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Prague & Lithuania

Two snowy days in Prague in January 2016, then three nights in Lithuania in May 2018: Vilnius, the island castle at Trakai, and Kaunas.

Prague in the snow

We booked easyJet to Prague on 23 December 2015 and flew out in the middle of January. Snow lay everywhere we went. Our photos cover two days, 17 and 18 January. On the first we walked from Wenceslas Square into the Old Town and stayed out after dark. On the second, with snow falling, we went up the tower at the Old Town end of Charles Bridge, then crossed the bridge at dusk.

  1. Wenceslas Square17 Jan 2016easyJet to Prague
  2. Old Town Square17–18 Jan
  3. Charles BridgeBridge tower · 18 Jan
Meenu and Praddy in the snow on Wenceslas Square, with the National Museum at the far end
Meenu in a white knitted hat beside market stalls lit up at dusk under snowy roofsThe twin spires of the Týn Church floodlit against the night sky
City
Prague
Days
17–18 Jan 2016
Getting there
easyJet
Snow
On the ground both days

Wenceslas Square and the Old Town

We started on Wenceslas Square. Snow covered the gardens down the middle of the square and capped the round clipped bushes, and the National Museum's dome closed off the far end. We took turns posing in the snow, Meenu in a white knitted hat and a black-and-white checked coat.

As the light went, we walked into the Old Town. Market stalls glowed under a row of snowy roofs, and a baroque church shone gold against the deep blue sky. By the time we reached Old Town Square it was dark. Meenu stood under the astronomical clock on the Old Town Hall, and across the square the Týn Church's spires were floodlit against the night.

We came back the next day as snow fell. The square was busy, and the Týn Church's spires stood dark against a pale sky.

Charles Bridge under snow, seen from its Old Town tower, crossing the Vltava toward Prague Castle on the hill
The two of us on snowy Charles Bridge at dusk beside a statue, with Prague Castle lit across the riverPrague Castle lit up at night above the arches and lamps of Charles Bridge, reflected in the river
City
Prague
Day
18 Jan 2016
Lookout
The Old Town bridge tower

Charles Bridge

From Old Town Square we went up the tower at the Old Town end of Charles Bridge. Snow was still falling. Below us the bridge ran straight across the Vltava, busy with people, toward the snowy roofs of the Lesser Town and Prague Castle on its hill. On the other side of the tower we looked over a green copper dome, church towers and the white roofs of the Old Town. Meenu leaned out over the railing with the bridge far below.

Back down, we walked out onto the bridge as dusk fell. Snow lay along the stone parapets, the statues stood dark against the sky, and across the river the castle lit up. We stopped for photos with it behind us.

We'd seen the castle lit the night before too, from the Old Town side of the river, high above the lamps and arches of Charles Bridge.

Three nights in Lithuania

At the end of May 2018 we had three nights in Lithuania, two in Vilnius and one in Kaunas. We'd booked both stays on Booking.com in March. In between, we spent an evening at Trakai, where a red-brick castle stands on an island in the lake. On the 29th we flew to Edinburgh.

  1. VilniusOld Town Trio · 26–28 May 2018
  2. TrakaiIsland castle · 27 May
  3. KaunasAlgiro Hotel · 28–29 May
Vilnius Cathedral's white bell tower beside the cathedral's floodlit columns under a deep blue sky
The Town Hall's columns lit gold on Town Hall Square at dusk, with the moon above and St Casimir's dome to the leftThe Gediminas monument at dusk, with the moon sitting on the tip of his outstretched sword
Stayed
26–28 May 2018 · 2 nights
Stay
Old Town Trio Apartments
Booked
Booking.com, March 2018

Vilnius

We had two nights in Vilnius, at Old Town Trio Apartments. On our first evening we walked through the old town as the sun went down. We passed a pink baroque church with a tall bell tower, and St Casimir's, with a crown on top of its dome. On Town Hall Square the Town Hall's columns were lit gold, and the moon was already up in the blue sky.

We kept walking as it got dark, past Orthodox churches and lit archways, to a baroque gateway at the end of a street with the moon above it.

The next night, back from Trakai, we went to Cathedral Square. The cathedral's white bell tower stands on its own beside the church, and as the sky turned deep blue the cathedral's columns glowed gold. Beside the cathedral stands a monument to Gediminas, and the moon sat right on the tip of his sword. Gediminas Tower stood on its green hill above the square. Meenu posted the bell tower on Instagram.

Trakai's red-brick island castle and its pointed towers across the blue water of the lake
Meenu and Praddy behind big white letters spelling TRAKAI, with a red heart, on the grass under the treesA yellow wooden house with three windows facing the street, and more wooden houses beyond, one painted green
Visited
27 May 2018 · evening
From
Vilnius
On the lake
A boat with a red canopy

Trakai

On our second evening we went out to Trakai. Under the trees, big white letters spelled TRAKAI beside a red heart, and we posed behind them. Along the street stood wooden houses painted yellow and green. The yellow one had three windows facing the road.

Then we took a boat out on the lake, under a red canopy. From the water we could see the red-brick castle on its island, with its pointed towers and red roofs reflected in the lake. On the far shore, a white manor house with a pillared front stood above a terrace wall.

Back on land we crossed a wooden footbridge and sat out on a deck by the water, with the castle across the lake in the evening sun.

Meenu and Praddy on a low wall in front of Kaunas Castle's round red-brick tower at sunset
The red-brick Church of Vytautas the Great lit up on the riverbank at night, beside the red bridgeA drone in flight beside the floodlit white tower of Kaunas Town Hall
Stayed
28–29 May 2018 · 1 night
Hotel
Algiro Hotel
Flew out
29 May, to Edinburgh

Kaunas

Our last night was in Kaunas, at the Algiro Hotel. That evening we went to Kaunas Castle, a round red-brick tower with a pointed roof. A wooden footbridge on stilts leads across the grass toward it. We sat on a low wall in front of the castle while the sky turned pink, and stayed until the castle was a silhouette against the orange afterglow.

Near the castle, a giant mural of an old man in round glasses covers the side of a building above a car park. A red-brick Gothic church glowed in the dusk.

In Town Hall Square the tall white Town Hall was floodlit as night fell. Down by the river the moon hung over a red bridge, and the red-brick Church of Vytautas the Great was lit up on the bank beside it.

From our bookings and photos

  • January can mean snow. Prague had snow on the ground on both our days in 2016, and more fell on the second. The squares, the parapets of Charles Bridge and the roofs were all white.
  • The bridge tower gives you both views. From the top of the tower at the Old Town end of Charles Bridge, we looked straight down the bridge to the castle, then back over the roofs and domes of the Old Town.
  • Late May evenings are long. At Trakai the sun was still strong at half past seven, and over Vilnius the sky only turned deep blue after ten.

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