Midsommar Festivals in Lithuania

The story of why I found myself in Lithuania June 2022 starts with Austeja. I first met Austeja in Sydney, Australia back in 2018. We became friends and I lived with her in Bondi for a month or two. She came to Hamilton Island to celebrate my 30th birthday. I came with her and sat on the beach for sunrise while she said goodbye to Australia. Our timing would continue to align. I was in New York when she was moving her life to Boston. I shared the U-Haul drive with her. It felt right when I was invited to her wedding in Lithuania. I had to go.

She planned an epic tour of the country starting in Vilnius, the capital. Some of the other girls and I, who met in Australia, took a flight from Latvia and bought out all the local shots on the plane. We squished 7 suite cases and 5 of us into this hatchback and made our way through the old streets. We had a week in this country and were excited to see it as a local.

VILNIUS

Our exploration of the capital began when one of Austeja’s cousins took us on a walking tour. The spring rains broke allowing us to walk through the cobblestone streets over the bridges showing lush green trees and gushing brooks. The history here is full of resistance. Lithuanians have fought against the Russians and the Germans. There have been some horrible atrocities. Unsurprisingly, the Ukrainian flag flies proudly here on buildings, is shown in street graffiti, and sits on bartenders’ shirts. Museums, churches, coffee shops, bars, really this unknown city has much to offer.

We had 3 days fighting off the spring showers before leaving the city for the forrest.

FORREST FESTIVAL

20 minutes south from Alytus which is an hour and a half west of Vilnius we found out campgrounds. The wedding festivities took place in this beautiful setting by a lake surrounded by trees. We bunked up in the cabins, ditched our phones since there was no service anyways, and dove into the fresh waters. There was a traditional Lithuanian style wedding celebrations for the rehearsal dinner. We all wore white and I felt transported to the springtime ceremonies like midsommar. The Lithuanian band led us through dances, we made flower crowns, and ate more potato than I thought I would ever enjoy. Our second day was the wedding, we started with a yoga class on the dock and then enjoyed the sun by the pool. The ceremony was under these skyscraper trees with the lake glistening in the background. We partied until sunrise watching the sun kiss the tops of those tall trees.

Hungover and dragging ass, we boarded the bus to make our way from the forrest to the beach.

NIDA

Nida is the southern most point of a split. Lithuania owns half, Russian owns half. In June 2022 this was a bit eerie a place to be close to. We took a 4 hour bus to a ferry. Then from the ferry an hour down the spit to the little town of Nida. This town is known as a vacation destination for Lithuanians. The ocean is on one side and the bay on the other. We took over this hostel and launched into the 3rd and final stage of this epic trip, the homiemoon. Instead of honeymoon, my friends have chosen to invite their “homies” to join them on what would traditionally be just them. I was happy to join the crew and continue seeing this country.

The town is walkable and bike friendly. We biked for hours through the forests and climbed sand dunes. At the beach we braved the chilly spring water all sporting our suits from her bachelorette in Aruba. Our last night was spent watching the sunset and tasting beers at a local brewery. A classic Lithuanian dish is fried bread with a cheesy garlic dip. We were obsessed and ordered it at every place.

Exiting this country was going to take everything in me. Here’s the timeline. Around 12am we said goodbye to our brewery. A mini bus was coming to take us to the regional airport. Most of us had 6am flights. No one packed light for this trip but me. Since I was going to backpack around Europe for the next 2 months I had a backpack filled with clothes and shoes, and a bag with my computer and a record from Latvia. Getting from the hostel to the bus was a drama. Everyone is drunk and slow carrying their luggage, plus a road soda or as Heather called it, fun water.

The mini bus was too mini for us. We are trying to shove 10 large suitcases in all the while people are screaming go faster! If we miss the 230am ferry there is no way we are making any of these flights. Luggage is everywhere, in the back, in the aisles, on seats, but somehow we did it. We break out the liquor to toast to our success. When our poor driver gets us to the ferry, we cheers!

Onward to the regional airport which is closed but open. We take all our luggage and literally sleep on any surface available. The airport opens and we try to be normal humans in society. Our bags are checked, we board flight one to Copenhagen, then flight two to Heathrow. I slowly make the journey from drunk to hungover when we land in England. Literally on our last legs we wait for our bags which never come. I only have 4 days until my flight to Spain. That is a problem for later because Heather booked us spa packages. Shots of Russian vodka, sweating out the liquor balanced with cold pool dips, and massages with eucalyptus slapped along our bodies brought us back to life.

It was a whirlwind of a trip but Lithuania, you sure showed me a good time. Ačiū or thank you, which we kept pronouncing like achoo.