I spent the morning on a tour of the old Royal Castle, called Trakai, located about 45 minutes from the city by bus. The tour is all in English, but it appears to be mostly folks from either Scandinavia, Russia, Germany, or somewhere else that they don't speak English. I feel very fortunate English was the lucky language chosen.
The tour guide is very good and she talks a lot about Lithuanian people and history, with a good deal of sarcasm mixed in to her stories. I like this tour a lot. She made a lot of jokes about how they were not completely barbarians in the early days (just partially). She explained the history of the country - how it was a huge empire, then it was small, then non-existent, then it was back for 20 years, then gone in WWII, then back again. Still, most of the people in the country are Lithuanian (about 85%), with the rest either Russian or Polish. I don't know that I could tell the difference in looks, but it is a point of pride that the country has maintained their Lithuanianness, so I let it go. The Soviet hatred is beginning to come to the surface.
The castle was built by the first - and only king - in the countries history. After that, there was a dispute over who would be the next king, which was never resolved, so they ended up with a long series of dukes and arch-dukes. The leaders however were fairly progressive for the 1300's, with their views towards religion, property and rule of law. We learn the castle was a central defense against the Crusaders. Yes, those Crusaders. Apparently, Lithuania is on the way to the Holy Land. They fought against the Crusaders for 200 years. What was even stranger about this conflict is the country had converted to Christianity, through its association with Poland. Still, apparently that conversion wasn't enough (wrong brand, I guess)
On the ride back, we learn more about Lithuania, the education system (20 universities for a population of 3.2 million). Economically, the country has suffered like others. They are not on the Euro, but hope to be (someday…). We ask her about the differences between the three Baltic counties - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Although we group them together, they apparently can not be further apart. The Estonians have modeled themselves on Finland, and they see themselves more as a Scandinavian country. Their language, economic system, and government are all based on Finland. Latvia, we learn, has a large Russian population, which causes tension in the country between those who want closer ties with the west vs. the Ruskies. Lithuania, is an island, they feel. They are not close enough to Scandinavia, so they needed another country to work with closely. Germany is too far away for any meaningful ties, and Russia - "Uggghhhh!!! Never!!!". That leaves Poland, which they don't feel is any better than themselves. There is a healthy bit of sarcasm in a Lithuanian's speech; have I mentioned how much I like it here, lately?
I spend the afternoon going through old town and exploring churches. There are a lot of them. Most are Baroque in style and Roman Catholic in brand. The ones that are open are spectacular inside; unfortunately, a lot of them are closed. They don't have the funds to repair or renovate them. For anyone who is a church-junkie, this is a most see stop. During the day, I noticed there is a lot of graffiti all over town. It is not obscene and it is not discriminatory. Most of it is colorful pictures or names, but it is everywhere, except in the heart of old town. It would look so much better if it was cleaned up.
That night I went to a restaurant our guide had recommended. It was a bit touristy, but I would give it a try. One of the national dishes I had not tried was the Zeppelin: it is a roasted potato, stuffed with meat, and covered in a sour cream sauce. They served two. I had one and a half. It was good, but I was feeling very heavy heavy. That night they made the proverbial crash in my stomach. That and the beer made for a good nights sleep.
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