pictures on the walls, usually not irritating music and the food which is made in front of your eyes.

Pasaka Cinema (Šv. Ignoto str. 4/3) Has its spirit and shows movies different from mainstream cinemas.

Steps of Town Hall (Didžioji str. 31) I like to sit there and observe people, shoot them with my long lens in the sun of a nice evening. 

Literatų str.

KGB museum/The Museum of Genocide Victims (Aukų str. 2A) I have to be honest about this one. I have never been there. But I really must go, because I heard so many good words about it from my foreign friends who went there.

Literatų str. My friend Milda lives there! But this is not a reason to visit it (at least not for you), the reason is much more simple – it’s a pretty street and it became even more gorgeous after decorating its walls with all sorts of small plates (something like ex-libris for books) for different Lithuanian writers.

Stiklių str. No other reason – it’s just a pretty narrow street in the old town.

Tea pot, Bernardinų str.

Bernardinų str. Has those nice colourful tea pots on the wall and one little cosy yard. And I went for my studies there!

Cathedral sq. I like it for similar reason like Town Hall’s steps – observing reasons. Also Vilnius cathedral is a magnificent building.

Cathedral in a middle of the cold Lithuanian winter

Also worth visiting

Gedimino castle Iconic. It’s not a castle, but everybody calls it a castle. It’s just what is left from it – a tower. It’s a museum inside, but I like it because of the view.

Pilies str. Main tourists’ street in Vilnius, with loads of cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops.

Gedimino ave. Supposed to be the main artery of Vilnius, but time after time somebody starts complaining that there’s something wrong about this avenue, that it should be more vibrant, but mainly the only suggestions to bring some more life in this street is close or open it for cars (depends what situation is at that time).

  

St. Anne's church

St. Anne’s church (Maironio str. 8) French imperator Napoleon wanted to take it on his palm and bring with himself to France. The church is small gorgeous example of Gothic architecture. Inside it looks a bit like a countryside church to me.

Užupis constitution (Paupio str.) A few years ago the district of Užupis declared itself to be an independent republic. A President and bishop were appointed, four flags were designed (one for each season), and a suitable constitution was created. The 41 rights which form the constitution are engraved on mirrors, attached to a wall on Paupio Street. Take a look at it here.

Why did Lithuanians stay quiet during the crisis and why Greeks don’t

Lithuanians in general are not into public protests

Today I was interviewed by a colleague journalist based in Latvia Talis Saule Archdeacon. He is writing a piece about what Greece can learn from the Baltics in dealing with their crisis for AP.

Not sure if I gave him the right perspective from Lithuania but here are some thoughts I shared with him and he seemed quite happy with them.

First of the differences between us and the Greeks is that Lithuanians in general are much less emotional nation than those living in South of Balkan peninsula.

My second insight was that during Soviet times Lithuanians learned to complain about governments in small groups of friends and families, but not in public. During the Soviet period it was dangerous, so till now Lithuanians just complain about their politicians while sitting at home with their friends and family, but not so much publicly. If they do it publicly, then they do it on news portals commenting articles anonymously. So more or less in the same hidden manner.

The other reason which could explain why Lithuanians did not go rallying as much (or almost not at all) as Greeks did and do, could be because we don’t have strong labour unions who could lead people, organize protests etc. Our labour unions are driven by different interests and ambitions.

Also Lithuanians already know what they need to do if things get tough at home – leave. The numbers of those emigrating went up during this crisis. Lithuanians left where they could get jobs and salaries. And this, in my opinion, had a good influence in the short term. These people not just took tension from Lithuanian labour market (even if unemployment became one of the main issues, but still not as big as it could be), but they also financially support their families and relatives who stayed at home. During the first 4 months of this year emigrants transferred 995 mln. Litas to Lithuania – that is 410 mln Litas more than last year during the same period. And it’s almost as much as Lithuania got from EU funds – during the same period EU supported us by 1,2 billion Litas.

I think that in some way being silent enough helped us and our government to deal with this crisis quite well. And on the other hand I agreed with Talis, that yes Greeks are more spoiled than us, our people (at least a larger part of them) still remember difficult Soviet times and not easy first years of Independence (with Russian pressure, including the economical blockade etc.). Lithuanians did not have the opportunity to become accustomed to the good life, like for example the Irish did. We had a very short period of the good life and even then it was not as good as in Ireland. So, I presume, this crisis was less shocking for us.

The Spoilt Suffer Most (published December 2009)

One topic of discussion regarding the current economic crisis is - who is worst affected?

Some argue that pensioners brought up in the tough Soviet climate are better able to adapt to the present hardships, others that the 40 - 60 year olds who can’t adapt as quickly to the new way of doing things have been the greatest casualties, not just now but over the last 20 years as well.

Deimantė suggests it is the unprepared 25 – 40 generation that is suffering most in this economy. Tell us what you think.

Some say that pensioners, teachers, social workers, librarians or other civil servants suffer from this economical downturn most. But I think that it is my generation – people who are 25 – 40 years old who suffer from it more than others.

A couple of years ago they were living very successful lives. They took loans from the banks and bought cars and flats, and couldn’t imagine a day when their salaries being reduced would ever occur, the prognosis was all just up, up up. They couldn’t imagine that they could lose their jobs, they thought just about the next promotion.

Just imagine a young Lithuanian family, parents in their early 30s, they have two children. They took a loan to buy a flat which cost let say half a million litas several years ago, now worth maybe LTL200,000 (and even worse - nobody wants to buy it anyway). Both parents have cars; they took loans to buy them. They used to go on vocation twice a year – in summer to Turkey and during winter perhaps skiing in Italy or Austria.

And now one of them has lost their job, and for the other a salary reduction of about 20%. It doesn’t sound cool, does it? But this is exactly what is happening in Lithuania nowadays.

Of course people try to find ways out of such difficult situations, some move back to their parents where all four share one room at their parents house, some move to a some smaller flat and rent their apartment to somebody else.

But the thing is that a couple years ago everything was about this generation. They were the main consumers, they were also the ones not afraid to take loans, who weren’t scared to spend and didn’t care much about savings.

They frequented bars and restaurants, spending their money in all the popular wineries, they were the ones attending the theatre, cinema, concerts, sports events, taking dancing and photography classes, taking trips and trying unusual foods, buying clothes, shoes (more than one pair per season like our parents used to do), the latest computers, dishwashers, cosmetics. And yes, they were the ones who helped to create the real estate bubble.

They were sure that things would keep getting better, never worse. Because people of this generation started their working lives in good times, their careers continually improving.

They didn’t live through the tough periods, they were children or teenagers when Lithuania was going through especially difficult times like the Russian blockade, Russian crisis etc. So it wasn’t them who learnt to cope with hardship, it was their parents. They weren’t prepared for this economic crisis, and they never imagined it could be like this.

Hopefully this one lesson will be enough to teach them to understand more about responsibility and how to appreciate values other than just money and work. Maybe the Lithuanian proverb saying ‘don’t be happy when you find something, don’t cry then you lose something’ suits this situation perfectly.

So perhaps that’s why pensioners and the elder generations can cope better, because they are the ones who expect something like this economical downturn to happen. And generation 25-40 were taken suddenly and without any preparation.

This article was published in December 2009 in newspaper LiTnews