A visit to Vilnius Lithuania

Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn

Next up on my trip was completion of my Baltic states last year I made it to Latvia and now I was finishing what I started.  I arrived at Vilnius airport and took the local bus to the hotel, which was actually a van and it cost one euro. The hotel is located right across from the Old Town entrance, after checking in to my hotel I walked over to old town.  The entrance into old town is through the City Gate known as the Gate of Dawn. I noticed as I entered the town so many people stopped, looked back at Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn and bless themselves. The painting is visible through the window, in the chapel above.  The painting is of Northern Renaissance style and was completed around 1630. The artwork soon became known as miraculous and inspired a following. A chapel was built in 1671 and Pope John Paul II visited it in 1993.

I walked around the old town and looked for a place to eat and after dinner I explored some more. There were so many colorful buildings to look at as I strolled the old town before I went back to my hotel for the night, the Vilinus City Gate hotel

Gate of  Dawn Entrance

the Gate of Dawn

Church of St Casimir

Russian Orthodox Church of  St Nicolas

It was a beautiful morning and after a nice breakfast buffet I set off to do some exploring. I headed through Old town and to Cathedral Square. The Cathedral of St Stanislav and St Vladislav is the most important place of worship for Lithuania's Catholics and venue of national festivities.  

Cathedral Basilica

The Clock Tower

Inside Cathedral Basilica

Monument to Gediminas the Grand Duke of Lithuania

Palace of  Grand Dukes of Lithuania