Are you palming on a trip to Lithuania? Kaunas?

        

Are you planing on a trip to Kaunas? If so, have you made up your mind on what you are going to see and visit? Don’t limit yourself with just an old map and some info form wiki. I know the secrets of Kaunas old town. Let my be your guide.

What I offer? Well if you are short on time, or you aren’t a big fan of long tours, basic tour around old town is what you might be looking for. This tour lasts for less than an hour and includes five, in my opinion the most important objects: Kaunas castle, Cathedral, City hall, House of Perkūnas and Vytautas’ the Great church.
             For most people this tour is too short so I offer to choose these objects in addition (or at least some of them) : St. Mikolaj church with monastery, St. Georg's church, Historical Presidential Palace. All these object are placed very close to each other. Other objects can include tour as details usually are arenged personaly.

How much do I charge? It’s free, tips accepted. This type of tourism is popular in Europe’s leading cities. This is great way to create a better atmosphere between guide and tourists. Any sum of money is good.

Choose "Sights in Kaunas old town" or "Other sights in Kaunas" to see the description of most interesting sights.

Tipping ethics in Lithuania, Do’s and Don’ts

        Tipping is relatively new trend in Lithuania that was brought by tourists only in late 90’s. However some basic rules of tipping have already formed and this article is going to teach you all you need to know.
Bars and restaurants

        In restaurant 5 – 15 % is considered to be usual. However 5 % is the standard and in some cases the 5 % tip will already be included in your bill when you receive it, so before tipping you can check your bill just to know if the tips have already been counted.
        If you are going to a pub or a bar where you pay per every drink directly to the barman you don’t need to tip him directly, look for a tips box somewhere around bar and throw your tips there, some barmen won’t even take your tip if you give it to them directly, however because you are a tourist you are expected to make mistakes and the barman won’t mind.  It goes the same when buying a drink in the night clubs. Exception might be expensive, luxury bars where you do tip the barman by the western standard, when you give tips to the barman directly.

Hotel 


        The more expensive hotel you are staying at - the more tourists form western World there are. And if the majority of tourists are form Western world you tip according to western rules, what means that you should tip almost everyone.
        If you are staying at a cheaper mid-class hotel, there are no standard rules because of variety of people visit Lithuania. Just think on your own and don’t worry if you missed someone its ok and no one will get angry at you for not tipping, some visitors from eastern countries that often visit Lithuania don’t tip at all and it’s considered to be ok.

Theaters, Cinemas


        You don’t tip anyone there. Tipping cloakroom attendant is a mistake and could even be taken as an offence. This counts to all cloakroom attendants where ever you end up.

Taxi 


One usually doesn’t tip cab drivers.

  Lithuanians have their own tipping ethics, however because various tourists visit Lithuania with different views on tipping, tourists aren’t expected to act in any specific way. Most people in Lithuanian tourism business are very tolerant when it comes to tipping mistakes. The only exception might be unnecessary tipping that could be taken as an offence in Lithuania, so if you aren’t sure not tipping at all might be a good option.

Less known sights in Kaunas old town

          I have been working as a personal tour guide in Kaunas for a while now and I noticed that some sights are overrated by tourists because they are well promoted on internet, while others that aren’t promoted on the web usually are completely forgotten. I will try to change it a little, so here I give you a list of interesting sights that tourists don’t know about in Kaunas. I will be updating it regularly. Check the map down the page to see the location of each sight (interactive version coming soon).

          1. Kaunas old town wall and tower. This is the wall that officially separates old town from rest of the city. It was built during medieval to protect the city from foes.

           2. Church of St. Gertrude. Built in XVth century this gothic church is hidden in the least place you would expect. It is almost completely surrounded by administrative buildings and is very hard to notice if you don’t know where to look. Actually someone tried to hide this church. During the soviet occupation Christian church propagated independence ideas between Christians. This was a threat to soviet regime and encouraged soviet government to fight the religion. This church was chosen to be demolished step by step. At first, soviets planned to build a complex of administrative houses completely surrounding the church making it impossible to function. So that when the time comes it could be demolished without causing a huge fuss. However this plan failed. After the construction of administrative houses began, unexpected large protest occurred, stopping the workers. Soviets managed to complete three out of four administrative building around the church, but failed to surround it completely and prevent it from functioning and spreading independence ideas. Nodaway this church is a symbol of independence for many Lithuanians.

          3. Pope John Paul II memorial, memorizing his visit to Lithuania, Kaunas in 1993. Located behind St George church, near Kaunas castle this sights is surprisingly often missed by tourists.

          4. The house where Napoleon stayed after his army crossed Nemunas River starting war with Russia in 24th of June 1812.

Map (interactive coming soon) (click on  photo to extend it)