So yesterday I took the bus from Vilnius...
This was a regular Lithuanian bus not a special tour. They use these mini-buses to get around to a lot of local places, and also have a whole fleet of private buses in Vilnius that go on the same routes as the City buses -- it's an odd system. There are City buses, Private company large buses, and these mini-vans as buses. But anyway, this was the bus to Trakai. Takes around 30 minutes from Vilnius bus station.
First thing I found was a lovely flower market happening in the bus station grounds...
Then I started walking to the Castle. It is not an easy sight to see if you don't like to walk. From the bus "station" it is around 2 km to the castle. The info center where you can get a free tourist map is .5 km down the road. Luckily there is just one main road and several places along it there is this map to show you where you are...
Oh did I mention the castle is on an island?
Along the way I saw a lot of people's boats tied up. Some are in areas for rent, others just I guess belong to whomever lives nearby...
People had lovely gardens...
and even larger yards for vegetable growing...
My first stop was to try some of the local Karaim cuisine...
The Karaims (also called Karaites) are an odd sect of Jews with Muslim and Turkic ties that got settled in Trakai long ago. Everyone said "you have to try their national food" which turned out to be pretty close to an empanada (delicious none the less)...
From the menu...
So with renewed energy I forged on to the castle...
Forded rivers...
Escaped wild animals...
And came upon the Castle...
I think the post card photographers had better cameras! But it was a very pleasant day. I walked the 2 km back to the bus station and made it back to Vilnius in the afternoon with just a bit more sunburn than I had wanted (even with a hat on and Factor 50 sunscreen).
HERE is more info about the castle.
Just like we learned in Babylon 5 - every civilization has their version of spoo (Swedish meatballs) ... every culture has their version of a meat pie.
ReplyDeleteYup! Heading back to London now for a few more of theirs too!
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