The Wandering Chocoholic

Today started off promising, with rain in the morning that appeared to cool things down a bit. Alas, it was an illusion, as the day ended up hot and sticky as ever. But, no matter: I got up, enjoyed a nice breakfast of homemade French Toast, and packed my swimsuit and sunscreen and headed off to the bus station.

My destination for the day was the small town of Trakai, about a 45-minute bus or train ride outside Vilnius. Home to several castles including the iconic, picturesque castle on an island, Trakai is also on a large lake and is a popular summer destination for locals looking to beat the heat.

I arrived in Trakai around noon and made the half-hour walk from the bus station up towards the castle. Along the way, I passed a number of churches, shops, and then walked by the lake to see people swimming, paddleboating and rowing. It was still hot and sticky out, but the lake breeze was nice.

There’s a local sect of people called Karaites, who are ostensibly a Turkic group with origins that date back centuries whose religion and traditions appear, at least to me, to be essentially Jewish. I remember learning about the Khazars in high school, a sect in Eastern Europe who modelled themselves after Judaism, but I thought they’d disappeared so I’m really not too clear on the history. The Karaites have a prayer house called a “Kenesset” (i.e. beit ha’knesset) and they have their own names for Jewish holidays such as Passover, the ethnographic museum has religious articles including prayer books written in Hebrew, kippot, and so forth. The local restaurants in Trakai all serve Karaite specialty food, such as Kibinai pastries filled with meat (or, in my case, spinach and cheese). And one busker was playing Israeli folk tunes on the walk to the lake, though that may have been just a coincidence. I’d have to read up more to understand the history, since the information in the small museum was all written in Lithuanian. If anyone knows more about them, feel free to fill me in.

After a leisurely lunch of Kibinai and beer overlooking the lake, I walked up to the castle for the obligatory photo stop. It’s much nicer from afar; up close, it’s pretty much just the courtyard and halls. I didn’t feel like paying for a guided tour, so I just wandered around the parklands around the castle for a bit and snapped some photos.

I headed back along the water in the hottest part of the afternoon. What else was there to do but go jump in a lake? So, that’s exactly what I did. I had a really refreshing swim, and chatted a bit with an older Lithuanian couple who only spoke about 10 words of English. Since I’m only up to about 5 words of Lithuanian, it made for a bit of a stilted conversation, but they were nice enough to watch my stuff while I swam (always a challenge during solo travel). Under ordinary circumstances I might’ve been wary of doing that, but it was just so hot that I couldn’t resist — anyway, I figure getting robbed twice in one week is unlikely, right?

I spent the rest of the afternoon just meandering through Trakai’s streets, taking in the atmosphere. There are a lot of summer concerts played in the castle’s courtyard, and I passed by what must have been the music conservatory because the sounds of various instruments rehearsing wafted through the windows. I also found a chocolaterie (yes, I know, you’re shocked) and stopped off for a coffee and a couple of chocolate truffles.

On the way back, I opted for the train instead of the bus, because a Swedish guy at my hostel had informed me it was air conditioned. It wasn’t. In fact, it was so hot on the train that I had sweat pouring down my forehead sitting completely still. At least the bus’s windows opened. Lesson learned: Going with the bus from now on.

I got back to Vilnius around dinnertime and headed back to the hostel for a much-needed shower and change. After that, I was about to start the usual ask-around to get dinner plans together, but Lina informed us that she was having a backyard BBQ and we were all invited. As it turns out, it’s her birthday today. So she invited a whole bunch of her friends, as well as her kids and all the guests at the hostel. They set up the barbecue and we grilled obscene amounts of food, drink and good conversation. I love impromptu things like that, and it was really great getting to spend time talking to locals instead of just other backpackers.

So, another really great day in Lithuania. If only this damn heat wave would break.