Tales of Old Vilnius

There are exactly one hundred and eight streets in the center of Vilnius. And if you walk them long enough—that is, almost every day for several years—on some of those streets you may witness amazing stories. And on some—even become a part of them.

In such cases, I know, people usually say that such stories could, of course, happen anywhere. But we will not claim that—why deceive people? No, these stories could only happen here, in Vilnius. And only while strolling through the streets of the local Old Town could one first hear them, and then write them down.

This book includes only twenty-four stories. Well, as they say, every beginning is difficult.

Vilnius is one of the most beautiful and unusual cities in Europe; it amazes with its harmony, tranquility, and mystery. Max Frei knows this not by hearsay, having lived here for seven years already. No one can show and tell you about the city better than a local resident who walks its cobblestones every day, sits in its coffeehouses, and bargains in its market. Now you have a chance to take such a tour with your favorite author and see this city through his eyes. The reader’s imagination is helped along by photographs of the city taken by the author himself.

“Tales of Old Vilnius” is a kaleidoscope of stirring and strange stories, legends, and riddles whose main character is the city itself. In Max Frei’s Vilnius, people drink coffee, draw with chalk, play backgammon, dream, invent birds from paper bags—in short, they do all the things for which many have long loved his books so much.

This time the heroes drink not kamra but coffee, and the pavement beneath their feet is not the shimmering colored pebbles of Echo but the cobblestones of the Old Town, and instead of Huron there is a little river with the funny name Vilnyale. But that is precisely why the magic of this book and these photographs is even stronger and more alluring—for for the first time Max Frei’s magical world acquires a visible embodiment.

The gift edition of the book, the photographs, and the wealth of amazing and topographically precise information about one of Europe’s most beautiful capitals make it a wonderful present.