Trakai's medieval festival

Last weekend we ventured out of the capital to one of the most well known tourist destinations in Lithuania: Trakai Castle. This castle sits on an island in the middle of a lake, and if you see more than a couple pictures from Lithuania, this castle is bound to be one of them. The castle shown here was actually built during the Soviet period, but the original castle is thought to have been built in the 13th century. This area has been home to a variety of nationalities. In addition to Lithuanians, Poles and Russians, the area was conquered and settled by Tartars and Karaims at various times.  For a while, Trakai was the home of Lithuanian rulers, such as the Grand Duke Vytautas in the late 1300's.

After we checked out the castle, we headed over to the medieval festival being held at the site of the old castle ruins. For the festival, lots of handmade items, such as musical instruments, knives and pelts were on sale. We didn't buy any, but we were happy to take up some target practice. J and I both shot some arrows, but J also used this contraption below - and you can see that he managed to hit his target!





Finally, we watched some play fighting...

Sidenote: here are a couple of "Welcome to Lithuania" videos - in English - to give you a sense of the main attractions. Feel free to come visit!
- An official welcome
- A silly song: "Welcome to Lithuania" (with pretty pictures of the country)
- Same silly song, but with strange cartoons