Margis Trakai

Trakai consists of a small town on the edge of a lake. In the middle of the lake is a castle on an island. It is all stunningly beautiful - clear lake water, ducks, swans, rowing boats, blue sky, brick-red castle, green reeds, moorhens bobbing about and wooden bridges between the islands.

We parked in the garden belonging to a local woman, who made a little extra money by allowing cars to park for a fraction of the price of the parking meters. A short walk ...

... and extra bits built on as the owners neeeded them. Each one is unique and colourful, like being transported into fairy land. The house we stayed in had a central staircase, running up and down like the trunk of a tree. Each half turn there was a floor, so you had to use the stairs to get from the front of the house to the back and vice versa. It was all rather lovely.

We decided to go to the ...

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My phrase book/dictionary for Eastern Europe does not include Lithuania nor my next several countries. Trips with a broad geographic scope have the added complexities of language, currency and guidebooks (one needs basic info at a minimum and in depth books are out of the question. I have a Lonely Planet for Eastern Europe and one for Spain. This will cover a bunch of places but not all and not in any depth for secondary cities).

... Mediterranean one, I noticed with a delight that all lakes, all I saw along the way, that is, were frozen solid. I couldn't recall that ever before in my life I had seen a frozen lake. And now, around Trakai, I couldn't see one that was not. Well, that's what I call a real winter. It was not a long ride to the town. Trakai itself is divided in two parts - old and new one. New Trakai is a multi-ethnic settlement, Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, with a population of about 7,000 that ...

... hub. But Kernavė was the one that skimmed local glory. According to some sources, in 1253 a certain Mindaugas, who for the first time unified entire Lithuania, was crowned the king there. According to other sources, if fewer in number, that same Mindaugas never even came close to Kernavė, so there is not as much as a whiff of him in them. But by and large, Mindaugas or no Mindaugas, there was enough of it for the UNESCO to list ...

... on which book you consult). Some of the hardest things for Lithuanians to deal with are the tenses because in Lithuanian there are only four tenses to learn and use. The other major problem is the use of articles "the" or "a/an". They often come out with statements like "I want to buy car from the Russia". After a while, you catch yourself immitating their style. So I am just plodding along and I will see how it goes. Until next time, oh loyal reader.

... by Lithuanians from World War II up until the end of the Soviet rule last decade. Sad to think that such a beautiful place has such a dark history, and so recently that kids of our generation were growing up with the possibilty of having their parents randomly disappear if they associated with the wrong people or expressed the 'wrong' views in public. It also suddenly made sense to us why we had seen so many elderly women on the streets ...

... century by the king. They were brought from the Crimea to be used as guards. They are still there and have a restaurant so I thought I'd give it a try. Stuffed peppers, tomatoes and eggplants and a goulash type soup. Very good! Wandered around a bit more of town and the Karaite area before heading back to the bus station. Not my lucky bus day today, had to stand most of the long way back. Once back in Vilnius I headed for the old town again. Finally decided to go for it and ...

... really couldn't complain... We met some really cool people at the hostel: Jamie, another Englishman, we re-met up with Patrick, an Aussie boy that we met in Helsinki and there was also a huge group of Italian, Spanish and Germans so I practiced my language skills...at least I made a valiant effort of it... The first day, Sam and I wandered around Vilnius, in the blistering cold...we ...

... they are likely to die out as an ethnic group within a generation..... Trakai has a cool castle out on an island and two humungous lakes so had a nice time walking about and chilling out. Haven't transferred my photos yet but will do tomorrow hopefully. Am off to bed in a bit, just been for dinner at this pizza place and had a lovely pizza and a beer for the grand total of 17 litas ...