For its architecture alone, Kaunas deserves to be much better known: an afternoon's drive could take in the medieval Gothic House of Perkunas, the ornate cathedral and the city's iconic castle. Buildings like the Vytautas the Great War Museum may look like the film set of a spy thriller, but the city's history is real enough, and it's hard not to be moved by the monuments to Lithuania's fight for independence over the centuries. In comparison, the peaceful man-made lake, Kauno Marios, feels a world away, and its evergreen woodlands are easy to reach by car.