Travel Diary - Day 7 : Trakai Island Castle - Republik of Lithuania

avatar
(Edited)

Hello lovely Steemians !

20191101_180955.jpg

My travel tour through the northeastern regions of central europe already led me into the Stolowe mountains in Poland, the Braunauer Mountains in the Czech Republik, as well as its Capital City Prague. From there I traveled in direction of the Republic of Lithuania and stopped at the amazing Malbork Castle, the headquarter of the Teutonic Order. Today I would like to show to you my first stop im the Republic of Lithuania, another nice castle that was inhabited by the Teutonic Order, the Trakai Island Castle.

20191101_175050.jpg

20191101_175123.jpg

Republic of Lithuania

Until 1230 the territory of Lithuania was inhabited by various baltic tribes. Then Mindaugas started to unify all of them in just 20 years, using standard medievil methods like strategic marriages and murder of rivals, and finally was crowned in 1253 as the first King of Lithuania. In 1569 Lithuania and Poland formed a two-state personal union, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This lasted until the Russian Empire annexed whole of Lithuania during 1772 - 1795.

20191101_182716.jpg

20191101_182935.jpg

Finally, after World War I, Lithuania declared its Independence in 1918 and formed the Republic of Lithuania. Unfortunately, during World War II, it became first occupied by the Soviet Union, then occupied by Germany, and the reoccupied by the Soviet Union again after the war. Luckily they were able to restor its Independence again in 1990, shortly before the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. In 2004 Lithuania became a member of the NATO and the European Union.

20191101_175234.jpg

20191101_183449.jpg

Trakai Island Castle

T beautiful Trakai Island Castle is located in Lithuania on a small island in the middle of Lake Galvė. This construction of the castle started in the beginning of the the 14th century by Kestutis. As one of the main centers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania it was of an immense strategic importance. It is mainly constructed from red bricks and features some as gothic as well as some romanesque elements .

20191101_175403.jpg

20191101_184316.jpg

The construction of Trakai Island Castle was initialized by Kestutis in his effort to expand during ghis period of reign. He even moved his main residence and all of his treasury to the Island Castle. During the 14th century Kęstutis organized the defence of western Lithuania against the Teutonic Knights, and organized raids against the German Order. Finally in 1377 the castle suffered major devastation after an attack by the Teutonic Knights in 1377. In 1782 he was assassinated and during the new lead by the Teutonic Order, the castle got even heavier fortified supervised by the Order's stonemason Radike.

20191101_184904.jpg

20191101_185100.jpg

Thank You !

I really hope that you enjoyed this little tour and the impressions of the Trakai Island Castle and the brief historical review of Lithuania and Trakai. It was my first stop in this country on my way to its capital city Vilnius. I wish you all a nice week and safe travels wherever you are at the moment ^^

20191101_185327.jpg

20191101_185609.jpg



Previous Travel Diary Posts :


All pictures were taken by myself, @adalger, with my Panasonic Lumix DMC.


3W72119s5BjVs3Hye1oHX44R9EcpQD5C9xXzj68nJaq3Ce.jpg


SteemTerminalBanner4.jpg


websiteTemplate.png


image.png


7ohP4GDMGPrUMp8dW6yuJTR9MKNu8P8DCXDU9qmmgywBKs.jpg


o1AJ9qDyyJNSpZWhUgGYc3MngFqoAMxS4C6TfH2hKwgkzW.jpg


photostreem_separators-08.png


RGgukq5E6HBM2jscFu6Z9C45vAtaj46fHKRytJMev17ocs.jpg



If you want to know more about me, just look up my Introduceyourself post or follow my blog ^^

Learn more about @adalger here !


Best wishes,
Adalger


View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.



0
0
0.000
17 comments
avatar

Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=adalger
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=travel-diary-day-5-trakai-island-castle-republik-of-lithuania


Want to have your post on the map too?

  • Go to Steemitworldmap
  • Click the code slider at the bottom
  • Click on the map where your post should be (zoom in if needed)
  • Copy and paste the generated code in your post
  • Congrats, your post is now on the map!
0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks, very excited to read your post.
Best wishes!
Lithuanian 😉

0
0
0.000
avatar

I am glad to hear that ^^ .. Lithuania is a really beautiful country ;)

0
0
0.000
avatar
(Edited)

This is a very mesmerizing post!
Gosh! Those knights! Teutonic order! The Masons! Historical stuff!
I always wonder about this little country with so big an L in its name!
Amazing historic castle in such good condition!

Now I am convinced that you were one of those old knights in long time past!
I used to dream of myself as some sort of knights speaking old German language!
So many castles and places in Europe seemed like deja vue to me!

Have a nice holiday!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Your travel diary is super WOW! I love reading them as they make me feel like I've been to those places too! Thanks for the visual tour. Keep them coming! ^_^

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hey there ^^ thank you for the compliment !! It was a really nice day on this island, also it was a little bit short. I would have liked to stay there longer for a while ;)

0
0
0.000
avatar

With the ship, I would like to drive a round sometimes there =)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Awesome Trakai Island Castle history photography.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you ^^ .. I am a huge fan of those castles ;)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hola, qué hermoso y bien cuidado está el castillo.

Aquí muchos se están derrumbando por no cuidarlos adecuadamente.

Parece una lástima muy atractiva que no puedo viajar todo lo que quisiera, así que me dedico a lo que tengo cerca o a recordar viejos tiempos

Día feliz

0
0
0.000
avatar

Another beautiful castle steeped in history, thank you for the stunning photos and interesting facts!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you ^^ I actually like historical places and already stored so many facts in my head that I can not resist to be a tiny bit educational ;)

0
0
0.000