My last stop in this trip to the Baltics was Vilnius in Lithuania.
Like Latvia and Estonia, the country has a similar history of being under the Russians, declaring independence in 1918, then being under the Soviet Union, and finally getting independence in 1991. But unlike Latvia and Estonia, where there is a significant proportion of ethnic Russians, over 85% of the population are ethnic Lithuanians. Apparently Lithuanian (the language, not the people!) still bears a lot of resemblance to Sanskrit (from which it is derived). I didn’t have an opportunity to figure that out. But what amused me was the Lithuanian word for ‘thank you’ – Achyoo. It was like sneezing every time one had to say ‘thank you’.
Vilinius is a good blend of Gothic, Neo-Classic, and Baroque. My timing there was perfect - because the Sostinės dienos (Capital Days) festival was on. This is an end-of-summer festival – everywhere there were crafts and food stalls with countless stages for music – the sound of music permeated just about everywhere (the ‘revolution’ which got the Baltics their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 is usually known as the ‘Singing Revolution’ as it was mainly peaceful - and music is an integral part of life in the Baltics).
The last event of the festival was a Rock concert in the main cathedral square – for which thousands of people (including yours truly) had gathered. Everyone was given lanterns which were simultaneously released into the sky – which was a really magical sight – to see thousands and thousands of lanterns glittering in the night sky.
At a bookshop in the university area, this professor got talking to me. When I told him I was from India he said “that is a long way to travel”. When I corrected him and told him that I currently live in Scotland, he smiled and said “so you’ve come for the football match”. It was then that I realised that there was a Scotland-Lithuania football match on that evening. Fortunately, it was in Kaunus (a five hour bus journey away), so I did not even think of going for the match! As always, the Scots fan were in full force – which probably accounted for a large number of obese and drunk people thronging teh streets of Vilnius.
Perhaps the football also explained something else that had intrigued me – lots of cars had the Lithuanian flag stuck onto them. When I asked the lady at my hotel reception about it – she explained that the flags were for supporting the Lithuanian basketball team playing at the world basket ball championships. Basketball is wildly popular in Lithuania - just like football (not soccer!) is in most European countries. Even after getting back to Edinburgh I followed the fortunes of the Lithuanian team at the championships (they lost in the Semis).
I made the obligatory day-trip to Trakai National Park – this is a 15th century medieval island castle. It fell into disuse in the 17th century and was in ruins for years. Then during the Soviet era, the castle was reconstructed during the 1960s-80s. On a little island in a largish lake, this castle reminded me of the one in Bled, Slovenia. A culinary speciality of the Trakai region is the Kibinai (a sort of pastry with meat fillings) – it was surprisingly good. Speaking of culinary experimentation, I tried the cepelinai ("zeppelin") which were potato-dough dumplings filled with meat, milk curd or mushrooms. They are usually shaped like zeppelin balloons hence the name. They were easily the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tried. I should have stuck to my Indian food. Which I did. The desi restaurant in Vilnius ‘Sue’s Indian Raja’ was right next to the Indian embassy – I can imagine the diplomats using meals to win the hearts of the Lithuanian government. I certainly enjoyed my daal and chicken there.
Amongst the more interesting areas of Vilnius is Uzupis – this was the Montmartre of the city with a large number of cafes and artists studios. The artists living here declared ‘independence’ in 1997 – they even came up with a ‘constitution’ for the ‘Republic of Uzupis’. This constitution, nailed to a wall, has clauses such as ‘everyone has the right to be happy’ and ‘Sometimes everyone has the right to be unaware of their duties’
My most memorable (!) experience was saved for the last when I was boarding the flight back to Edinburgh. The guy at the immigration counter (a balding bespectacled gentleman) at first couldn’t find my UK visa (which was in my old passport). When I showed it to him, he smiled and then continued thumbing through my passport. He raised an eyebrow and then picked up the phone to speak to someone else. Within seconds a youngish official (who was obviously a superior of the first officer) came and then started looking at my passport. He cluck-clucked a couple of times and then came over to me. He said (very plainly) “You are in Lithuania illegally”. Not a good feeling. On asking him, he explained. My Schengen was in my old passport and apparently the law in Lithuania is that the visa should be in the valid (latest) passport. By now I knew that goose had been cooked.
I tried to explain to him that I had entered the Schengen area through Estonia and then came over the borderless borders to Latvia and then Lithuania. He said, “but to be in Lithuania you need to have the visa in the current passport. I am sorry but I cannot let you board the flight”. Ouch.
Then he huddled into a conference with the first officer and they whispered to each other for what seemed like an eternity. I tried to explain that I had done nothing wrong and that I had the correct visa. He understood the situation but said that if he stamped my passport and let me out he was doing something wrong himself.
On seeing my by-now rather sad and panicked face, he asked me to wait and went away (to probably confer with yet another senior official). After what seemed like ages he came back and said sternly, “We’re letting you go this time, but in future remember to have the visa in the current passport” (not my fault that I got a new passport when my old visa was still valid).
I think they let me go because it was 23:00 on Sunday night and the flight to Edinburgh was the last one for the day (they would have gone home after the flight left). If they had detained me (sounds like a scary word), their departure for home would have been delayed.
As the cliché goes, it was a close shave.
But that wasn’t the end of my experiences. The flight was full of the Scottish football supporters (known as the ‘Tartan Army’) going back after the Lithuania-Scotland match (which, btw, was a 1-1 draw). On the flight, I was the only one NOT wearing a kilt, not singing the football anthems, and not totally drunk.
Weather
1. I covered five cities in this trip (Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius). I was regularly checking the BBC weather site for updates on rain. I can report that BBC got it wrong EVERY single day. There was rain when they said there wouldn’t be any. And no rain when they said ‘sunny’. Baaah.
2. The first day I was in Vilnius, it was drizzling slightly and I forgot my umbrella in one of the churches I visited (Vilnius, btw, has more churches than normal – the town apparently has 79!). By the time I remembered where I had left my umbrella, church closing time was over. So I had to go into a shop and dish out on an umbrella. And it didn’t rain a single day after that!
