Vilnius was a true pleasure of a city and we had a bounty of experiences there. We both relaxed into being surrounded by the Lithianian language, and also the relaxed way people dealt with various situations.
Took two Tours by Locals, based on our good experiences using this service in Merida (Mexico) and Bucharest. Our first tour was through Old Town, and helped us find back backstreets and taught us, among other things, that we could wander into gated courtyards. It also gave us context for various park-like areas, which turn out to be where the Soviets tore things down and nothing was rebuilt.
The Old Town section of Vilnius that still exists, adjacent to Uzipis, is a lovely maze of cobbled streets and half-street/ alleys.
One street’s stucco walls Literatai Gatvė (Literary Street) was especially cool
“In 2009, the Modern Art Center and curator Egle Vartalkalke…installed an exhibition honoring writers, for whom this street is named…Over 150 artists contributed to this project, crafting unique dedications to the lives of over 200 writers who in some way associated with Vilnius or Lithuanina….”
I managed to get myself a University of Vilnius library card….
…and spent a half day in the Czesław Miłosz reading room, wandering the stacks and doing a bit of writing. Vilnius Unversity is the oldest and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest in Europe, so I was thrilled.
Our second Tour by Locals was into New Town Vilnius, which is actually not very new. By using the variety of architecture–Soviet brutal, remodeled old train station, original market, and more, our guide shared her own experiences as someone very close to the same age as the new nation of Lithuania (post-Soviet). This included when the Lithuanian mafia ran things, how soviet housing has been transitioning into private ownership, a 1990s rave club in the former railroad worker’s cultural center theater.
We finished the tour at what she called the Open City: a huge phonograph/ stereo component factory that was being converted to mixed housing, studios, and such. Again, lots of big murals.