Hello dear steemians,
Today I would like to continue my introduction about my country - Lithuania.
And I will tel you a little bit about its capital - Vilnius.
I was born in Vilnius and still live there. I love my city and feel here good and cozy. Vilnius is not so big,
but is really beautiful and have many interesting places to see. It is a largest city in Lithuania - here live about 560 000 inhabitants. It situated about 20 km. south from geographical center of Europe.
First time in historical sources Vilnius was mentioned in 1323. There s interesting legend how Vilnius was established.
It is told that Duke Gediminas stayed for a night on a hill and had mysterious dream about roaring wolf.
The next day when he woke up, he called a mage and asked him to explain his dream. The mage told him that he should build here on a hill a castle and that castle will be strong and well know around the World. After that Gediminas built the castle and named this place Vilnius. This castle is still a part of the old town and attract not only tourists but also Lithuanians.
Here is the pic, I've took myself of that castle.
And here few more pics of a castle from internet
The old town of Vilnius is very beautiful and included to UNESCO Heritage World list - many cozy wonderful streets with a lot of places where you could have a rest with a cup of coffe and delicious sweets or have a good dinner. There are a lot of authentic ancient buildings in old town, which where built in XIV - XIX centuries.
(www.vilniausmiestas.blogas.lt, www.fotobankas.lt)
Vilnius is a cosmopolitan city with different architecture. There are many cozy and good places where you can get various food which is of a good quality and delicious. There are many pubs, bars and night clubs where the night life boils until the down. There are a lot of tourists in a center of Vilnius or old town, especially in spring or summer time. There are many attractions and entertainments in Vilnius. You may fly in an air ballon above the whole city, or you may take a lesson about making a chocolate and make your own hand made sweets. You may visit a beer brewery and follow the beer manufacturing technology or you may have a walk by the vault cellars. There are great museums, art galleries, exhibitions and about 65 churches in Vilnius.
There is a quite high education level in Lithuania - Vilnius has good universities, Musician Academy and Art Academy. The oldest and largest is Vilnius University - established in 1579. It situated in old town and has about 23 000 students.
Vilnius is a green city and covered by green areas - parks, gardens, natural reserves etc. There are many beautiful lakes around where people can have a rest and have a good time - swim, make a picnic with barbeque or just relax.
I would like to share with you some pics, I've took myself from one of a skyscraper, which you could see in a pic above.
If you don't decide where to go for vacation, I would recommend you to visit Lithuania.
There are a lot of unforgettable places here in my homeland.
Follow my blogs and I will tell you more.
If you are interested, you may visit my Part 1 blog about Lithuania here:
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@ilonalt/welcome-to-lithuania-part-1
Welcome to Vilnius!
I'm sure, you will have amazing time.
Have a beutiful day,
Ilona