LITHUANIA - Happy New Year

A new year, a new decade and a new country - welcome to Lithuania!

I'm back in the EU, things are a bit more expensive but being in a Baltic state, fish has returned to my diet, roll mops and smoked salmon are available at breakfast and best of all - no beetroot - what is it with Eastern Europe and beetroot?

It's a proper public holiday here - the shops are closed - and instead everyone is out enjoying themselves.

The major thing to see in Vilnius is the cathedral, not the riot of golden onion domes we have been used to in Kyiv, not the stone towers and spires from further south, no this one is in the classical style following a reconstruction in the late 1700's.  The detached bell tower was not open today but I hope to climb it later in the trip.

Overlooking the cathedral and indeed the city is the Gediminas Hill on which stands the 48 metre high Gediminas Tower. There is a small museum inside - suits of armour, crossbows that sort of thing - but the main purpose of climbing up there is for the views of the city

The palace of the Grand Dukes (now a museum) with the cathedral behind

Vilnius has a UNESCO listed old town full of cobbled streets and alleyways that is very pleasant to walk round on a cold day in the bright low Northern European sun. I thought the igloo things were a very good alternative to the traditional wooden huts we have for a Christmas market.

King Mindaugas founder of Lithuania

Something I noticed in a bureau de change window was that they will accept Scottish banknotes here, but don't tell Nicola Sturgeon that the exchange rate is worse than you get for English ones!

The other thing I have found out - after trying to buy mulled wine today and then resorting to Google - is that the Lithuanians drink more alcohol than any other nation in Europe and apparently it's a quite a problem. Really? I thought the Scots had that record - sorry Janice! As a result the drink laws here over the past few years have been severely tightened. The minimum age for alcohol consumption is now 20, shops can't sell alcohol after 8pm and so I've been told today, a law came in a midnight which as one of its consequences banned the sale of mulled wine in the Chrismas market. Best go back to Kyiv then!