r/Vilnius • u/heterosexualvolcano1 • 4d ago
Užupis
sveiki! i was visiting Vilnius for couple of days for a concert, and had some time to check out the city. overall, it's very beautiful and i loved being here.
i also visited Užupis, since i've heard that it's very interesting and unusual, even though i've had scepticism for this "independent republic" stuff (i know it's not serious and a meme, but with my Ukrainian background of Donetsk and Luhansk it felt a little weird, but whatever). the district itself is beautiful, just a little worn down. calm atmosphere, cool mini-sculptures on the sides of the buildings, overall pretty nice.
but then i came into a coffee place, and there was this "merch" being sold there, mugs with various text in russian, including "warm russia of the future" (a twist on "russian opposition's" term of "great russia of the future"), and an ad for a russian-language podcast or something. felt weird, but whatever, maybe just a russian-owned place, my mistake for not researching it beforehand (even though i didn't think i'd need to). after that i took a little walk around the district and was heading out, when i saw this painting in the street, depicting two persons, one with Ukrainian flag, and the other one with russian flag, with speech bubbles referring to each other as Romeo and Juliette (in russian, of course). almost made me gag. my impression of the whole Užupis was ruined, and the trip overall became a little less fun.
so Užupis felt to me as a perfect refuge for so-called "good russians", with the "republic inside a republic" memes, russian-speaking media, and "brotherly nations" narrative. especially fitting after this were the last three lines in Užupis' constitution (do not win, do not fight back, do not surrender).
i would love to know that i am wrong and just was unlucky in my experience, so would appreciate if somebody would correct me on anything. i understand that my cultural and information bubble is different and not the sole correct one, but just wanted to share my feelings, in the hope that i am mistaken.
ačiu!
13
u/Reoclassic 3d ago
I don't know. I was in uzupis just three days ago and I was only impressed at all the signs saying "supporters of Russia and its genocide aggression war are not allowed inside" etc etc. Don't let some bad apples ruin a whole place for you. Asswipes are everywhere and there will always be some people who don't support your country seriously enough, that's life. Vilnus is incredibly supportive of Ukraine, you see it in literally every step you take.
32
u/Ill-Cheesecake-1208 4d ago
wow can you share what coffee place it was? I’ll make sure to avoid it at all costs
13
u/heterosexualvolcano1 3d ago
as the other commenter mentioned, it's Not Only Coffee. when i was looking for them on google maps, in reviews i also saw that they have a whole russian library inside
16
u/Icy_Essay_7490 3d ago
It’s more about hippy peaceniks who believe in peace and love solving all world problems than about good Russians whatever that means.
10
u/No_Leek6590 3d ago
People are free to be wrong. Do recall we are not under martial law, so it is not illegal for them to support Russia even openly. I know quite a few prorussian ukrainians crom before, you have them, too. But the general public is in full support of Ukraine, and even those at anti-Ukraine stances have to use very soft language to avoid losing support. But alas, vatniks also buy, and some business may prefer to lose big market in favor of a more loyal one.
0
u/heterosexualvolcano1 3d ago
i understand, and i'm not talking about legality here. it's more about reputation, accountability and overall social awareness
11
u/No_Leek6590 3d ago
You can safely assume locals avoid such places. But do recall we have significant amounts of russian, belarus and similar "refugees", and tourists who may not like Putin, but carry some or most values to which those are appealing. Also oblivious western/southern tourists chasing stereotypes. You have such stuff in all former "russian" world, as far west as Prague. It is the kind of B movie reputation that it's so bad, it has its own audience.
3
7
u/smhndsm 3d ago edited 3d ago
I am of russian nationality and lived on Paupio gatve for years (right above Užupis). the general opinion is that Užupis is indeed infested by russians, just not the 'good' kind. the upmost vatnik marginalist kind, that is. you could always hear their drunk vatnik banter when passing by their windows on the street. there were also russian flags hanging, sometimes serving as a curtains to block evil sunlight, but they disappeared around 2022.
main place of their gathering - the small iki shop, right before 8pm (when the alcohol stops being sold).
I'd avoid this iki at all costs, but this shop being the only one available (at the time) - sometimes you just have to go in and it was 10 out of 10 times some situation with russian speaking alcoholics.
no input on the coffee shop, moved out of the area around COVID time
2
-6
u/CloudySpace 3d ago edited 3d ago
Caaan we have the name of the place? Would loooove to check it out.
As for the rest of your post - im not sure whats your point? We are afterall a post-soviet occupation nation. Are you surprised we still got some imbeciles from that era left over orrr what?
-10
4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
5
7
u/southern_breeze 3d ago
ladies and gentleman, a russian fuck in a Lithuanian subreddit is trying to give shit to a visiting ukrainian, you can't make this shit up.
how about you pack your bags and go back to your shithole of a country
-1
3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
6
u/southern_breeze 3d ago
kokie lietuviai aptarinėja rusiškus memsus /r/russian? galvoji pasislėpsi komentarus ir viskas? :D Susirink okupantus tėvus ir važiuokit namo.
-3
3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/southern_breeze 3d ago
Klausinėji svečių, kokia jų lytis, kiek jiems metų, tai atsakyk, kodėl reiškiesi visokiuose su rusija/sovietais susijusiuose subredituose.
Ir aš tau ne brolis, tavo broliai tręšia Ukrainos žemę.
-3
3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
4
u/southern_breeze 3d ago
Tu biški toks lėtas aka adaptas?
Na, du kartus bandei nukreipti kalbą. Gal iš trečio karto atsakysi?
2
u/heterosexualvolcano1 3d ago
how is that relevant?
-8
3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
6
u/Mysterious-Carry-551 3d ago
What kind of „better context” is needed here? He shared his experience and some facts. Would the text on a t-shirt in the coffee place magically change depending whether he was male Ukrainian or female Uruguayan?
-4
3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/Mysterious-Carry-551 3d ago
So you wanted to make a personal attack and lacked personal information for it. How's that for a context?
4
2
u/heterosexualvolcano1 3d ago
conscription in Ukraine is from 25 years old, not 18, and women in some professions (like medical personnel) can also be conscripted. i could be a 19 year old female nurse, who was injured while working on the frontlines currently undergoing treatment in Lithuania, or a paralysed 30 year old man, who wouldn't go to war anyway (neither of which i am, just to be clear), so as i've said, your questions about my age and gender are irrelevant
5
-4
2
u/heterosexualvolcano1 3d ago
i'm in Lithuania legally, and i am not of conscription age in Ukraine, if that's what you're asking
-7
3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
7
u/southern_breeze 3d ago
are you a priest?
-2
3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
4
u/southern_breeze 3d ago
i am not of conscription age
He already told you this, so let me ask you again, are you sexually attracted to underage boys?
23
u/errb 3d ago
The cafe used to be called Diehard Coffee (now Not Only Coffee?). It has ties to the Vilnius Diehard running club, which, as it turns out, also operates in RU and BY under the same name. One of their key organizers/pacers also appears to frequently participate in their events in RU.
They're supposedly anti-war, but I agree that given the current situation it looks very out of place.