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Trakai, Lithuania

bkropf — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:11:52 +0000

The next day in Vilnius we took a day trip out to Trakai. It was absolutely amazing. We step off the bus and it seemed as if all the world's beautiful people had moved to Trakai (Unless you are reading this, then you are the most beautiful person). Trakai is a small town on a lake with heaps of little islands with a big castle on one. We spent most of the day walking about taking pictures and soaking in the sun. We took a long winding wooded path back to the bus station and discussed more business ideas.

One thing I am consistently surprised at is how openly people seem to be prejudice against the Russians. It is the same throughout Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. I guess it makes sense to some degree given all the happenings with WW2 and communism but it seems as though it would be less overt.

After our trip to Trakai we decided to go watch a movie: Vantage Point. I really enjoy watching movies so it was a nice time to relax and feel like I was back home for a bit. The movie was pretty intense and fun except for the fact I feel like they concluded the movie in about 2 minutes.

Peter, our couchsurfing host, met us at his favorite bar and insisted we stay for a while. His Lithuanian friend showed up and I really liked him alot. Thomas was so cool and filled us in on Lithuanian history and the liberation from Russia in the early 90's. It is so amazing to hear first hand accounts from people who were there at the time of independence. He said he remembers when the country declared Independence and everyone expected Russian retaliation. Russian tanks rolled into town the next day and people were terrified. To scare the populace the tanks started firing blanks at the people in the window. In the end the tanks left with little fighting.

Peter had a cat that always slept on my legs. It was kindof nice in a way but every time I moved I felt like I was bothering the cat.

The next morning we went to an old KGB museum in town. It was really nice to read the Lithuanian history from WW1 all the way to the 90's with the liberation. A lot of information relating to the KGB was provided. It was really interesting to see real footage of interrogations and surveillance as late as the 80's. Below, underground there was a KGB prison that was very interesting. There were cells so small people could only stand. There were other cells that were flooded with ice water and the prisoner had to stand on a little platform in the middle. When they fell or lost balance they would go into the water. We also saw the execution cell which saw up to 1,000 people executed. It was so sad to read letters between Moscow and Vilnius KGB officials on how to hide the bodies.

After an amazing time in Vilnius we headed back to the bus station to ride overnight to Tallinn, Estonia.

I have found while talking with Tyler we have vastly different opinions on men/women personal interactions and relationships. It is quite nice because now we have more points to discuss. The other day the topic of guys and girls being friends came up. (Side note, My mom and I have had this discussion many time over the past years and I am sad/happy to say I have now crossed over and agree with her...Mom, you were right all along). I don't think I'm going to go into alot of details of the conversation because I don't know how much Tyler wants me to share and I don't want to misrepresent his ideas so I'll ask the question:

Can guys and girls be best friends, or at some point in the relationship does one of them start to like the other on some level and it just make things weird?

I know someone out there might have a unique situation but I'm talking in generalities. I find as men/women relationships get closer and closer at some point one of the parties begins to have some level of interest in the other and then they either have to date or things get a little awkward (or the person liking the other has to hide it). And even you do make the friendship work one of the parties ends up getting married and usually servers the ties and you lose a good friend. That is why I like to cultivate good male friends, then you can be best friends for life.

On a different topic, with computers these days I have found I am incapable of spelling correctly without spell check. When I know I have to type and don't have spell check I get all freaked out. I end up asking Tyler questions like, "How do you spell prison again?" Thank goodness for spell check, Spell Check you are my best friend.

Trakai

symonf — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:58:43 +0000

Già la foto esprime l'atmosfera di questo luogo idilliaco, ad una trentina di chilometri da Vilnius.

Trakai è stata, probabilmente, la sede scelta dal re Gediminas nel 1320 come capitale del suo regno per la natura incontaminata, la posizione strategica e la profonda bellezza e calma dei luoghi limitrofi.

Oggi è una delle tappe preferite dai turisti, specialmente Polacchi, che affollano la cittadina ed in particolare il castello gotico di mattoni rossi situato sul lago Galve (costruito tra il 1362 ed il 1382 ma distrutto nel XVII secolo), sia in estate che in inverno.

Proprio il castello, in realtà, è stato in parte ricostruito e ristrutturato anni fa quando finalmente i politici della capitale hanno capito che la cosa migliore da fare era rinnovare e promuovere il luogo. L'altra idea era quella di vendere il castello al primo ricco straniero che si fosse presentato: il darsi al primo offerente è stata purtroppo una delle caratteristiche della Lituania post sovietica.

A chi è già stato in Scandinavia, Trakai può forse ricordare le immensurabili distese di foreste e laghi colme di un'attiva vita nascosta, sotterranea, propria della natura di questi luoghi. Insetti, volatili, pesci, animaletti: tutti insieme sembrano essere i veri padroni del posto.

Trakai però non è solo natura ed il castello gotico ma anche una piccola comunità di persone che vivono nei dintorni dei laghi: la sottile striscia di terra lunga 2 km, infatti, è punteggiata da vecchie case in legno, molte delle quali sono state costruite dai Caraiti, setta giudaica e minoranza turca originaria di Baghdad, "che si attiene alla lettera alla Bibbia ma rifiuta l'esegesi talmudica".

I Caraiti vennero portati in questo posto dalla Crimea attorno al 1400 come guardie del corpo e tuttora vivono a Trakai una dozzina di famiglie circa. Un consiglio su tutti è di provare il kibiniai caraita (una specie di torta rustica farcita di carne e verdura e servita con una bevanda simile alla gira) che si può gustare nella locande della zona chiamate "Kibinine" e "Kybynlar".

Eerste indrukken

dennis — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:30:18 +0000

gezien het hier nogal druk is de eerste week: snel enkele eerste indrukken:

Dinsdagmiddag werd ik opgewacht aan de luchthaven door ene Laura die mij zou helpen bij m'n eerste stapjes in dit onbekende land. Na een gezellige kennismaking kwamen we toe aan de Universiteit & verblijfplaats (100 m van elkaar). Daar stond me een eerste verrassing te wachten: een kamer die nogal veel weg had van een vuilnisbelt ;) Geen nood, de persoon die hier verantwoordelijk voor was, was gelukkig niet m'n kamergenoot, maar iemand die daar te laat was weggegaan. Het is inmiddels al weer heel wat properder ;)

Hierna zochten we de overige erasmus-studenten op die net op het punt stonden om te vertrekken naar het grootste shoppingcenter in de buurt. Na het inspecteren van dit ultramoderne complex was het uiteraard tijd om iets te drinken en wat beter kennis te maken met elkaar. Daar werden me onmiddellijk al enkele zaken duidelijk:

drank & eten op restaurant zijn hier beduidend goedkoper! (prijzen zijn zeker 1/3 van de Belgische prijzen)
de erasmus-studenten komen werkelijk van heel europa
de organisatie van de universiteit lijkt me toch wel 10x beter dan in België...

Hierna diende ik me snel te installeren/kamer op te ruimen omdat die avond ook de eerste erasmusparty werd georganiseerd. Deze vond plaats in het centrum van Vilnius. Enkele bevindingen:

Bier is niet te verkrijgen in kleine hoeveelheden (min halve liters), wat best wel jammer is!
Clubs in Litouwen zijn rookvrij: Joepie! Rokers klagen hier zelfs niet over!
Buitenwippers zijn net zo onvriendelijk als in België
De "Prospectus" lijkt verdacht veel op de "Cuba Libre"

De volgende dag hadden we een excursie naar het oude gedeelte van Vilnius (zie foto's) Het enige jammere is het weer hier. Hoewel de temperatuur best wel meevalt volgens de lokale bevolking is het best wel koud en nat...De meesten onder ons hebben kunnen proeven van enkele typische Litouwse gerechten (ik niet, gezien deze altijd vlees bevatten...) in een gezellig restaurantje. Gelukkig ben ik echter niet de enige student die vegetariër is en zijn de meeste restaurants hier ook op voorzien! Wederom lagen de prijzen in dit authentieke restaurantje echt wel erg laag! Voor max. 6 euro had ik m'n drank en eten.

De volgende dag gingen we op excursie naar Trakai (zie foto's). Hoewel het best wel een mooi kasteeltje was denk ik toch dat het heel wat leuker zou zijn om dit in de zomer te bezoeken. Na de tour in het kasteeltje werden we ontvangen in een restaurantje waar we gratis konden eten (op kosten van de universiteit)

Morgen vertrekken we met de hele groep naar een andere stad 130 km hier vandaan. We zullen daar dan ook op hotel blijven slapen. Ook deze trip: bus, hotel, eten en drinken zal volledig door universiteit worden betaald. Mij hoor je alleszins niet klagen ;)

Groetjes,

Dennis

ps: de landen die bij de omschrijving van de foto's staan zijn de landen van waar de personen komen (namen onthouden is nu nog te moeilijk :p)

Trakaï

laama — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:19:35 +0000

We made it to Poland...Alive!

chellestravels — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 18:22:07 +0000

Yay! We actually made it here!

After everyone was buying me drinks for my farewell party from Harrods, I managed to make it home at about 2am to find that Thad and Claire were drunker than I was, and still packing the last few bits, in between drinks and dodging the 9 australians and 1 frenchman crammed into our house.

We managed to get to the bus stop though at 4, and caught the bus and train to the airport, in perfect timing for our flight. The flight was pretty horrible cos we'd all pulled an all-nighter but pretty short at 1 1/2 hrs so it was OK. And then suddenly we were in poland! Ha ha.

We left the airport (after an emergency chicken burger) and waited for the bus to take us to the city of Gdansk, and fell asleep on the pavement at the bus stop. Eventually though we made it to our hostel and stayed there the rest of the day eating junk food to make ourselves feel better.

The next day we actually did some exploring of Gdansk, which was formerly Danzig of Germany before WW2. The town is quite small and also very industrial ("cosmopolitan" according to the guide) and we managed to walk through the Old Town TWICE without realising it because it was so small! They had a magnificent brick church that towered over everything. We went in to have a look and got caught in a mass service, so bolted. It was an odd church because some parts were very ornate, but the walls were often bare and whitewashed. We think maybe the tapestries etc were looted or destroyed either in the war or by the soviets. After walking around the very pretty town square with all the colourful building facades and the town hall, we sat in a cafe for about 3 hrs, eating pastries, still recovering.

That night we caught a bus from Gdansk to Vilnius in Lithuania, which took 13hrs. It was actually an OK trip as we had 2 seats each so we got a fair amount of sleep. Once it got light I got my first views of Lithuania, which were rolling hills with classical farmhouses punctuated by dense forests and the occasional Soviet block of flats. The walk from the bus station was a bit of a trek, took us about an hour and we all had about 18 kg of luggage on our backs. Vilnius is beautiful though I really love it, It's got a huge Old Town (can't miss this one) and is dotted with these enormous dominating churches that sit on winding cobblestone streets, however between these are run down dilapidated old buildings that just add to the odd dreamlike feel of the place. We went to the main cathedral and I hunted for the "miracle tile" and made a wish, and wandered through the maze of beautiful courtyards of the old university. We also saw the only statue of Frank Zappa to exist!

Yesterday we took a day trip to the town of Trakai, very close to Vilnius. Trakai is famous for it's fairytale castle that sits on an island in the middle of a beautiful lake and surrounded by forests. It was breathtakingly pretty. We walked around the islands and inside the castle before having coffee on the side of the lake to enjoy the view more.

We are staying in a lovely hostel over the river in a suburb called Uzupis, which it's residents have declared as a breakaway republic from Lithuania. It's a haven for artists (and drunks) and the street art and statues and little galleries around here look fantastic. Thad and Claire at this moment are looking for the constitution of Uzupis, which has points such as "Everyone has the right to love and take care of the cat". Today is our last day here, so we're spending it visiting the old KGB Headquarters, which is where political prisoners used to be tortured and killed and has now been
turned into a musiem of Genocide. Fun for the whole family. We're also having another walk through Old Town before heading to the train station to catch our 17:55 train to St Petersburg, Russia.

The train takes 15 hrs I think, so hopefully it's comfy! Tomorrow we wake up in St Petersburg, and Thad wakes up 21! Yay! He's all grown up now!

I'm off now to explore, but just to let everyone know, Thad and I stupidly forgot to top up our mobiles before we left and so can't contact anyone or receive calls. We can receive smses though!