Vilnius in 3 days

Vilna Jewish Heritage tour (the Vilna Jewish quarter — the most important Jewish cultural heritage site in the Baltic states): the history (Vilna (the Yiddish name for Vilnius) was one of the great centres of Jewish civilisation in Europe: the Jewish community established in Vilna in the 16th century grew to 100,000 people (40% of the city population) by 1939; the Vilna Gaon (Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720-1797)) — the "Gaon of Vilna" (the "Genius of Vilna") — was the greatest Talmudic scholar of the 18th century and the most important figure in the history of Lithuanian Jewry: his commentary on the entire Talmud (completed in a lifetime of continuous study), his reform of yeshiva education (emphasising rational Talmudic analysis over Kabbalistic mysticism) and his opposition to the Hasidic movement shaped the character of Ashkenazi Judaism for the next 200 years; the Great Synagogue of Vilna (built 1633 — the most important Baroque synagogue in Europe; destroyed by the Nazis (1941-1944) and demolished by the Soviets (1950s); the archaeological excavations (2015-2019) have revealed the foundations and the prayer hall floor of the Great Synagogue under the Soviet-era primary school; the Vilnius Jewish Quarter walking tour (the street names of the former ghetto (the Žydų gatvė (Jewish Street), the Gaono gatvė (Gaon Street)); the Paneriiai (Ponary) Memorial (8 km southwest of Vilnius — the forest site where approximately 100,000 people (72,000 of them Jewish) were murdered by the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators between July 1941 and July 1944; the most important Holocaust memorial site in Lithuania).

Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights (the Okupacijų ir kovų už laisvę muziejus — commonly known as the KGB Museum; located in the former KGB headquarters building on Aukų gatvė 2A (the "Street of Victims")): the building (the building served as the headquarters of the KGB (Committee for State Security) of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1940 to 1991, with a brief Nazi Gestapo occupation 1941-1944; the building is the most significant physical evidence of Soviet repression in the Baltic states): the museum (the museum occupies both the above-ground floors (the history of Soviet and Nazi occupation of Lithuania 1940-1990 — the deportations to Siberia (the mass deportations of June 1941 (the "first Soviet deportation" — 17,000 Lithuanians deported to Siberia in one week) and June 1949 ("Operation Priboi" — 29,000 Lithuanians deported to Siberia, primarily farmers who refused collective farm membership)); and the below-ground floors: the original KGB prison (the cells, the interrogation rooms, the execution chamber (the room where Lithuanian political prisoners were shot by the NKVD and later KGB — the bullet-riddled wooden walls, the drainage channel, the single iron ring in the ceiling from which prisoners were hanged by their wrists during interrogation)))); the cell tour (the 18 prison cells in the basement (the padded cell (the rubber room for prisoners who tried to self-harm), the water cell (flooded ankle-deep for prolonged standing torture), the completely dark cell, the cold cell (kept at 5°C for punishment) and the normal cells (1.5 × 2.5 m, capacity 4-6 prisoners, chronically overcrowded))).

Užupis (the "Republic of Užupis" — the bohemian artist district of Vilnius that declared independence on April 1, 1999 (April Fool's Day); located in the loop of the Vilnia River immediately east of the Old Town): the republic (the Užupis self-declaration of independence (the "Užupio Respublika") is simultaneously a serious artistic statement about freedom and self-determination and an April Fool's joke; the republic has its own constitution (the Užupis Constitution — 41 articles; the most famous: Article 1: "Everyone has the right to live by the River Vilnelė (the Vilnia River), and the River Vilnelė has the right to flow by everyone"; Article 12: "A dog has the right to be a dog"; Article 14: "Everyone has the right to be uncertain and idle"; Article 41: "Everyone has the right to have no rights"); the constitution is displayed on metal plaques on the Paupio Street embankment wall in 22 languages (including Lithuanian, English, French, German, Russian, Hebrew, Japanese, Arabic and Esperanto); the republic has its own flag (the white flag with a hole in the middle), its own currency (the "uzas"), its own president (the artist Romas Lileikis), its own 12 "ministers", its own army (12 soldiers) and its own bishop; the Angel of Užupis (the 1.7 m bronze trumpet-playing angel mounted on a column above the Vilnia River — the symbol of the Užupis Republic, unveiled April 1, 2002)).

Vilnius evening food and craft beer (the most dynamic craft beer and restaurant scene in the Baltic states): the Vilnius craft beer scene (Lithuania has the most active craft beer culture in Eastern Europe per capita: the country has 60+ craft breweries for a population of 2.8 million; the Vilnius craft beer bars: the Bambalynė (the most famous craft beer bar in Vilnius — 100+ Lithuanian craft beers on tap and in bottles; the most complete collection of Lithuanian craft beer in the country); the craft ale scene (the Lithuanian craft ales tend toward the Baltic Porter style (the Baltic Porter — the strong dark lager-fermented porter, the most distinctive beer style of the Baltic states: 7-9% alcohol, cold-fermented with a lager yeast rather than the British porter's ale yeast; brewed since the 18th century when the Swedish, Polish and German brewing traditions were imported by the Baltic merchant class) and the farmhouse ale (the kaimiškas alus — the traditional Lithuanian farmhouse beer brewed with juniper branches (the juniper beer of Lithuania and Latvia is the oldest surviving beer tradition in Europe)); the Baltic cuisine (the cold table: the cepelinai (the zeppelins — the potato dumplings stuffed with minced pork and served with sour cream and fried onion bacon (the most distinctive Lithuanian dish; the name refers to the dirigible shape of the dumpling); the šaltibarščiai (the cold beetroot soup with kefir, cucumber and dill — the most characteristic Lithuanian summer dish; the most photogenic food in Lithuania (shocking pink)); the black rye bread.

Trakai Island Castle day trip (the Trakai History Museum castle on the island in Lake Galvė, 28 km west of Vilnius by bus (40 min; €2.20 return)): the castle (the Trakai Island Castle — the most photographed medieval castle in the Baltic states; built on a small island in Lake Galvė by Grand Duke Vytautas (1392-1430) during the period when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania reached its greatest territorial extent (from the Baltic to the Black Sea)); the architecture (the red brick Gothic castle: the 3-storey residential tower (the donjon) connected to the courtyard buildings (the palace wing, the chapel) by the stone curtain wall; the moat (the lake itself serves as the moat — the castle is completely surrounded by the water of Lake Galvė; the only access is by wooden footbridge from the peninsula); the restoration (the Trakai castle was in ruins from the 17th century until the Soviet-era restoration 1955-1987; the restoration is the most thorough and most controversial in the Baltic states — critics argue the reconstructed castle resembles a theme park more than an authentic ruin; the Lithuanian position is that the restored castle allows the fullest understanding of the original building)); the Karaim people (the Trakai Karaim community — the Karaim are a Turkic people (Jewish-origin (Karaite Judaism) or pagan-Turkic origin — debated) brought to Trakai by Vytautas from Crimea in 1397 as palace guards; the community of 60-70 families has maintained their distinct language (the Trakai dialect of the Karaim language, now endangered with approximately 30 native speakers) and culture for 600 years; the Kybyn (the Karaim lamb meat-stuffed pastry (the Karaim version of the Central Asian samsa) is the traditional food of Trakai and the most popular local dish at the Trakai cafés).

Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (Šv. Petro ir Povilo bažnyčia — the most remarkable Baroque interior in the Baltic states and one of the finest Baroque church interiors in Eastern Europe; 1668-1704 on Antakalnio gatvė): the commission (the church was commissioned by the Lithuanian military commander Mikalojus Kazimieras Pacas (1621-1684) as a votive offering after his victory over the Russian army at the Battle of Brest in 1660; Pacas brought the Italian sculptors Pietro Perti and Giovanni Maria Galli from Italy to create the interior decoration); the stucco programme (the 2,000 white stucco figures covering every available surface of the church interior — the barrel vault, the pilasters, the arches, the pendentives, the lunettes, the cornices: the figures include the complete corpus of Christian iconography (the life of Christ, the life of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Church Fathers, the apostles, the prophets, the Virtues and Vices, the Four Seasons, the Lithuanian nobility in contemporary armour, hunting scenes, mythological figures) all rendered in the same bright white lime stucco with no painting or gilding (the entire decorative programme is monochrome white — the most powerful example of the "all-white" Baroque church interior style that developed in the Jesuit churches of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century)); the boat (the model sailing ship hanging from the ceiling of the nave — the "Santa Maria" (votive ship offerings are traditional in Catholic church interiors, particularly in port cities; the Vilnius ship is unusually large (2 m) and unexpected in a landlocked church interior)).

Hill of Three Crosses (Trijų Kryžių kalnas — the hilltop above the Vilnia River valley at the east edge of the Old Town; the most symbolic monument in Vilnius): the crosses (the three white concrete crosses on the hilltop (1989 — the restoration of the crosses destroyed by the Soviets in 1950) commemorating the 14 Franciscan friars martyred on the hilltop in the 14th century during the pagan Lithuanian resistance to Christian missionaries; the legend (the 14 Franciscan monks killed on the hill by the pagan Lithuanian prince — some sources say drowned in the river, others say crucified on the hilltop — are the foundation myth of Christian Lithuania; the three crosses (originally wooden, then stone) have stood on the hill since the 17th century as a pilgrimage site); the view (the view from the Hill of Three Crosses is the finest panoramic view in Vilnius: the complete panorama of the Vilnius Old Town from the east — the Cathedral Bell Tower, the St. Anne's Church, the Bernardine Church, the Gediminas Tower, the Upper Castle, the Baroque church steeples of the old town and the modern Vilnius CBD ("the Manhattan of Vilnius") beyond); the return (the 600-metre path down from the Three Crosses hill descends into the Bernardinai Garden (the romantic landscape park along the Vilnia River below the hilltop — the most popular picnic and summer afternoon park in Vilnius)).

Gate of Dawn and final Vilnius evening (the Aušros Vartai — the "Gate of Dawn"; the sole surviving city gate of the original Vilnius city wall): the gate (the 16th-century city gate (the gate was built as part of the Vilnius city wall in the 1520s; the gate originally had a 2.5 m wide passageway through which the road to the east (to Medininkai) passed; the current gate is the only one of the original 9 city gates to survive the 19th-century demolition of the Vilnius city walls)); the Chapel of the Miraculous Madonna (the chapel above the gate — one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the Catholic world: the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the "Ostrobramska Madonna" — the "Madonna of the Gate of Dawn"; the icon (the 16th-century painting of the Virgin Mary (the iconographic type of the Immaculate Conception — the Virgin without the Christ Child, in the pose of prayer) covered with a silver gilded vestment; the Madonna is venerated equally by Lithuanian Catholics and Polish Catholics (the Matka Boska Ostrobramska is the most beloved Marian icon in Poland after the Black Madonna of Częstochowa); the evening prayer service (the evening prayer at the Gate of Dawn chapel (19:00 during summer) — the candlelit service with the pilgrims kneeling in the street below the gate (the people praying in the lane under the gate arch while the priest chants above in the chapel)); the most atmospheric evening experience in Vilnius.