Trips for Mature Travelers

I recently posted about our trip to Paris in 2019 when we got engaged! (see the post here). I mentioned that we also tacked on a visit to Lithuania, the country of my husband’s heritage. He had always wanted to travel there, and we were too close to pass it by.

This was not nearly as exciting for me as Paris, but still pretty cool. Here are some highlights and tips if you ever have the opportunity to go.

Unlike Paris, where we stayed centrally located and essentially walked everywhere, if you want to visit Lithuania, you’ll need a car. There are things to see, but they’re fairly far apart from one another. Get a good GPS too, because we made some mistakes for sure (thinking there was a bridge to get back, and driving accidentally into Russia, for example).

The first night we found a place fairly near the airport with cabins. How cool! We were following a guy for a LONG time to get to ours, but it was worth it. My husband loved it.

Kaunas

We got into Kaunas the next day kind of late, and FYI, the restaurants close a lot earlier than in the US. We were expecting to have dinner at our hotel, but they only had these bar snacks.

When we would try to go into a restaurant, they were like, “Kitchen Closed!” So I will admit that it wasn’t a great first impression of the Lithuanian people. I honestly don’t think they get a lot of tourists, unlike Paris, so I guess you can understand! Anyway, we ended up eating at the only place apparently open- McDonalds!

We go halfway around the world to eat chicken nuggets, seriously?

The city of Kaunas is pretty interesting with this medieval castle. They have these old castles set up as museums so you can learn about the history. It was interesting learning about the families who occupied the castles, and trying on hats!

I’ve mentioned that we always try to balance touristy activities with calmer activities (for me). Definitely do this so you aren’t constantly running around and burning yourself out (see my post on tips for mature travelers).

Along these lines, we found the coolest spa called Natura, that had several pools, saunas and steam rooms. They even give you the suggested time to spend in each room. This is my kind of spa, similar to the World Spa we visited for my birthday one year in Brooklyn, NY. Incredible!

Amber is a big thing in Lithuania, and this spa even had an amber sauna, and sold amber jewelry.

The spa had the most amazing restaurant, with the hugest portions I’ve ever seen. I mean, check out this charcuterie! Apparently they are also known for this special spicy cherry juice (“Cherry Carolina”), that the waiter seemed very proud of, and then tried to talk us out of ordering!

Places to Stop When Traveling Between Cities

Hill of Crosses. This is a somewhat famous monument, so my husband drove pretty far out of his way just to see it, and I went to the hotel pool 😂

Stop in the larger towns, like Klaipeda, and walk around the cute cobblestone streets to get the historic town vibe.

This statue was in the town square. Not sure who he is, but it was a fun little stop.

Churches. If you do stop in smaller towns, make sure you enter at least one church. I am not usually this impressed with architecture, but OMG these churches are gorgeous!

The Baltic Sea. We took a ferry to the other side of the country (it’s honestly not that far to drive around it!), so we could see the shore line, and at least say we’d seen it! Beautiful.

More Castles!

Lithuania has more than 800 castles, and it’s worth seeing at least a few if you can. This beautiful Trakai Castle is only about half an hour from Vilnius and is incredible with this long and elegant bridge.

Vilnius

The capital and largest city was a great stop toward the end of our trip. We even met up with my husband’s cousin who was living there at the time, and she was a great tour guide of the city.

She suggested this incredible underground restaurant and wine bar.

Food!

If you didn’t grow up Eastern European (like me), or really understand the flavors, then authentic Lithuanian food could be questionable for you. I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania, with a heavy Polish population (my children are even part Polish) so I thought I’d be okay with potato pancakes, but they were way too greasy. And the cepelinai (zeppelins), yuck. It’s the national dish of Lithuania, so my husband had to try it. But the combination of potatoes, liver and fried dough just isn’t for me.

My favorite part of the food experience in this country was actually the breakfast buffets (and that amazing meal at the spa). They do offer various types of fish (for breakfast?) and farmer’s cheese, which I don’t exactly love.

But these buffets are so extensive you can find plenty of options, and everything is so fresh.

We are going to try a Lithuanian Christmas Eve this year, something my husband and daughters should love! Stay tuned for a post about this sometime after Christmas!

If you’ve been to Lithuania and have stories or highlights, I’d love to hear them!!