After our four hour 'luxury' bus trip (we'd somehow ended up in the first class lounge!)we arrived at Vilnius bus station in Lithuania. After a short walk to our hotel, we checked into our room and hit the streets. Even though we had arrived late in the afternoon we made the most of the remaining sunlight and checked out the Town Hall, the Central Cathedral, the Gates of Dawn and various other impressive buildings.

We were up bright and early the next day, braving the minus one degree temperature. Our first stop was the Hill of Three Crosses, a simple but beautiful monument set on a hill in the woods above Vilnius. It also offered amazing views of the city, plus a walk up a steep hill giving us a chance to walk off another hearty pancake breakfast! Next we walked to St. Peter and Paul's Church which had over 2000 individual sculptures embedded in it's walls and ceiling. We've seen quite a few churches now around Europe and this was definitely one of the best we've seen (and luckily worth the large donation we left as we didn't have any small change!).

Next on our list was Gediminas Castle. Our tired legs were relieved to learn that instead of walking up to the top, we had the option of catching a funicular, which is like a cable car that runs on tracks all the way up the hill. The castle was built in 1409 and is depicted on the currency. It's considered a symbol of independence in Lithuania.

After a busy day full of sight seeing, we were pleased to find a restaurant offering tasty Lithuanian cuisine. We enjoyed lots of treats like creamy mushroom soup in a black bread basket and meat and potato dumplings.

On our last day we visited the Genocide Museum. We were able take a pretty grim but interesting tour of the old KGB prison cells and execution chambers. Like Estonia and Latvia, we learnt that Lithuania has a long history of occupation and struggling for freedom.

We finished the day by meandering through the streets of Old Town before heading out to a tiny Lithuanian airport where we write this blog while waiting for our dumplings to be served!