Author: cdrbill34@gmail.com

Our last full day in Lithuania, 25 June, was spent back in Old Town Vilnius. Some additional sightseeing and gift-seeking.

Amber
A mandatory souvenir/gift was Baltic amber. “Amber” is ubiquitous in Old Town stores, but, as with “pieces of the Berlin Wall” at Checkpoint Charlie, their provenance is dubious. I certainly would not be able to discern true amber from colored glass.

We decided to check out the Amber Museum-Gallery, which certifies each piece of amber in its collections. They did not permit photos or video in their gallery, but we visited their museum on a lower level of the building.

Located in a baroque-style house from the 17th century, the museum-gallery describes moving from the showroom on street level to the museum as transiting from the 21st century to surroundings of the 17th century and then to a “cultural layer” of the 14th-15th centuries.

A major part of the museum exhibit is a reconstruction of the “Treasure of Juodkrantė,” described as “the biggest archaeological amber collection in the world,” collected in the mid-19th century in the Curonian Spit town in which we had earlier spent a few days.

Amber, we learned, is not a stone, not a mineral. It is fossilized tree resin, which can burn and hold an electric charge. The Baltic states and nearby are major sources of amber. Most commonly yellowish-orange in color, amber can be found in a wide range of colors, including red, greenish, bluish, and even black. A small portion of amber contains insects or plant life trapped as the amber was formed.

One piece on display in the showroom was a masted sailing ship, more than a yard long and almost as tall, made up of large and small pieces of amber. I asked a sales clerk if it had a price. He chuckled and said, “Just think of what a top-level Mercedes might cost.”

We ended up with several much less expensive items . . . and some video (1:45).

Nearby was the Church of St. Anne, originally built in 1495-1500 and considered one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in Old Town.

Gediminas’ Tower

This tower is what remains of the Upper Castle in Vilnius. It provides the highest place from which to view the city, especially Old Town below.

Besides the view, the tower offers historic information and artifacts. It is a subdivision of the nearby National Museum. Access is by stairs or funicular railway. We rode. On one floor of the tower, excellent multimedia presentations provide images and history of the tower and surrounding area. A short segment of one is in the video (2:53).

National Museum
Okay, Lithuania’s National Museum is somewhat modest. Its displays represent the history of Lithuania, as well as traditional Lithuanian culture and customs. Here is video (2:40).

Lithuania: Old Town apartment

 

Trakai Historical National Park, less than 20 miles west of Vilnius, features several lakes, Trakai Island Castle (above), and other historic monuments. The setting is fairy-tale-like and the park is a major tourist area.

Julia and I stopped in Trakai on our way back from Zervynos on 24 June.

The castle was started in the 14th century, but suffered major damage in an attack by Teutonic Knights in 1377. Over the centuries, it fell into disrepair and was not reconstructed, this time in 15th century style, until 1961.

Here is a brief video (0:47).

Lithuania, part VIII: Back in Old Town

 

Up until shortly before our trip to Europe, we had no knowledge of where specifically in Lithuania my maternal grandparents had lived before they left more than a century ago to come to the United States. Then I found the Lithuanian Global Genealogical Society group page on Facebook.

I submitted to the group a picture of my grandparents’ marriage license, which listed the names of each of their parents. Within a couple of days, one of the group members sent me a response noting that my grandmother’s parents’ names were listed among those buried in the cemetery in Zervynos.

Wow. I was totally unfamiliar with Zervynos, but we now had a place that deserved a visit. We drove there on 24 June.

Zervynos is an “ethnographic village” located within the Dzūjika National Park, about 60 miles southwest of Vilnius and close to the border with Belarus. It was first mentioned in writing in 1742, but campsites dating from the Stone and Iron ages have been found there. As you’ll see in the video, the proximate road to Zervynos was quite narrow and ran through dense forest. The village’s isolation helped preserve its character.

In the village, the roads are unpaved and there is no running water. Electricity is a recent addition. There are 48 homesteads in the village, most of which are official ethnographic monuments. Fewer than 100 people reside there. Many visitors during the summer are kayakers on the River Ūla, which runs through the village, who stop for a look.

As soon as we entered the village, we saw the village cemetery. It’s not expansive and it took only a few minutes to find two graves with a marker behind them carrying names matching those on my grandmother’s marriage license. Buried there were Vincentas and Cicilija (Jankevičiūtė) Tamulevicius. We had found an earlier generation of our family.

Here’s video (2:59)

Are these graves proof these are my great-grandparents? Not absolutely, but they are really good evidence. Each of their birth years put them at appropriate ages to be parents of my grandmother and it seems it would be unlikely for another couple with these names and dates to exist. I’m very willing to believe the graves we saw are those of my great-grandparents and that my grandmother grew up in this village or nearby.

(Other people in the Lithuanian Global Genealogical Society mentioned that people with the same surname as my grandfather — Kašėta — lived in nearby communities. One is mayor of the local municipality district. I plan to follow up on this information. Probable more credence that Vincentas and Cecilia were my great-grandparents and it could be the basis for another trip.)

I found it especially moving to be in Zervynos with my daughter. That generational thing again. I also found it very poignant to look at the River Ūla and imagine my grandmother as a young girl playing along its banks.

This was such an unanticipated and welcome facet of our visit to Lithuania.

Lithuania, part VII: Trakai

 

St. Jonas’s Day was celebrated on Sunday, 23 June, throughout Lithuania. Also known as Rasa or Rasos (Dew Holiday) and Jonines, it marks mid-summer, the longest day of the year. (Sunset was at 10:03 pm, sunrise at 4:43 am) Lithuanians are known for celebrating the day in special ways, and at probably nowhere more special than the ancient capital of Kernave.

We drove from the Curonian Spit to Kernave, arriving late afternoon. The festivities there go on into the night and, for many, until morning. As we got there much earlier than most, we were able to park only a couple of hundred yards from the entrance, at a private residence making a few extra euros. Fewer than 300 people are residents of the town.

The rest of Kernave is a cultural reserve, an archaeological site, and yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site. About 20 miles northwest of Vilnius, it is located in the valley of the River Neris. The site contains evidence of human settlements spanning about 10,000 years. Only a very small percentage of the reserve’s 480 acres has been excavated archaeologically.

In the 13th century, Kernave was considered an important feudal town of craftsmen and merchants and served as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. To protect it, Lithuania built a complex defense system of five hill forts. Yet it yielded to Teutonic Knights in the late 14th century.

The entrance to the festival was lined with booths offering arts and crafts, and lots of alus (beer). Here’s video (2:01) of some of that.

One of the exhibits at the reserve is an “open-air museum,” reconstruction of a 13th-14th century craftsmen village. Here’s video (1:13).

 A section of the festival offered lots of food and beer options. We ate dinner there and chose traditional fare.

While the crest of the hill forts was crowded and busy, the area closer to the river was more peaceful and bucolic. As we walked down to the riverside, we saw youngsters gathering wildflowers to make a crown. One of the traditions, I believe, is for girls and young women to wear crowns of flowers and boys and young men to wear wreaths of oak branches. As night approaches, single young women and men throw their wreaths into the river. If a flower wreath and oak branch wreath float together, it means the couple will marry before the end of the year. (The tradition of wearing flower crowns remains strong and appears not to be limited to young or single folk.)

Here’s a gallery of scenes at the riverside.

 

Here’s video (1:22) of going down to the riverside and at the riverside.

As evening progressed, the hillsides filled with music and dance. Here’s video (2:36).

 At first, we thought we would stay until the bonfires, etc., which were scheduled to be lit at 11 pm. Soon after 10, however, we decided to head back to Old Town Vilnius. It had been a long day. 

Thank goodness we made that decision. As we left the town of Kernave, we saw that cars had parked on both sides of the narrow street, forcing only one lane and one-way traffic, fortunately the way we were going. At the nearest intersection, police had closed the turn to incoming traffic. We drove for a couple of miles, at least, past stopped bumper-to-bumper traffic. I cannot imagine how difficult it would have been to leave later. Almost gives an incentive to stay through the night.

The next morning, the street outside our apartment, normally filled with people, was pretty empty at around 8:30 am. Seemed as if quite a few people stayed up late on Midsummer Day.

 

Lithuania, part VI: Zervynos and a generation found

 

Some pictures and a video that didn’t quite fit into previous posts.

More of the lagoon.

A community library

As mentioned earlier, in late June this far north, the days are very long. I also talked about the popularity of basketball in Lithuania. There was a basketball court next to our hotel, still active close to my bedtime. Here’s a brief video (0:50).

Lithuania, part V: Midsummer Day

 

At our hotel, the television received several channels, but only Lithuanian or Russian, with no programming in English. I find that television, through shows and maybe even more so through commercials, offers a interesting look at the cultures of countries.

Here are some samples from Russia and Lithuania. (I apologize for the muddied sound. I just shot video of the television broadcast. And where can I get a suit like the Lithuanian singer wears in the opening segment?)

Lithuanian television (3:17)

Russian television (1:55)

Juodkrantė: potpourri

 

Our hotel in Juodkrantė did not serve breakfast, so on our first full day on the Curonian Spit, we went to a hotel/restaurant nearby that Julia had found online. We went there for almost every meal thereafter.

Juodasis Kalnas (“Black Mountain”) offered morning buffets or a-la-carte ordering and hearty, but sophisticated, fare. 

Photos in the gallery below show mushroom risotto, duck breast, ham and cheese omelets, squid, and more. The pairing of drinks in the gallery was beer for me and kvass for Julia. Kvass is a traditional Eastern European fermented beverage which has as its main ingredient rye bread. While fermented, kvass has very low alcohol levels (0.05-1.55 percent).

We had one of those “small world” moments at Juodasis Kalnas, with a twist. In Berlin, waiting for our flight to Vilnius, we had sat across the aisle in the waiting area from a young man, who asked if we were Americans. Chatting, we learned he had been born in Lithuania, but came to the U.S. at the age of five and lived with his family in upstate New York. He was visiting family in Lithuania. As we boarded the flight, we wished each other well. A few nights later, eating at the restaurant, we noticed a family group at a nearby table. Suddenly, one of the family members got up and walked over to our table. Yup, same young man as in Berlin. This time, we learned his name was “Chris.” We figure we’ll run into him someday in San Diego.

At a different lunch location, Julia ordered her usual still water. This brand, I guess, could be considered ultra-skim.

Juodkrantė: Local TV

 

Our “room” in the Hotel Kurenas, Juodkrantė, was a two-bedroom apartment on the ground floor, looking out on the lagoon. Our front windows are at lower right in the photo above, and gave us the view in the photo below (that’s our rental car).

Here’s a gallery of pictures of the interior.

 

Juodkrantė: Juodasis Kalnis

 

The Curonian Spit is a 60-mile-long sand dune peninsula that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The southern end of the spit is in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, the northern end in Lithuania. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site shared by both countries. 

On our full-day tour of the spit, 22 June, we headed south. We approached the border with Kaliningrad, gave it a look-see, and turned around. Visited a nearby beach, which offered a no-clothing-allowed section, and each of us stuck our feet in the Baltic.

After lunch back in Juodkrantė (“Blackbird”), Julia wanted to go for a swim. I didn’t. We split up, with her walking to a nearby beach and me driving back down south to the Parnidis Dune. When we met up later, Julia said she wouldn’t describe her time in the Baltic as a “swim.” It was more like a “workout.” The strength and frequency of the waves often made it difficult for her to stand and required lots of effort to stay up. My experience on the dune was much more placid.

Here’s video (2:36).

For many decades, perhaps a couple of centuries, grey herons nested on what locals call Heron Hill, near Juodkrantė. Within the last 45 years, though, the herons have been nearly supplanted by cormorants. There are now an estimated 2,000 cormorant pairs and 500 heron pairs in one of the largest bird colonies in Europe. Both species are protected so there has been no effort to counter the cormorants. As you’ll see in the video (1:50), the biggest impact of the birds has been on the trees.

Also nearby is the Hill of Witches. Once the focus of pagan rituals before Lithuania was converted to Catholicism, the hill is now festooned with wood carvings of figures from regional folklore, including many devils and witches. As the Curonian Spit has seen artists colonies develop, Lithuanian artists began carving the sculptures and placing them on the hill beginning in 1979. Here’s video (2:45).

Juodkrantė: Hotel Kurenas

 

On Friday, 21 June, we hit the road. We would spend the next couple of days on the Curonian Spit, a narrow 60-mile long peninsula on the western edge of Lithuania.

First, we needed a car. I walked from Old Town that morning to the Vilnius bus station, to catch the shuttle bus to Vilnius Airport and the Hertz office there. As in Berlin, people in Lithuania use public transportation a lot. Here’s a gallery of pics from the Vilnius bus station.

Drove a Volkswagen Golf back to the apartment. My iPhone directions, however, once it got close to our location, said I was not permitted to drive any closer to it. Pilies, the street on which we were, was defined as limited to “pedestrian” traffic, I assume. When Vilius first drove us there, slowly through lots of pedestrians, I asked about that and he said it was a pedestrian street “unless you need to drive on it.” Okay. (Interestingly, Google’s directions, which Julia used, brought us all the way to the location.)

After wandering about for a bit, I was able to recognize some buildings and found my way.

We left Vilnius for Klaipėda, the port city at which we would take a ferry to the Curonian Spit. The drive was about 200 miles to Klaipėda, nearly all of it on Highway A1, the main east-west highway in the country. A1 is divided, four-lane, speed limit 80 miles an hour (in summer). I sometimes felt as if I was driving in New Hampshire.

Julia had found a hotel in Juodkrantė, a small resort village (720 permanent residents) about halfway down the Lithuanian portion of the peninsula. It was a beautiful setting, with the Curonian Lagoon just across the street.

Here’s video (1:42) of the road trip.

Everything went great on the drive. Except for one event. As we drove along a two-lane road in the center of the peninsula, the car in front of me suddenly braked hard and pulled over. But there was no space for him to get entirely off the road. With the butt end of his car taking up about half the lane and a lorry approaching from the opposite direction, I had to slam on my brakes. I avoided contact with the car in front, but another lorry behind me was not able to avoid contact with our car. “Damage” was very minor — a small, shallow scratch (it sounded worse). The lorry driver, somewhat agitated, didn’t speak English. Calculating the situation (language, absence of police, level of damage), I said things were okay, we shook hands, and returned to our cars. Meanwhile, the instigator of the situation had taken off. (Long story short, I was worried about what charges I might face with Hertz and there were none.)  

We had stopped at a mall in Kaunas for lunch. After spending a couple of days in Old Town, I was surprised, frankly, at the MEGA Mall. It was a pretty good indication of why Lithuania is classified as an “advanced high-income” economy. Here’s video (1:27).

Lithuania, part IV: Curonian Spit