Trakai Island Castle
After a restful few hours of sleep, I was determined to go see Trakai Island Castle, located about 30 minutes from Vilnius by train. As I was hurrying out of the Jimmy Jumps House I passed by Chris (a new friend from the hostel) in the courtyard, and he ended up coming with. It was great to have some company! And since we both love Game of Thrones, it worked out well that we could be dorks together at a real life castle that looks astoundingly like Castle Black. Adding to the realism was the fact that it was so cold the lake was frozen over.
Makes for a beautiful scene though.
We walked along the lake to the castle, about 2 kilometers. Along the way we found some really nice picturesque spots and you better believe we took full advantage of them.
Oh hi, didn't see you there.
One of the many pretty wooden boats alongside the lake.
There could be a Stark in there.
Somewhere along the way Chris convinced me to walk out onto the frozen lake. He did it first, I was very wary.
Terrified of falling in, trying to look cool.
Moment of bravery before lunging for the dock.
Right after this, we came across three Lithuanian guys drinking and smoking by the side of the lake. One of them had an adorable 6-month-old puppy who I went over to pet, because I am almost always in puppy withdrawal. When we started talking to them it became clear that they were completely drunk, and Chris saw a bag filled with empty 40s. This was quite impressive at only 11am. One of them spoke good English, and told us that the three of them lived in Trakai, and were on disability so lived off of government money and couldn't work. Instead they stood around the lake and drank, apparently. They were very nice and happy to talk to us. One of them had never seen an American in person before.
Pup looking at his owner.
Me with the sweet pup. His name was Ačiū ("thank you").
Onward to the castle!
Here's the only picture I have of the front of the castle, and there's some weirdo blocking it.
We bought tickets and went inside, and it honestly looked exactly like a Castle Black / Winterfell hybrid. You could just imagine some cool medieval open-air market, horses and donkeys, prisoners in full body cages...
Looks like something Ramsey would use AMIRIGHT.
Jon Snow is around here somewhere.
World's Happiest Prisoner
Walking further into the castle grounds, we found a shooting range, where for €2 you could shoot either a bow and arrow, crossbow, or airsoft gun. Chris and I both shot bow and arrow, for authenticity. It went ok.
At least we didn't shoot the guy working the shooting range!
We were able to walk around much of the interior of the castle, where they had several rooms showcasing delicate artifacts from ancient life at the castle. At least we think they were old artifacts, we don't really know because there were no descriptions of what anything was. I guess this made it all the more thrilling.
A very old chess set. Probably.
One of the rooms was set up with an old fashioned dining room set.
Greetings, peasants.
We weren't allowed to go up in the tower, unfortunately.
We went back home on the train some time later, planning on taking a quick rest and then rallying for the biggest night of St Patricks. However, I started my nap at 8pm, and by now you probably know what that means - I didn't get up until about 6am the next morning. Just in time to say hello to some of the revelers coming in from a night of partying. Others were still at the clubs.
DAY 7 - 3/19/17 - Sunday
The Least Hungover Person in the World
Since I had slept for about 10 hours, I woke up early Sunday morning feeling bright and refreshed. This worked out well because I was planning on going to Šiauliai that day, which is about a 2.5 hour train ride away and so would require the whole day. I walked to the train station to catch the 6:50am train, passing by clubs still blaring music in the sunrise glow.
Imagine "Sandstorm" playing over this and you'll get the gist.
I successfully got on the train, along with a surprising amount of other people for that early in the morning. After a couple of stops we got to the town of Šiauliai, which is the fourth largest city in Lithuania. There is not much to see in the city itself, but just outside is the famous "Hill of Crosses", which was definitely worth the day trip.
Today, the Hill of Crosses holds over 100,000 crosses of all different sizes and materials, placed there by people from all over the world. However that number has fluctuated quite a bit over the years since the first crosses were placed in 1831. Throughout the Russian and Soviet occupations, thousands of crosses were destroyed by the authorities and then replaced in peaceful protest.
I took a city bus as close as I could get, and as usual, found myself walking along a chilly and desolate street about a mile to the Hill.
A familiar feeling.
After awhile however, I found a fully equipped Hill of Crosses visitors center! It was like an oasis. I guess most people take cars and not buses to the Hill.
The nice woman at the information desk booked a cab for me at 12:00 so I could take the 12:20 train back to Vilnius, giving me a little over an hour to explore. There was a short walk from the visitors center to the Hill, which created an intriguing picture of the looming stretch of crosses.
Not the most ominous thing I've seen this trip.
The hill itself is not huge, but it was absolutely covered with crosses. There were little trails snaking throughout. The crosses were stacked close together and in some cases piled on top of each other. Some were twice my height, some were as small as a fingernail.
And some of these trails led to dead ends.
Two large intricate crosses, spooky fields behind.
Notice the tiny Jesus at the bigger Jesus' feet. This is known as Jesception.
Walking through the hill was really incredible, especially when considering the history of the place. At some point a guy started playing beautiful classical music through a speaker embedded in one of the larger crosses (seriously).
Getting more lost among the crosses.
Some of the crosses were extremely elaborate, some were simple small wooden pieces that could be bought at the visitors center for about €2. Most had a name or names inscribed. Apparently it is common for newly married couples to place a cross on the hill together. Some were classic and traditional, others not so much.
"Disco Dolly Birds" with cross covered in reflective orange tape in the background.
I finally set off slowly back to the visitors center, where to my immense relief my taxi was waiting. I even got to the train station with almost ten minutes to spare - a first! There were actually no seats left on the train, so I sat on the floor for the two hour journey. It wasn't so bad as there were three other people in the same position, and they all ended up chatting with each other in Lithuanian the whole ride back. It may just be my own experience, but strangers chatting to each other as friends seems like a pretty common occurrence here.
No pics of the train ride, but here is a nice photo of some wall art on the walk back to the hostel in Vilnius.
I actually don't have a single photo from the rest of the night unfortunately. However it was a delight. Linas, my new Lithuanian pal and Vilnius tour guide extraordinaire, had invited me to come to holy mass at the Church of St Francis and St Bernard, where he would be singing in the choir. Even though the service was in Lithuanian and I couldn't understand a word of it, it was a wonderful experience and the singing sounded beautiful in the big open church. Linas was kind enough to print out the readings in English so I read those throughout. It was also an extra special service because it happened to be the priests birthday!
Afterwards I got some dinner and then went back to the hostel, where there were still quite a lot of people hanging out in the common room. I ended up going to a bar with a few of the other hostel-dwellers to hear some Lithuanian karaoke. It was extremely entertaining. Our group performed Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, and it was some of the most spectacularly embarrassing karaoke you have ever heard. But we had an absolute blast and that's what counts (right?).
I will leave you with this gem: the finest quality Lithuanian karaoke.
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