Trakai

Hello all!

Well I'm back in London now. Had a fantastic last day in Lithuania before I headed back though!

Last night Heather and I went to a local traditional restaurant together for dinner. We tried a Lithuanian speciality called Cepelinai. These are dumplings made of potato with meat inside, topped with sour cream and bacon. They were nice but very rich and heavy! We also had some potato pancakes and I had cherry beer. 

On the way back there was a candlelight protest in the town hall square. I asked someone what it was about and apparently it was about abortion, the candles were in the shape of a baby in a womb. I went to bed fairly early and was lucky enough to have the hostel room to myself again. Not bad for €10 for the night hey!!!

This morning I met Heather at our meeting place and we got some groceries then headed to the bus station. We paid our €1,80 each and got the half an hour bus to Trakai, a town to the west of Vilnius. Trakai is famous for its beautiful castle surrounded by lakes and has the highest concentration of lakes in Lithuania!

We arrived and walked the half hour to the castle, stopping along the way to admire the lakes, the beautiful trees and the reflections everything made in the water. The castle was so lovely! So we took a lot of photos. We then walked over to the actual castle and tried hard not to slip over on the frost that was on the bridges. It was -3 when I woke this morning! 

We went inside the castle and explored. There wasn't too much about the history but from what I can understand the castle appeared in the 1300-1400s period and over time became dilapidated. From the early 1900s a plan was formulated to restore it and it now looks wonderful. Very picturesque and on a lovely little island in the middle of the lake. The only downer was the extremely rude Russian school group going through the same time as us who kept bumping into us and not apologising, and not letting us pass when we said excuse me. So we rolled our eyes and pushed past haha. 

After the castle we enjoyed a delicious lunch in a quaint cafe opposite the castle. The kind old man inside sat us right by the window with a view of the castle and immediately brought us our hot vegetable soup and pork filled pastry. I also had quince tea which was delicious (I think that's what he called it?)! We walked back to the bus station and headed back to Vilnius.

By this time it was about 1pm so we had enough time to do something else before I had to leave to the airport. So we decided to go to the KGB Museum. It was a 40 minute walk from the bus station, and on the way by chance we passed the only remaining synagogue in Vilnius - the Choraline Synagogue. We went inside the KGB building and the ground and first level were exhibitions, while the basement was the former prison and execution area used by the soviets and then the nazis. 

Lithuania has suffered a similar history to that of Latvia. Over time soviets and nazis were in power. The main difference was that last century the poles also occupied Lithuania. 

During the soviet's time in power here 30,000 Lithuanian people were persecuted. 12,000 of these were arrested, 18,000 deported and 700 died in a revolt. The biggest deportations occurred between 14-22 June 1941. Some were sent to labour camps and some were sent in exile. Between 1945-1948 1722 Lithuanians tried to come back from exile, but 1070 of these were caught. Between 1944-1953 the Partisan war occurred here, and quite often people from the same family were fighting on different sides because during different times of occupation they were forced to fight. On the 11th of March 1990 Lithuania became the first of the Baltic States to be independent. 

These two floors of exhibitions were set in administrative areas the soviets used. The furniture still remained but the exhibitions were on glass in front of the items. Upstairs we saw the eavesdropping room and all the phones they used, and then I had a quick look downstairs at the prison which included a room full of bags stuffed with shredded paper that the soviets had destroyed between 1988-1991 to hide their atrocities. Then I had to head off so said a quick goodbye to Heather and set off. It was so lovely meeting her and Sonal this trip! Have had a great time getting to know them and seeing Riga and Vilnius with them. 

I walked back to my hostel, got my bag then walked to the bus station. Had a bit of a trouble finding the bus but managed to play charades pretending I was an airplane until a boy about my age pointed me one street over. I found the bus, checked with the driver who laughed and said "yes, sometimes you need the questions!" and 15 minutes later I was at the airport. 

Waited a little while and used my last €8 to buy some Subway for dinner. Up until now this year every time I've had euros left over I always had a next occasion to use them for, but no more next occasions now in the foreseeable future! I got the flight home to Luton airport which weirdly landed half an hour early and then customs took five minutes! What! I then made the easybus to Golders Green tube an early earlier due to this, and then got the tube home. 

Tonight Jamie is coming over. Ash stayed this week while I was away and has left me some yummy Belgian chocolates (she left for Ireland this morning). Tmro I'm meeting some Aussies and kiwis to watch the rugby World Cup final. I know my brother is, but anyone else who feels like getting up at 3am should get up and watch the final. And if not, send positive vibes over to London before you go to sleep please. Either way, Wallabies vs All Blacks will be amazing. I think we can do it, I'm excited!!!! Go wallabies :)

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox