Trakai - Lithuania

Trakai is the old Lithuanian capital first designated in the 1320's by a fellow by the name of Gediminas. It has two castles built to fend off the German knights. Today it is a small town in an attractive lakeside country area of numerous lakes and islands and is probably the most popular day trip from Vilnius being only about 30 kilometres west of the city on the way to Poland. Most of the town stands on a 2 kilometre long north south tongue of land between two lakes ... Luka and Totoriskiu (spelling?) if I remember correctly. A third lake, lake Galve opens out from the north end of the peninsula and is the lake on which the island Castle was built. You can see the general layout of the area from the picture of the map I posted above.


The castle on the peninsula is a ruins and we did not have time to visit it. The other is on an island reachable by foot bridges linked to the shoreline. The island castle is painstakingly restored and dates from about 1400. It is a beautiful red brick structure in the Gothic style. It has a cavernous central courtyard and a range of galleries, halls and rooms some of which house The Trakai Castle Museum. I understand that concerts and play are held in the courtyard in the summer. None for my trip unfortunately.


I actually enjoyed the walk up the peninsula from where we parked which is dotted with old wooden board and batten style cottages many of them built by Karaites who were brought up from Crimea in the 1400's to provide protection for the King. Apparently there are still Karaites living on the peninsula and I took a picture of a picture of them ( I didn't see any in person ) ... look for the picture of three darker skinned individuals dressed in traditional garments. It is a picture of a picture but shows the dress quite well. There are a number of traditional foods in the area from the Karaites the names of which I forgot There is a picture below of one of the dishes we ordered. A bit salty but absolutely delicious. It was filled with lamb but you can order them with a number of different meat fillings.


Enjoy


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