Senieji Trakai

The Lithuanian capital for seven medieval years before handing the baton over to Trakai, and an interesting excursion for those with a developed interest in either the history of Trakai or obscure Eastern European rural churches, Senieji (Old) Trakai, 6km or so southeast of Trakai, boasts two sights worthy of further investigation for the hardcore tourist. The town itself is a dull square of not particularly pretty wooden houses punctuated with the occasional Soviet monstrosity and sliced through the middle by the first point of interest, Trakų, a continuation of the road from Trakai that at the time of writing (December 2008) was completely dug up as part of a beautification process that will see the street become a tourist attraction in its own right. Trakų is lined with mostly wooden houses and supposedly represents many elements of a typical Dzūkai village. You decide. At Trakų’s southernmost tip as it curves around to the right is the site of the town’s once grand castle. This was the birthplace of Vytautas the Great, who in 1405 built a monastery here and settled an order of Benedictine monks inside. The castle is long gone, but the monastery remains, albeit in a poor state. In the 19th century part of the monastery was converted into a neo-Gothic church, which functions as Senieji Trakai’s main house of worship. Its relatively plain interior complete with peeling paint provides a rare glimpse inside small-town Eastern European religious faith. Both the monastery and church are undergoing renovation work, but the church can still be visited. Senieji Trakai provides no other forms of enlightenment or entertainment and can’t even boast a café. After spending an hour or so here, it’s not hard to see why they moved the capital up the road. The train station is 1km north of the church and monastery. To get from the former to the latter, turn right on exiting the station followed by the first left onto Trakų and follow the road all the way down.