Vilnius; Saturday, 26 May, 2007

With a full Lithuanian breakfast (personally couldn't spot the difference between a Lithuanian and a continental cheese and ham breakfast but...) inside me, I headed out into town. First stop of the morning, after having cheated and taken the funicular up the side of the hil, was the Vilnius castle museum on the top of Gediminas hill. The museum is based in the only surviving tower of the upper castle, and has a small exhibition of armour and models of the castle as it developed. However, the main reason for visiting the castle are the stunning views from the roof of the tower, over the whole of the city.

Having spent some time in the tower I walked back down the path to the cathedral square. This was part of the lower castle, and at present the Lithuanians are in the process of rebuilding the palace part of the castle (destroyed by the Russians in the 19th century) brick by brick. It's scheduled to be ready for Vilnius's turn as the European capital of culture in 2009 (as I was to experience for much of the rest of my stay, a lot of Vilnius is currently being repaired and renewed in advance of 2009, making it quite a bit of a building site at present.) I had a look around the impressive cathedral before having a walk up the main tourist street of the city Pilies gatve, stopping at the top, by the town hall, for an early lunch, before continuing having a wander around the Old town. After a while I found myself back by the Cathedral, so I wandered around the side to the museum of applied arts. The museum has a permanent collection of sacred art and artefacts, as well as having short term displays. One of their, not so short term, displays is the exhibition of the furniture and paintings that they have acquired to fit out the rebuilt palace when it reopens in 2009.

From the museum its a short but steep walk up to the hill opposite the castle and the site of the three crosses. This is supposedly the site where 14 monks were murdered by pagans, and has been an important site for the Lithuanians for a long time. In their usual friendly way, the soviets ripped down the crosses as they felt they would only stir up Lithuanian nationalism, and they didn't want that in the most westerly of the USSR's republics (as history would show it was Lithuania that effectively destroyed the USSR by being the first one to declare its independence in 1990). Today the twisted remains of the three crosses are still on display, but new ones have been built at the top of the hill. From here there are more stunning views over the city, and across to the upper castle.

Having walked back down the hill to the city centre, I wandered through some of the western side of the old town, taking in the spectacular St Anne's church, and then stopping at the bastion for a quick look around, and a pleasant relief from the scorching temperatures. It may have been 34 outside, in the passageway of the bastion it was about 16 and very pleasant for it!

From the bastion I followed the only remaining part of the old city wall, round to the only remaining gate, the Gate of Dawn. The gate has, above the road way, a small chapel, which is a site of pilgrimage.

With my feet aching I wandered back towards the town hall square and stopped for a late afternoon drink and snack. Refreshed, I walked the 25 minutes or so back to the hotel to drop stuff off, and change into less sweaty clothes, before heading back out again for dinner