After being kept awake by loud music that continued until 4:15am on New Year’s Day, we had a good lie in. Breakfast was extended in the hotel until 1pm (did they know something we didn’t) so we didn’t get there until nearly midday, which was perfect.

Once we had eaten, we wrapped up even more than usual, due to the sub zero temperature of about minus 2 degrees.

Again we had no real plan as we weren’t too sure what would be open on New Year’s Day in Vilnius. The streets were relatively quiet so we thought nothing much was open. However, walking towards Cathedral Square was definitely a bonus as we realised crowds were gathering here. What we didn’t know, is that today was Lithuanian Flag Day, a national holiday for Lithuanians, and for their army, to celebrate their independence. The celebration took place at the Gediminas monument, which is below the Gediminas mountain that we walked up on our first day here. Today they celebrated the 105th anniversary of the hoisting of the Lithuanian flag on the tower of Gediminas Castle and raised their flag.

In 1919, the tricolor of Lithuania was used as a symbol of the country being free at Gediminas Tower. At that time, the flag was raised by a group of ten Lithuanian volunteers, including officer Kazys Škirpa, whose face I saw on a board that someone was holding up.

After fifty years of occupation, when the national revival of Lithuania began, the Lithuanian flag was raised on the tower of Gediminas Castle on 7th October 1988. After Lithuania’s independence was restored, January 1 became a national holiday – the Day of the Lithuanian Flag, on which day a solemn ceremony of changing the flag is held every year. This was carried out by some army officers and local dignitaries. According to tradition, the old flag is handed over for safekeeping to one of the schools in Lithuania that excels in developing citizenship and nurturing historical memory. Whilst there, girls dressed in traditional costume handed out Lithuanian flags to everyone. I felt quite humbled in sharing this occasion with many proud Lithuanians.

https://www.lzb.lt/en/2019/01/02/january-1-is-lithuanian-flag-day/

It was so cold standing there for quite a long time, so we left the ceremony and headed for somewhere warm. We went back to Uźupis, where we had spotted a bar restaurant with a very inviting fire only yesterday. Užupio Kaviné wasn’t too busy when we got there. We decided that we wanted to each try a “mangle” of Lithuanian drinks, but the waitress advised us to get only one flight of the five drinks to share. Each glass was placed in a wooden flight with the names of the drink in front of it. Here they are as follows:

Trauktinė DAINAVA, 40 %

Trauktinė STUMBRO STARKA, 43%

Trauktinė MALŪNININKŲ, 50%

Trauktinė TREJOS DEVYNERIOS, 40 %

Trauktinė ŽALIOS DEVYNERIOS, 35%

(Trauktinė means bittersweet). They all had very individual flavours; some were similar to what I had drunk before. It certainly warmed us up and was a great accompaniment to the soups we had ordered.

https://m.facebook.com/uzupiokavine

It was getting dark when we left so we made our way back to the main part of the old town, and went back to one of our favourite bars, Bromas. We were the only ones there, apart from the barman, when we arrived. I fancied something warm again, but all they could offer was warm apple juice with rum. That certainly warmed our cockles…it was great listening to some fabulous music whilst enjoying our drink too.

After that I needed forty winks only to be woken by my son calling me to say that the electricity in our house wasn’t working. After a bit of googling he managed to work out that an extension lead was tripping the consumer unit. Plugging in the TV without the extension lead worked – good old Lewis for sorting it out.

Once I’d woken up properly we went to another restaurant we had tried on our first day, Lokys. This restaurant produces Lithuanian food at reasonable prices. I had fillet steak with potatoes and vegetables, which was lovely. We had a nice time there but didn’t visit any other bars afterwards because my body needed to rest. Being awake til the early hours of 2024 had taken its toll on me!

https://lokys.lt/en/