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European Capital of Culture 2022 and UNESCO World Heritage City, Kaunas is full of beautiful architecture and art. It’s the second biggest city in Lithuania with a population of just under 400,000 people; the whole country has around 2.8 million people. My Spouse and I visited last weekend and had a lovely time, despite the unusually cold weather (it snowed!). It may seem to be a bit of a random choice to some, but we got a great deal on flights with Wizz Air, and I always love exploring new and different places.
After a 7am flight, we arrived at our hotel around lunchtime and were lucky enough to be able to check in straight away. Dagirdas Old City Hotel is in the heart of the Old Town, just a stone’s throw from the Old Town Square and numerous historic buildings.
We then headed back to the castle, by which time the students had all gone, and explored the museum inside the castle tower.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the old town, finding random works of art and admiring the historic buildings, before finding a traditional Lithuania restaurant for dinner, Bernelių Užeiga.
We weren’t very hungry as we were still full of chocolate and cake, so we ordered smaller dishes to try – beetroot soup and baked Lithuanian cheese, which were, once again, delicious.
Our final stop before dinner was the Yard Gallery – a once derelict courtyard surrounded by apartments, which has been turned into an open air gallery by artist Vytenis Jakas with help from other artists and neigbours. Art in Kaunas is everwhere, but this is the perfect place to see several different pieces in one place.
Dinner was at Avilys, another restaurant with traditional dishes on the menu. We had hoped to try the cepelinai, traditional potato dumplings, but they only had ones stuffed with meat, not cheese as we were hoping. Instead, we had cheese doughnuts and fried bread with cheese sauce as starters, then I had ravioli with mascarpone, walnuts and sage sauce and Spouse had risotto with boletus (mushroom) and spinach, all of which was really good.
In the morning, we had a final walk across the Old Town square and along the pedestrian street to grab a quick breakfast at one of the cafés before our taxi to the airport.
The art and architecture in Kaunas is impressive to look at and, as it’s a lovely, quiet city with lots to see and do, I’d definitely recommend a visit if you get the chance.
