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Travel & Holidays in later life
The countryside is a green mix of woodlands, lakes and farmland. There are horse-drawn carts to admire, grazing cattle and timber barns and farmhouses. Little groups of farm workers trudge along with scythes and pitchforks, as though rallying for a peasants' revolt.
Tramlines don't actually
match the level of the road surface, so it's like a test-bed for vehicle suspension. But for the past 700 years, the country has been buffeted around by its big-boy
neighbours - the Teutonic Order, Poland, Russia, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Lithuania finally steered itself loose from Soviet occupation in 1990, and waved the last
Russian soldiers goodbye in 1993. Medieval buildings are getting a face-lift, with a new sparkle to the old crumbling walls. Interiors are being upgraded to 20th-century standards. Elderly mansions have been converted into comfortable hotels and trendy restaurants, oozing with 'character'. Obviously the most important buildings have had priority, with old timbers replaced. You can see the 'before and after' effects. Maybe half a church is completely renovated and repainted in bright pastel colours, while the other half is smoky grey beneath the scaffolding.Like any historic town, Vilnius is thick with churches. Among the highlights is the first baroque-style church, St. Casimir's, which has been converted several times. It started out Catholic in 1604, became Russian Orthodox with an onion dome in 1837, and turned Lutheran under German rule from 1916 to 1918. In Soviet times it became a Museum of Atheism, and returned to the Catholic fold in the 1980s.  Lithuania was the last nation in Europe to adopt Christianity, in 1387. To mark their conversion, they demolished a pagan temple, and constructed a Catholic church in its place. Since then, the church has been rebuilt five times, with the latest reconstruction in 1784. During Soviet times, the building was used as a National Art Gallery, but was re-consecrated in 1989. When the town was laid out, the medieval rulers didn't foresee a rosy future when tourists would want to ride around in tourist coaches. So visitors have to dismount and walk the narrow streets which are more like pedestrian precincts. It also makes it easier for shop-gazing at the little boutiques which have sprung up like mushrooms. Most prices, except for imported items, are very attractive. The best tourist buys are amber and leather goods, and folk-art fabrics, pottery, wood-carvings and metalwork. Food and drink and transport prices are cheap by Western standards. Lithuania, like the other Baltic States, is a smokers' paradise, with Marlboro or Dunhill International available cheaply. Although prices have risen since Lithuania's accession to the European Union, they are still below average European prices. Consider these other Baltic destinations ESTONIA - plenty to sing about HELSINKI - go when the sun shines LATVIA - Varied weekend in Riga "Books to read - click on cover pictures" or click on the links below Lithuania by Gordon McLachlan - Published by Bradt Travel Guides which specialise mostly in off-trail destinations, this is the best and most detailed guidebook devoted entirely to Lithuania and its history, culture and sightseeing. Lonely Planet: Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania - A collaboration of four authors to cover these three Baltic States. Baltic Capitals - A perfect buy for a multi-capital journey that features Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and the very off-beat Kaliningrad, and including a brief glossary for each language. Baltic States Insight Guide - a comprehensive survey, to be published from April 2005.
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Visit our Pre-retirement Courses section here on laterlife or our dedicated Retirement Courses site
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Linking up the capitals of the Baltic states is a highway with the posh name
of Via Baltica. It runs from Tallinn in Estonia through Riga in Latvia and then to Vilnius
in Lithuania. 
Even the
main city highways aren't much better than out-of-town. In the 2ist century, it's curious
to see gangs of men re-laying a road with new cobbles.
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