Sightseeing

December 3, 2008

From Lithuanian Heritage November/December 2007

It is always exciting when someone comes to visit. Recently, a friend of mine had a visitor from California. They had studied together in Los Angeles, and after many years, he finally came to Vilnius. It was his first trip to Europe, and I’m afraid that ten days in Lithuania could hardly represent the diverse charm of continental life, but we did our best to show him a good time and introduce him to the food, nightlife, culture, and history of our small corner of the world.

On a warm Saturday afternoon we drove to Trakai for lunch and a walk around the castle. The weather was still mild enough to get a table on the patio in the sun, perfect for sampling the Tartarian specialty made best in Trakai, kibinai. There is no translation for this delicious, crispy pastry, but it is something like a pastie: a flaky pastry crust in the shape of a half-moon, traditionally filled with lamb, but also available with beef, turkey, vegetables, or my favorite, chicken and mushroom. After eating, we strolled along the lake.  It was a windy and there were plenty of sailboats on the lake, the captains tipping and dipping their sails into the water, to the delight and sometimes terror of their clients. For those interested in a quieter afternoon, there were still many colorful rowboats available for hire by the hour. We watched several couples on the water, rowing “Lithuanian style,” which means that the woman worked the oars while her boyfriend drank beer.

No trip to Lithuania is truly complete without a visit to Neringa, the long peninsula which buffers Klaipeda and the Curlonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. I always enjoy the various reactions of visitors when, after walking through a pine forest and climbing over the high sand dunes, they get their first glimpse of the sun sparkling on the water and the white, sandy beaches stretching north and south as far as the eye can see. It was the last weekend of September and summer had been officially over for a week, but that message failed to reach a handful of bathers relaxing on the beach, picking amber from the sand, and occasionally even jumping into the water for a swim. Our Californian friend could not be convinced that the water was suitable for swimming but he did like looking for amber and eventually, he had crab-walked his way half a mile down the beach, his nose to the sand the whole time, searching for little pieces of golden, hardened sap.

With a pocketful of amber, we climbed up through the forest of evergreens and juniper to the top of the big sand dune, which stretches the width of the penninsula, and gazed out upon the Russian region of Kaliningrad. In the sand, someone had written in huge letters the word reforma (reform). The word was bold and interesting on the sand under the blue sky, but I think that whatever statement the author was trying to make was lost on the few young people drinking champagne and brandy, and the last of the German tourists of the summer season.

We descended down the one hundred or so steps to the lagoon and walked along the shore, watching the kite surfers negotiate the waves with their colorful boards and kites.  Extreme sports such as kite surfing have become popular in the last few years. On this day it was a family activity as we saw a man, woman, and child pulling on their gear behind the their car. After several close calls but no crashes between the kite surfers and the cement pier, we got bored and decided it was time for a snack and went off in search freshly smoked fish and local beer.

The drive back to Vilnius was uneventful, except for the stop we made to see a friend and parents at their sodyba (summer house in the countryside). The apples were ripe and my friend had spent the weekend picking apples in the family orchard to turn them into juice. We were greeted with large glasses of fresh apple juice, squeezed that very afternoon. It was thick and sweet, something in between apple juice and apple cider. It naturally tasted of cinnamon and nutmeg—like drinking apple pie.

Early the next morning, we took our visitor to the airport for his flight back to the United States. After ten days of sightseeing, I’m not sure he got the idea of what typical day-to-day life is for most people, but he certainly did get a taste of the very best Lithuania has to offer. He stuffed a tightly sealed bottle of apple juice in his checked luggage, and we waved good-bye. As we turned to leave, we noticed him standing in line for security, admiring a handful of amber he had pulled out of his pocket, and smiling.

Filed under: Daily Life,Lithuania

Tags: amber, clips, driving, fall, food, funny, gintaras, Klaipeda, Lithuania, Lithuanian, Lithuanian Heritage, Neringa, Nida, one way ticket, one way tkt, onewayticket, onewaytkt, Vilnius