Lithuanians hold up Trakai the way the French hold up Mont-Saint-Michel. A red-brick castle with a tall keep stands on an island in Lake Galvė, joined to the shore by a wooden bridge, with reeds, water lilies and sailing boats all around it. It was built in the fourteenth century by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, then a pagan power that spread across much of what is now Belarus and Ukraine, and the dukes Kęstutis and Vytautas made it a key seat of their power. Vytautas the Great, the most celebrated medieval ruler of Lithuania, is said to have died here in 1430. After centuries of decay the castle was largely rebuilt in the twentieth century.
The town is also interesting for its people. Vytautas brought a group of Karaites, a Turkic-speaking community of Jewish faith, to Trakai around the year 1400 to serve as guards, and a small community still lives here, with colourful wooden houses with three windows on the street, one for God, one for the family and one for the Grand Duke. Their culinary legacy is the kibinai, a crescent-shaped pastry filled with minced meat and onion, served hot in small restaurants all around the shore. Eat one and you will understand why the town is so proud.
For a motorcyclist, Trakai is a gentle outing and an easy day from Vilnius, about thirty kilometres away. The road runs through a landscape of lakes, small hills and pine woods, part of the Trakai Historical National Park, which holds more than two hundred lakes. The surface is generally good, bends are soft and the villages are quiet. This is not mountain riding, but it is easy and pretty, and on a summer evening, when the light turns golden and the water goes still, it is a pleasure. Weekends in summer bring crowds to the castle and the lake, with cars crawling along the shore, so a weekday morning is better. The cold months are quiet, and the lakes freeze, with ice fishermen out on the surface.
Trakai has a population of around five and a half thousand, so fuel, cafes and shops are available in the town, and the larger town of Lentvaris is a few kilometres away. Parking near the castle is limited. Wear sensible shoes for the wooden bridge, and give yourself time to walk the shoreline path, which gives the best views of the castle reflected in the water. Remember that in Lithuania headlights must be on at all times, and speed limits in villages are strictly enforced.