The two wooden bridges
Crossing to the island over water.
Ana — CC BY-SA 2.0 · PIERRE ANDRE LECLERCQ — CC BY-SA 4.0 · PIERRE ANDRE LECLERCQ — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Leszek Kozlowski — CC BY 2.0
A Turkic community following Karaite Judaism, brought from Crimea by Vytautas in 1397; a few hundred remain in Lithuania today, and their language, cuisine and houses are part of Trakai's identity.
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A red-brick castle on an island in a lake: Trakai lies twenty-seven kilometres west of Vilnius, the fourteenth-century castle from which Grand Duke Vytautas ruled Lithuania at its height — the only complete island castle in Eastern Europe, reached by two wooden bridges over Lake Galvė. Abandoned after the seventeenth century and left in ruin, it was rebuilt by Lithuanians between the 1950s and 1970s against Moscow's wishes — a patriotic act under occupation. Inside is a history museum in the central keep, the duke's hall with red arches and stained glass, and displays of arms, coins and porcelain. Around the castle the town of Trakai runs along a spit between lakes, home to the Karaim, a Turkic community Vytautas brought from Crimea as guards in 1397 and still here with their three-windowed wooden houses, their prayer house and their restaurants serving the famous kibinai pastry.
Crossing to the island over water.
Red arches and stained glass.
Three windows each, by old tradition.
Trakai, Lithuania