Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania , with a population of some , people. It was the country's capital between the two world wars. The best time to visit Kaunas is May to August. Winter is icy, bitter cold, and the days are short. Nevertheless, it can be a good time to visit, because the city is well-adapted to the cold. The streets get snow-plowed and the transport keeps running. Museums and similar facilities remain open.
Buildings are well-heated, with cloakrooms and other storage for all your clobber. You'll need ten mins to shuck off your layers of clothing every time you enter a building, and ten minutes to wrap up again before you venture out, but this is all part of the winter routine. It's companionable, everyone feels in league together against the winter, and it's as much a part of experiencing the country as church incense, vodka and potatoes.
And outside you can lark about with sledges and snowmen. Choose carefully who you snowball — the locals have far greater skills than you have. The It's open M-F , Sa Su ; see also the online tourist guide. The city grew up in an obvious strategic position, at the confluence of the country's two main rivers. There's been settlement here for at least years but what we now call the Old Town dates from the 14th century when the castle was built.
Kaunas prospered as part of the Hanseatic League into the 16th century. Medieval Lithuania had united with Poland to control a huge swathe of Europe, right down to the Black Sea, but Sweden and Russia grew and fought for regional control, and in the 17th and 18th centuries they attacked and wrecked Kaunas several times. Russia won the power struggle and took over Lithuania in , while Poland was carved up between Russia, Prussia and Austria. The Grand Army of Napoleon marched through Kaunas to occupy Moscow in , and then retreated, and devastated the city both times.
It had all been too easy to invade, and there were ominous local uprisings, so in the 19th century, Russia tightened its grip by building up the local garrison. This culminated in the colossal military complex of "Fortress Kaunas" encircling the city; but it proved of limited value in 20th-century warfare, and nowadays only the "Ninth Fort" of ten is standing.
