NORTHERN COUNTRY TOUR - TRAKAI - Lithuania

Here is a map of the whole tour and how it started.

On our way from Vilnius to Warsow in Poland, we stopped in Trakai still in Lithuania It was an absolutely lovely place, with its red-brick, fairy-tale castle, quaint wooden houses and pretty lakeside location. Fortunately we stopped there for a couple of hours and not only a short moment.

Trakai is a popular tourist destination and the administrative centre of the district municipality. The town covers 497.1 square kilometres (191.9 square miles) of area and, according to estimates, is inhabited by 5,357 people. A notable feature of Trakai is that the town was built and preserved by people of different nationalities. Historically, communities of Karaims, Tatars, Lithuanians, Russians, Jews and Poles lived here.

As I had never heard of a community called Karaims, I googled and found out that they are an ethnic group derived from Turkic-speaking adherents of Karaite Judaism in Central and Eastern Europe.

The main attraction of course was the Trakai Island Castle a 14th-century fortress in the middle of Lake Galvė. Once a home to Lithuania’s grand dukes, it now houses the Trakai History Museum, with archaeological objects, coins and crafts. On the lake’s southern shore are the stone ruins of the Trakai Peninsula Castle.

We had not even a moment to go over to the castle but could see it very well from our restaurant on the beach !



The view on the lake and the castle behind



A huge garden behind the  restaurant



and a nice terrace with view on the sea




We walked around and enjoyed the beauty of the beach and the garden



to the beach promenade



Our bus waiting







for rent, to pedal on the lake



Decorations





For children to play



and when we drove away I could see the lovely houses of Trakai.

It's a pity that it isn't not yet so well known by Western Europe countries. Except some German tourists.

One moment in time I would have loved to stay, but we had to leave for Warsow





Linking to Five Minute Friday (Moment)