Baroque and Cold

We spent a chilly day exploring Vilnius's Old Town. While the day was dark and gray, Vilnius really knows how to brighten up and decorate for Christmas.

Vilnius is a lovely city filled with pastel-colored churches and façades in the Baroque Vilnius style, all set by the River Neris. It's tiny enough that you can see all the highlights on foot in a single day. So, challenge accepted!

We started our walk through the city by climbing up to Gediminas Tower Hill, one of the symbols of Vilnius. This tower is the lone remaining part of the 13th century fortress. One climbs up there to see the fantastic views, and apparently get very cold.

Beneath Gediminas Hill, on Cathedral Square, is where the main city's sights are, including the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, the Vilnius Cathedral, and the city's Christmas market. The 13th century Palace has been rebuilt multiple times over the past 700 years, most recently after Russia flattened it in the 19th century. Now, it's a gorgeously restored museum of Lithuanian and palace history.

But it's also a LOT. This museum includes 4 routes, each with hundreds of displays, separate wings, and an exhausting load of history. I'm just saying, I'M ON VACATION, cut a girl a break.

We walked through Vilnius Cathedral, which I can confidently say has taken the most...bold design decisions of any European cathedral I've ever seen. The Cathedral itself looks like a Greek theater, with a belltower that sits out front like an abandoned 19th century lighthouse. It is odd.

We strolled the Christmas market and viewed the Christmas tree, which is a very big deal in Vilnius. The city holds design competitions and presents the final tree in a grand tree lighting ceremony. Seeing past years' trees online makes me think perhaps 2023 was a bit phoned in, but you do you, Vilnius.

We viewed several other churches in the old town. Lithuania was the last pagan European country to adopt Christianity, but they wow did they commit when they finally converted in 1387. In a city of just 600,000, there are 52 churches. Vilnius was also a major Jewish center with over 260,000 Jews in the early 20th century. However, Lithuania suffered the greatest loss of Jews during the Holocaust- only 5% of the population survived, and never recovered. The ghettos are now a lovely medieval neighborhood filled with shops and restaurants, but with a large interactive display explaining the tragedy.

By 3pm it was already getting dark, so when we stumbled upon a cat café in the Old Town, we decided to spend the remainder of the afternoon among kitties and mulled wine.Leia mais