From
The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
It might not receive its title of the European Capital of Culture until 2009,
but there’s no excuse for holding off until then.
Lithuania’s pocket-sized capital – once the main city of a territory that
stretched all the way to the Black Sea – already has more than enough
top-notch sights and unpretentious charm for the most jaded visitor.
Cobbled streets are lined with Romanesque churches and Baroque mansions. Sleek
cocktail bars heave with beautifully dressed carousers until late into the
night. Museums and galleries showcase everything from ancient folk customs
to of-the-moment video installations.
It’s glorious at any time of year, but in spring there’s an extra tinge of
excitement in the air. The Old Town, its historic buildings spruced up after
decades of Soviet neglect, is entrancing when the sun shines on gilded domes
and gleaming white stucco.
Cafe and restaurant terraces emerge from their winter hibernation – and you
can interrupt the sightseeing with some gentle people-watching and a bite of
home-cooked Lithuanian cuisine.
And if the sun ducks behind a cloud, the great indoors beckons: a brace of
eclectic museums; a pair of art galleries; and ornately decorated,
incense-scented churches.
Shopping is a treat, not so much in the main streets, where every other
emporium sells amber and linen souvenirs, but in the side lanes where you’ll
uncover covetable gear by home-grown designers. And then there’s the
nightlife. The Old Town’s bars and clubs are anything but old-fashioned,
whether they’ve gone for clean-cut minimalism or something quirkier in the
way of interior design. Just get your round in before the crowds arrive next
year.
OLD AND GORGEOUS
The UNESCO-listed Old Town is a glorious collection of largely Baroque
buildings daubed in soft blue, moss green, buttermilk yellow and dusky pink.
Be bold and explore as much as possible: unpromising passageways off narrow
cobbled lanes can lead to anything from Renaissance courtyards to lovely
tourist-free cafes. Walk, or take the funicular, to the top of Gediminas
Hill for the best views over ancient rooftops.
You’ll find the mummified remains of a trio of martyred saints, old ladies
kissing icons and the intoxicating smell of incense within the multicoloured
and gilded walls of the Baroque Church of the Holy Spirit (Ausros
Vartu 10; 00 370 5212 7765), Lithuania’s main Orthodox church. Gleaming
onion domes and cupolas, as well as spires, may crown many religious
buildings in the Old Town, but as interiors go this is the city’s biggest
show-stopper by miles.
Squint at the array of gold-encrusted church vestments, icons and altarware at
the Applied Art Museum (Arsenalo 3A; 00 370 5262 8080, www.ldm.lt;
80p). Among the other treasures of an ecclesiastical bent, the huge carved
wooden crosses that once littered the countryside have a curiously pagan
feel – not surprising, perhaps, as Lithuania didn’t fully embrace
Christianity until the 14th century.
Fantastic City. I loved it !
Paul, London,
The KGB museum is quite interesting and Gravity is one of the strangest (although not best) nightclubs I've seen – it's situated in an old bomb shelter (it would in other words be quite sad if the world was nuked as you'd be left together with a bunch of kids and some not-so-good CDs... ) And don't miss potato dumplings with mushrooms!
Patrick, Stockholm, Sweden
One of the prettiest cities I have visited in recent months without the congestion of more popular locations such as Prague.
Farrukh, Woking, UK