Adventures With Harvey

We love Lithuania!

Of all the countries we’ve visited so far, Lithuania comfortably qualifies as the one we previously knew the least about, however we think you’re also going to love our story of this wonderful country and its people. You’re also going to have a laugh when you hear about the Republic of Užupis a bit later, so please read on...

Klaipeda is a port town on the Baltic Coast which we arrived into late in the afternoon. We had already chosen a place to stay which was the car park of a large indoor sports arena not too far from the centre of town. Often with these smaller places, a visit to the CBD in the late afternoon/early evening is all that’s needed, so clad in scarves and hats, off we went to explore. One of the main landmarks of Klaipeda is the Meridianus sailing ship which these days is permanently tied up in the main river through town and is a restaurant. A couple of the cities here in Lithuania have big milestone birthdays coming up; Klaipeda is 770 years old, and next year Vilnius turns 700 – this meant that the ship was decked out with special sails to commemorate the event and the early-evening sun was just in the perfect spot for photo taking. Our stroll around the town was reasonably short as both of us were still a little off-colour from the ocean voyage however it was nice to check the place out and we enjoyed our short explore in Klaipeda.

Lithuania will be the most easterly point of our trip, at least for this year, and our drive through the country ultimately took us to within about 30km of the Belarusian border. The tourist industry in this part of the world is still experiencing significant difficulties, first covid but now many of the usual visitors here have been scared away by the sabre-rattling from Moscow. Being in the same industry, our heart goes out to the local tourist operators however we have felt totally safe here and don’t foresee any possibility of current hostilities spilling into neighbouring countries at this point.

Kaunas is the second biggest city in Lithuania however we only brushed the outskirts on the way past (seeing many Soviet-era apartment blocks on the way) as the main attraction in the area was the 9^th Fort which is just on the outskirts of town. Built in its current form by the Russians at the start of the 20^th century, it successfully defended the town from German invasion in WWI – in fact there are still some pockmarks where shells hit the structure and in one of the museum rooms they have recreated the sounds of the battle as it would have been within. Yes, very loud! From that point forward the fort mainly served as a prison, however the darkest chapter of its history was undoubtedly during the Nazi occupation of WWII. What we haven’t often heard in our British-based WWII history is just how much worse things were on the Eastern Front. In terms of overall numbers, the vast majority of casualties occurred in the east, and this also includes the genocide of the Jewish population – the numbers are just staggering. Overall it is believed that 225000 Lithuanian Jews lost their lives during the war and of those, 50000 met their fate at the 9^th Fort. You almost need to pause on the number for a moment and try to imagine the industrial scale of such slaughter. And there were no gas chambers here, the Jewish population was confined to ghettos then transported to the fort and shot. The memorial there is very moving, austere and one of the largest we’ve seen – look at the photo to see how small Anita is next to it. The interior of the fort itself is a museum these days and tells many stories of both tragedy and heroism, for example the Japanese diplomat who supplied a massive number of fake visas, likely saving the lives of around 6000 Jews.

Our next plan was to visit the capital Vilnius however during our research we stumbled across a nearby town with a highly rated motorhome park. So why not, let’s stay a night and check it out. The town is called Kernavė and we have made the most amazing new friend – yes Patrick is half French half Finnish and is slightly bonkers. I have a vague recollection from my youth of the Russian word kolkhoz (pronounced something like caucus but with an l in the middle) which means collective farm in the old communist terminology. With the collapse of the USSR, these operations were dismantled and now Patrick owns the last one still in existence in this country – yes, a former Soviet era collective farm. These days he’s turned it into a restaurant, tourist accommodation and of course motorhome parking. He has 2 dogs, Scooby and Milka (who we’ve also fallen in love with), a collection of old Soviet Zaporozhets or Zaz cars (quite possibly the worst car ever made), a wooden bus for children’s rides or as a dining car (I’m not kidding, wait until you see the photo!). His place is called Kernavėland and is a picture of delightfully welcoming eccentricity. We ended up staying a couple of nights and loved our time exploring the town which these days boasts a population of only around 300 people. However… there is archaeological evidence beside the nearby river of human habitation dating back 11000 years. Not only that, but Kernavė is thought to be the first capital of Lithuania, being home to at least 2000 inhabitants, and either way was certainly a major centre of commerce and trade in the 13^th and 14^th century until being razed to the ground in 1390 by Teutonic Knights with only the high ground later being resettled. These days a portion of the old 14^th century town has been recreated as per the archaeological records and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We visited the old town and fort both during the day and in the evening with a quiet cup of mulled wine to watch the sun go down.

Poor Lithuania has been fought over between Germans and Russians (and earlier Prussians and others) throughout most of its history. At one stage it was a major European power with borders encompassing modern day Belarus, Ukraine and part of Russia – effectively from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. While all of Western Europe was celebrating victory in WWII, the struggles for the Baltic states were just beginning – yes, they became part of the Soviet Union and most certainly not willingly. While in Vilnius we visited the old KGB headquarters which these days is a museum dedicated to the secret police and other such nefarious happenings in this part of the world. It wasn’t until 1991 that independence was finally achieved, partly as the result of an historic protest in 1989 during which around 2 million citizens of the 3 countries joined hands in a continuous line linking Vilnius, through Riga in Latvia right through to the Estonian capital of Tallinn (a distance of 690km). And all this organised in the days before social media, it all came about as the result of a single radio broadcast. What a powerful statement!

Vilnius is a beautiful city and the autumn leaves along the riverbank and elsewhere were a sight to behold. Probably the saddest part of the city is the former Jewish Quarter which these days has only a single synagogue. Prior to WWII around 40% of the population here was Jewish, there were around 100 synagogues and Vilnius was known as the Jerusalem of the East. Because the war was followed by Soviet occupation which was also less than welcoming to peoples of faith, the Jewish community never returned and these days they make up only a very small proportion of the population.

Probably your author’s favourite part of the city is Užupis. In the mid 90’s once the Soviets left town, this small (and previously crime-ridden) inner-city suburb became a vibrant artistic creative hub. An idea germinated then flowered and on 1 April 1997 the Independent Republic of Užupis was declared. The republic has its own constitution (which has mounted plaques for each of the 50 or so languages into which it has been translated), president, and ambassadors to many different counties – you can get your passport stamped (which I did) and you have to love the lack of seriousness with which these people take themselves. And of course their independence day is on April Fool’s Day which is enthusiastically celebrated each year J.

We will be ending today’s edition of AWH with some sad news. Anita’s mum Meg has been unwell for a while which has been causing us much concern from the other side of the world. Although thankfully her condition doesn’t appear to be life-threatening, a recent deterioration was enough for Anita to make a 2 week visit back to New Zealand to be with and look after her Mum.

After delivering his lovely travelling companion to Vilnius airport your author has returned to Kernavėland to hang out with Patrick, Scooby and Milka for a few days. Our plans to explore Poland have been put on hold for now as we need to be in Berlin to meet my cousin Jono for a few days on 26 October. Therefore in a few days from now I’ll drive the 1000km or so back to Germany and Anita will meet us back there as well. I tell you, this AWH business has not been without its challenges however we’re doing OK and looking forward to resuming our adventures soon.

The next edition of this publication may therefore be a couple of weeks away but until then…

It’s much love from the Travelling Woodies.