Lithuania: Day 5

In which "The Land of Rain" lives up to its name

May 14, 2022

Užupio

Today, we set out to visit “The Rebublic of Užupio,” an arts district and (kind of) independent republic near the Old City.

I particularly like that one of the languages on the sign is Yiddish.

The sign letting you know that you’re entering the district is written in many languages, including Yiddish. I’ll be honest, this is exactly what I had hoped to find more of during this trip: a Jewish presence that is part of, rather than set apart from, the larger life of the places we’re visiting.

A brightly painted porch swing hangs from the bridge, over the river. — I’m going to guess that in better weather, people actually swing on this.

Sadly, we didn’t get very far before a cold, drenching rain drove us back to the hotel. We’ve had some really lovely weather on this trip; today, we did not. It’s looking less and less like we’ll go to Kaunas on Monday, so we’re hoping to come back here and explore more thoroughly then. But here are some pictures of what we did see:

A small painting of a red-faced man crying resin tears.

Archway leading into Uzupio uno inkubatorious.

A small mermaid statue set in an alcove in a stone wall along the river.

A photo display of Ukrainian people in support of that country.

And then, even more food…

We went back to Lokys tonight so I could try the Litvakų ragauti varškės kukuliai, a Litvak-inspired dish of curd dumplings in tomato sauce. Last time, we sat in the upstairs dining room, but tonight we got to eat in the 15th century cellar that is part of the restaurant. It was very cool to get to sit in such history.

Brick walls in a cellar with a china display and some well-set tables.

Here is the description from the English version of the menu (because they kindly have the menu in many versions, even giving D one in German):

The text describes the dish as curd dumplings in tomato sauce, and mentions the LItvak influence.

Little round dumplings in tomato sauce with shaved cheese. — Litvakų ragauti varškės kukuliai

I’ll be (too?) honest here, Dominik’s dinner of game sausages and roasted meats with roasted potatoes, parsnips, and tomatoes looked… better. I know we Jews like to wax rhapsodic about our food, but I think a lot of that must be nostalgia (or being lucky enough to be born Sephardic). My dinner was fine, but it wasn’t travel-across-an-ocean-to-try-this-dish good. It was, to be frank, “order something vegetarian at somewhere famous for being a hunter’s restaurant and don’t be sad about it” good.

So, yeah, fine.

A white man with long blond hair ponders a menu while sitting in a brick alcove. — The medievalist ponders the medieval offerings on the menu.

Tomorrow, we’re off early to Linkuva in search of what small traces we might find of Joseph and Sheva Baila’s life before they emigrated. I look forward to sharing with you what we find!