If one should visit at least one place in Vilnius and its surroundings, it would be definitely Trakai. It is an ancient county town in southeastern Lithuania, located about 28 km west of Vilnius. One of the most important monuments in Lithuania, Trakai Water Castle, is located here. That's the one we're going to visit today.
The Trakai Castle
Getting up is pretty cool. After a hearty breakfast, we take the trolleybus to the main station, where our train to Trakai leaves before 9:30. We have bought our tickets through the LTG Link website. The price for one person was 2,4 Euro. As expected, the Lithuanian version of the City Elephant awaits us on the platform. Although the units have been running here for a few years, the interior still shines with newness. Probably good maintenance. The ride took 33 minutes and we get off right at the lake.
Luka Lake
The station is located quite far from the city centre, and even further from the castle. The town lies on a pseudo peninsula surrounded by two lakes, Luka and Totoriškiu. At the tip of the peninsula there is only a road that divides the two lakes, so it is not a full peninsula, although it looks like one on the map. The castle is on a separate island at the very tip of the peninsula. We slowly make our way to it along the lakeshore and one of the bike paths. Along the way, we come across a Maxima shop and debut alcohol in the form of beer with great aplomb. We save this precious item until we reach the castle, where we use it to enhance our view of the lake.
Totoriškiu Lake
The Trakai Castle
The Trakai Castle
From the castle, we plan to return to the station on the other side of the peninsula, but first we will go to the local stylish restaurant Traky kibinai, where we will enjoy chicken broth, traditional stuffed Kybyn pockets, vegetable salad and wash it all down with kvass. Otherwise, due to the fact that this is a well-known tourist spot, there are quite a number of eating establishments here, unlike Vilnius.
Trakai
Trakai
Trakai - Lunch
So we walk back along the other bank. In places there is an insane amount of mosquitoes, so we get stung. We buy a snack and some vodka in Maxima just in case and walk back to the station. We arrive in Vilnius at 4 pm.
At the hostel we go back to the train station at 9 pm to meet Mark, who is joining us from today. We immediately go to celebrate his arrival at the Peronas bar, which is right next to the station. The former freight platform has been transformed into a bar, so you can enjoy a beer on its platform overlooking the main station's rail traffic. They have several brands of beer on offer. In the end, though, you always get the same thing. Because in real life, they only have one. The price is an inhuman 5 euros a pint. A typical price in the Baltics. We sit until about midnight and then we go to our accommodation. A bus that didn't stop where we expected it to and missed us. The next one came all the way from the city centre, so we had to walk at the end. After some time of waiting, the bus arrived packed like a Japanese subway and it took a lot of effort to squeeze in. I don't know if a concert ended or what was going on, but we came across two more stops on the way, overflowing with people. We got home around one in the morning. Tomorrow we leave Vilnius and go to visit the Hill of Crosses in Šiauliai.
Vilnius - Peronas Bar
Useful links:
Aplikace trafi
House of Sun
Lithuanian Railways
Accommodation around Vilnius
Accommodation around Trakai
