Another day, another city tour. But truly, they are very fun and educational. Ieva is fabulous and knows so much about all the countries we are visiting. She also has great stories about her childhood in the Soviet times, and her mom working as a tour guide. It’s just a great mix of history, knowledge and personal memories.

The first stop today is the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. It took 15 years to complete, only 8 years to build, but then 8 more years to decorate. Once inside, you can definitely see why. Not only is it ornate and beautiful and all white stucco and done by hand, there are also over 2,000 Baroque statues in here – and no two are identical. Yep, that took a long time!

Moving from chapel to chapel, we get the quick overview of each room. St. Peter with his keys and book, St. Paul with his sword and book. St. Peter’s boat. The women’s chapel where all the statues depict how the women died: in a tower, in a carriage accident, from torture, having her teeth pulled out (St. Appolonia, the patron saint of dentists) and of course Mary Magdalene.

The man who built the church, named Pac, was in the military. With a lot of money (obviously), he had the church designed with military themed sculpture as well as bible mythology and every day life. Pac is buried under front stairs under a tombstone that says here lies a sinner. He specifically requested this because he wanted everyone to walk over him to enter the church a sinner and be cleansed with religion.  

Back in the bus, we circle back down to the old town, driving past Guidimino Hill with the defense towers and fortress.

Then it is onto the Cathedral Square where we begin our walking tour by exploring the cathedral which is now a museum, being given back to the people of the town in 1989.

We get a rest stop at a little cafe where we can sample coffee and treats, then into the old town for a stroll to the Offices of the President, all decked out in Ukrainian colors – even the flowers! – and on past the bell tower of St. John’s church with the interesting statue placed in an intersection.

We continue on past the gothic style St. Anne’s church, which is stunningly beautiful and so completely different than the rest of the architecture here. As you can see from the photos, we are captivated.

Circling back through town we reach the Ausros Vartai, The Gates of Dawn, a 16th century gate leading into the entrance to the chapel of Mary the Mother of Mercy. No pictures allowed inside, but we do get some good shots outside looking back.

And then we are done for the day. So we strike off on our own for lunch at a restaurant we scoped out during our little coffee break: Katpedele, with a slogan of “Challenge your tongue.” Ok – we’re in. We finally got to try Cepelinai, which are potato dumplings stuffed with meat (or bacon according to Ieva who has been telling us about them!). And this great bigos type soup, full of sauerkraut in a bread bowl (yum!), as well as pork schnitzel. Which is all far too much, but oh so good.

After a visit to the medieval looking stone restroom with the sign on the wall that said Please don’t throw paper in the toilet or the dragon will come out (we couldn’t resist pictures)…

…we are ready for our 2 Km walk back to the hotel. After that huge meal? We need to walk it off. And it’s a beautiful day, with beautiful sights along the way….

….then it is back to the hotel to get ready for our afternoon Trakai Castle tour.