Global
Add a review
Hotel review
Travel story
Attraction review
Question to tourists
Forum thread

COMPLETION OF THE BALTIC TRILOGY - LITHUANIA... AND AGAIN LATVIA (INDEPENDENT TRIP)

08 January 2012 • Travel time: with 24 December 2011 on 30 December 2011
Reputation: +592.5
Add a Friend
Send message

INTRODUCTION

And again I am glad to welcome lovers of tourism!

What can I do for you this time? And let's guess. So, in 2010 my wife and I met in Riga: http://blogs. turpravda. com/Gatto/46904.html

We celebrated 2011 in Tallinn:

http://blogs. turpravda. com/Gatto/46905.html

What city is asking for this time? That's right - Vilnius! True, we had to break off with the meeting of the New Year in this wonderful city: the annual multiple visas, kindly provided to us last year by the Estonian embassy, ​ ​ were valid only until December 30.11… but they celebrated Christmas there!

HOW TO READ THE REPORT

You, dear reader, are probably old enough to realize that reading this review, especially “from cover to cover”, is your right, but not an obligation. I immediately warn you that in this report there will be, as always, a lot of jargon, including those invented by the author himself, which, however, should be “intuitively understandable”.


Therefore, if you prefer the book-newspaper language, then it is better for you to close this page. But there will be no profanity, so lovers of a more "busy" language will have to excuse me.

For ease of perception, the text is divided into parts, the names of which show what they are about: currency exchange, sights, museums or pubs. So, if you wish, you can read only the sections you need and skip the unnecessary ones.

TRIP ORGANIZATION

Since we already had visas, we considered contacting a travel agency an extra task and decided to book both air tickets and rooming houses on the Airbaltic website (we also booked everything there 2 years ago before going to Riga). According to the bubble, the alignment is as follows:

- air tickets Moscow - Vilnius (UTair) - 306 Jews;

- air tickets Vilnius - Riga - Moscow (Airbaltic; Airbaltic + Aeroflot) - 197.16 Jews;

- rooming house in Vilnius for 4 nights (4 *) - 285 Jews;

- rooming house in Riga for 2 nights (4 *) - 130 Jews.

In both hostels, the rooms are standard with breakfast and with the possibility of canceling the reservation.

Prices are given taking into account all fees, which, by the way, make up the lion's share of the cost of air tickets. As you can see, for everything about everything it turned out less than a mower. We booked at the end of October, and if we had booked a little earlier, then the tickets would have been even cheaper. But the rooming houses could be cheaper if we booked them, on the contrary, later. So it makes sense to think about booking separately, despite the 100% discount on the Airbaltic website for booking bunkhouses with tickets.

About the need to purchase medical insurance, I think it is not necessary to write. They cost us 8.4 Jews per person.

Day 1 (Saturday, 12/24/11)

FLIGHT MOSCOW - VILNIUS (UTair)

We took off from Vnuchka in a small plane with propellers that create additional noise during takeoff (if anyone is interested, the model of this aircraft is called Aerospatiale / Alenia ATR-72).


I liked, however, that the seats are not arranged in 3, as usual, but 2 in a row (almost business class : D). We took off at 11.40 and at 11.45 we were already in Vilnius. No, I didn’t mix up anything in the numbers, and, of course, we didn’t fly for 5 minutes: it’s just that now between Moscow and Vilnius the time difference is 2 hours from the end of October to the end of March, and from the end of March to the end of October - still one hour.

During the flight, Asian flight attendants serve, among other drinks, also wine, red or white - to choose from. Although, it should be noted, it would be more correct to offer 100 g of water, since the bus that brought passengers to the plane stood for a long time with open doors and waited for all the passengers to gather. And it didn't heat up at all. No, to make a couple of flights! For this, UTair is a fat minus.

LITHUANIAN BORDER CONTROL

For some reason, the Lithuanian border guards showed an increased interest in me and my wife.

The border guard first asked me to take off my cap, then he began to ask how much and for what I came to them. Here is an example dialogue:

- For what purpose did you come?

- From the tourist.

- And for how many days?

- For 4 - until December 28.

- Do you have a hotel booked?

- Yes (after looking at the papers, he told him the name of the hotel).

- And then?

- Then to Riga for 2 days.

- And after Riga?

- After Riga - to Moscow.

In a neighboring booth, a border guard asked about the same questions to my wife. In the end, our answers convinced them that we were not going to dissolve like in a fog in the vast expanses of Lithuania and other EU states, and they let us through.

ROAD FROM THE AIRPORT TO THE HOTEL

Having received our luggage, we began to think about how to get to our rooming house. In the arrivals hall and near the airport building, many taxi drivers hung out, who, however, did not impose their services on anyone.


I approached one of them (the one who was first in line) and asked if he took euros and how much it would cost to get to our hotel. He answered me that he would gladly take the euro, and such a trip would cost 30 Jews. Naturally, I preferred to refuse his services. Then I went up to the girl who was sitting in the window of the information desk and asked her how best to get to the city. She kindly advised me to take the express train, which stopped a two-minute walk from the airport (as it turned out later, an airport trolley with suitcases can be brought to this station without any problems), and even suggested when the next express train would be (they go there about every half an hour - hour - depending on the time of day) and how much the ticket costs. In the same place, next to the information desk, I also took a map of the city, which are offered for free to everyone.

Then we exchanged 100 Jews for litas (the topic of currency exchange will be covered in more detail a little later) and as a result we reached the rooming house not for 30, but only 5, and not for Jews, but for litas. You don’t need to worry about buying express tickets: they are sold right inside this very express train by the conductor, and this is the only way to purchase such a ticket. It takes only 7 minutes to drive from the airport to the railway station. The express itself is something like a double carriage, but despite this, both times that we rode it, there were more than enough seats. There is also a toilet there, if anyone suddenly wants to.

SOMETHING ABOUT LANGUAGES OF COMMUNICATION

I also want to note that the conversation with both the taxi driver and the girl from the information desk was conducted in Lithuanian, which I managed to master to some extent from various textbooks in 3 months. Difficult, I must say, language, even if the Baltic group is related to the Slavic. The situation is especially difficult there with accents.

However, it is not at all necessary to learn the language in order to go there (it’s just for fun for me to learn the languages ​ ​ ​ ​ of the countries I visit), because almost everyone there speaks Russian. However, with the Russian language in Lithuania, as it seemed to us, it will still be worse than in Estonia and, especially, Latvia. In the Beer House (Alaus Namai), for example, the waitresses did not speak Russian. However, they spoke English, so communication with them went without problems in Lithuanian-English. Yes, and there were some Russian-speaking employees there, too.

It should also be noted that the menu in Russian is not available in all restaurants, some only in Lithuanian and English.

HOTEL EUROPA ROYAL 4*


I had to walk about a kilometer from the station to the rooming house with two suitcases, but if you are not a fan of this kind of exercise, no one bothers to take a taxi. In this case, I think it will cost much less than 30 Jews.

We were immediately settled in the rooming house, despite the fact that we arrived there at about one o'clock in the afternoon, and check-in there from 14.00. At the reception (which in Lithuanian is called “registratū ra”, just like in a Soviet polyclinic), then a pleasant girl in all respects was on duty by the name, it seems, Evelina. When we entered, I told her in Lithuanian that we had a reservation at this hotel. She asked for passports and, seeing that we were from Russia, expressed some surprise that I spoke Lithuanian. However, our further communication took place already in Russian, which she is fluent in, as, probably, the entire staff of this hotel. We were asked to fill out a form, and when I did, we were given room key cards, as well as something like a coupon for visiting a hotel restaurant with a 10% discount + a glass of wine (or mulled wine) for free.

After we put our things in the room, I asked Evelina where it is better to change the currency, and she said that the exchange rate is approximately the same in all banks, but on the occasion of Christmas Eve, most banks are closed, but money, if necessary, can be changed at the bank at the station or in some shopping center. In general, we had to go to the station again, because it was closer to the shopping centers.

ABOUT CURRENCY EXCHANGE IN VILNIUS

As you know, the national currency of Lithuania is the Lithuanian litas. 1 litas is approximately equal to 12 Russian rubles. Accordingly, 1 dollar is approximately 2.67 litas, 1 Jew is 3.43 litas, and 1 lat is approximately equal to 5 litas. Of course, the exchange rates can change, I cited those that were valid at the end of December 2011. I think it's better to go to Lithuania with Jews or dollars, although you can also with rubles. However, it should be remembered that, firstly, not all exchangers take rubles there, and secondly, where they are taken, it may not be a very favorable exchange rate.


For example, in one bank for 100 rubles they gave only 5.6 litas (that is, they sold litas for almost 18 rubles instead of 12! ). I would like to hope that this was just a mistake on the exchanger's scoreboard. If you're lucky, then you can buy litas for 12.35 rubles, and then they will take them back, if something happens, for 11.5 rubles. It is better to change a large amount, because banks there usually charge a fixed fee (2.5 - 3 Litas per operation). Banks close quite early there (at 17 o'clock, in my opinion), however, as already mentioned, shopping centers remain. And at the station (to the right of the building, if you are facing the entrance) there is a branch of Citadele Bank, which works around the clock, according to the timetable on the door. When I went there, there was a queue, but I didn’t have to stand for a long time, because there were as many as 5 cash desks.

Yes, if you wish, you can buy litas in Moscow, but this is unlikely to be profitable: for example, in exchangers at metro stations near the railway stations they are sold for 14 rubles, and they are accepted for 8, you can see for yourself what the benefit is.

Although, maybe they can be exchanged somewhere and at a more favorable rate.

So, we changed the currency, so let's go back to the rooming house.

ROOM IN EUROPA ROYAL HOTEL 4*

The room is not bad, although not without flaws, of course: there is some smell of some kind of standing socks (I guess what the lovers of scoffing want to say now, but you still read the section about the hotel in Riga before you do this), so the room I had to constantly ventilate, the upholstery was peeled off in places. Soundproofing is poor. The layout also leaves much to be desired: the distance between the bed and the toilet wall is quite small. By the way, it is in that place that the wallpaper was peeled, because, apparently, everyone squeezes through, clings ...The mini-bar is also not happy: for example, a liter bottle of ordinary mineral water costs 12 litas, and a bottle of Perrier water costs 15 litas (0.75 l).

Prices for Bukhara inspire no more optimism (a scale for 50 ml of VSOP or XO cognac is 40 litas, and the same scale of a local strong drink or a smaller glass bottle of wine is 20 litas). The bathtub curtain is glass that covers about a third of the bathtub along its length, while water seeps very cool into the gap between the glass and the bathtub (there is a drain hole in the floor, however, so I don’t think you will flood the neighbors below). My wife also didn’t like the fossil-looking hair dryer in the room (I myself rarely use such things), according to her, it is uncomfortable (the handle heats up quickly), dries poorly and often overheats and cuts off. There was also no ironing board and iron in the room as stated in the description.


Well, okay, something I'm all about the sad but about the sad. Otherwise, the room makes a good impression: the furniture is decent, the plumbing is imported and modern, it flows only from where it is needed.

The room is warm all the time, and what was especially pleasing was the fact that the floor in the toilet is heated. The windows overlook the street of the old city - the local "arbat".

There is also a chest of paid-key type in the room (6 litas per day).

Fans of smoking in the room will cost “only” 200 litas.

FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH PRE-CHRISTMAS VILNIUS

After changing the money, we went for a walk around Vilnius. This city, so to speak, is peculiar. The central squares are quite beautiful, especially when they are decorated on the occasion of Christmas. But the narrow streets of secondary importance in the old city sometimes give the impression not of antiquity, but of some kind of shabby. So lovers of antiquity should keep this in mind so as not to spoil the overall impression.

Churches are visible everywhere, both Catholic and Orthodox, there was a pointer to the choral synagogue somewhere, but I didn’t notice any hints of mosques, although, perhaps, they are there too.

On that day, we had a chance to do a lot of walking. After all, where does any cultural tourist who comes to another country go in the first place? That's right - to a restaurant to adequately celebrate your arrival. Well, what are we worse? In general, we decided to go to one of the restaurants, information about which we dug up on the Internet even before the trip. As such, a restaurant was chosen with its own brewery "Prie Katedros", which means "At the Cathedral". Indeed, it is located on Gediminas Avenue at number 5, which is located near the Cathedral Square. However, this restaurant was closed on December 24, as the announcement said. But will you stop us? We went to another restaurant - "Alaus Namai" (i. e.


"Beer house"), located on the embankment of Albert Goš tautas (Alberto Goš tauto g. , 8). Shkandybal had to be quite far away (this is already even a little outside the old city), and when they did doshkandybal, the o5 broke off, stumbling upon a closed door with an announcement that the Beer House would open only on the 27th. After that, we got tired of walking, and we decided to go to at least some restaurant. However, they were all closed - for some reason only coffee shops were open. And so we walked from the Beer House to our rooming house, trying in vain to find the institution we needed. Moreover, by the evening it had time to freeze (when we arrived, it was above zero), and ice formed on the roads, so we had to go very carefully, because our goal was to sit in a pub, and not lie on the pavement or, even worse, in the traumatology department of one from local hospitals. Better yet, medical insurance simply “inspires optimism. ”

RESTAURANT AT OUR HOTEL

Finally, we reached our rooming house, and - lo and behold! - we came across a working restaurant, which, as it turned out later, was a restaurant at our own rooming house! Well, at least there will be a percentage discount and a couple of glasses of mulled wine on the coupon - and that's it! Taking into account the discount, beer "Š vyturys" (accent on the last syllable) costs 6.3 litas (hereinafter, prices for beer are given for 0.5 liter, unless otherwise specified), beer Grimberger - 8.1 litas, salad "Caesar" - 17.6 litas, steak from salmon – 32.4 litas. The atmosphere in the restaurant is even nothing - like a medieval castle, but somehow too quiet. The waiters and bartenders speak excellent Russian. The main menu is in Lithuanian and English, but there is also an additional menu in Russian, printed on blue A5 sheets.

BAR AT OUR HOTEL

Having rested after the restaurant in the room, we came to the conclusion that there is simply nowhere to go on the eve of Christmas, except to the hotel bar.

Nothing else works! There we drank beer, as well as local strong liquors with a strength of 50% and various cocktails, which were kindly offered to us by a local bartender, who also speaks fluent Russian. I spoke with him both in Russian and Lithuanian. And after a few glasses of vigorous drinks, he decided to make fun by asking a question in a mixed language. The question "Where is... ? ” in Lithuanian is “kur yra…? ". So, when the bartender approached me once again, I asked him: “Kur yra sortiras? ” He had a look of incomprehension on his face, but only for a fraction of a second, after which he, smiling, showed me where the required institution was located.

Then I bazaar with some shoemakers. With shoemakers, not in a professional sense, but in a national one. After all, everyone probably remembers which country on the map is strikingly reminiscent of a boot. So I had to bazaar in Italian.


In general, it would seem, nothing special, but the time was quite fun. The atmosphere is quite cheerful in this bar.

Also, this bar seemed to be the only one open in Vilnius that day. The fact is that December 24 is considered a family holiday and restaurant owners are also often not averse to celebrating it with their families, so many restaurants are closed on this day. Fans of celebrating Christmas in the restaurant, however, are also there, so those restaurants that are still open on this day, as a rule, are packed to capacity. So those tourists who did not have time to book a table and have dinner were forced to dine at the bar. There were also those who, after sitting in "our" bar, went to look for some other institution more interesting, but quickly broke off and returned back.

Day 2 (Sunday, 12/25/11)

Breakfast in this rooming house is provided on weekdays from seven to chirp in the morning, and on weekends - from 8 to 11.

And this, I must say, is wisely thought up, because what cultured person is not in the bastard to get up early in the morning of the day off? This is no easier for him than counting the number of cocktails eaten the day before.

Breakfast I would call quite decent for this kind of hotels, it is tasty and quite varied. Particularly pleased with the presence of cold-smoked salmon. From the drinks were including juices: apple, orange and pineapple. Juices are not freshly squeezed, but not U-pee either - ordinary juices from packages.

CHICKEN COOPS

In reports about Riga and Tallinn, I wrote about the so-called chicken coops. They are usually located in the central squares and sell mulled wine, tea, coffee, pastries, honey, cheese, trinkets, as well as gloves and hats. So, in Vilnius, the system of chicken coops is organized a little differently.


There, on the Town Hall Square, there was one large chicken coop in the form of a tent, in which stalls were located, from which all the above goods were sold, with the exception of trinkets, gloves and hats. Trinkets (magnets, plates and other souvenirs) were sold, however, in separate chicken coops, made, however, unlike in Riga and Tallinn, not from wood, but from metal and stone, and rather reminiscent of village bus stops, only round.

A glass of mulled wine cost 6 litas, a bottle of mineral water (0.5 l) - 3 litas (already 2 times cheaper than in a rooming house, but still expensive; in the store we took bottles of 1.5 liters for 2.2 litas). And local enterprising dudes traded burned marshmallows. Burnt, not in the sense of fake, but in the sense that they scorched him with a blowtorch.

They picked up ordinary marshmallows in the store, apparently, for a penny, and then they put it on “skewers”, singe it with a blowtorch and suck in “marshmallow skewers” ​ ​ for everyone who wants it at 7 litas for a “skewers” ​ ​ (they sold me for the second time for 6, like at a discount as a regular customer, although in fact they just didn’t have change from the chirp, and without change I only had 6).

Another well-known Christmas and New Year character periodically entered this chicken coop and took pictures with everyone. By the way, his beard was not made of cotton - sort of like his own (or maybe a consignment note). However, be that as it may, it would have looked more spectacular from cotton wool.

GEDIMINA CASTLE ON THE MOUNTAIN

Something I'm all about pubs and about chicken coops, but you need to develop spiritually, too, right? Well, to the museum, there, some hit the road. In general, we decided to go to the castle of Gediminas, located on the mountain. It took some time to climb the mountain, because.


The ice has not melted everywhere yet. Those who do not like this kind of extreme can get up and on the funicular. I don’t remember how much this pleasure costs, but it seems inexpensive. When we finally got to the castle, we realized that it was not our destiny to develop spiritually that day, because there was an announcement in Lithuanian and English on the door of the castle, saying that “the museum is closed today”, and when "Today" is not specified. However, we still didn’t climb there in vain: there is an excellent observation deck at the top, the whole city is visible at a glance. It's worth going there just for that alone. Yes, and some kind of physical education.

CATHEDRAL SQUARE

Going down, we passed through the nearby Cathedral Square, which was decorated with a Christmas tree, as well as a house with statues of biblical characters and animals, constantly attacked by tourists with cameras.

We even looked into the Cathedral of St. Stanislaus itself. Catholics and just lovers of churches should like it.

PIVNYAK "PRIE KATEDROS"

With the acquaintance with the museum valuables, as already mentioned, we were abruptly broken off. But there are also alternative sources of pleasure, right? So we went to one of these, remembering that it was supposed to be closed only on December 24th. And indeed, the pub was open. At the entrance, the interior is decorated with beer barrels made of Cu (those who have forgotten chemistry can look in the periodic system of Mendeleev, what this symbol means), and they even seem to be functional, and not purely decorative. The halls themselves are decorated with the bottoms of beer barrels of various calibers sticking out of the walls. Light beer is served there for 7 litas, and honey and dark beer for 8 litas. I recommend dark beer. Light and honey - so-so, nothing special.

Although, the taste and color ...There are still cool soups there, for example, soup with beer and pieces of bacon (7 litas) and mushroom soup in a “plate” made from a small loaf of black bread (12 litas). Svinrulka (everywhere in Russian they call it “shank” in Russian) cost 28 litas (try to find one in some Moscow restaurant for less than 350 rubles! ).

As a result, we spent 86 litas. If you have children who are in the 5th grade of high school, you can ask them a problem how many beers we drank and how many of them were light, given that we only took mugs of 0.5. Tipping is not taken into account, they were left separately.

Yes, for those who do not like to bother even with English: the waitresses speak excellent Russian there too. The menu in Russian is also available.


Well, how do you like the prices for beer? Impressive? However, this is not all. Do you want me to tell you how to drink this beer as much as 2 times cheaper?

Then we went down the hill in the direction of the embankment and, approaching the sign, saw that one of its arrows indicates that somewhere after 430 meters along the embankment there is another observation deck, where we went. By the way…

ABOUT SIGNS

In Vilnius, at least in the old part of the city, posts with arrows are installed everywhere, showing in which direction this or that object that may be of interest to tourists is located, indicating the distance in meters to this very object. Very well thought out. Pivnyaks, however, are not indicated, but yes, it’s not scary, there are plenty of pubs there anyway. Let's get back to the topic of viewing platforms.

AND ANOTHER VIEWPOINT

Church of the Holy Spirit

Church of St. Nicholas

Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary the Comforter

Church of St. Casimir

RESTAURANT “FORTO DVARAS”

Then we went to the main Pilies street, admiring the Church of St. Anne and the Church of St. Francis and Bernardine, as well as the Orthodox Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and soon found ourselves near the Forto Dvaras restaurant, located at house number 16 along this street, where and decided to go. Beer there is quite inexpensive: a mug of Š vyturys, dark or light, will cost only 5.9 litas. By the way, the dark Š virutis is quite good, it will be more fun than the light one. We decided to try cepellins (minced meat in dough - something like dumplings, only much larger) and draniki (potato pancakes). As a result, they ate and drank enough for only 47 litas and kopecks.

I don’t know if the bartender speaks Russian, because I spoke Lithuanian with him, but the waitress spoke Russian perfectly.

True, the menu is only in Lithuanian and English, but there are photos of dishes.


In stationary chicken coops, which I already wrote about, they sell all sorts of plates, magnets and other souvenirs. We also took a plate and a magnet as a keepsake. And they also bought three paintings with a playful image of cats (60 litas for everything) from a street artist who introduced himself as the Polish poet Jan Kozich. And he really speaks Polish (as well as Russian and Lithuanian without any problems), and having learned that I also know Polish to some extent, he also gave me a photocopy of the page (apparently, from some magazine) with his poems and photography. He says he has some kind of friend in St. Petersburg who translates his verses.

RESTAURANT "BUSI TREČ IAS"

In the evening of that day, we went to a restaurant whose name is reminiscent of the Soviet era, because in translation it means “You will be the third”. It is located at Totoriu g. , eighteen.

Own beer with the same name there for 6 litas (so-so), dark beer for 7 litas (like nothing), but my advice to you: if you go there, drink the German Franciscaner instead. He is there, too, only 7 litas. In Moscow, you won’t find it at such a price even in bottles and cans, not to mention restaurants where a mug costs at least 200 rubles. There are also beer cocktails with various flavors (such as currant or Irish whiskey), but they are only served in beer mugs and look like beer, but have nothing to do with it (just sweet drinks).

Pig roll costs 23 litas per kg, a plate of shrimp - 7 litas. They are small, really.

The waitress is a pleasant and open girl, just courtesy itself, she speaks Russian, because she herself is Russian, but lives in Lithuania. She said that with her father, who lives there, she communicates only in Russian, because he does not speak Lithuanian.

You don’t have to wait for it, everything brings it pretty quickly, but don’t relax - “check money and checks without leaving the cash register. ” In general, when calculating, “miscalculated” on a chirp, naturally, not in our favor. And when I called her after that, she, not having time to come up, immediately suggested:

- Did I give change wrong?

Then, before I answered anything, she immediately took out a healed chirp and, giving it to me, said something like:

- Oh, I'm sorry, I just got busy ...

Yes, you see, they don’t spoil the waiters there with tips, otherwise why these scams? We'd still leave her that same chirp for tea. And so they left a little less. In such cases, however, it is not necessary to leave anything for a tip, so that there is no incentive to cheat. Well, at that time I showed something excessive softness.


The menu there is only in Lithuanian and English, and pigrulka is called “pork hand” in English for some reason. The waitress doesn't seem to speak English well.

Catherine, we turned into one of the narrow streets and reached the Cathedral Square through the same narrow streets, passing by the presidential palace and some kind of ministry. Then along Ave. Gediminas, we again reached Vilnius Street and, seeing a public transport stop there, we wanted to get to the cherished goal on this very transport, but the devil would break his leg in the maps located at the stops.

Vincas Kudirka Square (Vinco Kudirkos aikš tė ) was also located there, on which, among other things, there was a monument to him, signs warning of fines (a fine of up to 300 litas is provided for drinking alcohol in public places, and for skating (on skateboards, rollerblades, etc. ) n. p. ) for jumping over benches, rails or pavement fences, as well as for skating in another way endangering the safety of people, up to 2000 litas), information booth for tourists and toilet.

Yes, dear readers, you guessed it: now I will please you with a traditional lyrical digression.

A LYRICAL DIRECTION ABOUT THE TOATERS IN VILNIUS

Toilets there, as a rule, are paid and cost about 1 litas. Toilet, located on the square. V. Kudirka, recalled the era of the Early Post-Soviet era at the entrance (a roll with toilet paper hangs at the cash desk, which, if necessary, you need to immediately tear off the required amount for yourself, thereby letting everyone know what exactly the purpose of the visit is), and inside - in general, a terry owl: hands you will have to wash it under a weak stream of cold water, because it is not provided otherwise. It must be admitted, however, that it will still be cleaner than the average toilet of Soviet times. Entrance there, by the way, costs 0.8 litas. At some transport stops there are also automatic toilets, to enter which you need to lower a coin of 1 litas. These toilets will be more cultured, although there may also be a shortage of water for washing hands.

Or maybe it's just a few drops of some kind of disinfectant dripping on your hands.


At the railway station, toilets are free, but they also sin with a “centralized” distribution of paper. It is not clear: are the locals stealing it, perhaps, from the booths according to the old soviet habit? But after all, from the airport toilets, unlike the more cultured ones, by the way, for some reason they don’t steal it, it is there in every booth. Probably because otherwise at the stage of pre-flight search they will ask unnecessary questions, and it’s not very profitable to specially go to the airport to pick her up.

In one of the shopping centers at the beginning of Ave. Gediminas (in house number 9, if my memory serves me), the toilet was in a satisfactory condition: although shabby with life and not sparkling with crystal cleanliness, however, with an “individual” distribution of paper and, one more plus, free.

However, in all sorts of bars-restaurants, toilets, as a rule, if not chic-shine, then quite decent and, of course, free for visitors.

SOMETHING ABOUT PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Since we couldn’t figure out which bus to get to the coveted brewery, we walked to the embankment and from there we decided to drive at least some distance by bus or trolleybus, because it was not very close to the brewery. In the end, we drove one stop on a trolleybus, and in a hare, because the driver of the horned car did not pay any attention to my request to sell tickets (they are there, by the way, for 2.5 litas), and we had to get out, because the horned one turned from the embankment.

In general, in information booths for tourists there, special cards are sold (I didn’t ask the price, though) for 24 or 72 hours, on which you can ride public transport for free and even get discounts in some museums and restaurants.

ALAUS NAMAI - BEER HOUSE

As a result, having passed 100-150 meters from the stop, we finally ended up in Pivdom. From the local one, there were offered 7 varieties of light beer, 4 dark and 4 more “village” (all draft). True, there were not all varieties, but of those that were, nothing particularly impressed us. There were also about 100 sorts (or so it is claimed) of bottled beer from various countries, including both dark and light Franz (a Franz mug cost 7.5 litas) from Germany.

The food there is as inexpensive as in most establishments. The atmosphere is pleasant twilight. Both tourists and locals go there.


True, the waitresses, as I reported earlier, do not speak Russian there (there is also no menu in Russian), but they speak English. But if you don't speak Shakespeare/Chase, I think they will find a Russian-speaking employee there.

SOMETHING ABOUT VILNIUS CAR PARK

Cars in Vilnius for the most part are foreign cars of varying degrees of steepness.

Snacks are also, of course, inexpensive. I don’t know if they speak Russian there, because I spoke with the bartender all the time in Lithuanian, but there is no menu in Russian. In general, a bar for lovers of "wild nature". If you like establishments "sharpened" for tourists, you are not here.

FINAL EVENING IN VILNIUS

I wrote "final" because I didn't want to write "last". I hope this trip to Vilnius will not be the last and not even the penultimate one. In general, in conclusion, we decided to go to a bar at a rooming house to skip a beer or a cocktail. That evening, I spoke with the bartenders only in Lithuanian (after all, there is only a little time left to practice), only once switching to English (I don’t know how it will be in Lithuanian).

Translated automatically from Russian. View original
To add or remove photos in a story, go to album of this story
Еще какие-то церквушки 1
Еще какие-то церквушки 2
Солдафонская мусарня.
А вот и
Домская площадь.
Она же.
Внутреннее убранство Пиварсенала.
Салат
Собор на Ратушной ночью.
Вид с собора Св. Петра 1.
Вид с собора Св. Петра 2.
Вид с собора Св. Петра 3.
Вид с собора Св. Петра 4.
Вид с собора Св. Петра 5.
Вид с собора Св. Петра 6.
Вид с собора Св. Петра 7.
Вид с собора Св. Петра 8.
Эх, на титанике я б тоже прокатился!
Вот что сделали фашисты-гады с этим собором!
...и вот что от него после этого осталось.
Если б я имел коня...
Елка с огарями.
Беременские музыканты.
Пороховая башня.
А ведь эта хреновина когда-то стреляла. Наверное.
Шведские ворота.
Гордость железнодорожного транспорта.
Дом Котов.
На мерине прокатиться никто не желает?
Вот мы и в музее. Ювелирные изделия.
Некогда грозное оружие.
Регулятор скорости корабля.
Similar stories
Comments (11) leave a comment
Show other comments …
avatar

© 2006–2024 TurPravda.com — Help • Advertising • Hotel owners • Export information • Privacy Policy • Terms of use

TurPravda - reviews of tourists about hotels | Rating of hotels and resorts according to tourist reviews

Hundreds of hotel reviews of all popular resorts are presented to your attention.You will learn the whole truth about hotels "first hand".The opinions of real tourists about hotels and resorts will help you make a decision about choosing a hotel.Read reviews of tourists - use the experience of other travelers!