Our Vilnius Travel Guide! Lithuania is not the first place to spring to mind when considering travel destinations but Vilnius stole my …

There are few cities in the world quite like vilus circumstance brought me here for the first time in 2010 and I’ll be honest my expectations were muted to say the least vilus that’s stheno right or is it Estonia wait wait no maybe it’s still part of Russia safe to say it was

Not a place I’d heard a lot about not a destination that was at the top of my travel bucket list so my ignorance filled in the lanks probably just another tired former Soviet Outpost I assumed but 2 days on the ground in vilus exploring with enthusiastic chaperons from the conference I was

Attending and my perception of this city and this country was transformed forever not a tired relic of Communism but a bustling thriving interesting captivating European city one of the most Progressive places in Europe Vilas stole my heart from that first visit and it never fails to bring a smile to my Face vus is served by the efficiently named vilus International Airport located just 6 km south of the city center is deliciously convenient no matter how you measure it it is a small airport but this is a relatively small country effect there’s no internal domestic flights in Lithuania but there

Are a number of European destinations surfed from this tidy little airport and with direct flights from London City Airport it was a breeze for us to get here given how close it is to the city center getting in from the airport is quick and easy there’s a dedicated train

Service that will get you into town and just 8 minutes for a poultry 80 cent Euro the only snag is they only run every hour which given the size of the city in the airport is kind of understandable but it does mean you might be waiting for a while for a train

After you arrive so do bear that in mind either way the station is adjacent to the terminal and you can buy your ticket online ahead of time from the conductor on the train itself or in the station if you’re in a little bit more of a hurry

Buses run from the airport every 10 to 15 minutes and the journey only takes 15 minutes you can buy a € single ticket from the driver the number one bus runs from the airport to the central bus station and Railway stations taxis are also available in ranks just outside the

Airport taxis have capped rates so you don’t need to worry about getting overcharged fairs to the Central Station are € 13 during the day and 15 at night to the old town it’s 18 in the daytime and 21 at night when once you have endured the 8 Minute strenuous journey

Into town from the airport and have safely arrived in vilnus proper getting around is a breeze mainly because the city center itself is really compact there’s no Metro there’s no trains within the city there’s no trams it’s just buses and trolley buses and the bus network is comprehensive and easy to use

Tickets are just €1 paid to the driver in cash that’s it you stamp your ticket in the red box and sit down simple even I can figure that out it’s rare for me to recommend a municipal transit app they’re almost universally terrible but Local app traffy really is excellent to

Give you public transport information and updates as well as trip planning across all forms of Transport including bike and car sharing and it’s also by far the best way to buy single and multi-pass tickets so definitely worth grabbing the vilus pass is also great value not only does it cover your public

Transport but but it also gets you free tours free access to many museums discounts on many other attractions and to top it all off a free cup of coffee I know I keep going on about how compact the center of vilnus is but this is a good thing because it means you can

Explore a lot of the city’s charm on foot in fact on foot is the only way to explore much of the old city because many of its streets are pedestrianized and even taxis will avoid the areas that aren’t because the roads are narrow and cobbled and some of them are just plain

Inaccessible so get out and explore this wonderful City on foot speaking of the old town I wanted to share this Gem of an area with you uus it’s a small Enclave on the bend of the river which characterizes itself as a reasonably underdeveloped area full of artists dreamers squatters and drunks

It’s not to love about that but it’s so much more than that in 1997 its residents declared it an independent republ republ with its own Anthem its own president its own Minister for whistling outdoors and rather wonderfully its own Constitution the tone of which is representative of the

Spirit of this entire area the right to live by the river and the river’s right to Flow by everyone the dog having a right to be a dog and a cat not being obliged to love its owner but it has to help in a time of need but most

Importantly I think the last four everyone has the right to not be afraid do not defeat do not fight back do not surrender words for 2023 if I’ve ever heard him and that Spirit of progressiveness is captured quite literally in a project that adds new light to A Century Of Darkness welcome

To lishkas prison 2.0 four years ago it was actually a functioning prison really yeah only four years ago you would not be easily going inside this place the inmates were transferred to other penitentiaries all over Lithuania we try to convert the former prison into the place of art

Culture music we have a bar we have a restaurant we have concerts happening and we also have guided tours to show people around what was there four years ago and also what’s happening right now so I invite you easily right now to go into the territory of the prison to explore

It for 115 years it was actually functioning as a prison so it’s even more impressive that for more than a century uh this place was very closed and very strict uh and now it’s becoming one of the most free spaces in villain the kiss Cash prison has always

Accommodated crowds of people but it has traded Correctional confinement for entertainment and community and although we’re here in the off seas and it’s- 2° outside the evidence of progress remains palpable you cannot see much uh but that’s the yard where all the main concerts are taking place during

The summer time and if this place seems eerily familiar to you assuming you weren’t an inmate between 1837 and 2019 then you might have spotted lucases prison in stranger things or one of the many other Productions filmed here this location has gone through many iterations to reach its current version

The version where people want to go in and don’t want to get out like that’s our purpose that’s what tried to achieve and as Martina locked us out of jail for the first time in my life okay maybe the second I was hoping I could find a way

Back into prison 1 2 3 what could be a more perfect representation of redemption and progress than lcas crash prison 2.0 let’s be real food from this region is shrouded in historical bias and not good by us either we don’t know a lot about it so we make assumptions based on

Snippets we heard in history class or heard in a dubiously informed podcast Lithuanian food going to be a lot of boiled meat salted fish and potato right nope not even close strap in friends this is one of the best food segments we’ve ever Done because this is a relatively small City and therefore relatively easy to get around it doesn’t need a whole lot of talking about which means we get to spend a lot more time talking about my favorite thing in the entire world food I have long evangelized that the best

Way to understand a culture is through its food if you really want to immerse yourself in the city or town or Village or country where you find yourself then break bread with the people that make it go understand understand what they eat and when and how and with whom only then

Will you be ready to really explore whatever wonderful place you find yourself in but let’s be honest with each other for a moment I want you to tell me the last time that you were on the train home from work or making weekend plans with friends and thought

You know what you know what would really hit the spot is some is some Lithuanian food i’ I’d like to wait her it’s been a while and that’s not because Lithuanian food is bad far from it as you are about to see it’s because not nearly enough

People know about lania food not nearly enough people talk about the treasures that you can find in this city and in this country so that is what we are going to do we are going to go on a Lithuanian food Crusade across this city this is going to blow your Mind we were lucky enough to be in vus for its annual Gastronomy week a food celebration that happens every November I think we have a strongest year ever in the industry even before Co was not such uh booming the industry as it is now yustinus is the head chef at the

Venerable 14 horses a restaurant specializing in small plates that celebrate Lithuanian produce and cooking techniques previously a baker you has experienced the full gamut of Lithuanian Cuisine what is Lithuanian it’s easy you know it’s if it grows in in in this period uh and you

Take it from lakes or from the sea and Fields that’s a lanan dish if you put it together on the right time right and the dishes we sample are very much put together at the right time sat at the chef’s table with a ringside view of the

Kitchen what followed Was A Feast for the eyes and the taste buds this is the way it’s starts then I think we are in for a hell of a ride I think this is the thing what you know because you’re British people and that’s a scotch egg okay chicken egg

From our farm on the top you have some cucumber relish and wild garlic mayonnaise wrapped into minced lamb it’s the best easily the best scotch Che I’ve ever had in my life and coming from a man of Scottish ancestry that’s saying a lot but that’s not all

Another one maybe it looks like it came from the bakery and that’s the point but it’s not very sweet so a clair TR remad pickles and then Pike caviar Exquisite have I had anything like this and I’m very sure I never will again and the hits just keep on coming

This is almost like a baji not like a Indian beef tar pickled mushrooms without exaggeration some of the best food I’ve ever had in my life we’re really lucky here because we have our farm and the guys in our farm really helps we have our production kitchen wear where we

Make uh jams preserved vegetables and so on so uh we kind of cover that side so we dig deeper and we want to go for more forward the this Concepts and I for one will be following their progress with great anticipation and after eating what

Felt like 14 meals at 14 horses I feared I would never have room to eat again but who am I kidding I love eating so I was back in the saddle for some Lithuanian Classics the first time I came to Lithuania this was slid in front of me

And I wasn’t really sure what to make of it I mean it’s certainly eye-catching in its pinkness it is cold be soup stay with me made with cafir which is sort of fermented milk a little bit like buttermilk sour cream again stay with me don’t worry about the fermented milk thing usually

Served in the summer because it’s cold and it’s refreshing but it is frankly delicious all year round it’s got a cucumber in it and it’s uh often served with with boiled potatoes and rye bread for those dipping moments and then topped with with dill I absolutely love

This stuff and I think about it a little bit too regularly for a soup but it’s the first thing I try and find whenever I’m in this this wonderful country but if we’re going to talk about the classics Primo then we have to give praise to the dish that is chapus

Lithuania’s unofficial official national dish chapus in English Zeppelins and I I cannot figure out why they’re called Zeppelins because it looks like an Airship it is a potato dumpling filled with meat meat and potatoes are kind of the backbone of Lithuanian dining but not exclusively usually served with a sour cream based sauce

Sometimes already poured on you ours have been put in little ramkin and then like a little mixture of meat more meat for your meat and you can kind of just pour it on there and have more meat with your meat sometimes it comes with pork crackling this is like a bacon

Slurry and I’m completely okay with that a beautiful ooey gooey sauce sour cream based like I said I mean what more can you need after that this is like the perfect comfort food especially on a day like today where it’s trying to snow and it’s just stodgy and filling and comforting and

Meaty and just absolute perfect winter food it is kind of what you think about when you think of this region of the world and that is a wonderful wonderful thing and speaking of wonderful wonderful things there’s just a couple more items on our culinary Crusade that

I have to share with you this wayen has developed a a little bit of a reputation as a beer country and when I say that I mean it produces truly excellent logger and there is in my opinion only one accompaniment for this crispy boy and this is the ultimate

Lithuanian beer snack food it is deep fried rye bread which is then rubbed in garlic and butter and covered in a completely reasonable amount of cheese and you you can find these anywhere they’re rifted on a little bit but any bar any restaurant will have this as an

Appetizer couple of different types of cheese this one has mayonnaise on it uh there’s no elegant or sophisticated way to eat this H fried of bread and cheese and garlic what more do you need whoever thought that vilus and Lithuania as a whole could be home to such

Gastronomical Joy certainly not me I am so glad that when I first visited vilnus I had friends to introduce me to some of the foods I’ve shared with you in this episode I still think about that beetroot soup and the deep fried bread with a regularity that borders on

Obsession but I had no idea the seam was so rich the quality so high and the dishes so varied it’s not just the high-end creative stuff nor is it just the delightfully heavy comfort food either it’s that you can get both easily readily affordably across the entire

City what more could you ask for in a food Destination the last last time I was in Lithuania the country was still using its own currency the Litas since then on 1 of January 2015 to be precise Lithuania has adopted the Euro which makes life much easier there are ATMs all over the city and most shops and

Restaurants will accept debit and credit cards however American Express is almost universally not accepted so bear that in mind and besides it’s always good to have a little bit of cash on you for those street food gems and for public transport for tickets villus will feel like extremely

Good value compared to just about every other European Capital you can eat drink and get around here for relatively little I mean 80 cents for the train from the airport into town I mean how can you beat that but what about the rest of the experience how does that

Stuck up and on that note let’s do the rundown cup of coffee will cost you around € glass of beer will cost you around €3 and for the most reliable indicator of a Nations cost the good old Big Mac you’re going to pay € 385 5 or $415 Us I Was a Fool to dismiss this city and this country when I first came here over a decade ago and that is the curse of many Travelers especially the more quote unquote experienced ones you assume that a city cast from the same fires as another will have evolved in the same

Manner with the same characteristics and the same appeal I don’t need to visit City X because I’ve been to City Y if only the world were that simple but it’s not and it never will be and so I owe vilnus and Lithuania an apology for letting my own ignorance and bias get

The better of me because this city is now one of my favorites in Europe it never fails to bring a smile to my face every time I think about it even after several trips back across all seasons a beautiful historic City full of charming people and great food topped off with a

Healthy dose of Ry humor and self-deprecation what more could you ask for you owe it to yourself to explore this city this country and this entire region because it is full of gold

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