Blogs from Trakai, Lithuania, Europe - page 2

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~Susan Heller May 9, 2009, Saturday, The Lakeside Restaurant to Traki, Lithuania . It turned out to be a noisy night, everyone stops for the lake-view, but the price was right. We stopped the town of Trakai, a town located in Lithuania’s Lake District, and is the ancient capital. Trakai’s trophy is the fairytale Island Castle, which we toured, it is the only island fortress in Europe. After getting Litas, the currency in Lithuania—1 US$ = 2.50 lts. Then we did a bit of shopping and went to the Info Center. Things seem a bit more expensive here. Finally some rain as we visit the Island Castle…some interesting historic artifacts, furniture, weapons, clothing, ... read more

June 2005 The excursions out of Vilnius didn’t get off to the most promising start, due to Miranda’s use of the Lithuanian language. After a difficult conversation with the lady in the ticket office who didn’t speak English about the whereabouts of a bus to Trakai, Miranda repeats one of her two words in Lithuanian - alus. The word she was looking for was actually - aciu - instead of saying “Thank you”, she had been repeating the word “Beer”. The Lithuanians probably have a very dim view of the English, demanding beer at 8 o’clock in the morning! However when used in correct context i.e. (du) alus prasau - aciu, it ensures a smile and prompt service of the required two beers please - thank you! Trakai is an easy 50 pence bus trip from ... read more