LITHUANIA - Trakai

For an excursion from Vilnius and a ride on a Lithuanian train, I have today paid a visit to the town of Trakai.

The trains in Lithuania are not over frequent so you do have to plan your trip but it is just a 30 minute ride from Vilnius and the cost was only €1.80 each way. The train was a nice modern electric double decker. Lithuanian railways being built to the Russian track gauge and loading gauge (holes in the bridges), which are both considerably bigger than in the  UK, means the train appears to be massive.

The reason that I and many others have come to Trakai is to see the castle. The town is built on the shore and islands of a series of lakes and the castle is on one of those islands. Now lets be honest - an overcast January day with an icy breeze blowing across the lakes is not necessarily the best time to visit. But having seen all the tourist infrastructure here, I would bet that being here in high summer with hordes of people is not going to be great either! This is one of Lithuania's most visited sites.

The railway station is at one end of the town and a little way out from the action but there is a path that follows the lake shore that will take you to the heart of things in about half an hour.

The architecture here is distinctly Scandinavian in style.

The castle is a red brick, reconstruction of one built around 1400 and the inside is a museum housing things you would expect - armour and weapons - and things you wouldn't - Meissen, Sevres and Wedgewood porcelain. All in all a very nice if chilly day.