July 6: Trakai Castle and Lake Galve; a sheep farm; Vilnius

Another exciting day in Lithuania, and our next to last one.  We have one more day, tomorrow, to explore Vilnius before we disperse to the four winds.  I, however, am flying not to the US, but to Frankfurt and thence to Paris (Charles de Gaulle Airport) to spend 5 days with my friend Paula Woolfolk and her family there.  But let me not get ahead of myself, as I tell you what our adventures led us to see today.  

Focusing on Lithuania’s 1000-year old history, we traveled by bus to historic Trakai Castle.  Trakai was the capital of Lithuania in the Middle Ages.  The castle was constructed in 1406 under Grand Duke Vytautas, and is situated in the middle of Lake Galve, with spectacular views of the lake.  

The city of Trakai is 25 km west of Vilnius and once rivaled Vilnius as a hub of political and military power.  The castle is a romantic cluster of red brick watchtowers and squat round turrets topped with spindly weathercocks grouped around a central keep.  The place was a ruin until 1962, when the Lithuanian government decided to rebuild the castle as it must have looked in Vytautas the Great’s time.  It was a display of national pride to which Moscow turned a blind eye.  Two wooden footbridges lead across the water to the castle, now home to a museum which interweaves the castle’s history—scale models of the castle in its various stages of development, medieval weaponry, traditional local dress, medieval castle life, and hunting paraphernalia.  

Fascinating place!  After the tour, we had quite a bit of free time, and Elaine and I walked all around the castle keep in a brisk wind and took photos which later posted well on Facebook.  Later we entered several stores along the way to the carpark of the place, and there Elaine bought a bell mobile with a bird and a cat refrigerator magnet, while I bought a ceramic Christmas ornament for Alexandra, made by a local craftsman.  After that we drove back into Vilnius, and everyone was on his/her own for lunch.  Elaine and I had lunch at Pomodoro, where we had a thin-crust, superb pizza with ham and mushrooms, and we split a dessert which resembled a vanilla milkshake, had two cigarettes russes and whipped cream on the top, and was quite delicious.  Afterwards and before going on with the day’s program, we entered Douglas Parfumerie, where I bought an umbrella as well as some Miss Dior roll-on fragrance.  

Our next foray (7 people did not join us on this one), was to go to a goat farm outside of Vilnius, where the proprietor regaled us with numerous samples of goat cheese infused with various ingredients, herbs, and spices.  These were served with water, hot tea or hot coffee, followed by a liqueur made of vodka (45% , so strong!) and herbs.  A swallow or two of the liqueur sent me reeling, as I am not used to its taste, and the heat down my throat was rather intense.  She then took us to where her 600 goats grazed, explained the farm’s modus operandi to us, and introduced us to her peacocks, hens and roosters, three large dogs, four horses, one sheep, and two Shetland ponies.  Get a load of all this wonderful managerie, including a stork on its nest, on Facebook today!

Upon return from the farm, we hastily regathered after 15 minutes to do an introductory walk to Old Town, easily done because the street in front of our hotel had “pedestrian only” status (as it is a weekend).  I will describe all sites tomorrow after we are officially introduced to them tomorrow by our city guide for Vilnius.  Upon return from that walk, we had a buffet dinner, and now I am finishing the blog for today.  Hope you are enjoying tidbits of life in Vilnius, Lithuania today.  Take care!  As ever, Sylvia