We're still in Vilnius. Switched to the youth hostel after Hannah and Des left. Quite a cheap place, which is good. We're trying to work out our next step. Ideally we'd fly straight to Varna in Bulgaria, but there's no scheduled flights. We're investigating charter flights that seem to be going. Otherwise it's a bus to Krakow and then some kind of transport there.
Yesterday I talked about lousy food here in Vilnius. You might be wondering why we haven't been eating Lithuanian food. Well we've tried a fair bit of it, and much of it is stodge. Great in winter but pretty heavy in this heat.
One of my favourite things about this country is that every menu has a "Snacks for Beer" section, with a range of yummy snacks designed to munch on with a beer. The best is the fried bread with garlic, where they fry up black bread to crispiness and smother it in fresh garlic. Fantastic! Other options include fried bread with cheese (too greasy) and fried pigs' ears (chewy, would be better if they were crispy fried). What a great idea though, having tailor-made snacks for beer!
I've been getting into the Baltic soups though. In Tallinn I had a cold cucumber and yoghurt soup which was lovely and refreshing. In Lithuania evey menu has a cold borscht, beetroot soup, which is also delicious. I like the idea of cold soup on a hot day.
The classic Lithuanian dish is the Cepelinai or Zeppelin, a grated potato pocket filled with meat. These things are huge and insanely filling. Would be great with snow on the ground, but pretty stodgy for summer. I quite like them though.
Last night we found good food too. A Mexican place across the road from the hotel had quite passable Mexican fare. A nice change.