Gediminas castle, Vilnius

I passed by the renovated recently remains of gothic Palace of Rulers which were partly hidden below the ground as I noticed. The wall of the castle was partly made of red bricks, partly of original large stones. And as you can see on my picture (enlarge) the palace had to be rebuilt many times in the past.

Gediminas tower

A legend: Great Duke Gediminas had a dream – he dreamt of iron wolf standing on the high hill and making noise. He went to a wise man for asking what’s the meaning of this dream. The wise man told that the meaning of the dream was that Gediminas has to establish city on this hill and to build a castle, and the city will be as strong as that iron wolf.
So Gedimas started building. Now there’s only one tower left from the great castle, may say even symbol of Lithuania.
There was the upper castle- now you can climb up to the hill, go inside the tower it’s a museum, see the models of how it looked like, other interesting historical things, and climb to the top, on the roof, from where you can see great panoramical views of Vilnius. The lower castle (see the picture at “general”), only little parts remained, original basement ruins are being conservated, in other part, where’s the building there’s Lithuanian …museum, definitely worth visiting. If I had to choose two my favorite places, museums, where I love being and find them really interesting it would be – amber museum in Palanga (sea –side resort) housing many original amber peaces with incluzes, established in the Tiskevicius estate, surrounded by botanical park and the Museum in Vilnius.

The Gediminas' Tower is an important historic symbol of the city of Vilnius and of Lithuania. It is the only remaining part of the Upper Castle. The first wooden fortifications were built by Gediminas - the Duke of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

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When visiting Vilnius, order a hot air balloon flight and you will see totally different view of the old town. Vilnius is extremely nice from above!

They say, Vilnius is one of just few capitals in Europe, where you may fly by hot air balloon. And this is probably true.

Sightseeing Vilnius from a hot air balloon is one of the top things to do in Lithuania.

We visited here on a Monday when lots of things are closed and although we could get on top of the tower for the view of the city, the funicular was not running so we had to walk up the hill.

The view from Gedeminos Museum area is fantastic! In the one side is the centre of Old Vilnius with all churches and houses.

From other side you can see the modern Vilnius with block of flats.
Go to and from the Hill of Gedeminas you can with funicular. It costs 2LTL or 1 LTL to one way.

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From the very top of the castle you can enjoy nice view of whole city and you can also visit some exhibitions inside.
Price is 2 litas for students and 5 (i guess) for others.