Darbas:
stood here. There are some ruined (but partially restored) buildings and parts of the defensive walls are still standing. Pretty much at the highest point on the hill is Gediminas Tower.This octagonal building was once one of the defensive towers of the upper castle but much of what can be seen today (the top two storeys at least) is a 20th century reconstruction. The tower now contains a small museum with some swords, suits of armour and, best of all, scale models showing the two castles and the Cathedral at various points throughout their history. It's worth paying to get into the tower though purely for the view you get from the top (there' s an observation platform on the roof); you can see all of Vilnius from here.
From the Cathedral Square Vilnius' Old Town stretches out to the south. It' s the largest preserved Old Town in Eastern Europe and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. As well it's impressive size, the range and quality of buildings here is amazing,
To get a good general idea of the size and layout of the Old Town first take a walk down its main artery; from the Cathedral Square this is the road that is initially called Piles gatve.Piles gatve is mostly pedestrianised and lined with numerous foreign embassies and market stalls selling anything from amber and "art" to Soviet military memorabilia.
Heading up this road from the Cathedral the first thing of note that you'll pass is the collection of buildings that is Vilnius University. Visitors from Britain will need to allow for a few minutes of getting over the shock of realising that students here actually study, as opposed to sitting around on their arses all day, smoking roll-ups, watching Richard and Judy or the Tellytubbies, whilst moaning about how hard life is as a student. They also study real, proper academic subjects here instead of such bollocks as drama, media studies, Dr Who and whatever else you can waste your time studying in the UK ("Golf Course Management", anybody?). If you take time to explore the University (which was founded in 1579) you'll find a fine collection of buildings encompassing several hundred year's worth of different architectural styles. Of particular interest is St Johns Church founded over 600 years ago but much-altered (literally! Inside you'll find 10 altars. How's that for "more jokes" , Em?!) and renovated during that time, and which for some reason has a bell tower that is not attached to the rest of the Church. Also worth visiting are the University Library, and the Astronomical Observatory. One thing you won' t find in Vilnius University are shoddily-dressed,
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