Vilnius, capital of Lithuania has a population of 500,000, lies on the bank of the Neris River and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our tour led from Town Hall Square into the newer part of Vilnius with a very up-scale shopping street and expensive hotels. Before heading into the Jewish Ghetto in the area around Zhdu, Gaono and Stikliai Streets, it was time for a group coffee break.

There was a small coffee shop right on the intersection of Stiklai and Gaono with appetizing looking pastries and deli selections. We weren’t hungry at that moment but the smells were incredible and the food looked fabulous. By the way, Kibinai is similar to a Cornish pasty with cabbage and meat on the inside. To keep from eating just to eat (a very “appetizing” thought and one we are notorious for), we walked down Stiklai to browse the menu of Signe’s other dinner recommendation, Stiklai Restaurant. As soon as I saw the restaurant was located in a Relais & Chateau Hotel, I knew it would be way beyond our budget. We two schleppers walked into the gorgeous Stikliai Hotel***** and Restaurant, presented a TravelsWithSheila.com business card to the haughty major domo guarding the lobby (probably from inferiors like us) and expressed a wish to look at the menu. He unbent a trifle and gave us the room rates and degustation menu to examine. (If you travel in luxury, stay here – room rates were from 250 Euros a night!)

delicious cheese blintzes/blini in Vilnius 

red cabbage salad in Vilnius, Lithuania 

Kibinai in Vilnius, Lithuania
The Stikliai Restaurant is also a member of the Chaine des Rotisseurs reflected in the degustation price of 225 lits a person including wine. Ot, $98 U.S. a person. We tried desperately to keep a straight face while the major domo kept insisting that he’d be happy to make a dinner reservation for two. Not…and resumed the walking tour through the Jewish Quarter.

The Jews were invited to Vilnius and granted privileges by Grand Duke Gediminas because the Grand Duchy of Lithuania needed craftsmen, merchants and financiers. Jews came from Hanseatic League cities (Cologne, Krakow, Danzig, Frankfurt just to name a few) as did merchants and craftsmen of other nationalities. Vilnius was more than 40% Jewish before World War II and had a community of 80,000 Jews. The street names like Zydu (Jewish) and Gaono are reminders of this period. There was a Hebrew scholar called Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman in the 18th century, a renowned Jewish thinker and Talmud scholar. Gaon is the Hebrew name for “genius” and Gaono Street is named after him.

The old Jewish Ghetto once had 11 synagogues on just one street! There were Jewish restrictions on building a synagogue and they were not allowed to be higher than a church. The community got around this by building part of the Synagogue below ground level. You entered down a flight (or flights) of stairs and only realized once in that the Synagogue was actually five stories high.

Almost the entire Jewish community of Vilnius along with their Synagogues perished during the Holocaust and Taharat Hakodesh, the “Choral Synagogue” built in 1903, is the only one remaining. It is referred to as the “Choral Synagogue” because it had a choir section, revolutionary for this time. The Nazis occupied the the building during World War II which is why it wasn’t destroyed along with the others. There is a monument to the Japanese Consul, Chiune Sugihara, who rescued Jews at this terrible time.

Choral Synagogue, Vilnius, Lithuania
There is a Museum of Genocide Victims in the former KGB Headquarters on Auku Street, closed today, and the bottom bricks of the building has the names of those believed to be executed inside.

The tour continued on…