Europe 2017: Day #19 From Rain to Shine in Vilnius

Monday, 21 August 2017

The rain had been threatening the previous evening and settled in overnight to become a light, but steady drizzle during the morning. We had plans to do the free Walking Tour of the Old Town of Vilnius at 12 noon and also wanted to get a bit of an idea about the town layout prior to that. So after a decent breakfast we wandered around the outside of the city boundaries, partly defined by a city wall, and mostly by roads that circled the Old Town.

A visit to the local market and then entry into the Old Town via the Gate of Dawn and we headed down one of the main streets - cobbled, as usual.

Exterior - Gate of Dawn

Interior - Gate of Dawn

We covered a lot of ground over the next few hours, getting slightly wet as we got an overview of the town centre.  We got back to the Town Hall Square in time for the 12 noon walk and spent the next 3 hours meandering around some of the same streets we'd walked in the morning.  However, by this time the rain had stopped, the sun was pushing aside the clouds and we had a detailed and lively tour guide.

One of the highlights for me was a visit to the self-proclaimed Republic of Uzipis, an artists' enclave just across a small river from the Old Town.

Our tour guide with Uzipis in the background

We finally finished up a wonderfully informative tour at the Cathedral Square, scene of many a Vilnius political rally over the years.
 

Vilnius Cathedral Square

After which some of us retired to the pub for a couple of beers and a good chat.

That night we featured out for a traditional Lithuanian dinner to celebrate my birthday of the previous day.  And by the time to got to bed we were exhausted.