Vilnius

Vilnius is Europe’s largest baroque old town surrounded by beautiful landscape leaving traces from both of its present and past achievements, science and culture. The old buildings give a time lapse from the late Gothic to Classism to the (mostly) Baroque epoch, which is also the largest Baroque Old Town in Central and Easter Europe covering the area of 360 ha. As many other medieval towns, Vilnius was developed around its Town Hall. The main street, Pilies gatvė, passes Governor’s Palace and the Town Hall.

Visit the majestic St Casimir’s, continue strolling over to the imaginary border in the self-styled Republic of Užupis –a republic for artists, with its own president, anthem, constitutions, churches, bridges and a guardian (the bronze angel of Užupis). To really understand Lithuania’s history, spend some time in the KGB museum to understand the terror apparatus the Soviets used to subdue Lithuanians and how Germany terrorized the country for a few years. On the happier aspect, try some Lithuanian food! Over the centuries Lithuanians have created a unique palette of dishes that often contain potatoes. When you’re in Vilnius, try cepelinai (‘Zeppelins’), large boiled potato dumplings (made from grated raw potato) with fillings of minced meat or cottage cheese, or the small dumplins (called koldūnai or virtiniai) made from dough and with a filling of meat, mushrooms, berries or cottage cheese.