Willie waving in Vilnius

The Austrian Rugby Team lost a game against Lithuania on the weekend (0:48) and celebrated by exposing their humour to Vilnius. See the video at the bottom of this page.

Lithuanian road rage

I want to blab on a bit about driving in Lithuania but much of what I say here will be equally applicable to other former-Soviet countries.

For a long time, we’ve been including a box about driving in Lithuania in Vilnius In Your Pocket. Here’s the opening paragraph:

Lithuanian drivers are bloody-minded and completely bonkers, making any journey in a car a bit of an edge-of-the-seat adventure. They are especially fond of tailgating, cutting lanes and dangerous overtaking manoeuvres. Indeed, Lithuanian drivers are now, officially, the worst drivers in Europe. The country has the highest rate of fatalities in the European Union.

That attracted the ire of one Lithuanian reader who had picked up a copy of Vilnius In Your Pocket while returning home on a flyLAL flight. (Vilnius In Your Pocket is available to passengers flying on flyLAL flights until April 15.) She wrote a huffy letter to one of the local rags – 15min – who then contacted us for comment. The story of how we had labelled Lithuanian drivers as blood thirsty monsters ended up on the front page, with a hint of pink-eared outrage that we had dared to print the facts and had done so with – shock! horror! – humour.

The article also appeared online (you can see it here) where comments could be added by readers. Out of some 215 comments, 84% were positive, supporting our article and praising us for having dared to write the truth. We call that a result, and our comments on Lithuanian driving will remain. So there!

That would be enough of a story, but events over the Easter weekend added a very sad twist of irony to the story. The son of Lithuania’s Transport Minister was killed in a road accident on the weekend. He was a passenger in a car being driven by his girlfriend. She lost control, and the car spun and slammed into an oncoming trolleybus.

Reports suggest that she was driving very fast. The driver of another car that they passed, who was travelling at around 60kp/h, claims that they passed so fast he could hardly see them. It has also been suggested that the Transport Minister’s son, who was reportedly a safe and careful driver, may have been drinking and therefore asked his girlfriend to drive. That would have been a very wise thing to do were it not for the fact that his girlfriend was to drive him to his death.

The Easter weekend newspapers were also filled with a litany of other reports of other similar accidents from around Lithuania. It makes for deeply depressing reading.

So, while we feel vindicated of the accusation that we are being unnecessarily negative for labelling Lithuanian drivers as dangerous, we are deeply saddened by the seemingly ceaseless carnage on Lithuania’s roads. We also offer sincere condolences to the families of all those who are killed, and continued support for the Transport Minister in his ‘war on the roads’ campaign.

The duty-free free airport

Travellers fleeing Lithuania are advised to stock-up on cheap alcohol, cigarettes, chocolates and amber bling before going to the airport. Vilnius airport recently openeed a new terminal, and passengers are being exported through it... but there are no air-side shops. Yet. This means you can't get cheap smokes or carry-on alcohol. It's important to some.

Lithuania bans the sale of alcohol

It will be illegal to sell alcohol in Lithuania on September 1 this year. The ban will affect all cafes, hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs, shops and supermarkets. Minibars in hotels will be locked, or will have alcohol removed.

September 1 is traditionally a big day for drinking. We don't totally understand why but it has a lot to do with the start of the academic year. Both students and their parents in Lithuania seem to like to celebrate the start of the school year in the same way that everyone else celebrates the end of it. (Actually, they also seem to like to celebrate the opening of envelopes, but... well... let's just not go there. Maybe I'll write something about that on another occassion.)

As September 1 will be a Saturday this year (and someone might open an envelope somewhere), Lithuania's Parliament, possibly anticipating a double-whammy drinking problem, thought it would be a fine idea to simply ban the sale of alcohol on that day.

Local newspapers are carrying stories suggesting that owners of bars and restaurants will come up with creative ways to circumvent the ban. (Offering alcohol but not billing for it until after midnight, giving alcohol away 'free' but compensating on the food bill, selling wine in tea cups, etc.) It will certainly be interesting to see what happens.

We expect this law will have a negative effect on travellers. People who come to Lithaunia for the weekend, ranging from those who like to have a nice glass of wine with their meal to those who like celebrating in a more enthusiastic way, will probably leave with a poor impression of Lithuania.

If Lithuanian politicians wish to tackle problems associated with drinking, it may be better for them to address the root causes of the societal problems, boredom, hopelessness, poverty and frustration that lead to drinking. In other words: they should sack themselves.

Photo, showing drinking and smoking in Vilnius, both of which will be officially naughty on September 1, courtesy of Sco.

Vilnius In Your Pocket on Google Maps

I've just been mucking around with Google Maps, and have made a Vilnius In Your Pocket map that shows the locations to a few venues, with links to the reviews on the In Your Pocket website. Click on the little blue balloons for pop-out details. Seems this doesn't quite fit in our blog page, so click the View Larger Map link to open it in a new window. Check it out and let us know what you think:


View Larger Map

Lithuania to whip-up Pope Tour

Officials in Lithuania are considering developing a Pope Tour. The tour would link together sites visited by the Pope (John Paul version, revision II) during his autumn 1993 visit to the Baltic country.

The route of the 'pilgrimage' would include The Gates of Dawn and the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius and the Hill of Crosses in Šiauliai. And anything else that may have any chance of separating Catholics from their money.

We sincerely hope some enterprising organisation can pick up a used Popemobile and offer interesting tours.

Source: Interfax

IYP students hit Vilnius Markets

We've got a couple of students here at the Vilnius In Your Pocket office right now, Susanna Larminie and Branwen Spector. They arrived right at deadline time, which was most inconsiderate. So, as punishment, sent them out to the markets to get in amoung the hustle and bustle and old ladies trying to flog time-worn plastic bags and so on and so forth. Here's what they came back with:

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A trip to Kalvarių market requires both a tight clutch on one’s handbag and a tolerance for large amounts of ladies’ underwear. This is no tourist market, but a hardcore centre of dodgily-obtained clothing and electronics sold alongside fish, meat, and local fruit and vegetables. (The term local should be interpreted somewhat loosely as things are labelled as Egyptian, Polish, and Belarusian). Gardening enthusiasts can find a large selection of plants and gardening equipment, whilst mobile phone aficionados can bargain for cheap cases and chargers.

Fruit should be approached with caution as, when squeezing peaches, some were unearthed as mouldy. However fruit and vegetable squeezing is highly encouraged at Kalvariu, and many kind traders will encourage you to fondle their offerings. The produce sold is seasonal – at the time of writing, cherries, peaches and nectarines (the latter of which are both imported from Italy) were in stock, as were large watermelons (Lithuanian watermelons are most interesting as they are both watery and gritty) and Ecuadorian bananas.

Should you wish to give your house a cheap spring clean, Kalvariu market is the place to come. Here you can buy not only Russian cleaning products and equipment at knockoff prices, but also cleaning smocks and washing up gloves in an assortment of colours and patterns.

Halės market, however, is the place to go if you would like to indulge your inner carnivore. Row upon row of pig, lamb, chicken and beef can be found, including excitements such as trotter, ear and slabs of fat. Sausages in every size, colour and texture are also sold, and all cheaper than at the supermarkets. This is, of course, only doable if you are manly enough to handle the sight of a pig’s face grinning at you.

As well as meat, you can also buy denim. Shorts, jeans, jackets, waistcoats, coats and bags – all can be found at the back of the market at specialist denim wholesalers.

Among the maze of glass cubicles in which the market is contained can you find a range of ladies’ underwear able to compete with Kalvariu, mixed in a mountain of more cleaning smocks, shiny trousers and bibs.

Both markets sell practical items rather than souvenirs and other tourist memorabilia, however they are worth visiting if you care to see how the ordinary people of Lithuania shop, floral smocks or a grinning pig.

Vilnius: Airport to city travel delays

A bridge in the main road that links Vilnius airport and the city centre will be closed from June 1. It's expected that travelling between the airport and the city will take twice as long as it previously did. It's also going to roughly double the cost of a cab to or from the airport. Keep it in mind if you have a plane to catch.

Vilnius bans EU gay rights parade

So much for freedom of speech in Lithuania.

An EU-sponsored gay rights parade planned to take place in Vilnius has been banned by the city council. Rather than supporting the right of a minority to express an opinion, they have simply banned it. They are affraid of angry protests and strong reactions and just can't be bothered organising and supporting appropriate planning and protection for an EU-supported campaign aimed at promoting tolerance.

Vilnius is the only city to have banned the parade so far. That says so much.

ANZAC Day : Vilnius

Aussies and Kiwis in Vilnius are welcome to come along to the Dubliner on ANZAC Day. I've heard rumours that there will be meat pies and Vegemite. If anyone knows of other ANZAC events happening in other cities, please just add a comment below to let us know.

The outstanding ANZAC photo, from Perth, 2006 is from Devar on Flickr.

Vilnius In Your Pocket on Lithuanian radio

Here's a recent radio interview about Vilnius In Your Pocket.

This was broadcast recently on LRT's english language radio programme. LRT--Lithuania's National Radio and Television--are the national (state funded) broadcaster here in Lithuania. I have to say that the interview is edited quite a bit, but not unfairly.

English language programmes can be heard at 21:00 each weekday evening. 102.6 FM if you're in Vilnius, otherwise you can listen online: high bandwidth low bandwidth. (Those links are copied from the LRT website, so don't blame me if they don't work.)

15 years of In Your Pocket

In May, In Your Pocket will be 15 years old. The first Vilnius In Your Pocket was launched in May, 1992.

The next Vilnius In Your Pocket, due to be released in early April and covering both April and May, will carry a feature looking back at the 15 years. As a part of that, we'll re-print some of the classic reviews and letters that we've received from our readers. (Like the reviews, not all the letters are positive - but we print them anyway.) There will also be covers from some of the old In Your Pocket guides so you can see how things have changed over the years.

You can also get involved - add your comments and quips to this post and we may run them as a part of the 15th Anniversary feature. What was your favourite review? Can you remember the fist time you found In Your Pocket? What would you like to see in future In Your Pockets? We welcome all comments, congratulations, complaints and interesting In Your Pocket anecdotes.

We'll send a copy of the next Vilnius In Your Pocket to anyone whose contributions are printed. (If you don't want to add a comment to the blog with your email address, send it to vilnius@inyourpocket.com.)

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Metal thieves nick slides and peals

I just saw a story about how thieves in Japan, prompted by rising metal prices, have been nicking children's slides, the roofs off public toilets and those little thingies that hold incense on graves. Yes, those Japanese certainly are resourceful. But Lithuanians got up to such pranks first.

Last year, the clock tower that stands near Vilnius Cathedral was renovated, and light-fingered scallywags took the opportunity to nick the copper cables that made the bell actually operate.

I'm not sure if the bells are ringing again yet. I don't hang around listening for it, to be honest. Nor do I hang around the kiddy slides, obviously, so I can't report on their status either. But it looks like anything made of metal is in danger. Fortunately, the statue of the Iron Wolf is made of stone, so that should be safe.

• Let The Bells Ring photo from Flickr by rcubed.


• Metal thieves steal kids' slides, toilet roof [Reuters].

Vilnius: Hannibal tours

Young Hannibal
Originally uploaded to Flickr by Cinencuentro.

A travel agency in Vilnius, Lithuania, is offering 'Hannibal The Cannibal' tours, which include a bit of a jaunt around town followed by a 'Hannibal feast' (no mention of what's on the menu) and a meeting with Hannibal.

The Saules Kelias travel agency (the name translates to something like 'the road of the sun'), who don't have a website and we'd never heard of before, spewed out a press release offering the tour recently, and have since found themselves mentioned in pithy newspaper articles and blog entries around the world.

Of course, they're trying to cash-in on the Hannibal Rising film which, incidently, was mostly filmed in Prague. (See here for a brief account of the Lithuanian film production industry, which is having difficulty competing because it gets sod all support from a government that is too busy being corrupt and scandalous.)

So - Hannibal tours? Hmmm... they could make a killing.

Black ceramics: smashing

Last night I went to the opening of a new (or, more precisely, relocated) black ceramics workshop. The event took place in a smallish room with shelves on the walls displaying a fascinating range of creations that appear to be made out of iron, but are actually earthenware. There was also a few too many people, some children, and lots of alcohol. Can you guess what happened?

Black ceramics are quite lovely. A gunmetal metalic sheen gives them quite an allure. They'd be quite at home on the mantelpiece next to your gauntlet, mace and mysterious old rusty farm impliment. The technique of creating black ceramics has been around since about 6000BC, and has a long history in Lithuania. Vilnius itself was home to black ceramics artists in the 14th century. Bits of their pots keep turning up whenever anyone renovates anything in the Old Town.

The ceramics are baked in dug-out kilns, and the blackness comes from a combination of pine smoke and iron particles within the clay that are melted in the firing process.

Black ceramic items look solid and heavy. They appear to be made from melted train tracks, but actually they are just sooty pots. I know, because one smashed about my feet. I don't know whether I bumped the shelf, or whether it was the snotty little brat on the other side who magically vanished when there was the unmistakable sound of something expensive breaking, but somehow a little pot, or an angel, or something was lying about my feet in many pieces.

Fortunately the owners of the galler were good humoured about this, but I left anyway before I could break anything else. I might go back one day when there will be less alcohol and people--especially small people--to have another look.

What's Yiddish for ...

The BBC reports that there are efforts in Vilnius to revive Yiddish. While there is a gently thriving Jewish community in Vilnius, it's a mere fraction of what it once was. Vilnius was once the 'Jerusalem of Lithuania', with nearly half of the population being Jewish. The city was a cultural centre for Jews, and Yiddish was widely spoken.

The Jewish population was almost completely annihilated by the Nazis, and now there are just 5,000 Jews in Vilnius, not many of whom speak Yiddish at all. As the BBC article shows, efforts are being made to teach the language to a new generation. One hopes that Vilnius may once again be seen by Jews around the world as a strong and vibrant cultural centre.

For more, check our listings on Jewish Vilnius.

EE TV : Bonkers

Eastern European television can be completely bonkers. My current favourite show here in Lithuania is Stresas - a game show in which contestants are simultaneously grilled and tortured. Some have tomato sauce poured all over them, some are encased in a box with excitable live chickens and others, as you can see, simply have rubber bands applied to their heads. How you're supposed to answer questions in such a condition I don't know. I guess that's what causes the stresas. I also don't understand a word of it--I'm sure it's all typically nonsensical anyway--but it's still good childish fun to watch such antics. Video clips from Stresas are available at the bottom of this page.

Also of note on Lithuaninan television at the moment is that Da Ali G Show is being screened in English. It's a treat for expats.

Stresas is shown on TV3 each Monday at 20:45.
Da Ali G Show is on Tango each Sunday and Monday evening at 21:30, but from January 21 will be shown each Saturday evening at 22:30.

Vilnius still smokin'

Pic: from flickr by matz-o-man

Smoking in bars, clubs, restaurants, cafés and miscellaneous dumps that claim to be any of those things has been outlawed in Vilnius since the start of the year. As many locals are quite dedicated to the dubious pleasure of fumigating their lungs (and those of anyone nearby) and as the marriage of beer and cigarettes is probably the most stable relationship in the country, many predicted that the smoking ban would lead to the death of the whole café and nightlife scene. Not so.

Nightlife in Old Town has been as lively as ever, and the only noticeable change is that little clouds of smoke with legs have appeared floating next to doorways. This makes it easy to spot the more happening venues. The few places I went to or stumbled past last weekend seemed to be doing quite well, especially considering the slumpish idling Januaryness that tends to affect us all at this time of year.

One smoker actually thought the ban was a good thing, claiming that it created the perfect excuse for a pub crawl. One could have a drink and a chat in one place, he suggested, and then, as you have to go outside to have a smoke anyway, you may as well go into another place. Vilnius is ideally proportioned for this. Most places are just one or two cigarettes away from each other.

There is a problem, however. If you smoke while wandering around the streets of Vilnius you will almost certainly be accosted. And not by some leaf-munching, gym-going, self-righteous healthy person. (That would be fine, as you could just cough a blob of wriggling grey phlegm onto them and they’d leave you alone.) You will be accosted by a barrage of bums trying to bum a smoke.

"Sig-a-reht-air… sig-a-reht-air…" they will wail, gesturing with two fingers toward their grubby mouth in case you have even less mental capacity than they have and don’t understand what they are saying.

If you’re walking around smoking and one of these grimwits asks you for a cigarette, I guess it’s best just to either give them a cigarette (and, heck, they’re cheap enough here – less than a pound for a pack of 20) or respond with a firm “no”.

Anyway, it’s nice to see that the nightlife is still quite healthy despite the smoking ban.

1998, Nipple hat and Vilnius In Your Pocket

Photo originally uploaded to Flickr by Mr Pinko.

I just came across this photo on the Flickr website. It shows someone who, despite their choice of hats, is clearly an astute traveller. And a copy of Vilnius In Your Pocket from September-October 1998 (issue number 33, in case you're collecting or counting or just have an unhealthy interest in all things numerical).

So, what's changed in the past eight years? I thought it would be fun to dig out that old issue and do a bit of a then-and-now comparison of some of the listings.

Actually, there are only a few places that have survived since 1998, among them The Pub, which was then described as "a favourite for a beer and chatting on weeknights and dancing and prancing on weekend nights" and is now "as comfortable and trendy as flannel pyjamas". Read the full current review in the current issue of Vilnius In Your Pocket.

The once classic Ministerija was, in 1998, described as "a longtime favourite dance and party spot ... definitely a must". It remained a classic until late 2005 when it closed. You'll now find a new club there called Absinth Code : "We ... thought there were four people in here. But then we realised that the two corner walls behind the dance floor are mirrors, and all four people were the same person. Then we drank lots of absinth and found that all twelve of the four people were also the same person as well." Actually, Absinth Code is a decent place (as the review explains), and is slowly but surely attracting a decent crowd.

Sadly, Naktinis Vilkas (which translates to The Night Wolf) has also gone. Pity, because it was described in the 1998 issue of Vilnius In Your Pocket as "a must for out-of-towners (where) irony drips from every wall (with) velvet booths, chandeliers and Lenin memorabilia." Now a new club has opened next door, but I can't tell you what it's like because I haven't been there yet. (I've been in Australia for the past month and have returned to Vilnius with a list of places I have to check out. Such a tough job!)

Of all the current popular nightspots in Vilnius (Absento Fėjos, Briusly Kino Klubas, WOO, Brodvėjus, Prospekto Pub and Pabo Latino, to name a few) only Pabo Latino was around in 1998. Sort of. The club that was then in the same venue, called Indigo, was a bit of a front for a sex club. Actually... come to think of it... hmmm... oh, never mind.