You Had Me At Sveiki

Kaunas, Lithuania – Bauska, Latvia

Lithuania is a confusing country. Kind of hard to wrap your head around the place. It’s dilapidated old houses in the countryside.

It’s modern hip towns and cities.

It’s mile after mile of flat farmland – stretching as far as the eye can see.

It’s a place that has endured great suffering – but also a place that inflicted great suffering. (See the participation of many Lithuanians in the Holocaust and the murder of 95% of the Jews who had been living in the country). And it’s a place that seems full of good people today. 

As we biked through this little country I found myself thinking of Rene Zellweger’s line in the movie Jerry Maguire (one of our favorites) – only modified a little:

I love Lithuania.

I love it for the country it wants to be.

And I love it for the place it almost is. 

Why these lines? Because Lithuania, of all the countries that we’ve visited, seems the most balanced on the razor’s edge between it’s past and it’s future.

Relics of Lithuania’s Communist past abound. Strange old water towers in most every town.

Decaying factories.

Old apartments. 

But the country is also full of monuments to heroes of the past, and fun totems carved in wood. The Partisans seem to be a big thing. These are the people that fought against the Russian and, later, Soviet, occupations. 

A little quick history:

• First off, the Baltic tribes arrived around here about 4,000 years ago. Basically we’re talking about the Latvians and the Lithuanians. They have two different languages, but they are closely related. The Estonians were not part of the Baltic tribes. They arrived later and their family group includes the Finns and the Hungarians.
• In the glory days, Poland and Lithuania together formed one huge empire – stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
• Eventually – in the 1700s – the empire became very weak – and Russia, Austria, and Prussia split everything up amongst themselves. Russia dominated Lithuania from 1795 to 1918 – when Lithuania declared its independence. (Russia was in the midst of the Soviet Revolution so had no time for Lithuania).
• Two years later Poland and Lithuania found themselves in a war over the ownership of Vilnius – Lithuania’s capital and biggest city. (I guess because of the former Lithuania-Polish empire Poland decided it owned Vilnius . . .)
• Lithuania had its own republic going until a coup in 1926 – and then there was an authoritarian dictator – Antanas Smetona – for a number of years. 
• In 1939 the Nazis and the Communists split up Eastern Europe, and Russia once again occupied Lithuania. 
• In 1941 the Nazis came to town, bringing with them their whole genocide machine. 95% of the Jews in Lithuania were murdered during the next three years. 
• In 1944 the Soviets came back, bringing with them 45 more years of repression and dark times. My understanding is that most Lithuanians were not too excited about this – and the Soviets ended up sending a ton of them to Siberia . . .
• In 1989, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia literally joined together in a protest against the Soviet occupation: The Baltic Way. On August 23 about 2 million people joined hands – forming a human chain from Tallin, Estonia to Vilnius, Lithuania. Shortly thereafter the three countries gained their independence. 

Given what has been happening with Ukraine, you can see how these Baltic countries and Poland must feel pretty vulnerable right about now. In one form or another Russia has been terrorizing this region for hundreds of years now. I guess being part of NATO helps though – because, theoretically, if Russia were to attack one of these countries all the other NATO countries – including the U.S. – would be obligated to come to their defense. (Although, based on what we know of our president, I’m not sure we would end up honoring our end of the bargain if, say, Lithuania were to be attacked . . .)

Side note here . . .

Tonight at the campground I talked with Heikki – a gregarious Finlander. When I asked Heikki if he was a cross country skier, he told me that he had enough skiing when he did his service time, years ago. 

Heikki related that all men in Finland are required to serve in the military. He went on to tell me that Finland was not at all worried about Russia because Finland could protect itself. He said they have 900,000+ men ready to defend the country. Considering that Finland is literally the size of Minnesota – with about 5.5 million people – this seems pretty optimistic. But Heikki said that the number includes men like him – he’s seventy – who may have completed their military service long ago – but they remain ready to serve. 

I love Finns – they invented sauna culture, their pancakes are amazing, they are great cross country skiers, and they have Sisu (that undefined word that means something like stubbornness) – but I’m a little skeptical of Heikki’s claim here . . .

Okay, back to Lithuania. Seriously, it’s a pretty interesting place. 

On the one hand, depopulation has clearly had a big effect on some parts of the rural landscape – with basically no one left to live in the housing stock. And there are a number of people still living in big old Soviet apartment buildings that look pretty rough. Viewed through these lenses, Lithuania looks like a very poor country.

But then you travel to the bigger towns and cities and you feel like you’re in some cutting edge place. People are driving around in Teslas, there are solar farms and solar panels adorning most rooftops, and the city planners have constructed bold new visions for how their urban areas should work. 

Oh, and then there is the farmland. Mile after mile of dead flat fields planted in various grains

– which means wonderful rye bread. We’ve been waiting basically three continents for good dark bread. It’s about time!

I don’t know exactly what Lithuania wants to be when it grows up – but it’s pretty obvious that these people have vision and tenacity. They’re just going to need some people to realize their vision – because, again, they lost a quarter of their people in the last 40 years and their birth rate is super low. If I was the King of Lithuania I think I’d be advocating for some serious immigration. Complicated idea in the US, but even more complicated here in Europe. 

It will be fun to see what happens . . . We’ll certainly be rooting for these folks . . .

A few other things to note . . .

The further north we go the more we are liking the campgrounds again. Big, spacious places to pitch a tent – with lush green grass. Many have well-stocked communal kitchens. And fire pits and grills are reappearing – meaning we will soon be enjoying our favorite camp meals once again . . .

Lithuania has some great wooden totem type art. We’ve been really enjoying that. 

These Baltic countries are small. Each about a quarter the size of the state of Minnesota. We landed in Latvia tonight and tomorrow we reach Riga and the sea. 

Finally, I’m starting to feel better, but, sadly, Dr. Liu has apparently caught my bug. Fortunately, as noted previously, Diana has an amazing ability to put her mind over any matter. Basically, she just ignores illnesses completely. 

That’s the news from the Baltics . . . Where the land is flat, the campgrounds are spacious, and the countries are tiny.

Oh, sveiki. You haven’t figured that out yet? You might need to get out more…

Hello?!?

Sveiki means hello in Lithuanian.