So, who knew that Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania is actually pronounced Villainous? Yes, Vill-un-us. My how Fitz & I laughed at Lydia when she arrived saying that, but her cab driver was right and we stand corrected.
Anyway – just had 4 brilliant days away with the birds, tootling round Vilnius and its environs. A much prettier, cleaner and less Soviet-feel city than we had expected, with churches and spires on every skyline. Plus a sweet side road with balloons, no idea why but added to the surprising cuteness of Vilnius. And we somehow survived the hot yomp up to the Hill of Three Crosses, with a fab view down over the Old Town.
Lyds had found a map of Lithuanian street art – who knew? – so we went hunting various of those around town. Sadly the huge one of Trump kissing Putin had recently been painted over (by Trump we reckon – or Putin) but it made for a good excuse to traipse round streets we might otherwise not have found. Including the KGB Museum, always a sobering visit, and some unexpectedly recent stories of Soviet oppression, invasion and displacement of people.
For a bit of even fresher air, we headed out on the Sunday for a kayak trip on the lakes by Trakai Castle – gorgeous way to spend the day and I think Lyds rather liked having the guide Tomas doing most of the hark work, in the rear of her two-seater kayak..
And the food… was actually waaaaaay much better than we though tit might be. This smoked eats dish included venison, boar and beaver – eek – but was absolutely delicious and then the obligatory beige dish of local delights actually washed itself down rather well with sour cream, which came with pretty much everything.
SO good to catch up properly, and the blisters on my feet were a good price to pay for doing over 50,000 steps in a weekend – especially when 1 day was in a kayak!
Cheers girls – on to planning next year. A 'Stan' maybe.. we will see x
xx