Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Here are a few details I missed about St Casimir(1458-1484). He became king at an early age and soon decided he wanted to minister to the poor rather than lord over them. He abdicated the thrown, professed virginity, poverty and obedience and joined the poor. Unfortunately, he contracted TB and died in his 20’s. Nevertheless, he was canonized 0n March 4, 1602 and has been venerated on March 4 every year since then. He is now the patron saint of Lithuania.
We met our guide, Rasa, and headed for a bakery where we began our food tasting tour. On the way we encountered a live video in the middle of a small square near our hotel.
Soon we were at the bakery tasting unfamiliar breakfast treats including several different rye breads, an “Impunity shot” of ginger, apple and orange that was very astringent and a rye bread mushroom shaped cookie. I did not finish the “treats“
From the bakery we walked to the food market where Rasa had arranged for us to have hand made Lithuanian sandwiches. She shopped several vendors for specific items and then put the ingredients together into sandwiches. The ingredients included: rye bread, a thick cut of mozzarella-like cheese, a dollop of buckwheat honey and a piece of 3-day pickled cucumber. With the sandwiches we drank stout beer.
Bagels, said Rasa, were a staple of the Jewish community. She told us the Vilnius Jews invented the bagel. She admitted that many Jews were killed by the Nazi’s, while many of their houses were destroyed by the Soviets. The biggest tragedy of Lithuania is the loss of so many Jewish people and all their many skills. Lithuanians managed to save many of them. She spoke about the Jewish situation as we walked by the National Filharmonija Concert Hall, built in 1913 and performed in by Jewish musicians.
Another building we passed included the Holy Trinity Gate entrance to the Trinity Church.
Soon it was noon and we were at the restaurant where Rasa planned for us to try Pink Soup, a popular staple of the local diet. It is a cold beet soup with kefir, a sour milk, cucumber and chopped hard boiled egg. Hot roasted potatoes are served on the side. Two or three spoonfuls were enough for me. Along with the soup, we were served a flavored Vodka that tasted similar to Jagermeister.
Shortly after finishing the vodka Rasa left us with our next guide, Maria, who took us to Trakai lake for an afternoon tour of the Trakai Castle and museum. The trip included a 20 mile drive though larch tree lined streets to arrive at a collection of 5 connected lakes where a castle is located on one of the lakes.
The gothic castle was built in the 14th and 15th centuries on Castle island. We walked across a bridge to get to the castle and visit the history museum, opened in 1962.
Along with the stone and brick structure of the castle are many wooden buildings throughout the neighborhood. They are called Karaim, black monk in Arabic. The people living in them were the grand duke’s body guards.
Our driver, Richard,drove us back to our hotel and, at 4pm, we called it a day. We were happy to have a light meal in the hotel bar.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The hotel we are occupying was built by the Pacai family in 1677 and was full of hospitality during its heyday. Even Napoleon stayed and partied here. Across the street from the Pacai was the Chodkeviciy Palace, where our guide Marie once lived. Today it is a museum.
Down the street was the building where the Independence documents were signed on February 16, 1918. On a wall nearby, is a large photo of the 20 men who signed the document.
Independence was restored again on March 11, 1990 to celebrate both the republic and democracy.
Richard picked us up and took us to a large church called Saint John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. From this 16th century gothic church we could see down town and the Neris River as well as the funicular and the Gediminas Castle tower behind us.
Before we were able to climb to the top of the tower, all of our phones received an emergency alert to seek shelter indoors for fear of an attack. Happily, no attack occurred, but we did not climb the tower. After a short time the “all clear” was sounded and we had no other disruptions.
Later in the day we learned drone activity along the border with Belarus had caused NATO jets to be scrambled and the alert was sounded.
Near the tower was the Chapel of the Deported People that contained a crucifix made from a single piece of wood.
We also saw the 14th century gothic church of St Anne. It was lovely from the outside. It was so impressive that even Napoleon wanted to take it home with him. Next to it was the much simpler Benedictine Church.
From there Richard drove us to the KGB Prison, where we had a 2pm reservation to tour what had been a huge 100 year old court house building. In 1940-41 part of the facility was used as a soviet prison. From 1941-1944 it was a Nazi prison then a Soviet prison again from 1944-1991. The prison guide told us the soviets killed people in the building, while the Nazis killed people in the forest. Of the 30,000 prisoners, 1000 died in prison. Most prisoners were transported to the gulogues in Siberia and died there.
225-250K Jews lived in Lithuania before the war. 90-95% were killed during the war. Today there are 2-5,000 Jewish people in Lithuania.
We saw one last church before quitting for the day. It was the St Peter and Paul Church and is considered one of the most beautiful baroque churches in Europe. There are over 2000 human sculptures in the church and each has a different face. It took 8 years to build the church and 18 years to do the sculptures and interior.
I learned there are 40 Catholic Churches in Vilnius. Too many for sure.
The weather has been overcast and cool, with occasional sprinkles, the whole time we have been in Vilnius. I have worn a fleece every day. Sure hope it gets warmer soon.