Blogs from Trakai, Lithuania, Europe

La fin de notre séjour en Pologne arrive... Finalement je pense que ce ne doit pas être une langue difficile à apprendre... mais trop tard... donc on oublie ! Je suis contente de passer une nouvelle frontière qui sera ma 66ème... j'ai en effet dû remettre les pendules à 0 avec Travel Blog qui m'offrait plus de pays visités que ceux que je n'avais faits... J'espère arriver maintenant à ce que cette carte apparaisse lors des publications de mes blogs... Là il y a encore un peu de recherche de ma part à faire... La Lituanie : un pays dont j'avais déjà entendu parler en Argentine, car note cher Curé de la paroisse de notre village était un lituanien... devenu tout aussi argentin que je ne le suis devenue... Padre Enrique était quelqu'un de très bon... ... read more

Immediately after breakfast, I dashed out to the shopping centre to get some packed lunch and, as you do, came back with a bus ticket! As I walked to the trolley bus stop, the number 5 was just arriving - great timing - so I climbed aboard, stamped my ticket and was at the bus station before you could read a short story. I then went into the ticket office to get a ticket to Trakai but was confounded by a Russian who was asking the lass in the office too many questions. Every time she beckoned me over, he's push back in and ask another question. I got fed up and just stood with my back to him so that he couldn't get back in! After a thirty minute stop/start journey with the driver in ... read more

Trakai, the Island Castle. The first time I saw pictures of Trakai I said to myself, "This is one place Nancy and I must visit!". It was so lovely it was hard to believe there was such a place on earth. Today my dream came true. Getting there. The best way to go to Trakai is by public bus. There are frequent buses that leave from the main station and arrive at the village about 40 minutes later. From the Trakai bus station to the island castle you have an enjoyable 2 kilometer walk through the village. There are tour buses to Trakai which would be much more expensive than the public buses. Also by tour bus you have to follow the schedule of the tour. We enjoyed the freedom to go when we wanted and ... read more

July 18 - Am getting tired of being so hot and sticky that my arm sticks to the plastic tablecloth as I type this blog. Apparently tomorrow will be cooler if I can make it to Gdansk. Today I got up early to have breakfast, finish packing and hit the day trip. Turns out I could do it without being crazy quiet because all the other seven people were already out of the room by 6:45. The four guys had a 3:30am bus to catch, and in the true spirit of being a young, idiotic boy, they first spread their belongings all over the room for several days and then proceeded to pack them up at 2:30am. Earplugs helped a lot. I don't know where the others went, except for a guy who sleeps in the ... read more

And we reached our last full day in Vilnius. We thoroughly enjoyed our Old Town Vilnius experiences. Lauren and I had never seen such a collection of churches within such close proximity. But it was time to see something different … away from Old Town. We had seen numerous postcards of this red-brick castle during our walking tour of Vilnius. We consulted our trusted guidebook and found a reference to Trakai Castle. So after breakfast, we walked up to the Front Desk and inquired about this castle. The gentleman at the Front Desk pointed us to a brochure, showing a daily schedule from Vilnius to Trakai. Best of all, the minibus could pick us up at our hotel at 11:00am. Great news - we signed up right away. With one hour to kill, Lauren and I ... read more