Here we are in Druskininkai at the start of week six. Any further south and we’d be in Belarus, as the border is literally just a few minutes’ drive south of here. Even as we were heading out of Vilnius this morning, the signs for Minsk started to appear; but, as is so often the case, we have neither the time nor the visas to go in that direction.
We’re not a million miles from Poland now, either. In fact, Poland lies just 55 km west of here; another country in which I haven’t yet set foot. We had hoped to drive back across Poland and Germany at the end of this trip, but we realised a couple of weeks ago that time constraints aren’t going to allow us to make a land crossing of that length. Poland will live to grace my itinerary another year.
Instead, we’re going to work our way back to Klaipėda and catch the ferry back to Kiel in Germany, precisely the reverse of our outbound journey. That’s a few days away yet, though, so we’re going to get to see a couple more places in Lithuania that otherwise wouldn’t have been along the route.
Speaking of routes, today’s saw us detour via Trakai.
Trakai has immediately earned itself a place on our list of highlights of this trip. Its castle, the Trakų salos pilis (Trakai Island Castle), could hardly be more picturesque. Its setting on an island in Lake Galvė is the stuff of picture postcards and chocolate boxes, which so often surpass the real thing.
Today, though, couldn’t have been more idyllic. Another heavenly sunny day, a perfect 25°C with blue skies stretching to the horizon, broken only by a few wispy clouds, seeking to render an immaculately photogenic scene all the more interesting by introducing a tiny, serene hint of imperfection.
I forgot one detail: the mobs of tourists. Sure enough, we’re not the only people who appreciate the kind of scene that makes poets and watercolour artists sigh and reach for their pens. And it was Sunday, so the effect was the square of what it would have been on a weekday. Most of the people are day-tripping residents from Vilnius, getting out of the city at the weekend, but there are Poles, Germans and other nationalities in smaller numbers, too.
Luckily, we arrived relatively early, at about 11:15, and beat most of the crowds. We even managed to drive straight into a parking spot, which later on becomes no mean feat; believe me.
The castle was pretty good inside, but the exhibits couldn’t compare to the view of the castle itself. However, I particularly enjoyed the collection of tobacco pipes on display.
Trakai is more than just its castle, though. The town also has a Karaim community, a small Turkic-speaking religious and ethnic group that has its origins in Crimea. There are only a few hundred of them left now, but this town is one of their strongholds. Their kenesa (place of worship) is located on the town’s main street, at Karaimų gatvé 30. There’s also an ethnographic centre, but we didn’t have time to visit it.
Much hoopla is made of the Karaim character of Trakai. One element of this is the food, with restaurants all along the river’s edge serving up kibinai, which are rather like small Cornish pasties. It’s very much de rigeur to have them for lunch, so we put our best ovine foot forward and ordered a batch of them at Kibininė, which is supposedly the place to eat them. They didn’t disappoint.
After lunch, we went around Lake Galvė on a pedalo, which Eloïse got a real kick out of. I had her sit on my lap, which gave her enough extra leg length to do some of the pedalling. I was surprised just how much fun it was to water-bike around the castle.
Finally, once we were back on land, we had a quick wander through the town to look at the colourful houses that line both sides of Karaimų gatvé.
We still had a couple of hours’ worth of driving ahead of us, so we returned to the car and sped on to Druskininkai.
Druskininkai is a nineteenth century spa resort. We haven’t had a chance for a good look around yet, but the main attraction these days isn’t the town itself or taking the (probably foul-tasting) waters; it’s the Aqva Park. There are also many spa centres, including several Soviet-era dinosaur sanatoriums, where one can order up a chocolate massage and other odd pastimes.
As for us, we’re hitting the water park first thing after breakfast tomorrow, as entry is included in the price of our hotel accommodation.
Dinner this evening deserves a mention, too. It was courtesy of Sicilia, a local pizzeria. Not only was the pizza very good, the dessert was especially delicious. Highly recommended.