The capital of Lithuania. With its own republic!
Sometimes this city is called the G-spot of Europe: "Nobody knows where it is but when you find it - it's amazing". Really!
After checking in at Hotel Vilnia, we went to the restaurant. We wanted to taste local specialties: zeppelins (stuffed potato dumplings) and beetroot soup. It didn't meet with much success, but I quite liked it. Important local ingredient: sour cream.
Our hotel was right in the center, so we were able to go sightseeing right from there. We started with St. Stanislaus Cathedral, followed by the Presidential Palace and Vilnius University. At the Cathedral of the Assumption we were surprised by one of the local neighborhoods, the Republic of Uzupis. It is part of the historic centre and is a bit bohemian, a bit arty and has its own constitution. This place wowed us right at the entrance, where there was a swing hanging from a bridge. The only way to get to it was to go into the water and dock there.
It was hot all day, so we quite welcomed the opportunity to hide underground. There are city walls on the hill which offer a beautiful view of the city. And inside, it's a beautifully cool underground. There are displays of things related to conquest and history. We stayed there for quite a while, the coolness was nice and the kids were colouring (anything is better than going anywhere).
I finished the tour of the centre on my own, the rest went to the hotel. It was really challenging in the heat. I walked around Užupis one more time and reached the church of St. Anne. After a rest we continued the tour without the kids. We walked through the "Literatu" street, which is famous for its decorative signs. We followed the square by the town hall and continued to Geminidas Castle. Unfortunately, it is closed (for a few minutes), but it doesn't matter too much because there is another attraction right next door. The mountain of three crosses. It again offers a view of the whole city. Bylo zrovna před bouřkou a mraky hrály všema barvama. Bohužel se opět vyrojili komáři, tak jsme se moc dlouho nekochali a raději utekli zpět na hotel.
The next day was followed by the Gates of Dawn. One of the icons of the city (although it's really just a gate). There is a beautifully painted house by the market, and the market itself offers a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. You could see that it was more for locals than tourists. We stop at the museum of modern art. Apart from being nicely chilled out, it looks modern and the tour was split into two parts: the local Roma community and a larger exhibition on the rivalry between Lithuania's two largest cities, Vilnius and Kaunas. I was thrilled that this exhibition is also in Kaunas. The whole exhibition was made just for this occasion. Moreover, Kaunas is the European City of Culture in 2022.
After the culture we went to the VR center, which according to the reviews looked very nice. Kuba was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, we almost didn't find it on the spot, it was in the frame of some apartment building. Which probably wouldn't have mattered, but there was no one there and it was closed. On the phone they told us it was by appointment only :)
Vilnius is a beautiful city, with 550,000 inhabitants and interesting places. Look here for a very nice video about the Vilnius.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
