Vinayak Hegde

Vilnius is very laidback and underdeveloped as compared to the other Baltic capitals but it’s plain looks hide it’s erudite populace. Vilnius is the home to one of Europe’s oldest universities and the largest book fair in the Baltics is held here every year. Vilnius has been continuously inhabited since the early middle ages when it was the capital of the grand Duchy of Lithuania. Vilnius’s Old Town has several old buildings from medieval times and is extremely well preserved. It is also designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for it’s unique architecture. The Baroque architecture dominates Vilnius but there are examples of Renaissance and Gothic style architecture as well. Vilnius was very important city for the Jews (known as “Jerusalem of the North”) but that changed after the holocaust and very few Jews remain in Vilnius now.

Vilnius was one of the few places where I stayed in a hotel. The Panorama Hotel in Vilnius sits atop a hill just outside the gates of the old city and lives up to it’s name by offering beautiful vistas of the old town especially in the night. For a city of it’s size, Vilnius has a lot of churches – 65 in all. Many of these are situated in the old town and display different kinds of architectures and catering to different sects of Christianity.

The Vilnius Cathedral and Three Crosses hill

The Vilnius Cathedral with it’s imposing structure dominates the center of Vilnius. It is built in the neoclassical style. The interior of the Church has many statues and huge pillars The bell tower and the Cathedral are the unofficial symbols of Vilnius. Outside the Cathedral, there is large statue of Gediminas – who made the first reference to Vilnius in his letters and is considered to have founded Lithuania. The new Palace complex is just behind the Cathedral and was still under construction in August 2009.

From the inscription:

The Hill of three crosses is one of the symbols of Vilnius. Three white crosses were erected to commemorate 14 Franciscans, who according to legend, came as missionaries and were martyred by pagans on this site. The first wooden crosses were built in 1613 and later renovated, but removed by the Russian administration after the revolt of 1863. A concrete monument was built in 1916 according to A. Wiwulski’s design. The Soviet authorities destroyed the crosses, but from 1989, they have been standing in their original place, imprinted in the silhouette of Vilnius and in our minds as symbols of Christianity in Lithuania.

Finally after the memorable trip through the Baltics it was time to fly to the North of the Arctic Circle to Tromso. The Vilnius Airport was small and charming with a staff of just 6-7 people and small old aircraft hanging from the ceilings. It turned out that the people who checked in my baggage were the people on the plane. It was a small propeller-driven aircraft with less than 25 seats. I reached Tromso, Norway late after midnight.

Trakai is a small city 25Kms west of Vilnius – the Capital City of Lithuania. Trakai was the ancient capital of Lithuania and was founded in the 14th Century. Trakai is situated on a peninsula that stretches into the Lake Galve. Trakai has three castles – two on the shore and one on the lake island. One of the castles on the shore is in a state of disrepair. The Trakai Island Castle is a popular tourist destination and features on the cover of Lonely planet’s Gide to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Karaim Community

Karaims or Karaites are a small Turkic-speaking religious and ethnic group. They have settled in Trakai since the 14th Century. They follow Karaite Judaism. The place of worship is called the Kenesa (See pic below). Trakai’s Karaite Kenesa is an example of a surviving wooden synagogue with an interior dome. Their houses can be easily identified as they have three windows facing the road and are brightly coloured.

After doing a longish stopover in Helsinki for three and a half days, I took the Linda Line Cruise into Tallin, Estonia – A distance of just 80 kms across the Baltic Sea. While planning the Europe trip, the Baltics were never part of the plan. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were part of the USSR before it disintegrated in 1991. As a young kid I saw this on TV, as the USSR broke into independent states. At that point, I was saddened (Remember Misha – the Russian Kids Magazine ? ) as it probably meant I would not get any of the cheap Russian books that I had grown accustomed to. Over the years, I had been following the news about new-born states as some fell into chaos and dictatorship and some prospered as they broke the shackles of communism and the USSR and adopted free-market policies. This was a great chance to visit them and see for myself. As I started reading about them, I got more and more interested and decided to visit them all for a brief while.

I traveled through the Baltics from the north to south before flying to the North of Norway (Tromso – north of the Arctic Circle). I traveled through the cities of Tallinn and Parnu (Estonia), Riga, Salaspils, Liepaja and Cesis (Latvia) and Vilnius and Trakai (Lithuania). Though the Baltic countries have shared history and close ties they are different in several ways from each other.

Estonia is a confident country that has wholeheartedly adopted new technologies and free market policies. I met several people in Estonia who were planning to start their own businesses or already running them. The adoption of mobile, wireless technologies and Internet was high. Random factoid – The founders of Skype were from Estonia. It also helps that Finland is just across the Baltic seas so there is quite a bit of expertise and investment coming from across the border. Economic activity was buzzing and people were cheerful, friendly and optimistic about the future. They were well informed about the environment – An example was an internet mobilized cleanup of the forests – one of the largest in the world. Also most people were atheists (A survey suggested that Estonia had the highest percentage of atheists). Estonia has just 1.3 million people but for a small country it has achieved a lot in the last 2 decades since independence.

Latvia has the most fabulous (and most populous) capital – Riga – amongst the Baltic states. When I was there, it’s economy was going through a severe recession as the real estate bubble (fueled somewhat by money from the UK) had burst and the GDP had fallen a staggering 20+ percentage points. About half of Latvia’s population lives in Riga – which is also considered as one of the unofficial Capital of the Baltics. Riga is relatively modern. Riga is a photographer’s delight with wonderful architecture – right from the medieval ages to the bland Soviet style buildings to the swanky steel and glass towers of the 21st Century. Some of the local economy is fueled by the tourism from the UK (Notoriously young Britons who come to the Riga for sex and booze). Undeniably, Riga has a dark edgy underside which it tries to hide. However the people are friendly (almost everyone speaks English) though the older generation seems to be somewhat nostalgic (and conflicted) about the Soviet Era.

Lithuania seems more influenced by Eastern Europe (It shares a border with Poland in the South) than the Scandinavian countries. It’s beautiful capital Vilnius is rich in culture but seems more provincial and backward when compared to rest of the Baltics. Vilnius had a sizable population of Jews before World War II and was called Jerusalem of the North. Few people speak English and getting around is not very easy. Like Latvia, Lithuania was in the midst of a severe recession and it was apparent even in the city. I passed several factories that had closed down and a car factory that had it’s huge temporary parking space full of cars as people could no longer afford to buy them. There were dilapidated buildings around the outskirts (Where tourists typically never visit) and people still lived in cramped soviet style apartment blocks. Lithuania is still dependent on Russia for large amount of trade and there is a sizable Russian population in the country which is also represented in Parliament.