Vilnius: Castles and Current Affairs

This is my last post about Lithuania. I promise. But I had to write about Trakai Castle. It's on an island and was the home of Vytautus the Great who was part of a family that was apparently trying to reenact a Greek tragedy in real life. However, he successfully navigated the familial power plays and became the Grand Duke of Lithuania a little before the beginning of the 15th century. While Vytautus was in power Lithuania became the largest country in Europe, stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.

To get to Vytautus' castle you have to walk almost a mile from the train station all along the lake. While walking along this picture-perfect path I realized that Lithuania is basically just the backdrop to a fairytale (see pictures below). Whether it's a a fairytale of the Grimm Brothers or the Disney variety is up for debate. But really the whole country is mostly just lakes and valleys and cobblestone streets and red roofs. And a sprinkling of brutal concrete buildings from Soviet times - that was definitely the Grimm Brothers part of the fairytale.


These are just my amateur photos if you want to see how well professionals can capture Lithuania, click here.

Not only does Lithuania have interesting ancient history but it is important to modern times also. Lithuania was the first republic to declare independence from the Soviet Union and it is currently on the front lines of an increasingly aggressive Russia, standing between NATO and the EU on one side and an expansionist modern dictator on the other.

Also it's a surprisingly easy place to vacation. It has some of the fastest internet in the country, wi-fi in almost every cafe and restaurant, lots of options for people with dietary restriction, punctual and easy public transportation, low crime rates, and amazing English among Lithuanians 40 or under. I cannot say the same for almost any of the places we went on a recent Mediterranean trip to cities in Spain, France, and Italy. And no I'm not getting paid by the tourism board of Lithuania.

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