I had to be at the Prague airport at 5:00am this morning. Not my favorite thing to do, but I did it. My flight from Prague to Vilnius (Lithuania) actually went through Vienna. Unfortunately the layover, while too long for my liking, wasn't long enough to get out into the city. So a lot of waiting in the airport. In any case, I arrived at the Vilnius airport mid-afternoon, and was met someone who took me to the hotel from which our tour departs tomorrow (Monday) morning.
Now when I say departs, I mean the city tour of Vilnius in the morning, then an optional excursion to Trakai, and then finally a traditional Lithuanian dinner at a restaurant called Senoji Trobele.
Lithuania is a country of about 3MM people, of which about 600,000 live in Vilnius. We started our tour at St. Peter & Paul Church (apostles Peter and Paul are considered the patrons of Lithuania). The church architecture is Baroque (designed by Italian architects over about 10 years) and most of the inside work was done by locals over about 20 years. The inside of the church is (understandably) famous for its over 2,000 stucco decorations.
There are actually 48 churches in Vilnius (at least that's the number I was told), each originally financed/supported by a particular nobelman. In the pictures below you will see the words Regina Pacis over the doorway (Queen of Peace). Interestingly, the nobleman responsible for St. Peter & Paul church was named Pacas.
We then started the walking part of our tour around the 'Old Town'. That phrase may would familiar from my days in Prague - most of the cities in this area have been around for many hundreds of years, and they all seem to have an 'old town' area.
Here are a couple more of the churches we visited (or I visited later on my own).
Russian Orthodox
Vilnius Cathedral (with separate bell tower)
The Vilnius Castle is one of the symbols of the city. A wooden structure was built around the 10th century and in the 13th century stone walls were added. There are actually three parts to the complex, the upper castle, the lower castle and the crooked castle. The upper castle (the oldest part of the complex) was completed in 1323, and with the city emerging around the castle, that makes this year the 700th anniversary of Vilnius. There is a legend that says that the Grand Duke Gediminas dreamt of an Iron Wolf howling at the top of the hill where the Upper Castle is now located, and he held this as a prophecy of a great city that would one day be there.
I did go up to the upper castle, but I admit not by the stairs - neither up nor down. It's a long climb! But there is a small funicular that will take one up and/or down, and I did that. Here are some views of the upper castle and also of the city from the top of the hill.
To be continued ...
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