The old town of Vilnius is one of the largest surviving medieval centres in Eastern Europe, and its mix of styles, Gothic, Renaissance and above all Baroque, is delightful. The city lies at the meeting of the Neris and Vilnia rivers, and legend says that the grand duke Gediminas dreamed of an iron wolf howling on a hill, and was told to build a city on the spot in the early fourteenth century. Whatever the truth, Vilnius became the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a huge state that once stretched from the Baltic nearly to the Black Sea, and later a centre of Jewish learning so great that it was called the Jerusalem of the North.
The old town has more than a thousand historic buildings, and some forty churches, among them the Gothic church of Saint Anne, a marvel of red brick, which, according to legend, impressed Napoleon so much that he wished to carry it back to Paris in the palm of his hand. The University of Vilnius, founded in 1579, has courtyards and arcades you can wander through, and the Gate of Dawn, with its chapel and a revered icon of the Virgin, is a site of pilgrimage for Catholics and Orthodox alike. UNESCO listed the historic centre in 1994.
The Užupis district, across the river, is a bohemian quarter that declared itself a republic on 1 April 1997, with its own constitution displayed on a wall in many languages, and artists and cafes fill the lanes. Nearby, the hill of Gediminas, with its tower, gives a view across the red roofs and church spires, and the whole old town is a labyrinth of cobbled lanes and small squares.
For a rider, the old town is for walking. Many streets are cobbled and slippery in the rain, some are closed to traffic, and parking is limited, so park outside the centre and go in on foot. Fuel stations are everywhere around the city, which has over half a million people. The roads leading out are easy and flat, with forest, lakes and farmland, and the ride goes to Kernavė, the ancient capital of the early Lithuanian state, on the Neris river, a landscape of mounds and old hillforts. Try cepelinai, large potato dumplings filled with meat, or cold beetroot soup in summer, with a glass of kvass.