The final three nights of our trip were spent in neighboring Lithuania. In the capital city of Vilnius to be exact. While both Latvia and Lithuania share similar histories and cultures, they are still very different places.
With its original settlements dating back more than 10,000 years, the country of Lithuania was formally established in 1009. Interestingly, the city of Vilnius was settled based on a dream. Legend tells that Grand Duke Gediminas was on a hunting trip by the River Vilnia. While taking a nap after a successful hunt, he dreamed of a huge iron wolf standing alone atop the hill where he had been hunting. The wolf was strong and proud and howled at the moon with a howl as loud as a pack of 100 wolves.
When Gediminas awoke, he asked the pagen priest Lizdekia to interpret his dream. Lizdekia told him that the dream was an instruction from the gods to build a city. The wolf was a symbol of a great and powerful city and its howl foretold of the wide-spread fame and fortune the city would possess.
Gediminas began building immediately. He started with a fortress on the hill from his dream and named the city Vilnius after the nearby river. The Gediminas Tower of the original fortress still stands today and we rode the funicular up the hill to see it up close. The view from the top was stunning.
The weather in Lithuania was much colder and rainier and that limited our activities to those closer to the hotel. This wasn’t really a problem because (thanks to our Marriott points and Josh’s amazing travel planning skills) we booked a beautifully, grand hotel, housed in a former mansion, right in the middle of the Old Town.
Our driver from the airport raved about the history, status and location of the hotel. He told us one of he fanciest NYE parties in the country would be taking place there. And that appeared to be true. Everything in Latvia and Lithuania was immensely affordable; however, upon checking the prices of the hotel’s NYE party there was no question that the nine course meal with live music and dancing was well, well outside our budget! Maybe next time after we hit the lottery!
We spent much of our time here doing mostly free things like visiting the Christmas Markets, exploring the micro-nation of Užupis (complete with its own constitution) and viewing the hay nativity and ornaments inside the stunning brick gothic St. Anne’s Church built in 1495.
Our last European New Year’s Eve was spent at a ball in Vienna back in 2018. This time we kept things a little more low key. The Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet was hosting a special ballet for children in the afternoon. It was a two act ballet with space themes and the intermission concessions were notably kid-friendly with jello fruit parfait and thick hot chocolate.
We ended up with incredible box seats (as the show was sold out but these box seats opened at the last minute when we happened to be looking). The dancers were highly skilled and the show kept M’s attention for the most part. She liked the moon character and the intermission jello most of all.
The night before NYE we intentionally had a nice Lithuanian dinner in a rustic, cave looking restaurant which served sausages, stewed cabbage, potato pancakes and a uniquely Lithuania dish called “cepelinai” or “zeppelins” which is a very large , gooey, stuffed (with meat or cheese) grated potato dumpling.
Since we considered that our “nice” dinner in Vilnius, for busier NYE night, we had pizza down the street from our hotel. Against our better judgement, we decided to keep M out a little later than planned (even though our early flight home was the next morning). However, it worked out fine and ended up being one of the best nights of the trip. We happily discovered there was no rain for the first time since we arrived and M was in pleasant mood (also, perhaps, for the first time since we arrived! Haha).
We watched the ice skaters outside the city hall, played in some snow, had hot rum with apple cider (just cider for M) and then booked a last minute ticket on the Christmas Train which drove us around Old Town ringing its bell and playing Christmas carols while we looked at lights and M waved at passersby.
The train ride ended at the Cathedral Square around 9:45 just as things were starting to come alive for the night’s real celebrations (of which we would not be involved, though Josh and I were able to watch midnight fireworks from out hotel window later).
Before calling it a night, there was one last thing on my list we hadn’t done yet, so we set off in search of it - the “miracle tile”.
The tile, which is inscribed with the word “Stebuklas” or “miracle” marks the end point of the 1989 human chain that stretched over 300 miles from Tallinn, Estonia through Riga, Latvia all the way to this spot very spot in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Legend says that if you stand on the tile, spin three times and make a wish, it will come true. Our search didn’t take long as Josh had spotted the tile a few days prior and remembered its location when I described the lore surrounding it. M was so excited about the customary wish and was happy to take part.
When asked what she wished, M said “I wished that I could live with Grandma for all the days.” Deeply concerned about what this wish meant for our fates, Josh and I exchanged silent glances and then encouraged her to try one more wish.
M obliged and this time she wished “we would come back to Lithuania.” Now, that is a wish we can get behind!
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