Iron Maiden

Vilnius, Lithuania.  A Vision Most Splendid

After our wet day trekking round Vilnius it was nice to see a bit of sun; especially so as we had planned a day trip by local bus to see the Trakai Island Castle.   The bus station is quite some distance from the area’s main feature – 25 minutes walking at least – but it was a nice day and the walk through the village very attractive with autumnal colours beginning to reveal themselves.  The area itself is a lake district with forested islands dotting a deep (and sailable) Lake Galvè. 

(Image from this Tour Group site)  Sadly, the weather was not that good for us!

Dry moat separates the main
palace from an outer courtyard

Trakai Castle, whose footprint almost consumes one of these tiny islands, dates from 1337.  Built during the reign of Vytautas the Great as a seat of power for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, its strategic importance only waned after the crushing defeat of the Teutonic Knights in 1410.  This battle is said to be one of the greatest battles of Medieval Europe.  The rise of a substantially rebuilt Vilnius (its wooden castle was burned down in 1390) also added to the decline of Trakai’s military and political importance.  Having said that, the Island Castle remained a favoured summer residential palace hosting visiting dignitaries and many a grand celebration.   Trakai Castle was destroyed by the Cossacks in 1655 and it wasn’t until the 1950’s that restoration works began.  Given Lithuania’s tumultuous history, it’s hardly surprising that work wasn’t completed until 1987.  The result could only be described as a "vision most splendid". 

Circular defence towers have 4m thick bases

Castle Outer Courtyard.  Getting ready for a concert

Kingly Thrones

Grand Ducal Hall

Stunning Tapestry - not a lot of information in the Museum was in English
so sadly few details on exhibits were available to us...

Inner courtyard, Ducal Palace
(30m keep towering overhead)

The Palace now hosts the History Museum.  Parts of these building are 30m high and navigating the museum requires no fear of heights as open wooden stairs cling, seemingly precariously, to courtyard walls while internal spiral staircases plunge to castle depths, challenging the claustrophobic.  Avoiding tourists in large groups in tiny rooms became the game of the day and attracted the ire of custodians whose main job was to keep traffic moving one-way.  We felt as if we’d morphed real-time into an Escher lithograph of never-ending stairs.

In order to sustain ourselves for all this activity (stair climbing mostly) we stuffed ourselves with tasty homemade snacks, kibinai; a Trakai pasty might best describe it.  We wished we’d bought a few more as they were rather delicious but our grannie had sold out so we were forced to supplement our feasting with punnets of freshly picked blueberries instead.

The tiny village of timber cottages across from the island castle is home to ancestors of Judaic Karaim settlers.  Actually these ancestors were Vytautas’ captives who served in his household as royal guards.  Their Turkic ancestry is preserved and maintained in their customs and traditions. 

Karaim Houses in the Village