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Vilnius
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"Narrow cobblestone streets and an orgy of Baroque: almost like a Jesuit city somewhere in the middle of Latin America," wrote the author Czeslcaw Milosz of prewar
VILNIUS
. Soviet-era satellite suburbs aside, it's a description which still rings true today, though the city Milosz knew was, in many ways, a different one to modern Vilnius. Between the wars Vilnius, known as
Wilno
, belonged to Poland and was inhabited mainly by Poles and Jews, who played such a prominent role in the city's life that it was known as the "Northern Jerusalem". Though now firmly part of Lithuania, Vilnius is still a cosmopolitan place - around twenty percent of its population is Polish and another twenty percent is Russian - though with just 578,600 inhabitants it has an almost village-like atmosphere, making it an easy place to get to know. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Lithuania,
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