I didn't now what to expect of Vilnius the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city. It has a population of about 600,000 according to our local guide. It is known for the architecture in its baroque old town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Prior to World War II, Vilnius was one of the largest Jewish centres in Europe. Its Jewish influence led to it being described as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania". At the beginning of the war there were over 200,000 jewish people in the city, after to the war there were only 2,000 but more of that later.

We arrived in the early afternoon after surviving the Russian border. Our hotel is across the river from the old town and so we dropped our bags in the room and headed off to wander around the old town. The old town is reminiscent of the Stockholm but without the American fast food restaurants, which is a nice change. By my estimation there is a church every 100 meters, and there were more before the Soviets occupied Lithuania. Walking around we saw many buildings under renovation, mostly to become hotels, some old buildings seem completely abandoned. Most of the property in this part of the town is owned by the church. The old town is based around Vilnius University, which is one of the oldest universities in the Baltic States.

On our walk we passed a building and heard someone playing an organ. Greg suggested that we go in see if we could hear the organ up close. After nearly circumnavigating the building we found the entrance and asked the receptionist about the music. Shoulder shrug "no English," luckily there was a passing academic who could help us. She told us that the person was rehearsing for a free concert tonight which was being held in a church in the old town.

Greg went to the concert after our dinner and he said it was spectacular. The large organ was situated in an elevated position at the back of the church. About 500 people attended most of which were sitting in the pews with their backs to the performance. The acoustics were superb with no amplification involved. The church was hundreds of years old and an architectural masterpiece. Greg was amused to see the audience respectfully leaning and sitting on the steps to the altar and other church fittings. The audience were clearly enthralled and there were several encores to rapturous applause. I might make Greg a concert goer yet!

It seems that this city has a strong musical tradition. Free concerts are held nearly all year round in the churches. One of the century's greatest violinist, Jascha Heifetz, studied at the Vilnius Conservatorium. Heifetz was saved from the holocaust as his community had sponsored him to study in the US.

I was interested in visiting the old Jewish quarter of the city, as this was one of the largest Jewish cities of Europe. Much as looked we could find no sign to say that 200,000 who lived here had been murdered.

The next day we met our local guide who would take us through an unusual baroque church with an interior which was nearly totally white. In the bleak winters of Vilnius it would have glowed with reflected light. The church had a chandelier in the shape of a boat, which also helped reflect the light.

The guide then took us through the old town, pass the baroque Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches. I asked about the Jewish quarter, she pointed to an overgrown alley it was in that area, but there were no more jews here, they died during the war.

Next to a Trakai Castle which was located about 30 kilometres out of town. The castle had been a ruin for hundreds of years. During the Soviet period it was rebuilt, it gave a good overview of how it would have worked as a palace for the Duke who lived there. I'm in a quandary about rebuilding ruins, on the one hand they do provide a concrete example of how these places worked and what it was like to live there; on the other hand what about the history of ruination. The castle had been used in the Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie, so for some this must be a sacred site. Go figure!

We went back to Vilnius for our last afternoon in the city. One of the first buildings we walked passed the previous day was a Museum of Genocide Victims, so we used our last afternoon to visit the museum. I thought this museum would be a museum recognising the murdered jews of Vilnius, it wasn't.

The museum was a chronicle of the Lithuanian peoples resistance to the Soviet occupation. Thousands of Lithuanians, who opposed the Soviets, were tortured, exiled or murdered. It was quite tragic. There was only one small reference to the genocide of the Jews of Vilnius, a genocide which was undertaken by the Lithuanians themselves.

After the museum we walked through the old town to find a nice restaurant for dinner. Walking around the old city square we found an extremely tacky event "Dining in the Sky". A dining platform with seats is lifted into the sky over the town square and for 100 Euro you can have a glass of Mumm and a snack. Greg and I decided to invest the amount in a meal at an Italian restaurant. I had a rack of lamb and Greg had spaghetti with Scotch fillet accompanied by a lovely Californian Zinfandel.

Tomorrow - Warsaw.