Our trip to Lithuania was quite spontaneous as a result of finding cheap flights. So one dark night we found ourselves landing in Kaunas in the icy cold.
In the morning we were delighted to find fresh snow and a bright day. We were all bundled up in jumpers, ski coats, several hoods, hats, gloves. This is serious winter – Kaunas is on roughly the same latitude as Moscow, which gives you an idea of how far north it is.
Old Town
The Old Town was a delight to explore – it felt Dickensian, and I half expected to see gentlemen in top hats in a horse drawn carriage going past!
New Town
The New Town was what you’d expect from a modern town – the usual chain clothes shops, but also lovely inexpensive cafes and bars.
There was also a massive shopping mall called Akropolis which was open until 9pm most nights, which was a lifesaver as it was somewhere to go in the freezing dark evenings. There was an extensive food area with lots of restaurants, an indoor ice rink (which was also cheap and fabulous!) and also a cinema.
One day we went to an out of town shopping centre called Urmas which we read good reviews about. It was an interesting half-day excursion which we got to on the public bus. It was like a giant market with individual shops instead of stalls. There were aisles of shops selling everything from clothes, shoes, foods, to craft, and household items. I must admit I was a tad underwhelmed by this, and we didn’t buy anything. Nevertheless we got to go on a mini-adventure (you never really know where you’ll end up on the public bus!) and saw some residential neighbourhoods of Kaunas en route. Plus, there were lots of vintage buses and trains there, if you like that kinda thing.
Sadly we missed seeing the Ninth Fort, a former Soviet prisoner of war camp, as I stupidly didn’t check the opening days, but if went to Kaunas again I would really like to go there as I think visiting is the best way to learn about such things.
Overall, Kaunas was the most perfect little mini break! See my next blog about the wonderful foods we tried!
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Big Fat Tourist 
Lovely, enjoyable read! Most interesting.
Thank you – glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping by!
I took advantage of those cheap flights to Kaunas too, but got the bus straight to Vilnius (which is absolutely gorgeous) – your photos have made me wish I stayed in Kaunas for a day or two.
Well maybe we can swap, as I want to go to Vilnius too! 🙂