• Experience healing salt treatments in the oldest spa town in Lithuania
• Visit Lenin and Stalin in the Soviet statue park in Grûtas

Take the back roads, for an interesting drive back in time, from Kaunas to Vilnius and stop by Druskininkai, the oldest and most famous spa town in Lithuania.  During the time when Poland controlled the southern part of the country, the Poles discovered the healing qualities of the salty water in the area and hence the name Druskininkai, druska meaning salt in Lithuanian.  You can experience salt treatments or queue up with many others to receive your cup of special healing salt water.
Just outside Druskininkai is the tiny village of Grûtas which is the site of the recently created Soviet sculpture park called Grûtas Parkas, jokingly referred to as “Stalin World”.  After Lithuanie gained independence, they removed and collected all these Soviet statues.  In 1999, a local entrepreneur acquired all 75 of them and turned his 200 hectares of land into this highly contentious park.  The sculptures, which include among them Lenin and Stalin, are arranged on either side of a wooden path, intended to represent a Siberian concentration camp, complete with watchtowers and barbed wire fences!  You can even enjoy a meal in the restaurant where waiters are dressed up as `Young Pioneers’.