Exploring VILNIUS, the capital of LITHUANIA
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- Hi everyone! This is the start of a new series in which I visit the Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - as well as Helsinki in Finland. To kickstart the series, I visit the capital of Lithuania, namely Vilnius.
As you can probably tell from the thumbnail, it was a brutally cold winters day in Lithuania. I've been to Vilnius before - in 2008 - but that was during the summer months. Also, given all the change that would have occurred during those 15 years, it did feel like I was visiting it for the first time.
The vlog starts with me giving some information about the country and the upcoming series whilst walking around a public park in Vilnius covered in snow. I then talk about the population sizes of the Baltic countries including the apparent disagreement about the largest city in the Baltics. After this, I visit the Frank Zappa monument where I run into a dog owner and his dog, experiencing some language difficulties. I take this as a cue to talk more about the Lithuanian language including its connections to Sanskrit and the Lithuanian Press Ban during the Russian Empire years which, in many ways, rejuvenated the language.
I then proceed to explore more of the city, walking in Jogaila Avenue and Gediminas Avenue. I give a lot more information about the gentlemen after which these avenues are named, as they are both famous Grand Dukes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. I also give my view on the wedding of Jogaila and the Polish queen Jadwiga and how it helped shaped the path of European development and Lithuanian expansion.
I spot a Lithuanian flag and explain the meaning behind the colours, after which I look for a warm beverage to warm my hands! After a brief coffee stop, I walk to Cathedral Square where I see the Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Ladislaus of Vilnius (or Vilnius Cathedral, for short!) as well as its iconic bell tower. On Cathedral Square, I also notice a monument of Gediminas and get a nice view of Gediminas Tower.
After visiting the square, and noticing the rapidly declining daylight, I briefly explore a little bit of the Old Town. I walk past various churches as well as the Town Hall and Gates of Dawn, which I do recognise from my previous trip in 2008. I even try to recreate a famous photo moment from that trip!
Finally, I show you my accommodation in Vilnius as well as my purchase from a supermarket in the city, to give you an idea of prices.
I hope you enjoy this introduction to the Baltic region! If you haven't done so already, please hit the LIKE and SUBSCRIBE buttons - it really helps me out and allows me to create more free content such as this for you to watch.
Happy exploring!
Willie
Labas Willie,Your knowledge of the history of Lithuania impressed me!Respect!
Labas Audrius! Really appreciate your kind words, and yes, I enjoyed reading up and learning about your beautiful country. Thanks for the support!
Hi Willie, I loved your South African accent and thank you for taking time to explore Lithuanian history and presenting so nicely. Enjoy Lithuania!!
Hi Ray! Thank you very much for the kind words, glad you enjoyed the video and hope you look forward to more Baltic adventures with me :) Have a good one!
To put it shortly, Vincas Kudirka was a doctor, poet and he also wrote and composed the national anthem of Lithuania. These are just a few things on why he is so important.
That is great, thank you so much for letting me (us) know!
@@willieexplore just subscribed, I enjoyed this video as my grandparents were born in Lithuania, my Dads uncle married a Kudirka in Canada and she was a relation of Vincas Kudirka.
@@lindasanderson1699 Hi Linda! Thank you so much for your support and for your comment, it is great that you have that link to a Lithuanian great! Welcome and I hope you enjoy my channel :)
@@willieexplore All awesome videos. Which Baltic capital did u like the modt an why?
@@delmarmees thank you Delmar, glad you enjoy them! On which Baltic capital is my favourite. That is such a tough question (and also an unfair one) as they are all very different in my view. But the place with which I have the greatest connection personally is Tallinn. What do you think?
I love Lithuania and especially Vilnius. I really enjoyed your video. You spent a lot of time learning about its history and culture.
Thank you so much for your kind words, it really means a lot! Glad you enjoyed it!
Love from Vilnius ♥
Ačiū mano drauge! Thank you for watching my videos!
Hi Willie this was fabulous and with such interesting history. It looks so snowy and cold but lovely. The architecture where you walked was very beautiful, I loved the old town area and well worthy of its UNESCO status. Great tour, looking forward to the rest of the series 👍~ Anna
Hi Anna! Glad you enjoyed it, definitely an interesting place for sure. Easter Europe has some fascinating secrets!
Willie, If it werent for you I would never see any of these countries, thoroughly enjoy your tours of these places. Boy it looks cold: Thank you so much. Kiwi from Virginia.
You are most welcome Swanoaks! Really appreciate your support - without viewers like yourself there could be no channel like mine. Happy exploring, Willie
Lietuva❤❤❤ Latvia.Leedu, Kaunase linn - tervitused õed ja vennad Eestist.!!!Lietuva.Kaunas 1000k❤️❤️❤️ Ukraine
Thank you for watching my videos, I really appreciate it!
Come in summer, different vibe
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! I visited Vilnius in summer 2008 and it is definitely a different vibe :) I still very much enjoyed my visit despite the cold weather!
❤Aciu!!!
Esate labai laukiami! :)
Hello :) Our king Mindaugas sits on the throne to the left of the Cathedral ;) And about the weather: -4 is a very warm winter for us (at that time it should be at least -10, and often -20) and there is very little snow this year...
Hi there! Thank you very much for letting me know, I must have missed him then! I am sure the winters can get brutally cold, but remember I am used to much warmer temperatures haha :)
@@willieexplore Then you should visit Lithuania in June :) This is the most beautiful time to travel around our country, for example The Curonian Spit is home to the highest moving (drifting) sand dunes in Europe, also near Šiauliai we have the impressive Hill of Crosses and many other interesting, strange and enchanting places. We hope you will visit us again. Good luck!
Quiet country and beautiful sceneries but i think it got different vibes during summer .. what languages do they speak there?
Cheers mate, they speak Lithuanian
Willie baie intressante plek ek ken n paar mense in Vilnius!! Groete
Lekker plek hierdie, Tosca! Is dit Suid-Afrikaners wat jy ken? Mooi loop
Nee die een is n regter daar in die Hooggeregshof van Lithuania. Die ander ou is n asset manager maar hy is n Italianer!@@willieexplore
Great video, I was just thinking of doing the 4 countries you mentioned today.
How is travelling in this weather and how long did you spend in each country?
Thanks
Hi Abraheem, nice to hear from you and thanks for your kind words & supporting my channel! I am still in the Baltics and have an itinerary of about three nights in each place. That should make for a good trip I reckon!
@@willieexplore No problem, sounds amazing
I don't think I could hack the weather, maybe in the Summer in the next few years I will go
Lithuania 👍👍👍
Thanks for watching my friend!
I have heard that there is a beautiful Orthodox monastery church in Vilnus. I do not think it was one of the two you showed, but I could be wrong. It has the tomb of the 3 Martyrs of Vilnius who were killed by the king because they would not eat his meat in Lent.
Really appreciate this extra information and insight, as well as your engagement, Stephan! I'm sure there are many bits of the city I missed on this trip.
Actually I have not been there, but have been researching things a bit as I want to go there in the near future. Possibly next year. Thanks@@willieexplore
@@stephanottawa7890 the research before going on the trip is often as rewarding as the trip itself! Hope you get there and have a wonderful time
The most known lithuanian Duke ,,was Vytautas The Great !!!!!!!! ,,Jogaila was King of Poland (because of him Lithuanian kingdom ,,died" ) ,,Vytautas The Great was In rool Of Lithuania at that time ,,,, we Have Algirdas as well who took lots of russian lands . in begining of Lithuanian expansion .
Definitely a very interesting history, thanks for watching and supporting my channel!
We had a wonderful time Vilnius here! Visiting the country by train and bus was so interesting for the 2 of us ! We stayed in a small, cheap hotel close to the Cathedral with its freestanding tilted clocktower! Had such a good time with friendly people!( mostly by sign language!)
From Cape Town ,South Africa.🇿🇦🇿🇦❤❤(must say,it helped to be of the white race.....)
Glad it bought back memories! Different vibe than Loxton, that's for sure :)
I'm from Vilnius, I like winter, especially sunny days -5° or smth with snow. People who are born in a climat zone with 4 seasons usually like seasons 😊
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! Haha, yes it is difficult for us from the Southern Hemisphere - we do better in 40 degrees than others though :) Having said that, the winter in Vilnius is totally magical!
Looking forward to this series, Willie and learning about these countries. Interesting to hear the history, as always. The baroque church and the orthodox church are stunning. I won't comment on the weather as, of course, I am used to those temperatures! In fact, in Scotland we say "it's baltic" when describing a very cold day😂
Thank you Sheila, as always! Glad you're looking forward to this one; this is definitely a fascinating part of the world to visit. Very different vibes from my previous visit in 2008 though, especially on the weather front!
I so enjoyed visiting again!...... Dankie Willie!!
My plesier, Emmerentia!
Vilnius population size is a bit dubious because of our weird laws for registration. Even if you live in a city or town you don't have to register there, you just need to be registered somewhere in Lithuania. So in Vilnius majority of 50k+ students are registered in their parent's homes somewhere else. Also goes for lot's of other working and commuting people.
Vilnius also has these huge tentacles of suburbia that are technically not part of the city.
General estimate would put the population closer to 750k.
Hi Marius, thanks for watching and commenting! I really appreciate it. Yep, population stats can be confusing, especially when you also start dealing with the differences between city, urban and metro. The latest figure for the wider metro I could find put the population at around 850,000. I found various figures for the city itself, the closest estimate around 593,000. Some sources claimed closer to 560,000, which is why I quoted the specific range I did. Very interesting about the students and registration in Lithuania!
@@willieexplore I have few more factoids if you are interested. This registration ambiguity brings some issues, e.g. if you are student living in Vilnius, but registered, let's say in Panevėžys, like I was during my studies, you can't vote for local municipality or local parliament seats. If you are working, then your VAT goes to the place you are registered in.
I'm living in Germany and now I understand better why Germans are so strict with their registration regulations. It's about proper distribution of taxpayers money and also proper assessment of voting districts.
@@willieexploreand of course, I really appreciate that you visited Lithuania and had a few warm words about my country even when it's cold outside.
@@mariusrutkaus that really is fascinating. Sounds like it is something you should address or, at least, look into in Lithuania. But the issue of student voting is prevalent in many other countries too. I'm more interested in how it impacts how the population is counted - perhaps this is at the heart of, or at least contributes to, the Riga-Vilnius "dispute" about population size :) By the way, I also studied in Germany many years ago and had a Lithuanian friend who lived in Jena.
@@mariusrutkaus of course, my friend! I find the Baltics a fascinating region overall!
Very impressive as ever Willie I bow down to your knowledge. Great walkabout. Interesting you say about how the locals are dressed, I was in Mallorca last week and it was 22° and the locals were more covered up 😅 looks a very nice city, lots of nice architecture and churches
Cheers Matt, always a pleasure! This part of the world has a very interesting history. Haha same in Madeira when I was there, low twenties are considered long trousers weather! A beautiful part of the world and I know you will enjoy my Riga videos too. Merry Christmas!
nice than people interesing history of country there he is travelling.big respect
Thanks for watching, I appreciate your support!
I look forward to seeing Lithuania, but this time of year is better for the Karoo!!! Thanks again for helping us see the world.
Cheers Billy, always a pleasure hearing from you! A Karoo tjoppie would go down nice tonight, that's for sure :)
Very nice to see since I have so many Lithuanian friends here in London! Looking very much forward to this series as I’m half Estonian, but I’ve never been there 🤣
Oh wow, didn't know you were half Estonian! This is a fascinating part of the world and I think you will enjoy this series :)
@@willieexplore Half Estonian 🇪🇪 Half Swede 🇸🇪 Living in London 🇬🇧 🤣
Hey Willie good to see you made it to lithuania buddy ,what a change of scenery from warm madeira all the way to the baltics , in the last few years i was contemplating on visiting Lithuania and possibly moving there but then i put my project on hold who know's maybe in the future .
I enjoyed the vilnius walking tour keep it up brother I'm looking forward for more baltics content 🔥🔥💪👍👍
Thanks my friend, always such a pleasure hearing from you! A really nice place to visit but I'm not sure if I can live there to be honest. Too cold! More vlogs coming soon so watch out for those :)
Just seen very interesting stuff and factually information about this place looking for more information on Eastern Europe especially old cities!
Thank you very much Simon! Hope you're having a great festive period!
Thank you very much for the wonderful videos about our beautiful city!Merry Christmas from 🇨🇦
Thank you Alex! Glad you enjoyed my video and hope you have a great festive season!
@@willieexplore Thank you 🙏
4 minutes is of course nothing to them, just like a mild autumn! It gets a lot colder in that part of the world! You surely stands out with that hat in the mild weather 😂
I might stand out to them in that weather, but I'd like to see them have a go at the +40 in the Kalahari Desert where I grew up...
@@willieexplore I realise that what I experienced in South Africa is nothing! I was in Johannesburg, Soweto and in Durban, but I need to go back to explore Real South Africa 🇿🇦
Thanks, Willie, for a great presentation of Vilnius.
Ačiū, Kęstutis, I had a wonderful time in Vilnius! Cheers for watching and commenting :)
Lithuania 'converted' in 1387, but as you might imagine, there was a lot of resistance due to the fact that theyve spent last 150 years defending their faith from the crusaders so it took maybe 50 years for the country to actually become catholic
Yes absolutely. Thanks for watching and taking the time to engage!
There were Pagans all the way up to the mid-late 1800s. Remember that right after conversion, Christianity became embroiled in a massive schism with Protestants, Calvinists, Anabaptists and many other movements springing up to challenge the Catholic church. Hard to convince a stubborn people to convert when you can't even agree on a doctrine internally haha.
Sveiki žamojciki! Do you like Vilnia?
Malonu susipažinti! Yes, I do! A place with a fascinating history and lots to see. Thanks for watching my videos and supporting my channel!
SUPER.............😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄
Thanks, I really appreciate it!
don’t forget to try LTU cuisine!
You'll see in my next video(s) that I have! :)
In the former Prussian part of Lithuania, the Lithuanian was not encouraged, but also not banned. It was used in the Bible translations, catechism and hymnals. Lithuanian pietists would meet to read sermons in Lithuanian and pray on Sundays. This was often the case in the rural areas. In the cities, German was more dominant, but there were Lithuanian churches in towns like Königsberg and Tilsit.
Thanks for watching and giving this insight, Stephan! Much appreciated :)
You are welcome, Willie...I meant to say the Lithuanian language, but I think that you guessed that one.@@willieexplore
@@stephanottawa7890 yes absolutely :)
What was the religion in lithuania before converting to Christianity back in 1387? And i wonder if there are some people practicing the old religion nowadays
Pagan country before Christianity was adopted
Largely nature and spirit worship with some popular gods such as the thunder god. Possibly also human sacrifice on occasion. Similar to the native religions of North America.@@willieexplore
@@stephanottawa7890 No evidence of human sacrifice as far as I'm aware. The only thing that is even close to that is burning crusaders, but seeing that Christianity burned and executed those they considered heretics, I don't think it qualifies as human sacrifice.
Thanks a lot. I enjoy watching video
Really appreciate your kind words! Hope you get a chance to watch my other Lithuania videos too :)
Ačiū )
Ačiū, kad žiūrite ir palaikote mano kanalą :)
Nice notice of separate bell tower. Now when I think about that, most churches are connected with their bell towers and separate ones are rare.
Definitely! Thanks for watching, I appreciate your support!
I think you also have to pay a city tax in Amsterdam
Think you might be right! Thanks for watching :)
u are so well educated and prepared, very fascinating and that accent of yours is captivating :)
You are too kind! Thank you watching and supporting my channel :)
😊😊😊
Cheers for watching!
Nice.
Thank you!
@@willieexplore By the way, Vincas Kudirka was a poet and physician. He was also the author of their national anthem and is considered a national hero.
@@natalijacupac3783 that is great, thanks for providing this information! I could tell by the size of the statue that he is treasured in Lithuania :)
You got serious blod circulation problem it`s not even cold.
You go and walk the distances I do, talking continuously in that weather. Then we'll talk again my friend
No, not cold. I remember-38C. So -5 not that bad! Anyway I’m enjoying video!!! I hope you will visit Kaunas!