Santaka (Kaunas)

Very near Town Hall Square is a rather bland looking building which is the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, built entirely of red brick with features of both Gothic and Renaissance architectural styles. Built in the 15th century, Vytautas the Great Church has seen a varied history as a Catholic church, storage space for ammunition by Napoleon’s army, and Orthodox church, and again as a Catholic church. Situated right next to the Nemunas River, Vytautas the Great Church has been flooded several times throughout history, thus it has seen numerous reconstructions with the largest renovations occurring in the 1930s and late 1970s. The largest Gothic structure in Lithuania, and the country’s only Gothic church with a basilica floor-plan as opposed to the usual cross-shaped design. Its one-of-a-kind interior, with its nine altars, is also breath-taking quite a contrast from its easily unnoticeable outside appearance.
From Town Hall Square we walked around the corner to Kaunas Castle standing close to where the Nemunas and Neris rivers, converge this impressive brick castle was built in the 14th century at the beginning of the Teutonic attacks.
Looking towards the Castle is the Monument to Vytis, a freedom warrior sculpture, with the state symbol in the coat of arms of Lithuania, knight riding a horse with a sword and shield.
Walking back towards the hotel along the Laisves Aleja (which as you may have now gathered is the main walkway from one end of Kaunas through to the other end) we came across a very nice bar / café / restaurant called Paslėpti receptai where we had an enjoyable couple of hours drinking wine, gin and local beer whilst deciding on what to eat. Lovely food that included drinks and meals all for £53 for the 3 of us. We will definitely return there.Les mer