Vytautas Hill

When you come to Birštonas, be sure to climb Vytautas Hill. After tackling the 40-metre slope by the steps, you can catch your breath on a well-kept platform. From there a wonderful panorama opens up over the town of Birštonas and the bend of the Nemunas. The view is lovely in every season, which is why climbing Vytautas Hill has become a ritual for visitors to Birštonas. It's also the favourite spot in the whole resort for selfie-takers and painters alike. Vytautas Hill is one of the best-known and highest hillforts in Lithuania. A wooden castle stood here, protecting the Duchy of Trakai from attacks by the Teutonic Knights. The castle was first mentioned by chroniclers in 1382, but its history goes back much further. Archaeological finds at the foot of the hill show there was a settlement here from around the middle of the 1st millennium to the early 15th century. The castle was attacked more than once but never conquered. It was surrounded by deep, spring-fed ravines, a treacherous bog, a rampart and fortified outer baileys. And if you believe the legend, an army was hidden inside the hill, ready to defend the duke. In 1401 the castle became the hunting manor of Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania, regularly visited by nobles from Lithuania and abroad. Interestingly, there were actually no animals in the Žvėrinčius forest, so before a hunt the Trakai Tatars would drive them in from the surrounding forests. In 1473 Casimir Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, took refuge here from a plague epidemic. After the Battle of Grunwald, where the Teutonic Knights were crushed, the castle lost its defensive importance and fell into ruin by the 17th century. When Birštonas became a resort in the late 19th century, the hillfort turned into a place for romantic walks. Sadly, not all of its stories are pretty: in the interwar period a well-known priest is suspected of hanging his lover on the hill, although the court never proved his guilt. The 1984 film "Devyni nuopuolio ratai" ("Nine Circles of the Fall") is based on this story. The hill can only be climbed by the steps.