A quick visit to Vilnius... |
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I've been asked to write a report about my short visit to Vilnius, as apparently no-one else wishes to admit having been there! There must be some of you out there, and all of you must know more than me, so get writing! ;o)
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In early 2004 I made a short visit (3 nights) to Vilnius in Lithuania with a friend from work. My abiding memory is that it was *cold*. The daytime high was -5 celsius, which meant it was thermal underwear territory for me. That aside, my other memory is of the friendliness. A couple of months earlier I'd spent a week in a Turkish Mediterranean resort where I felt that I was seen as no more than a walking wallet. Vilnius was completely different; both my friend and I felt that people were pleased to see visitors, and there was a welcoming air which had been completely absent from the Turkish resort. Because we spent such a short time there, it's difficult for me to recommend places to visit or bars to drink in or the usual stuff. All I can say is: it's a lovely city - go there. Very soon. :-)
[added later]
I've been asked when someone should visit, and the answer is - I don't know! We went in late February and if you like it cold, that was a nice time. Whether summer would be better (for sunbathing at Trakai or on the Baltic coast perhaps), I don't know.
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| Favourite spots: |
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Pilies G, (Castle Street) Vilnius
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Vilnius. ;-) Well, the old town anyway. It's really nice.
[added later...]
I've been asked to expand on this, but I'm afraid I can't - we visited the castle (using the funicular railway), the KGB museum and the national museum and together with the guided tour we took on our first morning and a bit of shopping that took up the two days we had there. Maybe after my next visit I'll be able to give more information.
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| What's really great: |
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Sitting in the Toros Bar (www.toros.lt), with a nice meal, looking across at the castle.
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| Sights: |
The KGB museum. I've been to Dachau with a very knowledgable guide, and that left a chill down my spine; the KGB museum in Vilnius was even more affecting simply because it's so recent.
The National Museum beneath the castle had an excellent exhibition about the Napoleonic soldiers whose mass graves had recently been discovered around Vilnius, soldiers (and follwers) who had died during the retreat from Moscow in 1812. The exhibition had stayed open beyond its official closure date so may now have closed, but it was very interesting.
[later]
The funicular railway takes you up the hill to the upper castle, where there is a small museum in the tower.
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| Accommodations: |
We stayed in the 5* Narutis Hotel on Pilies G (Castle Street), because that's what we were offered by Baltic Holidays when we booked. It's a lovely hotel, which I can highly recommend, although probably not in the price range of your average backpacker!
[Added later]
I've been asked about the price range; we paid GBP650 for a three night city break for two including flights, which suggests to me we paid rather less for the hotel than the EUR200 (GBP130) per night rack rate quoted on www.narutis.com
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| Restaurants: |
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The river passing through Vilnius, complete with ice-floes
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We ate in the Narutis hotel cellar restaurant both nights simply because we were too tired to go looking for anywhere else! The InYourPocket guide rates the restaurant, and we found the prices reasonable (especially in comparison with a restaurant in a 5* hotel in the UK!) and the food was good.
The Toros bar in the breakaway Republic of Uzupis, once a self-declared independent statelet home to artsists and (as ever) now an up-and-coming yuppie district, provided a very tasty lunch to round off the guided tour of Vilnius we'd arranged before leaving the UK.
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Don't ask me for advice: visit the inyourpocket website, download their PDF guide, get some info from the Vilnius tourist information office (www.turizmas.vilnius.lt) - then go! Go before it becomes the new Prague or the new Tallinn. And enjoy. We did, you will too. :-)
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Published on Sunday April 9th, 2006 by rossh1
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