We left off in the last post at Vilnius Castle. And I never even showed you pictures of some of the beautiful buildings and sites in the Old Town ... so here are a few miscellaneous pictures.
[I can't even always decide what to describe or which of the hundreds of pictures I take to include - if anyone has any comments, requests, or recommendations about what you would like to see, please let me know!]
At 2pm, we met the bus by the cathedral to head on our tour to Trakai. Trakai is a small town in Lithuania, just under 30 km from Vilnius. The area is beautiful, with about 50 lakes (of various sizes) in the area. There are lots of outdoor activities like fishing, hiking, and boating, and the town is a popular place to spend a day, a vacation, or even to live year-round.
We visited Trakai Island Castle, which is the more famous of two castles in the area. It was built in the 14th century by Grand Duke Kestuitis of Lithuania, and is built of red brick in a Gothic style. We heard from our guide that much of the castle was damaged in the 17th century Northern Wars, and that it was abandoned until the 20th century. The restoration was a major undertaking, begun by the Soviets after WWII. Some of the original features were able to be preserved. We say, for example, walls where some of the bricks were original and filled in with newer bricks to complete the wall.
It was kind of a madhouse while we were there, tourists as well as people setting up for some filming that is/was going on. But it was still quite fascinating.
**Note the display table - there was a period of time when it was the fashion to imbed coins or metals into household and decorative items. There were so many of these displayed, so I am showing just one case.
Here is the best view of the castle entrance I managed, along with some pictures of the lake and trees ( you know I can't resist nature!).
Next came our traditional Lithuanian dinner. Unfortunately, I hadn't realized how low my phone battery had gotten, so only have pictures of the restaurant and the first and second courses (the Lithuanian version of antipasti and cepelinai (a potato dumpling stuffed with ground meat). The main course was a stuffed chicken dish and desert was an apple cake with ice cream.
It was a long, full day, and I'm going to end this post now. Tomorrow we drive the 400km to Riga, with a few stops along the way. Stay tuned!
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