Sunday, 16-June-2024

My exploration of Vilnius started in Cathedral Square – which shouldn’t be a surprise, since I was staying at the Cathedral Square hotel. Efficient, right? Past-me really did do a great job at picking out places to stay, and detailing all the info for traveling… Definitely thankful to that guy. Great dude.

Anyways.

I headed out from my hotel, crossed the street, and sort of just stopped to stare for a little bit.

Cathedral Square is gorgeous. Seriously – it’s straight out of Rome, or Florence, or some ancient Greco-Roman saga. A huge marble square stretched out ahead of me, with a massive belltower and equally massive cathedral dominating the space… but still leaving room for a ton of open area for the slowly gathering people, and the slightly-weird statue off to the far side.

Behind, Gedimino Castle stood on a massive hill, overlooking it all.


I was still feeling a little weak on my feet, only a few days recovered from the ill-advised takeout, but I’ve always held that getting some good physical activity helps my body throw off the lethargy and miasma of being sick. Looking up, past the marble expanse and toward the castle up on the huge hill, I saw a great opportunity to get that physical activity going.

I… made it up. I did, in fact, make it up to to the top. It wasn’t quick, and it wasn’t easy, but it was successful. We’ll stick to that.

From the top, I not only got a chance to catch my breath… but also amazing views of the city. I stared out across the stunning landscape, picked out a few interesting places that I wanted to see closer up, and even spent a few moments watching some reenactors fencing down in the nearby square.

And then?

Back down the way I came, off to continued exploration!