A TRIP TO THE MARKET

Before Christmas some friends asked Valerie and myself if we would like to join them on a trip to the market. not the central market in Riga ( which is a must do on the visitors first visit to Latvia)  This would be a trip to Kaziuko muge or to you and me Saint Casimir's Fair, held on the first weekend of March. ( wear warm clothes as it might be cold) in Vilnius Lithuania 

Well we are game for anything new so we signed up and looked forward to the trip, the eagerly awaited day arrived and found us on the road at seven o'clock heading for Bauska where we would join our fellow travelers, The day started off dull with a dark gray clouds and chilly to say the least. It is 226 km from Bauska to Vilnius  but the coach was nice and warm as we settled in for the two and a half to three hour journey.

Valerie had cooked some cornish pasties  for a snack on the coach, we had a supply of coconut buns plus a flask of coffee, things were definitely on the up. 

Heading across the border into Lithuania.

Leaving Latvia behind we watched the countryside slip by, had we not seen the old border post one could not tell where one country ended and another began. The road we would be travelling is known as "the via Baltica" and is fast and in many places stretches far into the distance as straight as a die.

 However upon reaching Vilnius we hit the traffic and ground to a much slower pace, traffic lights keeping us moving us past high rise office blocks ,posh new car showrooms and shopping malls and new building work on one side of the road whilst on the other were the high rise apartment blocks so familiar in countries that were part of the old Soviet system.

High rise housing.

Barclay's Bank , Lithuania branch.

Our driver took us round modern roads and down into the old town which runs alongside of the Neris river and dropped us off at the edge of the market where we would have six hours to while away our time. As it was by this time the sun was occasionally breaking through the clouds and turning the day much brighter. 

The bell tower

The market is inspired by the awakening of nature in the Spring , spreads out  from the cathedral square which is dominated by a tall white bell tower which tolls out every fifteen minutes. We arranged to meet our friends later to find somewhere to have lunch and so we parted and we went off to explore.

Just some of the crowd

To say the market was busy is somewhat of an understatement the place was heaving with visitors. Undaunted we headed of along a street,  lined both sides of the road with stalls selling 

just about every type of craft you could imagine, wood carving,weaving, pottery  homemade knitwear, ceramics of every shape and size, food stalls selling all manner of bread and cakes

We sampled some fresh mini doughnuts covered in powdered sugar  ( delicious) 

Mini doughnuts

Bacon and sausages abounded filling the air with a mixture of sweet and savoury smells.  Hand made BBQ's , metal sculptures, bird boxes , you name it it was there. On one corner there were what looked like steam engines, on closer inspection they were contraptions for heating wine on a large scale. 

Hot wine being prepared

In almost every  spare space there were buskers or traditional groups singing songs. All around people people were buying "verbos" ( Easter Palms) They are made of colourful dried wild flowers and herbs tied around a stick.

It was impossible to walk side by side so we trailed behind one another, up and down the stalls,  sometimes stopping to examine some item or another, sometimes being forced to stop as the person in front just decided to stop!!! oh how I hate that. 

There were families with prams and pushchairs, dogs on leads , small children , young and old all out for the day,tourists  taking  pictures  everyone having a great (if somewhat frustrating ) time.

Mid day there was a parade through the town  with St Casimir leading the way.

St Casimir leading the parade

We met up with our friends and found a pancake house, and thought it would be a good place to eat, and it was, they did an excellent chicken and chips with a green salad and whiskey sauce, followed buy apple cinnamon pancakes, washed down with a Lithuanian beer for 12.50 euros. Our waitress was a lovely girl called Gabriella, and couldn't have looked after us better.

Refreshed and re energised we emerged ready to face the crowds again. Passing one stall of dark ceramics, hanging at the back of the stall were some water colour paintings, two of which took our fancy straight away, standing to one side of the stall was the artist and when we decided to buy not one but two of his  paintings we really made his day. ( I now have two frames to make which should be fun). 

Valerie's  choice

and mine

Our next purchase was some unsmoked bacon ( we have just had bacon sandwiches for dinner) believe me it is the best we have tasted, and no chemicals added! Visiting a small stall with ceramic animals we found one that will do just nicely as a late christmas gift for friends who are coming to visit later in the Spring.

By five o'clock we were bushed and the sun 

had disappeared so we went to the park ,

 

where we found a seat and waited for the bus to collect us and bring us home.

The journey home seemed to fly by and by nine pm we were back in Bauska I had parked the car just four meters from the bus stop which was great no more walking, we fell into our seats and and were home before the coach reached Riga.

What a day, good company, new sights sounds and tastes, in fact a good time was had by all.