Seeking new travels? Come to Lithuania!
A great place to visit, from Vilnius to Klaipėda

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Every time I visit Lithuania I see transformation, renovation and the rollout of brand-new buildings. Lithuania, like all new nations of the EU, has undergone many of these changes over the last few years.

Lithuania has come a long way with what it has to offer tourists. Go there now and you’ll see the latest in top-notch hotels, restaurants and spas in addition to landmarks and ancient sites. Just as I’ve seen a renewal of every brick and cobblestone in Vilnius, the capital, so have I seen modern hotels and spas spring up in other parts of the country. I've been telling people for years about how beautiful and charming it is in Lithuania; now come with me on a cross-country excursion to discover what a great place it is to visit.

Why Lithuania is one of the best deals in Europe:

• Lithuania's current low exchange rate makes most purchases less expensive than Western European destinations
• The unique cuisine, interesting liquors and beers of Lithuania are among the world’s finest
• Old-world architecture, castles and cathedrals are rivals to the rest of Europe
• Skip the long lines—unlike Paris and London, in Lithuania most tourist attractions are not crowded

Day 1—Vilnius

Shakespeare—A truly novel hotel in Old Town

Our group stayed at a hotel where old world meets new standards of comfort. Centrally located in Old Town Vilnius, the Shakespeare Boutique Hotel is said to be part of palace buildings dating back to the 17th century. Each room is decorated in the theme of a famous writer. I stayed in the James Joyce room, featuring framed photos of Joyce on the walls and the author’s books in the window. The bathroom had luxurious fixtures and heated floor tiles. The Shakespeare’s dining room was tastefully decorated with dark maroon walls, luxurious draperies and a couple of large panel TV screens playing continuous news.
GO: http://www.shakespeare.lt

Day 2—Rumšiškės, Capitals Golf Club, Trakai Castle

Rumšiškės Open Air Museum

After breakfast at the hotel, our next destination was Rumšiškės, a living open-air history museum of countryside life hundreds of years ago. We walked through houses and churches brought in from the four major regions of the country. Our guide, a knowledgeable and gregarious historian, described everyday life in old Lithuania. She showed us an enormous white painted oven that filled an entire wall, an interesting detail of life back then. The oven had a small opening in the side where bread or pots would bake and steps that led to the top surface that served as a sleeping platform for people, warmed by the oven in bitter winters of long ago.

In a horse-drawn buggy, we traveled across the grounds to the next stop, a ceramic artisan’s studio. Lithuania’s rich history includes a tradition of pagan deities, and this studio had quite a few cute characters captured in clay mugs and figurines. We watched a demonstration of the master potter at his wheel, a clay pot whirling around and around, finally emerging into a unique vessel.
GO: http://www.muziejai.lt/Kaisiadorys/Open-Air_muziejus.en.htm.

From Rumšiškės, we traveled to an unexpected destination in Lithuania and then on to Lithuania’s most famous castle.

Capitals Golf Club

The Capitals Golf Club is the first professional 18-hole golf course in Lithuania. According to the club's director Tadas Jarošius, it is located in the approximate center of the cities Kernavė, Trakai, Kaunas and Vilnius, past capitals of Lithuania. This club has all the required trappings of golf society: green manicured grounds, rolling hills and a plush clubhouse decorated in dark mahogany wood, complete with sleek modern locker rooms.
GO: www.capitals.lt

Trakai Castle

The next stop on tour was the village and castle in Trakai, a former capital of Lithuania in the 15th century. The red brick and curving towers of the large castle was a stunning backdrop to the beautiful surrounding lake. Inside the adjoining Museum of Applied Art we saw displays of ancient coins, interesting artifacts from all around the region and a huge portrait of Vytautus the Great, a great ruler of Lithuania who was born in Trakai.
GO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trakai_Island_Castle

Day 3—Palanga & Klaipėda

Palanga’s Amber Museum and Botanical Park

From Trakai, we headed to Lithuania’s western coast along the Baltic Sea to visit the Amber Museum, housed in a building that was once a palace. It not only contains thousands of amber samples but also gives lots of information on how amber was created eons ago. The collection was amazing with amber in all sizes and shapes and colors of blue, green, red, and white. Some samples were even embedded with bugs or plants. According to the museum guide, white amber is created by millions of tiny air bubbles and blue amber by the presence of iron.

Passing by a display case, I stopped suddenly to see a mosaic portrait in amber of an old woman’s face, weathered and wrinkled, and the same as the face on the 1 litas Lithuanian currency note. This face eerily resembled my own Lithuanian grandmother but actually belongs to the famous writer, Žemaitė.
GO: www.pgm.lt

Klaipėda Hotel

Klaipėda, the only seaport of Lithuania, has old-world port traditions and interesting places to visit. Our tour group stayed at the Klaipėda Hotel, comprised of two buildings. Of the two, my room was in the K-Centre building, which featured movie star quality, split-level rooms decorated in an ultra-sleek and ultra-modern style. I was fortunate to have a suite with windows looking out on the Klaipėda shipping yards. The hotel complex also featured a top-floor panoramic bar-restaurant, fitness center with pool and vibrant nightclub.
GO: http://www.klaipedahotel.lt/

Day 4—Nida & Juodkrantė

Nida, the Curonian Spit and Witches Hill

Further down the coast is the Curonian Spit, a narrow sand peninsula of 98 kilometers. At Nida, a small village on the coast, we walked along boardwalks facing a gorgeous beach. Off to the sides, we could see natural sculptures of wind-carved sand dunes held in place by rope bindings. A modern marble sculpture in tribute to the Lithuanian pagan goddess, Birute, and others covered in runic carvings lined the walkways.

We hiked to nearby Juodkrantė to see the Witches Hill, a collection of over 100 wooden sculptures lined up—a sort of cross between an open-air art gallery and a witches/pagan deities theme park. GO: http://www.visitneringa.com/en

Bernelių Užeiga Restaurant

En route back to Vilnius, we had a late dinner at a traditional Lithuanian restaurant located close to Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania. A meal of several courses started with a soup of thick mushrooms served in dark bread bowls. The main course consisted of a traditional Lithuanian meal of potatoes, meat and sour cream all around. We were offered many choices of cakes and pastries for dessert, and I chose a delightful traditional, multi-layered cake rolled up, filled with ground poppy seeds and topped with a custard glaze. At the meal’s end, I had an aperitif, a rose-flavored liquor that was simply divine. GO: http://www.berneliuuzeiga.lt

To the Airport

On the last day we said farewells and headed to the airport to end our short jaunt across Lithuania. As we headed to the airport we passed construction sites, neighborhoods, an ancient cemetary and other places I've yet to explore. It all reminded me there is so much more to explore in this intriguing little country. I knew that I would soon return.

When You Go

In Your Pocket is an information-packed pocket guide to Vilnius and other Lithuanian cities. The online version is convenient and the printed version can be purchased at the Vilnius airport and around town. The guide’s witty reviews have been an entertaining and vital part of my travels.
GO: www.inyourpocket.com

The Lithuanian Department of Tourism website is the official travel guide to Lithuania. The website allows you to select options to quickly narrow your search of restaurants, accommodations, events and things to see.
GO: http://www.travel.lt/turizmas/index.jsp

Panoramas of Lithuania shows panoramic views of sights all across Lithuania. These pages take awhile to load even with high bandwidth, so be patient—the wait is well worth it.
GO: http://www.panoramas.lt

Lithuanian Out Loud is an iTunes podcast featuring free downloads of Lithuanian language lessons. This fun and light-hearted podcast is quite helpful to those needing basic lessons. You can subscribe to this podcast, or simply visit the website and click on the icons to play the MP3 selections. Conveniently, you can follow along by reading the lessons on the website. GO: http://lithuanian.libsyn.com

Photo #4 used by permission, courtesy The Capitals Golf Course.