Lithuania – today the most westerly of the Baltic trio that includes Estonia and Latvia, but in the past the capital of the medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which united with Poland in 1569, until it was incorporated into Russia in the late 18th century.  Medieval Lithuania was for a time one of the largest states of Central Europe, extending southeast from today’s Lithuania, controlling what are now parts of Poland, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, and played a decisive part in defeating Mongol invaders in the 15th Century.

Independent in 1918 after the collapse of the Russian empire, occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, then by Germany until the Soviets returned and stayed between 1944 and 1991, Lithuania is independent again. Vilnius missed out on independence in 1918 however, as it was claimed by the also newly re-independent Poland. After back and forth between Lithuanian, Polish and Soviet forces it was annexed by Poland in 1922, remaining under Polish control until the Soviets occupied Poland in 1939. The Lithuanian government was able to regain control of the city for a brief time until 1940 in exchange for Soviet military basing in the country.

Apart from some medieval remnants, Vilnius has a mix of Polish renaissance and baroque architecture, a lot of functional 19th century Russian buildings that give a typical Eastern European feel, balanced out by Baltic German buildings and of course postwar Communist brutalist concrete.

There is a cathedral center next to the remnants of the original fortified city, highlighted by the 15th-century hilltop Gediminas Castle Tower. The Kalnu park just east of the tower is good for a stroll overlooking the Neris River.

Like many former Soviet Bloc countries, Lithuania experienced the heavy hand of Soviet totalitarian oppression, and have converted the former KGB building into the Genocide Museum, at Auku 2A (immediately south of the City Courthouse at Gedimino 40). It’s a grim experience, but then so was being stuck behind the Iron Curtain.

Rather like the House of Terror in Budapest and the KGB Building in Riga, personnel record photos of the KGB staff – both Russian and local hires – were located post-independence and are displayed. I would not want to be interrogated by some of the characters who worked here. Lithuania had a partisan resistance movement based in its extensive forests, that ran from 1944 to about 1953 and which was eventually crushed, and so there was armed rebellion for some time. The museum also explains the role of Lithuanians in supporting the Nazi occupation and genocide between 1940 and 1944.

Of course, any fascist police state needs its finance department. You can just imagine the budget discussions and complaints from the Interrogation Division about how the bean counters are always getting in the way.

And because, whether it is GE, McKinsey or the KGB, people always come first, so your supportive HR team is here to help. These guys look like the more cooperative type.

What surprised me was that inmates at the much feared Vorkuta prison camp – part of the Gulag Archipelago described by Solzhenitsyn where many Lithuanians were deported to – got to send Christmas cards back home. The Northern Lights and the reindeer are a nice touch and the camps by 1955 might have been relatively liberal compared to the 1930s, but still quite rough and likely to wreck your health assuming you were ever able to leave. Lithuania experienced two major waves of deportations to the Soviet Union, in 1940 and then post-World War Two.

If this isn’t enough to absorb, you are reminded that Vilnius was one of the largest Eastern European Jewish communities (around 55,000) before WW2, with Lithuania having a significant Jewish population. Reminders of the Vilnius ghetto are placed at some of it’s entrances.

The Holocaust Exposition on Pamėnkalnio 12 is worth visiting, which records much of the Jewish community’s pre-war life as well as documentation of the genocide carried out once the area was occupied in 1941.

After that, a walk in the snow is a good idea. Some other places worth a look include:

Lithuanian Art Museum, Didžioji 4 – mainly regional art and a neat 19th century photographic exhibition.

National Museum, Arsenalo 1.

Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Katedros 4.

Logistics. I stayed at the Shakespeare B&B on Bernadinu Street, close to the city center which was a comfortable and low-key place.  The main culinary range is traditional Lithuanian through to more modern Baltic/Scandinavian-style places, along with traditional Eastern bloc favorites such as Georgian. A few recommendations are:

Etno Dvaras, Pilies 16 – a local chain that hits all the high points for Lithuanian cooking. Not elaborate but a good menu and reasonable prices.

Busi Trecias, Totoriu 18 – traditional pub restaurant that brews its own beer.

Lokys, Stikliu 10 – higher end new Lithuanian.

Aline Leiciai, Stikliu 4, – another casual local place.

A few places that are good for trying Lithuanian microbrews:

Alaus Biblioteka, Traku 4 – good range of taps and bottles and a lighter space. Staff are very helpful on the local recommendations. As ever in the Baltics, there is interesting craft beer with neat labels.

Bambalyne, Stikliu 7 – basement retreat with a good bottle selection.

The airport is a 10-minute cab or uber ride; and the railway station is about a 15-minute walk, located on the south side of the old town. You can buy your tickets on the train, so don’t need to mess around at ticket offices; just get on board.