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Christmas in Lithuania

And a day trip to Estonia!

Vilnius can be described is 5 points

  1. Walkable

  2. Good food

  3. Great markets

  4. Cute cafes

  5. Deadend to vegetarians

I would definitely download the Bolt taxi app since it works the best in the country and is very cheap and easy to use. Vilnius is an excellent Christmas city, superbly walkable and filled with lovely people. The main Christmas tree and market have been awarded as the best in Europe! They also close one of the roads on the shopping street for the evenings, so you can enjoy spending your evenings with plenty of space. For someone from the Nordics, this is key.

Vilnius doesn’t have many large chain hotels and I would recommend booking your stay with a lovely local anyway! We got lucky and stayed within a ten-minute walk away from the city centre and spent most of our days wandering around there.

On our first day, we visited a castle called Trakai 23 km outside Vilnius. Due to time restrictions, we took a Bolt ride (18 euros) there which took just under half an hour. Entry to the castle itself costs eight euros. We got lucky and had a Christmas parade attending at the same time as us! The castle is 800 years old and has a beautiful collection of old artefacts. The Santas added to our holiday spirit and it was lovely to enjoy some hot wine in the freezing air.

I found the Museum of Illusions on Google before the trip and instantly knew that we had to visit. We were not disappointed! Also, the gift shop in the lobby did not disappoint at all. I would highly recommend going, you are allowed to touch and play with all the displays and it’s a brilliant way to spend a couple of hours. Who doesn’t love to learn new when you have fun while doing it? Just tell me how I pulled off some of these photos.

Besides the main Christmas market, there’s another one at the city hall where you can enjoy hot wine in these adorable glass domes. They also sell some Christmas ornaments and cakes. The whole city is brilliantly lit up and, I felt, enjoyed the best in the dark.

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Like I mentioned, there are so many cute cafes. The unicorn one (in the cover photo) is near the city hall, on one of the side streets. I met up with a former colleague from Vietnam and she introduced me to this place. Adorable inside out.

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We also found another cafe just across the street from the museum of Illusions on the main street. The outside was covered by huge candy canes and the inside was filled with yummy food. Apparently, both of these are owned by the same person, though they are very different from each other. They also actively change according to the season so I’m sure they won’t disappoint outside the Christmas season either and seem to always go all out on their decorations.

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The day after we got home from Lithuania, I visited Estonia with my nephew. Since I so rarely write about places I know so well and visit actively, I figured I should show some places in Tallinn worth mentioning. Of course, you must visit the old town. My nephew showed me a vegan chocolate shop on the side street behind the main cathedral which I had never even been to! Even my meat-eating boyfriend said that the chocolate was particularly excellent.

We also visited the north-west harbour were the walls are filled with beautiful murals and there are tasty retro restaurants.

And not to mention, the old town Christmas market, in my opinion, is one of the best in Europe and the Estonian prices make great justice for quality.

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Thanks and Happy year 2020!

Mira

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