A Dutch editor, her father and a bowl of pink soup: Metro’s verdict on Vilnius

Metro editor Sophie Rietmulder took her father to Vilnius, expecting a relaxed city break. She found a capital that doesn’t feel like one: compact, unhurried and surprisingly good at dinner. Their conclusion was that they would be back.

The Dutch news outlet Metro gave Vilnius a place in its travel pages. The father and daughter travel by a simple formula: see and learn something by day, then eat and drink at length. Vilnius, just a two-hour flight away, suited it well. The Old Town is small enough to explore on foot, and Sophie describes a European capital with an almost village-like calm. Their tour guide even recommended a small bar, Who Hit John, for a drink among locals.

Food was the biggest surprise. The Pink Soup lives up to its fame: the colour is fun, and the taste is just as good. Even locals are said to disagree on whether the potatoes belong beside the soup or in it. At the other end of the scale, the Michelin-starred Nineteen18 serves a tasting menu of Lithuanian seasons without any stiffness.

Two stops stood out between meals. A candle workshop in the vaulted cellars of the Old Town let them compose their own scent, a souvenir Sophie finds far more personal than a fridge magnet. Lukiškės Prison 2.0, which after 115 years as a prison is now home to about 250 artists and makers, also hosted part of the filming of the fourth season of Stranger Things. The father and daughter did not need long to agree that they would return.