Four hours from Riga to Vilnius, on a mostly full bus. I didn’t note anything obvious to let me know we’d crossed the border, until my phone went off with an SMS – Telstra welcoming me to Luthuania, and kindly letting me know I can’t get roaming here. Thanks!

The first notable difference from Tallinn and Riga were the abundance of trees lining the streets. Small green spaces pop up everywhere packed with table and chairs, and you can just buy food and drinks from nearby restaurants and bring them out here. Its all so very laid back.

A pleasant surprise was the prices. Food and drink prices are almost half that of Riga. It was a very welcome change, if not a little jarring at first when I questioned if I ordered the wrong thing! You still pay for what you get, and even the fancier looking restaurants have a fairly basic menu and I have to question if any chef have heard of seasoning food.

And final change from Riga was the fashion. I can’t say for sure, but my educated guess that 80% of Latvian 20 year old’s have nose piercings, the bull pig style, while wearing punk goth clothing style, with a large splash of prostitute chic. That style vanished in Vilnius, and people just dressed quite fashionably, but now with added tribal tattoos. Lots and lots of tatoos, that admittingly look pretty cool.

The hotel I was staying in was what I though was a quiet part of Vilnius. I just based this off the map, which didn’t look like too much was going on. However I couldn’t have been further from the truth. The entire street is famous for all the restaurants and bars along it. It was a little intimidating where to go first. I began eyeing of the restaurants, which one would be my birthday dinner. A steak dinner I thought.

Vilnius’ Old Town is the largest in Eastern Europe, and holds a Unesco status. Legend would have it that Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas dreamt of an iron wolf that howled with the voices of 100 wolves, and here it was he build a tower on the hill named after himself.

The streets of old Vilnius are just wonderful to wander. On my way to the Cathedral square, I kept wandering off down a different streets after seeing a shop front or an interesting photo angle. Its hard to tell Vilnius was a battle ground in WWII and was occupied by the Germans, and “liberated” by the Soviets. Everything, from the streets to the buildings, felt its own culture unspoiled by outsiders. Its all just a great balance of old Lithuanian and their take on modern European.

Heading next to the cathedral square, near Gediminas Hill, barriers and tents were being built everywhere. Would you believe, a 20km marathon was being prepared for. I guess it’s that time of year. I was reminded of a comment from a local back at the Riga marathon. She said the city tries to get people excited for the marathon, to forget it was really a city of drunks. I wonder if the same sentiment echoed cynically here too.

In the courtyard of the Dukes Palace a stage was being built for an event. A banner over the stage with a very obvious politician, had printed the year, and what looked like a political slogan. When I read the slogan, more out loud that I had intended, a group of women suddenly turned to stare at me. And kept staring. What the hell had I said? I can’t pronounce half the words. Did I mangle the slogan so bad they were insulted for their leader? Did I butcher the language so bad that I managed to say something facist or racist or just ist? Either way, I took my leave and headed to the funicular.

The area of the palace had been occupied since neolithic times, and the existing palace we see now was built in the 15th century by Grand Duke Vytautas, while the tower on the hill protecting it sprang to life from the 14th century to fend of Teutonic Knights and Tatar attacks. These attacks lead to the construction of a 2.4km wall for defense, and by the 16th century Vilnius had become one of Europe’s largest cities.

Gediminas Hill rises to the east over the palace, and is a bit of a climb if you really want to take that way up. Or just spend the 1 Euro to catch the funicular, the cart on rails, up to what remains of the tower. But more importantly, glorious 360 views of Vilnius. What really would have made this perfect would be a cafe, just taking in this view sipping a coffee would have been a cherry topping on the hill. To be fair, the sign below does have a cafe sign pointing to the hill. I can’t tell if there normally is a cafe somewhere but was closed, or the coffee vending machine next to the funicular counted as a cafe.

The palace museum is staggeringly informative. Starting in the palace basement, making excellent use of glass flooring to show off the original foundations, it details the beginning of the palace. Details is an understatement. Plaque after plaque give the history of the palace framed around the history of Luthuania.

To be honest I found this ingenious. We’re told of the palace, intertwined between sections of what is happening in war and politics in the region, then back to how that has a bearing on the different construction periods of the palace. I had to shake my head at the endless marriage alliances between Lithuania, Livonia, Sweden, Rus, and just about every other European power. So romantic!

The basement and ground floor cover Route 1 , but I think its route 2 as you ascend to the next floors where it runs out of steam. Once we pass the medieval era the exhibits are just palace anterooms and mostly boring, and other visitors where noticeably not reading the plaques anymore and just seeking the exit. Myself included. Regardless, its an excellent museum and very much worth the Route 1 ticket entry, or just go free on Sundays as I stumbled upon.

The days I had remaining had started their count down. There were two day trips I wanted to get in before the end, and so with a beer in hand, the final planning began.