After the first part about Zeppelini, Cathedral squre and Uzupis Republic, here the next 2 thing to do in the capital of Lithuania.. 

4 – Visit the Museum of Genocide Victims

This building is located in Auku Gatve, n.2 and it has been used by Gestapo under the Nazi occupation and later, under the Soviet occupation, it became the main prison and interrogation centre of Kgb, the terrible Stalin secret police.

All the people suspected to take position against Soviet regime were taken here, tortured and in most of the cases deported to Siberia or killed directly in the execution room.

It is possible to visit the places where horrible things happened just some decades ago.

This is the underground prison main corridor.

Cells are exactly how they were in that period, I entered in the isolation rooms, just 60 cm square each one, and in some other cells that were soundproofed to not make hear prisoners’ laments during interrogations.

Since Stalin’s death, prisoners’ condition started to get less terrible, for example the water room was abolished, in this place the prisoners had to stand up all the time in a 20/30 cm diameter metal surface to not to fell down in the gelid water on the ground.

Below you can see the execution cell, where around 1,000 people have been killed between 1945 and 1960.

The museum has been opened in 1992, just one year after the country independence.

5 – Touch Gedimino Tower

The hill of Gedimino Tower really fascinated me because before to go to Vilnius I had never seen something like that: a green hill in the centre of a city like if it was countryside.

On the top you can see Gedimino Tower, that is the only part of the old Gedimino castel that has not been destroyed by Russian army in 1802.

From there it is possible to enjoy this view..

I don’t know which view is better: if the one in the picture or the one you can see for example in the Cathedral square, where you can look up and notice this extraordinary hill in the centre of the city. Also because of it, I consider Vilnius one of my favourite European cities.

Last but not least, here are two pictures I did not imagine to take.

The first one comes from the menu of a city centre Pizzeria, where someone evidently knows Genova (Genoa), my city, and its great pesto, while in the second one most of the objects, including the table and chairs, are made of.. chocolate!

Practical information:

In Old Town there are some cheap hostels, where prices start from 10 euros for night in a shared room. Taxi are also very convenient but you need to call them (phone number: 1411), if you try to stop them on the way the prices will be much higher.