Today I go to the castle at last and it was worth every bit of the effort.
Cool start to the day. It was cloudy warm in the sun but cool wind blowing. I
caught a bus to Trakai which was about 40 minute ride and then a 30 minute
along the road up a narrow peninsula to the bridge to a small island with an
attractive castle on it.
As the bus arrived in the little town I could see beautiful lake views on both
sides of the road. Sometimes even little islands. Beside the bus station was
the local market. This was pretty basic with a couple of meat stalls and about
six stalls selling flowing plants in pots. There were several clothing stalls,
a couple 'everything' tables. One man had a table with a dozen small tools. A
lady was selling a few bunches of lettuce by weight. Not the most attractive
set up for a market and I have seen much more photogenic ones than this.
So I headed off down the road towards the island. A call into the little town
tourist office got me a flyer of the 10 places to see and a small map.
There were a couple of supermarkets- not very large- a bank and a few small
stores spread along the road. Essentially the peninsula has one road running
along it of any consequence. There is one Catholic and and an Orthodox church
which I did not call in at. I did call in at a cafe which turned out to be a
chocolate shop and asked for hot chocolate. And it was just that. Hot chocolate
just thing enough to run but very thick and rich. I had a slice of cake but I
avoided all the chocolate ones. The slice was weighed as was the cup as they
added the hot chocolate. It was a bit too rich and thick for me.
Besides the castle, Trakai is special because it is the traditional home of one
of Lithuanian's smallest ethnic groups.The Karaites arrived in the 14th century
(from the Crimea) and have apparently preserved their traditions ever since.
There is a small temple beside the road. They speak the Turic language and
religiously are a mixture of the Old Testament with some Islamic aspects added
in. They have their own food culture and I made sure to at least try a kybyn
(aka kibinai) before I left. This is like a Cornish pasty and my one was
stuffed with minced pork. I also drank gira which was sweet and a bit like a
local coca cola. I took a photo both arriving at my table.
Along the road are houses or the Karaites. They are wooden and lengthwise to the
road. The road frontage has three windows. There are not a lot of them left in
Lithuania. Of the 250 or so in total, about 60 still live in Trakai.
Well I reached the bridge across the lake to the first island, from which the
next bridge to the castle went from.
I must say that the first view of the castle out in the lake was really special.
It looked some picturesque and rather stunning just sitting there surrounded by
the lake. Along the peninsula shoreline were row boats for hire.
I headed out across the bridges and arrived at the castle. Now I did know that
it had been in ruins by the beginning of the 20th century, but since then, and
mainly since WW2 it has been restored. It is possible I think to work ot where
the the ruins end and the restoration begins. Stones change to bricks was my
guess. However, the red brick looks really good and bright in the sunlight.
Inside the castle was the ticket office. Eight Litas for a senior plus 4 LT for
photography and video, which I thought was reasonable.
There were lots of school groups but not enough to make the place feel crowded.
They also moved around quite quickly. They kept arriving as earlier groups were
leaving. Some were quite small children but all pretty well behaved.
Inside the main gate and I came into a large courtyard. There were walls and
high buildings around it. Then there was the drawbridge and defended gate
leading into the main castle courtyard. Around it the rectangular building rose
four stories with a higher gate tower.
Many of the rooms had museum like displays in the history of the castle and the
region. There were lots of old coins, weapons and armour. There was a display
of the castle in ruins and the restoration. One room showed some displays on
the Karaite Culture.
In the outer courtyard the double story building had more general historic
displays. Furniture and dinner sets and porcelain ornaments. Some were very
impressive. Some portrayed unexpected and somewhat bizarre relationships
between women and angles, a swan and other women. One room was full of
historical pipes – the sort you smoke tobacco in. At first I just glanced at
them but then I began to spy all sorts of tiny pipes with figurines on them. I
took some photos of these. I decided that this was in fact interesting as I
didn't know anything about pipes.
Two rooms had some very impressive paintings unlike anything I had seen before.
Painted to display the grief of a king on the death of his wife the serieis of
large canvases are called the Black Paintings. I ended up taking lots of photos
here, often close ups of detail from sections of the whole.
I spent about four hours at the and it was a really pleasant day out. I even
walked right around the outside and that was very pleasant with not only good
views of the castle and its walls, but also out across the lake. I enjoyed the
groups of reeds or rushes along the shore line too. Out on the lake a couple of
launches took passengers for cruises and three or four yachts were doing the
same for smaller groups.
Standing on the peninsula and looking across the lake at the island was a
beautiful sight. See the photo. Lots of areas long grass with lots dandelions
flowering in it – quite picturesque.
Up on one castle wall I spied a couple protrusions which could only be the
outside of the castles original long drop toilets. For today's visitors there
are more than adequate modern toilet facilities.
I headed off to catch the 1740 bus and found that it was an Euroline bus. Very
comfortable and 8o centas less than my morning trip.
Back in Vilnius I called into the supermarket and wandered around to get yogurt
and water. I also spied some possible meal ideas for my next town.
As I wandered back along the road and under gate bridge chapel with the famous
painting, I again noticed how many people paused to genuflect towards it or to
get down on their knees in the street to play and cross themselves. I read that
there was a regular flow of pilgrims coming to worship in front of the painting.
Back in my room I spent just too much time trying to get onto the Internet. Very
frustrating.
I move on tomorrow -about a three hour bus ride, I will stay in another
guesthouse run by the people who run this one in Vilnius. I hope that their wi
fi works better. I notice that this system is wifi b were as at home we use a
faster 'g' and the next faster generation is arriving in the latest equipment.
I have also worked out that Vilnius is best said as "Will- no" or
"Vill-no".
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