The most beautiful places in Lithuania

A castle erected above a lake, guarded by ducks and wrapped by legends, Trakai is one of those fabulous places that seems to have come out of a fairy tale.

Trakai is actually a small town situated between two lakes in the middle of the picturesque historical national park of Trakai. It is a favorite vacation spot for Lithuanians and all tourists who have decided to visit charming Lithuania.

​The distance between Vilnius and Trakai is 28 km, which we took quickly for 30 minutes by bus, and for the most part we traveled on wide roads passing among forests. Lithuania is very green. Trakai can also be easily reached by train.

Trakai is a wonderful resort town. On the way from the station to the hotel there were many colorful houses, with no more than two floors. The sidewalk winded along Lake Galve, famous for having 21 islands on it, and I liked the walk along it very much. There were also many casually parked boats along the way, which seemed to be waiting for a coiled rower to catch them. However, I continued on foot, and on the way we stopped at a supermarket to buy water with the sonorous name Neptune.

Hotel Apvalaus Stalo Klubas was smaller than I expected, but it was strategically located – right in front of the castle itself, from which the lake and a wooden bridge separated us. The brick castle captivated me even before I reached it. Its beautiful facade like Narcissa was constantly looking around in the water.

Trakai Castle is located on a small island of the same name, and according to guidebooks they called it “Little Maryentburg”. This aroused my curiosity to later check where the “big” or original Marienburg Castle is located. It turned out that there is a similar huge brick castle, covering an entire island in Poland, near the town of Malbork, 63 km from Gdańsk. In Poland, our program was quite busy and we missed this well-preserved treasure,  It was built in 1406 and has preserved the championship as the largest brick castle in the world.

Now I had to settle for his runner-up – the Trakai Castle, beautifully located in Lake Galve and connected to the mainland by a wooden bridge along which ducks swam, quite different from the Bulgarian ones. There were also pure black ones, with a few blue feathers – they were especially beautiful against the background of the castle.

The entrance to the castle was 14 LTL (7.93 leva), and inside there are many halls, accessible by climbing various winding and ordinary stairs, but what I liked most is that we could take pictures everywhere. Outside it started to drizzle slightly, and I quickly slipped into the castle, whose brick walls were surprisingly warm.

​The construction of the castle itself was started in the 14th century by Grand Duke Kestutis, and the castle was completely built by his son Vytautas in 1409, who died here in 1430.

I was mostly impressed by the architecture of the castle, as well as the interesting collection in the museum. There was a hall with a lot of money from different eras, different stamps, books and many accessories from distant times, when they made the products to the smallest detail.

​On the way out of the castle it had stopped drizzling and I managed to take a walk around the castle and its neighboring islands (reachable on foot). Then I returned to the hotel where my room had a castle view and I waited to see if it would be lit up at night. Unfortunately, my wait was not successful. In the dark, they had lit lights on the bridge, but not on the island with the castle, which was completely hidden in the darkness. However, the same accompanied me in the dream, wondering how festive the castle looked during the July festival, when it hosts knightly games and various concerts.

I woke up early in the morning – not by a clock, but by a birdsong. It was a wonderful awakening, especially after I opened the window and I saw the beautiful reflection of the castle in the lake. I enjoyed the beautiful landscape during breakfast, then headed to the bus station and from there another 30 minutes to Vilnius.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT LITHUANIA:

Location: The Republic of Lithuania is located in Northeastern Europe. It is the largest of the three Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia). It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland to the south, the Baltic Sea to the northwest and Russia to the southwest.